He came to me and, with a nod of recognition, conducted me some paces to the right where a euphorbia tree grew among the rank herbage.

Here I found a stool placed ready on which I sat down, Goza, who of course was not of the Council, squatting at my side in the grass.
Now I found that I was so situated that I could not well be seen from the fire, or even from the rock above it, while I, by moving my head a little, could see both quite clearly.

After this as the last reflection from the sunk sun faded, the darkness increased until nothing remained visible except the fire and the massive outline of the rock behind.

The silence was complete, for none of the Council spoke.

They were so still that they might have been dead, so still that a beetle suddenly booming past me made me start as though it had been a bullet.