piling on the complimentary adjectives. And I leave it to
any reader of mine if Nelly did not deserve them all.

"But--how on the face of the earth did she come here?" gasped
Gentiliska.

"She didn't come on the face of the earth, but through the bowels of the
earth. So she says, and I never knew her to tell a falsehood."

"But--how came she to trace you here?"

"Ah! that's just what I have been inquiring of her, and she has been
trying to explain to me. You know these four-footed friends of ours have
a good deal of difficulty in communicating with us--through _our_
stupidity, bless you, not theirs. _They_ can understand _us_ a great
deal better than _we_ can comprehend _them_. Nelly knows very well what
I ask her, and she answers my question; but I don't in the least
understand what she says."

"But--when did she come? You know that."

"She came in the nick of time to fly at Moloch's throat and hold him
till Satan came to deliver me."

Here the girl burst into a peal of laughter that almost offended Sybil,
who gravely inquired:

"What is the matter?"

"I am laughing at your hallucination that Satan came to deliver you."

"What do you mean?" inquired Sybil, surprised and displeased at the
girl's untimely mirth.

"Why, you goose," laughed Gentiliska, "don't you know, can't you see,
that Satan is a hundred times worse and a thousand times more dangerous
than Moloch? I tell you that Captain 'Inconnu' came to your cave on the
same errand that brought his lieutenant here. Only, as he happened to be
the last comer, and as he found the other here, he chose to take credit
as your deliverer! Bosh! your little dog saved you. No other under
Heaven did!"

"How do you know these facts?"

"By watching. You know when I left you?"

"Yes; go on."

"As I was returning to my own den, I saw a shadow pass before me, and
then I knew that we had been tracked to this place, but whether by Satan
or Moloch, or any other one of the band, I could not tell. By the time I
had crept back to the entrance of the large cavern, the spy must have
regained his place, for they were all at the table as I had left them."

"Why then did you not return to me, since you knew that my place of
concealment was discovered?" inquired Sybil, reproachfully.

"Because I could do you better service by staying outside and watching,
which I did. About an hour ago, as I sat watching and listening in my
own den, I heard a stealthy step, and peeping out