lasses. I have taken a liking to you, and some time, when I get the
opportunity, I shall give you some useful advice, but I must treat you
very formally, at least till you have had audience with the king."

"Thank you," said the Englishman, and Tradmos stood up in the car to
watch their progress through the circular glass of a little cupola on
top. Thorndyke smiled at Johnston, but the American was in no pleasant
mood. The indifference with which Tradmos had treated him had nettled
him.

The machine was now slowly descending. A vast pile of white marble, with
many golden domes and spires, rose between them and the earth below.

"To the balcony on the central dome," ordered Tradmos through the window
of the driver's compartment; and the adventurers felt the car sweep
round in a curve that threw them against each other, and the next moment
they had landed on a wide iron balcony encircling a great golden cone
that towered hundreds of feet above them.

Chapter V.

"Follow me," said the captain stiffly, for there were several guards in
white and gold uniforms pacing to and fro on the battlement-like walls.
He led the two adventurers through a door in the base of the dome. At
first they were dazed by a brilliant light from above, and looking
up they beheld a marvel of kaleidoscopic colors formed by a myriad of
electric-lighted prisms sloping gradually from the floor to the apex
of the dome. Thorndyke could compare it to nothing but a stupendous
diamond, the very heart of which the eye penetrated.

"Don't look at it now," advised Tradmos, in an undertone; "it was
constructed to be seen from below, and to light the great rotunda."

Mutely the captives obeyed. At every turn they were greeted with a new
wonder. The captain now led them round a narrow balcony on the inside of
the vast dome, and, looking over the railing down below, they saw a vast
tessellated pavement made of polished stones of various and brilliant
colors and so artistically arranged that, from where they stood,
lifelike pictures of landscapes seemed to rise to meet the vision
wherever the eye rested. Statues of white marble, gold and bronze were
placed here and there, and, in squares of living green, fountains threw
up streams of crystal water. Tradmos paused for them to look down and
smiled at their evident admiration.

"How far is it down there?" Thorndyke ventured to ask.

"Over a thousand feet," replied Tradmos. "Look across opposite and you
wi