to the rescue.

"I beg your pardon, sir, for being so long absent," he said, "but the
hunters had not come in with any game, and the cooks had use for all the
skillets, so that I was obliged to go to the laboratory for a vessel
large enough to hold your turnip. Soup is made in great quantities for
our work-people, and by adding a few sauces I hope I have made it so
that it will please you. If you come with me now I think you may relish
your meal."

Leo followed Paz to a small cavern hung with a velvety gray moss, on
which were clusters of red berries. A small electric light burned in a
globe of crystal, set in bands of turquoise, and shone upon a table
which, like the bed he had used, was composed of several small ones,
covered with a cloth of crimson plush, over which was again spread a
white fabric of the thinnest texture and edged with lace. On this was
laid a dinner service, so small that it was evidently more for ornament
than use. Plates of crystal were bordered with gems, and jars and cups
of embossed metal glittered with precious stones. He was obliged,
however, to eat his soup from the tureen, and the turnip, now cooked in
a sort of _pate_, was presented on a silver platter. Slices of smoked
rabbit, with salted steaks of prairie-dog, were offered in place of the
quail, which had not come; but Leo, having a fondness for sweets, saw
with wonder one tart made from about a quarter of an apple. This proved
to be such a sweet morsel that he kept Paz running for more until he had
eaten a dozen. No wine was offered, but ices which looked like heaps of
snow with the sun shining on them were dissolving in glass vases, and
water as pure as the dew filled his goblet. Rising refreshed from his
meal Leo met Knops coming towards him. He had exchanged his dress for
what looked like a bathing suit of India rubber.

"Are you rested?" he inquired, kindly.

"Oh yes, very much, and I must thank you and Paz for so good a dinner,"
responded Leo.

"Don't mention it. If I had not acted on the spur of the moment, when
the impulse to amuse you seized me, I would have been better prepared.
We use many things for food which you would disdain, but I might have
secured antelope meat or Rocky Mountain mutton, and by way of rarity
something from Russia or China. Have you ever tasted birds' nests."

"Never."

"But I suppose you know why they are thought so great a delicacy?"

"No."

"It is merely the gluten with which they are fasten