nels with
the butt of his spear, at the same time calling to several of his
companions, who rose and came forward at his command. Soon the great
doors commenced slowly to swing creakingly open, and presently,
as they separated, the girl saw behind them the motive force which
operated the massive doors--to each door a half-dozen naked Negroes.

At the doorway her two guards were turned back and their places taken
by a half dozen of the yellow-coated soldiery. These conducted her
through the doorway which the blacks, pulling upon heavy chains,
closed behind them. And as the girl watched them she noted with
horror that the poor creatures were chained by the neck to the
doors.

Before her led a broad hallway in the center of which was a little
pool of clear water. Here again in floor and walls was repeated in
new and ever-changing combinations and designs, the parrots, the
monkeys, and the lions, but now many of the figures were of what
the girl was convinced must be gold. The walls of the corridor
consisted of a series of open archways through which, upon either
side, other spacious apartments were visible. The hallway was
entirely unfurnished, but the rooms on either side contained benches
and tables. Glimpses of some of the walls revealed the fact that
they were covered with hangings of some colored fabric, while upon
the floors were thick rugs of barbaric design and the skins of
black lions and beautifully marked leopards.

The room directly to the right of the entrance was filled with men
wearing the yellow tunics of her new guard while the walls were hung
with numerous spears and sabers. At the far end of the corridor a
low flight of steps led to another closed doorway. Here the guard
was again halted. One of the guards at this doorway, after receiving
the report of one of those who accompanied her, passed through the
door, leaving them standing outside. It was fully fifteen minutes
before he returned, when the guard was again changed and the girl
conducted into the chamber beyond.

Through three other chambers and past three more massive doors, at
each of which her guard was changed, the girl was conducted before
she was ushered into a comparatively small room, back and forth
across the floor of which paced a man in a scarlet tunic, upon the
front and back of which was embroidered an enormous parrot and upon
whose head was a barbaric headdress surmounted by a stuffed parrot.

The walls of this room were ent