not the
place of our origin."

"Ages and ages ago our forefathers dwelt on another and distant world
that was nearer to the sun than this one is, and enjoyed brighter daylight
than we have here."

"They dwelt--as I have often heard the story from my father, who had
learned it by heart from his father, and he from his--in a beautiful
valley that was surrounded by enormous mountains towering into the clouds
and white about their tops with snow that never melted. In the valley
were lakes, around which clustered the dwellings of our race."

"It was, the traditions say, a land wonderful for its fertility, filled
with all things that the heart could desire, splendid with flowers and
rich with luscious fruits."

"It was a land of music, and the people who dwelt in it were very happy."

While the girl was telling this part of her story the Heidelberg Professor
became visibly more and more excited. Presently he could keep quiet no
longer, and suddenly exclaimed, turning to us who were listening, as the
words of the girl were interpreted for us by one of the other linguists:

"Gentlemen, it is the Vale of Cashmere! Has not my great countryman,
Adelung, so declared? Has he not said that the Valley of Cashmere was
the cradle of the human race already?"

"From the Valley of Cashmere to the planet Mars--what a
romance!" exclaimed one of the bystanders.

Colonel Smith appeared to be particularly moved, and I heard him humming
under his breath, greatly to my astonishment, for this rough soldier
was not much given to poetry or music:

"Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere,
With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave;
Its temples, its grottoes, its fountains as clear,
As the love-lighted eyes that hang over the wave."

Mr. Sidney Phillips, standing by, and also catching the murmur of Colonel
Smith's words, showed in his handsome countenance some indications of
distress, as if he wished he had thought of those lines himself.

Aina Tells Her Story.

The girl resumed her narrative:

"Suddenly there dropped down out of the sky strange gigantic enemies,
armed with mysterious weapons, and began to slay and burn and make
desolate. Our forefathers could not withstand them. They seemed like
demons, who had been sent from the abodes of evil to destroy our race."

"Some of the wise men said that this thing had come upon our people
because they had been very wicked, and the gods in Heaven were angry. Some
said the