he tail of his coat.

"White--where? Surely it cannot be that--Edgecombe--"

"Augh, take a tumble, boy!" ejaculated Waldo, giving a jerk that
rendered compliance nearly literal, though scarcely full of grace. "Want
to have the whole gang make a howling break this way? Want to--They're
white all right, though!"

"Where? Which direction? Point them out, and--I fail to see anything
which would bear out your--"

The professor was sweeping yonder field with his glass, searching for
the primal cause of that latest excitement, but without success. No sign
of a white face, male or female, rewarded his efforts, and he turned an
inquiring gaze upon the youngster.

Waldo was peering from beneath the shade of his hand, but now drew back
with a long breath, to slowly shake his head.

"They've gone now, but I did see them, and they were white, just as
white as--as anything!"

Bruno frowned a bit at that unsatisfactory conclusion, but the professor
was of more equable temper, for a wonder. He smilingly shook his head,
while gazing kindly, then spoke:

"I myself might have made the same error, Waldo, but you surely were in
error, for once."

"What! You mean I never saw those white women, uncle Phaeton?"

"No, no, I am not so seriously faulting your eyesight, my dear boy,"
came the swift assurance. "But even the best of us are open to errors,
and there were in olden times not a few Aztecs with fair skins; not
exactly white, yet comparatively fair when their race was considered.
And, no doubt, Waldo, you saw just such another a bit ago."

But the youngster was not so easily shaken in his own opinion.

"There were a couple of 'em, not just such another, uncle. And they were
white,--pure white as ever the Lord made a woman! And--why, didn't I see
their hair, long and floating loose? And wasn't that yellow as--as gold,
or the sunshine itself?"

"Yellow hair?"

"Yes, indeedy! Yellow hair, white skins,--faces, anyway. Blondes, the
couple of 'em; and to that I'll make my davy!"

And so the youngster maintained with even more than usual sturdiness,
when questioned more closely, pointing out the very spot upon which the
strange beings were standing, the top of a large, tall building, clearly
one of the series of temples.

In vain the field-glass was fixed upon that particular point. The partly
roofed azotea was wholly devoid of human life, and though watch was
maintained in that direction for many minutes thereafter, by one o