From time to time, the noise of dropping particles, behind in the room, came dully to my ears.  Once, I heard a loud crash, and turned, instinctively, to look; forgetting, for the moment, the impenetrable night in which every detail was submerged.  In a while, my gaze sought the heavens; turning, unconsciously, toward the North.  Yes, the nebulous glow still showed.  Indeed, I could have almost imagined that it looked somewhat plainer.  For a long time, I kept my gaze fixed upon it; feeling, in my lonely soul, that its soft haze was, in some way, a tie with the past.  Strange, the trifles from which one can suck comfort!  And yet, had I but known—­But I shall come to that in its proper time.

For a very long space, I watched, without experiencing any of the desire for sleep, that would so soon have visited me in the old-earth days.  How I should have welcomed it; if only to have passed the time, away from my perplexities and thoughts.

Several times, the comfortless sound of some great piece of masonry falling, disturbed my meditations; and, once, it seemed I could hear whispering in the room, behind me.  Yet it was utterly useless to try to see anything.  Such blackness, as existed, scarcely can be conceived.  It was palpable, and hideously brutal to the sense; as though something dead, pressed up against me—­something soft, and icily cold.

Under all this, there grew up within my mind, a great and overwhelming distress of uneasiness, that left me, but to drop me into an uncomfortable brooding.  I felt that I must fight against it; and, presently, hoping to distract my thoughts, I turned to the window, and looked up toward the North, in search of the nebulous whiteness, which, still, I believed to be the far and misty glowing of the universe we had left.  Even as I raised my eyes, I was thrilled with a feeling of wonder; for, now, the hazy light had resolved into a single, great star, of vivid green.

As I stared, astonished, the thought flashed into my mind; that the earth must be traveling toward the star; not away, as I had imagined.  Next, that it could not be the universe the earth had left; but, possibly, an outlying star, belonging to some vast star-cluster, hidden in the enormous depths of space.  With a sense of commingled awe and curiosity, I watched it, wondering what new thing was to be revealed to me.

For a while, vague thoughts and speculations occupied me, during which my gaze dwelt insatiably upon that one spot of light, in the otherwise pitlike darkness.  Hope grew up within me, banishing the oppression of despair, that had seemed to stifle me.  Wherever the earth was traveling, it was, at least, going once more toward the realms of light.  Light!  One must spend an eternity wrapped in soundless night, to understand the full horror of being without it.

Slowly, but surely, the star grew upon my vision, until, in time, it shone as brightly as had the planet Jupiter, in the old-earth days.  With increased size, its color became more impressive; reminding me of a huge emerald, scintillating rays of fire across the world.