in details.

"I felt not the slightest fear. Indeed the sincerity and kindliness of
these people seemed absolutely genuine, and the friendly, naive, manner
of my little guide put me wholly at my ease. Towards me Lylda's manner
was one of childish delight at a new-found possession. Towards those of
her own people with whom we talked, I found she preserved a dignity they
profoundly respected.

"We had hardly more than entered this last tunnel when I heard the sound
of drums and a weird sort of piping music, followed by shouts and
cheers. Figures from behind us scurried past, hastening towards the
sound. Lylda's clasp on my hand tightened, and she pulled me forward
eagerly. As we advanced the crowd became denser, pushing and shoving us
about and paying little attention to me.

"In close contact with these people I soon found I was stronger than
they, and for a time I had no difficulty in shoving them aside and
opening a path for us. They took my rough handling in all good part, in
fact, never have I met a more even-tempered, good-natured people than
these.

"After a time the crowd became so dense we could advance no further. At
this Lylda signed me to bear to the side. As we approached the wall of
the cavern she suddenly clasped her hands high over her head and shouted
something in a clear, commanding voice. Instantly the crowd fell back,
and in a moment I found myself being pulled up a narrow flight of stone
steps in the wall and out upon a level space some twenty feet above the
heads of the people.

"Several dignitaries occupied this platform. Lylda greeted them quietly,
and they made place for us beside the parapet. I could see now that we
were at the intersection of a transverse passageway, much broader than
the one we had been traversing. And now I received the greatest surprise
I had had in this new world, for down this latter tunnel was passing a
broad line of men who obviously were soldiers.

"The uniformly straight lines they held; the glint of light on the
spears they carried upright before them; the weird, but rhythmic, music
that passed at intervals, with which they kept step; and, above all, the
cheering enthusiasm of the crowd, all seemed like an echo of my own
great world above.

"This martial ardor and what it implied came as a distinct shock. All I
had seen before showed the gentle kindliness of a people whose life
seemed far removed from the struggle for existence to which our race is
subjected.