head was atavistically low, the cheek bones very prominent, the
nose wide and flat, the lips loose and thick. The man looked brutish,
cruel and ugly as he stood face to face with the noble beauty of
Zoraida. And yet Kendric, glancing swiftly from one to the other, saw
a peculiar resemblance. It was the eyes. This squat animal's eyes
were like Zoraida's in shape though they lacked the fire of spirit and
intellect; long eyes that sloped outward and upward toward the temples.

Zoraida spoke briefly, imperiously. Kendric did not understand the
words though he readily recognized the tongue for one of the native
Nahua dialects. Old Aztec it might have been, or Toltec.

The man saluted, bowed and was gone. But in a moment he returned,
another man with him who might have been his twin brother, so strongly
pronounced in each were the racial physiognomic characteristics.
Between them they bore a heavy chair of black polished wood the feet of
which were eagles' talons gripping and resting on crystal balls. They
placed it and stood waiting for orders or dismissal. She gave both,
the first in a few low words in the same ancient tongue, the latter
with a gesture. They bowed and disappeared. Zoraida, one hand resting
upon the stand near the jewel glowing upon the transparent stem, sank
gracefully into the seat.

"All very imposing," muttered Kendric. "But if you have anything to
say to me I am waiting."

From somewhere in the room a parrot which he had not seen until now and
which had no doubt been released by one of her low-browed henchmen
behind the curtains, flew by Kendric's head and perched balancing upon
an arm of her chair. Idly she put out her hand, stroking the bright
feathers. From somewhere else, startling the man when he saw it
gliding by him on its soft pads, a big puma, ran forward, threw up its
head, snarling, its tail jerking back and forth restlessly. Zoraida
spoke quietly; the monster cat crept close to her chair and lay down
before her, stretched out to five feet of graceful length. Zoraida set
one foot lightly upon the tawny back. The big cat lay motionless, its
eyes steady and unwinking upon Kendric.

He felt himself strangely impressed though he sought to argue with
himself that here was but more absurdity from an empty-headed girl who
had the money and the power to unleash her extravagant desires. But
since everything about him was stamped with the barbaric, even to the
oblique-eyed woman