and said to the High Prophet: "What may now be done?" who answered:

"All the gods have mocked at prayer. This sin must now be punished by
the vengeance of men."

And the people stood in awe.

The High Prophet went up to the Tower beneath the sky whereupon beat
the eyes of all the gods by starlight. There in the sight of the gods
he spake in the ear of the gods, saying: "High gods! Ye have made mock
of men. Know therefore that it is writ in ancient lore and found by
prophecy that there is an _End_ that waiteth for the gods, who shall go
down from Pegana in galleons of gold all down the Silent River and into
the Silent Sea, and there Their galleons shall go up in mist and They
shall be gods no more. And men shall gain harbour from the mocking of
the gods at last in the warm moist earth, but to the gods shall no
ceasing ever come from being the Things that were the gods. When Time
and worlds and death are gone away nought shall then remain but worn
regrets and Things that were once gods.

"In the sight of the gods.

"In the ear of the gods."

Then the gods shouted all together and pointed with Their hands at the
High Prophet's throat, and the Pestilence sprang.

Long since the High Prophet is dead and his words are forgotten by men,
but the gods know not yet whether it be true that _The End_ is waiting
for the gods, and him who might have told Them They have slain. And the