cles a mile in diameter."

"Mounds built by prehistoric man, no doubt."

She shook her head:

"These are not prehistoric mounds."

"Why not?"

"Because they have been freshly made."

"How do you know?"

"The earth is freshly upheaved; great trees, partly uprooted, slant at
every angle from the sides of the enormous piles of newly upturned earth;
sand and stones are still sliding from the raw ridges."

She leaned nearer and dropped her voice still lower:

"More than that," she said, "my father and I both have seen one of these
huge circles _in the making_!"

"What!" I exclaimed, incredulously.

"It is true. We have seen several. And it enrages father."

"Enrages?"

"Yes, because it upsets the trees where he is painting landscapes, and
tilts them in every direction. Which, of course, ruins his picture; and
he is obliged to start another, which vexes him dreadfully."

I think I must have gaped at her in sheer astonishment.

"But there is something more singular than that for you to investigate,"
she said calmly. "Look down at that circle of steam which makes a perfect
ring around the bowl of the crater, halfway down. Do you see the flicker
of fire under the vapour?"

"Yes."

She leaned so near and spoke in such a low voice that her fragrant breath
fell upon my cheek:

"In the fire, under the vapours, there are little animals."

"What!!"

"Little beasts live in the fire--slim, furry creatures, smaller
than a weasel. I've seen them peep out of the fire and scurry back
into it.... _Now_ are you sorry that I wrote you to come? And will
you forgive me for bringing you out here?"

An indescribable excitement seized me, endowing me with a fluency and
eloquence unusual:

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart!" I cried; "--from the depths of
a heart the emotions of which are entirely and exclusively of scientific
origin!"

In the impulse of the moment I held out my hand; she laid hers in it with
charming diffidence.

"Yours is the discovery," I said. "Yours shall be the glory. Fame shall
crown you; and perhaps if there remains any reflected light in the form
of a by-product, some modest and negligible little ray may chance to
illuminate me."

Surprised and deeply moved by my eloquence, I bent over her hand and
saluted it with my lips.

She thanked me. Her pretty face was rosy.

It appeared that she had three cows to milk, new-laid eggs to gather, and
the construction of some fresh butter to