midnight
Others had newly come to the city and were teaching that there was no Source , and that the story of the poor man who reopened it was a fable , and that the hours of visitation were only hours of dreaming . There were many who believed them , and many more who said that it did not matter whether their words were true or false , and that it was of small moment whether men went to visit the fountain or not , provided only that they worked in the gardens and kept the marble pools and basins in repair and opened new canals through the fields , since there always had been and always would be plenty of water . As I listened to these sayings it seemed to me doubtful what the end of the city would be . And while this doubt was yet heavy upon me , I heard at midnight the faint calling of the trumpet , sounding along the crest of the mountains : and as I went out to look where it came from , I saw , through the glimmering veil of the milky way , the shape of a blossom of celestial blue , whose petals seemed to fall and fade as I looked . So I bade farewell to the old man in whose house I had learned to love the hour of visitation and the Source and the name of him who opened it ; and I kissed the hands and the brow of the little Ruamie who had entered my heart , and went forth sadly from the land of Koorma into other lands , to look for the Blue Flower . In the Book of the Voyage without a Harbour is written the record of the ten years which passed before I came back again to the city of Saloma . It was not easy to find , for I came down through the mountains , and as I looked from a distant shoulder of the hills for the little bay full of greenery , it was not to be seen .