‘I dared not: even now do not, for the sake of your faith and mine, venture by word or sign to speak to me before the others, or it may cost me my life.’
‘I will be discreet, and risk nothing; where are they?’
‘Some are hunting, some are at the house. Enough—listen!’ The sound came again. ‘Dost thou not see the smoke?’ inquired he.
‘No, I see none,’ said Herbert, straining his eyes.
‘The Sultaun must be there, and they are firing,’ said the man. ‘It is wonderful that sound should come thus far.’
For some time they continued to hear it; for Ahmed, Herbert’s acquaintance, called his associates, and they all listened and speculated, but could come to no conclusion; and then the wind arose, and they heard no more. But they were evidently perplexed, and continued to speak of it during the evening. At last one went out, and returned with an expression of wonder upon his countenance: he spoke to his companions, and some got up and followed him. Soon these sent for the rest, and they took Herbert with them.
It was quite dark. Near them a few objects were distinguishable when the eye became accustomed to the darkness, but overhead the sky was quite overcast and black; and though there was no wind, yet the cold air of night was chill and piercing at that height. They advanced to the place where they had been in the morning; it was within a stone’s throw of the brink of the precipice, which descended full four thousand feet before it met even any of the projecting buttresses which appeared to support the mighty fabric. With difficulty they could see to the edge; beyond that all was black—a vast void, into the depths of which the eye strove to penetrate, as the mind into illimitable space and eternity, and felt as if it were thrust back and checked for its presumption by the awful profundity. It seemed to Herbert as though the ground they trod had no support, and was sinking into the gloomy abyss. There seemed to be no horizon, no sky. Instinctively the group closed together, and seemingly awe-stricken spoke hardly above their breath.
‘We saw it awhile ago,’ said one to another of those who had just arrived with Herbert.
‘What did ye see?’
‘Lights,—sparks in that black darkness. Look carefully, ye may see them again.’