. We English,
you know, are great walkers, while these Arabians had never walked
since they were old enough to ride a horse.

"I cannot tell you how much longer we kept on but at last, with
our strength almost gone, a handful of us reached the bottom of a
deep gorge. To scale the opposite side was out of the question and
so we kept on down along the sands of what must have been the bed
of an ancient river, until finally we came to a point where we
looked out upon what appeared to be a beautiful valley in which we
felt assured that we would find game in plenty.

"By then there were only two of us left--the chief and myself. I
do not need to tell you what the valley was, for you found it in
much the same way as I did. So quickly were we captured that it
seemed they must have been waiting for us, and I learned later that
such was the case, just as they were waiting for you.

"As you came through the forest you must have seen the monkeys
and parrots and since you have entered the palace, how constantly
these animals, and the lions, are used in the decorations. At home
we were all familiar with talking parrots who repeated the things
that they were taught to say, but these parrots are different
in that they all talk in the same language that the people of the
city use, and they say that the monkeys talk to the parrots and the
parrots fly to the city and tell the people what the monkeys say.
And, although it is hard to believe, I have learned that this is
so, for I have lived here among them for sixty years in the palace
of their king.

"They brought me, as they brought you, directly to the palace. The
Arabian chief was taken elsewhere. I never knew what became of him.
Ago XXV was king then. I have seen many kings since that day. He
was a terrible man; but then, they are all terrible."

"What is the matter with them?" asked the girl.

"They are a race of maniacs," replied the old woman. "Had you not
guessed it? Among them are excellent craftsmen and good farmers
and a certain amount of law and order, such as it is.

"They reverence all birds, but the parrot is their chief deity.
There is one who is held here in the palace in a very beautiful
apartment. He is their god of gods. He is a very old bird. If what
Ago told me when I came is true, he must be nearly three hundred
years old by now. Their religious rites are revolting in the
extreme, and I believe that it may be the practice of these rites
through ages that ha