from some volcanic action; but this could not be so. Any
volcanic action would surely be down in the hollow and not high among
the rocks. What, then, was the alternative? It was wonderful, and yet
it must surely be. These ruddy spots must be the reflection of fires
within the caves--fires which could only be lit by the hand of man.
There were human beings, then, upon the plateau. How gloriously my
expedition was justified! Here was news indeed for us to bear back
with us to London!

For a long time I lay and watched these red, quivering blotches of
light. I suppose they were ten miles off from me, yet even at that
distance one could observe how, from time to time, they twinkled or
were obscured as someone passed before them. What would I not have
given to be able to crawl up to them, to peep in, and to take back some
word to my comrades as to the appearance and character of the race who
lived in so strange a place! It was out of the question for the
moment, and yet surely we could not leave the plateau until we had some
definite knowledge upon the point.

Lake Gladys--my own lake--lay like a sheet of quicksilver before me,
with a reflected moon shining brightly in the center of it. It was
shallow, for in many places I saw low sandbanks protruding above the
water. Everywhere upon the still surface I could see signs of life,
sometimes mere rings and ripples in the water, sometimes the gleam of a
great silver-sided fish in the air, sometimes the arched, slate-colored
back of some passing monster. Once upon a yellow sandbank I saw a
creature like a huge swan, with a clumsy body and a high, flexible
neck, shuffling about upon the margin. Presently it plunged in, and
for some time I could see the arched neck and darting head undulating
over the water. Then it dived, and I saw it no more.

My attention was soon drawn away from these distant sights and brought
back to what was going on at my very feet. Two creatures like large
armadillos had come down to the drinking-place, and were squatting at
the edge of the water, their long, flexible tongues like red ribbons
shooting in and out as they lapped. A huge deer, with branching horns,
a magnificent creature which carried itself like a king, came down with
its doe and two fawns and drank beside the armadillos. No such deer
exist anywhere else upon earth, for the moose or elks which I have seen
would hardly have reached its shoulders. Presently it gave a warning