owed close upon his heels. The door
shut after them, of its own accord, apparently; and they found
themselves in a narrow stone-flagged passage, which was dimly lighted by
an oil-lamp with a large red shade over it. The whitewashed walls were
covered with all manner of hieroglyphs and drawings, the meaning of
which Jim could not fathom. Nor had he much time to examine them, for
the voice of the Mama, still proceeding from some unseen quarter,
invited them to go forward, and they presently found themselves in a
large apartment, built of stone, upon the walls of which hung rich silks
and cloths made of vicuna-wool, together with a number of other
articles, evidently of ancient native manufacture, the like of which the
young Englishman had never seen before. To say that he was astonished
at the barbaric splendour of the apartment is to put it very mildly; and
he could not understand how it was that such an apparently diminutive
house could contain a room of such large size as the one in which he now
stood.

But he soon forgot his astonishment in watching the extraordinary owner
of the place. She was a wizened little woman, of an age far beyond the
allotted threescore years and ten, if appearances went for anything; but
it was her face and hands that riveted Jim's attention and excited his
disgust. Her features bore a strongly marked resemblance to those of an
animal of the cat species, and her teeth were all pointed instead of
being square; while her hands resembled claws, the fingers were hooked
and skinny, and the nails were discoloured and extraordinarily long.
Taken altogether, it was a personality to excite repulsion and fear in
any one brought in contact with it, and Douglas felt another strong
shiver run down his back as he looked at her. She stood in the middle
of the room, leaning upon a thick ebony stick, and peering out from
beneath her overhanging eyebrows at the two young officers, with an
expression which they could not quite fathom, and which seemed to be
reading their very souls. Then Montt pulled himself together and
remarked:

"We have heard of your powers, Mama, and we have come to ask you to
foretell the future to us. As I said before, we are both naval officers
in the service of--well--I won't say what country; and we are anxious to
learn what may be in store for us. Will you read our lives?"

"Sit ye both down there," replied the old crone, pointing to a richly
cushioned couch which was p