lly have to be content with elephants or
buffaloes," answered the creature, in a regretful tone.

"How old are you?" enquired Zeb, who stared at the yellow eyes as if
fascinated.

"Quite young, I grieve to say; and all of my brothers and sisters that
you see here are practically my own age. If I remember rightly, we
were sixty-six years old the day before yesterday."

"But that isn't young!" cried Dorothy, in amazement.

"No?" drawled the dragonette; "it seems to me very babyish."

"How old is your mother?" asked the girl.

"Mother's about two thousand years old; but she carelessly lost track
of her age a few centuries ago and skipped several hundreds. She's a
little fussy, you know, and afraid of growing old, being a widow and
still in her prime."

"I should think she would be," agreed Dorothy. Then, after a moment's
thought, she asked: "Are we friends or enemies? I mean, will you be
good to us, or do you intend to eat us?"

"As for that, we dragonettes would love to eat you, my child; but
unfortunately mother has tied all our tails around the rocks at the
back of our individual caves, so that we can not crawl out to get you.
If you choose to come nearer we will make a mouthful of you in a wink;
but unless you do you will remain quite safe."

There was a regretful accent in the creature's voice, and at the words
all the other dragonettes sighed dismally.

Dorothy felt relieved. Presently she asked:

"Why did your mother tie your tails?"

"Oh, she is sometimes gone for several weeks on her hunting trips, and
if we were not tied we would crawl all over the mountain and fight with
each other and get into a lot of mischief. Mother usually knows what
she is about, but she made a mistake this time; for you are sure to
escape us unless you come too near, and you probably won't do that."

"No, indeed!" said the little girl. "We don't wish to be eaten by such
awful beasts."

"Permit me to say," returned the dragonette, "that you are rather
impolite to call us names, knowing that we cannot resent your insults.
We consider ourselves very beautiful in appearance, for mother has told
us so, and she knows. And we are of an excellent family and have a
pedigree that I challenge any humans to equal, as it extends back about
twenty thousand years, to the time of the famous Green Dragon of
Atlantis, who lived in a time when humans had not yet been created.
Can you match that pedigree, little girl?"

"Well," sa