nstrate our supremacy, so that they will allow
us to live among them. Therefore, let us simply defend ourselves and do
nothing offensive, thus showing that we are peaceably disposed."

"You cry peace, but look at the great army they are sending against us!"
I exclaimed. "There are four companies of foot soldiers marching through
the streets, and each man is armed with a very long cross-bow and wears
a brightly-coloured bird-wing on his forehead. The streets are filling
with people to see them pass. Now three more companies wheel out of the
palace, but they have no cross-bows. They are whirling something around
their heads."

The doctor anxiously awaited his turn at the telescope, and as he looked
he clutched his pistol though they were still several miles away.

"Those are slings they are whirling about their heads," he said. "And
the commander of each company rides an ambling donkey, and wears a heavy
plaited beard and long braided hair, without head covering."

"But look further back, coming out of the palace now!" I cried. "What
are those strange, stately animals far behind the soldiers? I can see
them with the naked eye."

"_Donnerwetter!_ what towering birds!" he muttered under his breath.
"Like ostriches in form, but as tall and graceful as a giraffe! There is
a man riding astride the neck of each of them, yet he could scarcely
reach half-way to their heads!"

"Are those monstrous things birds?" I demanded. "Let me look. What long
and bony legs they have! They would stride over us without touching our
heads; but how they could kick!"

"And how they could run!" put in the doctor. "See, they stride easily
over seven or eight feet with a single step. They must be messenger
birds, for there are only four of them, and their riders are not
armed."

"They may have hundreds more of them in reserve, and they could fight
far more viciously than the men. See what a wicked beak and what a long
muscular neck they have. They could crush a skull in a twinkling with
one swift swoop of that head! I will fight the men, but I will take no
chances with those birds!"

Although these strange, small-winged creatures had started long after
the soldiers, they had quickly passed them, and were now beginning to
mount toward our plateau. They were making swift detours at intervals,
as if to reconnoitre. We were hidden behind our rocks and shields, and
the riders could not see us, and they had evidently not yet seen the
brass barre