The midday sun
And then the lake of fire sprang into view -- the mysterious place of flame they had seen from afar , that had pulled the hapless _ Althea _ out of its course down to destruction on Jupiter . This then was the Gorm ! A wide circular pool it was , of an unearthly yellow-orange brilliance . The midday sun was no more dazzling to the eye . Out it stretched from the island into the vapors of the Great Red Spot , only touching the stone rim of the island at one thin point . Its liquid fires were waveless now , oily , yet there was something horrible , too , about its smooth quiescence . Miro whistled .