And now, being come nigh unto the light—though yet it was not
unhid from behind the great barriers of the uprising rocks, I
perceived that I crouched within the mouth of a mighty gorge; and
the left side was a great way off, and I saw it plain at whiles
when the light did rise; but the light was to the right, and it was
so wondrous great that it did make clear to me that a mountain was
to that side of the gorge, and went upward into the everlasting
night, as it did seem for ever.
And afar down the gorge, I did see the shinings of strange
fires, faint and a great way off. And so was I come at last to the
bottom of the Mighty Slope. Yet the gorge also to go downward, but
not so great.
And presently I did go forward again; and so did open the point
of the rocks, as the sailors do
