“And I looked upwards, and there stood a man upon the summit of the rock; and I hid myself among the water-lilies that I might discover the actions of the man.  And the man was tall and stately in form, and was wrapped up from his shoulders to his feet in the toga of old Rome.  And the outlines of his figure were indistinct —­ but his features were the features of a deity; for the mantle of the night, and of the mist, and of the moon, and of the dew, had left uncovered the features of his face.  And his brow was lofty with thought, and his eye wild with care; and, in the few furrows upon his cheek I read the fables of sorrow, and weariness, and disgust with mankind, and a longing after solitude.

“And the man sat upon the rock, and leaned his head upon his hand, and looked out upon the desolation.  He looked down into the low unquiet shrubbery, and up into the tall primeval trees, and up higher at the rustling heaven, and into the crimson moon.  And I lay close within shelter of the lilies, and observed the actions of the man.  And the man trembled in the solitude; —­ but the night waned, and he sat upon the rock.

“And the man turned his attention from the heaven, and looked out upon the dreary river Zaire, and upon the yellow ghastly waters, and upon the pale legions of the water-lilies.  And the man listened to the sighs of the water-lilies, and to the murmur that came up from among them.  And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man.  And the man trembled in the solitude; —­ but the night waned and he sat upon the rock.

“Then I went down into the recesses of the morass, and waded afar in among the wilderness of the lilies, and called unto the hippopotami which dwelt among the fens in the recesses of the morass.  And the hippopotami heard my call, and came, with the behemoth, unto the foot of the rock, and roared loudly and fearfully beneath the moon.  And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man.  And the man trembled in the solitude; —­ but the night waned and he sat upon the rock.

“Then I cursed the elements with the curse of tumult; and a frightful tempest gathered in the heaven where, before, there had been no wind.  And the heaven became livid with the violence of the tempest —­ and the rain beat upon the head of the man —­ and the floods of the river came down —­ and the river was tormented into foam —­ and the water-lilies shrieked within their beds —­ and the forest crumbled before the wind —­ and the thunder rolled —­ and the lightning fell —­ and the rock rocked to its foundation.  And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man.  And the man trembled in the solitude; —­ but the night waned and he sat upon the rock.