the inside without my assistance. I excused myself, therefore, and
seating her on a rock close to the ladder, promised to return at once.
This, however, I found impossible. By the time the injured officer had
recovered the physical shock to his nerves and the moral effect of the
disrespect to his person, his anxiety to verify what he had heard
entirely occupied his mind; and he requested further experiments, not
upon himself, which occupied some half-hour. He listened and spoke, I
must admit, with temper; but his air of displeasure was evident
enough, and I was aware that I had not entitled myself to his good
word, whether or not he would permit his resentment to colour his
account of facts. He was compelled, however, to request my help in
reaching the window, which I gave with all possible deference.

But, to my alarm, when we reached the foot of the ladder, Eveena was
nowhere to be seen. Calling her and receiving no reply, calling again
and hearing what sounded like her voice, but in a faint tone and
coming I knew not whither, I ran round the platform to seek her. I
could see nothing of her; but at one point, just where the projecting
edge of the platform overhung the precipice below, I recognised her
bird fluttering its wings and screaming as if in pain or terror. The
Regent was calling me in a somewhat imperious tone, but of course
received neither answer nor attention. Reaching the spot, I looked
over the edge and with some trouble discovered what had happened. Not
merely below but underneath the overhanging edge was a shelf about
four feet long and some ten inches in breadth, covered with a flower
equally remarkable in form and colour, the former being that of a
hollow cylindrical bell, about two inches in diameter; the latter a
bluish lilac, the nearest approach to azure I have seen in Mars--the
whole ground one sheet of flowers. On this, holding in a
half-insensible state to the outward-sloping rock above her, Eveena
clung, her veil and head-dress fallen, her face expressing utter
bewilderment as well as terror. I saw, though at the moment I hardly
understood, how she had reached this point. A very narrow path, some
hundred feet in length, sloped down from the table-rock of the summit
to the shelf on which she stood, with an outer hedge of shrubs and the
summits of small trees, which concealed, and in some sort guarded, the
precipice below, so that even a timid girl might pursue the path
without fear. But this