e respects it is even more holy than the Serpent's head. The
cylinder happens to be the first work in gold which was ever produced by
our people. It was made when the race was new. It was because our first
wise men had found they could create things of beauty like this
cylinder, that they decided to attempt the creation of the Serpent's
head, which is supposed to have brought all of our blessings upon us."

Kirby thought he was beginning to understand the excitement which his
introduction of the cylinder had created. He also thought he could see
what Naida had meant by implying that the cylinder could be made to aid
their cause.

"Tell me," he asked in a mood approaching reverence, "how the cylinder
came to be lying beside a dead man's bones."

"It was stolen," Naida answered in the breathless silence which the
others were keeping. "When I was very young, an upper-world man found
his way here, and the Duca captured and meant to sacrifice him. But
while they were leading him to the temple where such special ceremonies
are held--the building stands on another plateau, beyond this--the man
broke away. Some of the priests in the procession were carrying the
cylinder, for it was an occasion of great importance. The prisoner
knocked them down, got the cylinder away from them, and finally escaped
by the same route over which you came."

"And he escaped," said Kirby wonderingly, "only to be killed by a
rattlesnake before he ever reached the civilized world. But do you mean
that you never knew your sacred cylinder was so close to you all these
years?"

Naida shook her head.

"We never got to the canyon of which you speak, for a special reason
which I shall explain some day. And besides that, I think the Duca was
afraid of this man who fought so bravely. So he counted the cylinder as
lost. And that is one of the reasons why he killed the men with the
rifles, who appeared in the Valley a few years later."

* * * * *

Kirby looked at her thoughtfully. The mood for discussing all the
wonders of this lower world, which had made him bring out the cylinder
originally, had quite vanished.

"I suppose," he said, "that anyone who was responsible for the return of
the cylinder to its rightful owners, would be held in some respect?"

Naida nodded vigorously, while little lightnings of excitement flickered
in her eyes.

"He might be held in more than respect."

"What, then, do you suggest that we