ng animals--have you
NO animals?"

"We have cats," she said. "The father is not very useful."

"Have you no cattle--sheep--horses?" I drew some rough outlines of these
beasts and showed them to her.

"We had, in the very old days, these," said Somel, and sketched with
swift sure touches a sort of sheep or llama, "and these"--dogs, of two
or three kinds, "that that"--pointing to my absurd but recognizable
horse.

"What became of them?" asked Jeff.

"We do not want them anymore. They took up too much room--we need all
our land to feed our people. It is such a little country, you know."

"Whatever do you do without milk?" Terry demanded incredulously.

"MILK? We have milk in abundance--our own."

"But--but--I mean for cooking--for grown people," Terry blundered, while
they looked amazed and a shade displeased.

Jeff came to the rescue. "We keep cattle for their milk, as well as
for their meat," he explained. "Cow's milk is a staple article of diet.
There is a great milk industry--to collect and distribute it."

Still they looked puzzled. I pointed to my outline of a cow. "The farmer
milks the cow," I said, and sketched a milk pail, the stool, and in
pantomime showed the man milking. "Then it is carried to the city and
distributed by milkmen--everybody has it at the door in the morning."

"Has the cow no child?" asked Somel earnestly.

"Oh, yes, of course, a calf, that is."

"Is there milk for the calf and you, too?"

It took some time to make clear to those three sweet-faced women the
process which robs the cow of her calf, and the calf of its true food;
and the talk led us into a further discussion of the meat business. They
heard it out, looking very white, and presently begged to be excused.

CHAPTER 5. A Unique History

It is no use for me to try to piece out this account with adventures.
If the people who read it are not interested in these amazing women and
their history, they will not be interested at all.

As for us--three young men to a whole landful of women--what could we
do? We did get away, as described, and were peacefully brought back
again without, as Terry complained, even the satisfaction of hitting
anybody.

There were no adventures because there was nothing to fight. There were
no wild beasts in the country and very few tame ones. Of these I might
as well stop to describe the one common pet of the country. Cats, of
course. But such cats!

What do you suppose these Lady Bu