ed these instruments with the most acute curiosity, but either
pride or reserve deterred him from asking any question concerning them.
When, however, Dick offered him a peep through them, he was wholly
unable to resist the temptation, or to restrain his expressions of
amazement as, glancing through the tubes at the island, some twenty
miles distant, he was enabled to distinguish such details as the roofs,
windows, and doors of houses built thereon, while of course the details
of houses in the plain below, the character of the several vehicles on
the roads, the numbers of oxen in the teams which drew them, were quite
unmistakable. But when Grosvenor, seeking to avail himself of this
temporary relaxation of manner, attempted once more to engage the man in
conversation, he instantly relapsed into his former attitude of
unresponsiveness; and his manner soon made it clear that he was
determined to risk no complications of any kind by allowing anything in
the nature of familiarity or friendliness between himself and his
prisoners.

The descent from the crest of the encircling hills to the circular belt
of plain below was of course quite an easy matter, compared with the
ascent of the outer slope on the previous day, the gradient of the road
being practically uniform all the way, and just steep enough to
necessitate a slight application of the brakebar to the rear wheels of
the wagon from the crest to the plain; and Dick noted with some surprise
that their taciturn friend, the officer in command, appeared to be
greatly interested in the working of this exceedingly simple piece of
apparatus, as though it was something with which he was quite
unfamiliar. The party effected the descent and reached the level plain
in about an hour and a half from the moment of starting, and soon found
themselves travelling along a broad, level, well-kept road among a large
number of other people, most of whom looked at them with more or less
curiosity, but steadfastly refrained from addressing a word of remark to
any of the guard who had them in charge.

About half an hour after reaching the plain they debouched into another
and much broader road than that by which they had been previously
travelling, and it then became tolerably evident that their ultimate
destination must be the island in the centre of the lake; for the road
which they were now traversing was absolutely straight all the way to
the margin of the lake, and pointed accurately to