lained. The strangers landed first upon Mardonale. Had Nalboon met
them in honor, he would have gained the boon. But he, with the savagery
characteristic of his evolution, attempted to kill his guests and steal
their treasures, with what results you already know. We, on our part, in
exchange for the few and trifling services we have been able to render
them, have received even more than Nalboon would have obtained, had his
plans not been nullified by their vastly superior state of evolution."

The orator seated himself and there was a deafening clamor of cheering
as the nobles formed themselves into an escort of honor and conducted
the two couples to their apartments.

Alone in their room, Dorothy turned to her husband with tears shining in
her beautiful eyes.

"Dick, sweetheart, wasn't that the most wonderful thing that anybody
ever heard of? Using the word in all its real meaning, it was
indescribably grand, and that old man is simply superb. It makes me
ashamed of myself to think that I was ever afraid or nervous here."

"It sure was all of that, Dottie mine, little bride of an hour. The
whole thing gets right down to where a fellow lives--I've got a lump in
my throat right now so big that it hurts me to think. Earthly marriages
are piffling in comparison with that ceremony. It's no wonder they're
happy, after taking those vows--especially as they don't have to take
them until after they are sure of themselves.

"But we're sure already, sweetheart," as he embraced her with all the
feeling of his nature. "Those vows are not a bit stronger than the ones
we have already exchanged--bodily and mentally and spiritually we are
one, now and forever."

CHAPTER XVII

Bird, Beast, or Fish?

"These jewels rather puzzle me, Dick. What are they?" asked Martin, as
the four assembled, waiting for the first meal. As he spoke he held up
his third finger, upon which gleamed the royal jewel of Osnome in its
splendid Belcher mounting of arenak as transparent as the jewel itself
and having the same intense blue color. "I know the name, 'faidon,' but
that's all I seem to know."

"That's about all that anybody knows about them. It is a
naturally-occurring, hundred-faceted crystal, just as you see it
there--deep blue, perfectly transparent, intensely refractive, and
constantly emitting that strong, blue light. It is so hard that it
cannot be worked, cut, or ground. No amount of the hardest known
abrasive will even roughen