ge, and from the top looked down
upon us; that Ad-el-pate, in the dark, sat to rest himself upon a nest
of yellow flies with black stripes; that these flies inserted stings
into Ad-el-pate's person, causing him to exclaim loudly and descend
the stairs with unexpected agility; that Bhoz-ja-khaz and the others
pushed on through the upraised arm, and stood at last upon the bronze
torch itself; that the city lay beneath them like a map, covering the
country for miles away on both sides of the river. As for illuminating
the harbor, Bhoz-ja-khaz says Nofuhl is mistaken; there are no
vestiges of anything that could give a light--no vessel for oil or
traces of fire.

Nofuhl says Ja-khaz is an idiot; that he shall go himself.

[Illustration: "The great statue in the harbor."]

_13th May_

A startling discovery this morning.

By landing higher up the river we explored a part of the city where
the buildings are of a different character from those we saw
yesterday. Nofuhl considers them the dwellings of the rich. In shape
they are like bricks set on end, all very similar, uninteresting, and
monotonous.

We noticed one where the doors and shutters were still in place, but
rotting from the fantastic hinges that supported them. A few hard
blows brought down the outer doors in a dusty heap, and as we stepped
upon the marble floor within our eyes met an unexpected sight.
Furniture, statues, dingy pictures in crumbling frames, images in
bronze and silver, mirrors, curtains, all were there, but in every
condition of decay. We knocked open the iron shutters and let the
light into the rooms sealed up for centuries. In the first one lay a
rug from Persia! Faded, moth-eaten, gone in places, it seemed to ask
us with dying eyes to be taken hence. My heart grew soft over the
ancient rug, and I caught a foolish look in Lev-el-Hedyd's eye.

As we climbed the mouldering stair to the floor above I expressed
surprise that cloth and woodwork should hold together for so many
centuries, also saying:

"These Mehrikans were not so unworthy as we think them."

"That may be," said Lev-el-Hedyd, "but the Persian rug is far the
freshest object we have seen, and that perchance was ancient when they
bought it."

On this floor we entered a dim chamber, spacious and once richly
furnished. When Lev-el-Hedyd pushed open the shutters and drew aside
the ragged curtains we started at the sight before us. Upon a wide bed
in the centre of the roo