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Catice raised his hand, and after holding the flint poised for a moment, brought it down with adroitness and force upon the left-hand probe. Maskull cried out with the pain. The blood streamed down, and the function of the organ was destroyed. There was a pause, while he walked to and fro, trying to staunch the blood. "What now do you feel, Maskull? What do you see?" inquired Tydomin anxiously.
"Do you follow Spadevil in his new faith?" "As far as death," exclaimed Maskull. Catice picked up a flint. "With this stone I strike out one of your two probes. When you have but one, you will see with me, and you will recollect with Spadevil. Choose you then the superior faith, and I shall obey your choice." "Endure this little pain, Maskull, for the sake of future men," said Spadevil.
"How comes this horrible world to exist?" Catice did not answer. "Who is Surtur?" "You will get nearer to him tomorrow; but not here." "I am wading through too much blood," said Maskull. "Nothing good can come of it." "Do not fear change and destruction; but laughter and joy." Maskull meditated. "Tell me, Catice. If I had elected to follow Spadevil, would you really have accepted his faith?"
"The pain is nothing," replied Maskull, "but I fear the result." "Permit me, although I am only a woman, to take his place, Catice," said Tydomin, stretching out her hand. He struck at it violently with the flint, and gashed it from wrist to thumb; the pale carmine blood spouted up. "What brings this kiss-lover to Sant?" he said.
"How does she presume to make the rules of life for the sons of Hator?" She bit her lip, and stepped back. "Well then, Maskull, accept! I certainly should not have played false to Spadevil; but you hardly can." "If he bids me, I must do it," said Maskull. "But who knows what will come of it?" Spadevil spoke. "Of all the descendants of Hator, Catice is the most wholehearted and sincere.
Spadevil's dark, solid person stood out from the rest like a reality among dreams. "Has the trifork passed to you?" he demanded. "Yes. Why have you brought this woman to Sant?" "I have brought another thing to Sant. I have brought the new faith." Catice stood motionless, and looked troubled. "State it." "Shall I speak with many words, or few words?"
"If you wish to say what is not, many words will not suffice. If you wish to say what is, a few words will be enough." Spadevil frowned. "To hate pleasure brings pride with it. Pride is a pleasure. To kill pleasure, we must attach ourselves to duty. While the mind is planning right action, it has no time to think of pleasure." "Is that the whole?" asked Catice.
Catice said to Maskull, "Prove your sincerity. Kill this man and his mistress, according to the laws of Hator." "I can't do that. I have travelled in friendship with them." "You denied duty; and now you must do your duty," said Spadevil, calmly stroking his beard. "Whatever law you accept, You must obey, without turning to right or left.
A trifork, similar to the one Maskull had seen on Disscourn, but smaller, had been stuck in the mud close by his hand. They stopped by the side of the pond, and waited. Immediately he became aware of their presence, the man set down his other leg, and waded out of the water toward them, picking up his trifork in doing so. "This is not Maulger, but Catice," said Spadevil.
"That is your path," said Catice, "and I shall not come any farther." Maskull detained him. "Say just this, before we part company why does pleasure appear so shameful to us?" "Because in feeling pleasure, we forget our home." "And that is " "Muspel," answered Catice. Having made this reply, he disengaged himself, and, turning his back, disappeared into the darkness.
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