se for your unenlightened prejudices,
which every schoolboy educated in a Koom-Posh could easily controvert,
though he might not be so precociously learned in ancient history as you
appear to be."

"I learned! not a bit of it. But would a schoolboy, educated in your
Koom-Posh, ask his great-great-grandfather or great-great-grandmother
to stand on his or her head with the feet uppermost? And if the poor old
folks hesitated--say, 'What do you fear?--see how I do it!'"

"Taee, I disdain to argue with a child of your age. I repeat, I make
allowances for your want of that culture which a Koom-Posh alone can
bestow."

"I, in my turn," answered Taee, with an air of the suave but lofty good
breeding which characterises his race, "not only make allowances for
you as not educated among the Vril-ya, but I entreat you to vouchsafe me
your pardon for the insufficient respect to the habits and opinions of
so amiable a Tish!"

I ought before to have observed that I was commonly called Tish by my
host and his family, as being a polite and indeed a pet name, literally
signifying a small barbarian; the children apply it endearingly to the
tame species of Frog which they keep in their gardens.

We had now reached the banks of a lake, and Taee here paused to point
out to me the ravages made in fields skirting it. "The enemy certainly
lies within these waters," said Taee. "Observe what shoals of fish are
crowded together at the margin. Even the great fishes with the small
ones, who are their habitual prey and who generally shun them, all
forget their instincts in the presence of a common destroyer. This
reptile certainly must belong to the class of Krek-a, which are more
devouring than any other, and are said to be among the few surviving
species of the world's dreadest inhabitants before the Ana were created.
The appetite of a Krek is insatiable--it feeds alike upon vegetable and
animal life; but for the swift-footed creatures of the elk species it
is too slow in its movements. Its favourite dainty is an An when it can
catch him unawares; and hence the Ana destroy it relentlessly whenever
it enters their dominion. I have heard that when our forefathers first
cleared this country, these monsters, and others like them, abounded,
and, vril being then undiscovered, many of our race were devoured. It
was impossible to exterminate them wholly till that discovery which
constitutes the power and sustains the civilisation of our race. But
aft