Page:H.G. Wells - The Dream (US Edition).pdf/24



“T seemed to sink down and down into quiet—and then I woke up here.”

“Tell us now, while it is still so real to you.”

“Have we not planned to reach the mountain-house before nightfall?” said Willow, glancing at the sun.

“There is a little guest-house here, within five minutes' walk of us,” said Firefly.

Radiant sat down beside Sarnac. “Tell us your dream now. If it fades out presently or if it is uninteresting, we can go on; but if it is entertaining, we can hear it out and sleep down here tonight. It is a very pleasant place here, and there is a loveliness about those mauve-coloured crags across the gorge, a faint mistiness in their folds, that I could go on looking at for a week without impatience. Tell us your dream, Sarnac.”

He shook his friend. “Wake up, Sarnac!”

Sarnac rubbed his eyes. “It is so queer a story. And there will be so much to explain.”

He took thought for a while.

“It will be a long story.”

“Naturally, if it is a whole life.”

“First let me get some cream and fruit from the guest-house for us all,” said Firefly, “and then let Sarnac tell us his dream. Five minutes, Sarnac, and I will be back here.”

“I will come with you,” said Radiant, hurrying after her.

This that follows is the story Sarnac told.