degenerate days. At any rate for the first and last time in my
intercourse with him I saw the god, or lord--the native word

bears either meaning--Oro genuinely astonished. He started and
stepped back, and for a moment or two seemed a little frightened.

Then muttering something as to the cleverness of this
light-producing instrument, he motioned to his daughter to take

it from Bickley and hold it in a certain position. She obeyed,
and in its illumination he began to study the engraved plates,

holding one of them in either hand.
After a while he gave me one of the plates to hold, and with

his disengaged hand pointed successively to the constellation of
Orion, to the stars Castor, Pollux, Aldebaran, Rigel, the

Pleiades, Sirius and others which with my very limited knowledge
I could not recognise offhand. Then on the plate which I held, he

showed us those same stars and constellations, checking them one
by one.

Then he remarked very quietly that all was in order, and
handing the plate he held to Yva, said:

"The calculations made so long ago are correct, nor have the
stars varied in their proper motions during what is after all but

an hour of time. If you, Stranger, who, I understand, are named
Humphrey, should be, as I gather, a heaven-master, naturally you

will ask me how I could fix an exact date by the stars without an
error of, let us say, from five to ten thousand years. I answer

you that by the proper motion of the stars alone it would have
been difficult. Therefore I remember that in order to be exact, I

calculated the future conjunctions of those two planets," and he
pointed to Saturn and Jupiter. "Finding that one of these

occurred near yonder star," and he indicated the bright orb,
Spica, "at a certain time, I determined that then I would awake.

Behold! There are the stars as I engraved them from my
foreknowledge, upon this chart, and there those two great planets

hang in conjunction. Daughter Yva, my wisdom has not failed me.
This world of ours has travelled round the sun neither less nor

more than two hundred and fifty thousand times since we laid
ourselves down to sleep. It is written here, and yonder," and he

pointed, first to the engraved plates and then to the vast
expanse of the starlit heavens.

Awe fell on me; I think that even Bickley and Bastin were awed,
at any rate for the moment. It was a terrible thing to look on a

being, to all appearance more or less human, who alleged that he
had been asleep for two hundred and fifty thousand years, and

proceeded to prove it by certain ancient star charts. Of course
at the time I could not check those charts, lacking the necessary

knowledge, but I have done so since and found that they are quite
accurate. However this made no difference, since the

circumstances and something in his manner convinced me that he
spoke the absolute truth.

He and his daughter had been asleep for two hundred and fifty
thousand years. Oh! Heavens, for two hundred and fifty thousand

years!
Chapter XIII

Oro Speaks and Bastin Argues
The reader of what I have written, should there ever be such a

person, may find the record marvelous, and therefore rashly
conclude that because it is beyond experience, it could not be.

It is not a wise deduction, as I think Bickley would admit today,
because without doubt many things are which surpass our extremely

limited experience. However, those who draw the veil from the
Unknown and reveal the New, must expect incredulity, and accept

it without grumbling. Was that not the fate, for instance, of
those who in the Middle Ages, a few hundred years ago,

discovered, or rather rediscovered the mighty movements of those
constellations which served Oro for an almanac?

But the point I want to make is that if the sceptic plays a
Bickleyan part as regards what has been written, it seems

probable that his attitude will be accentuated as regards that
which it still remains for me to write. If so, I cannot help it,

and must decline entirely to water down or doctor facts and thus
pander to his prejudice and ignorance. For my part I cannot

attempt to explain these occurrences; I only know that they
happened and that I set down what I saw, heard and felt, neither

more nor less.
Immediately after Oro had triumphantly vindicated his stellar

calculations he turned and departed into the cave, followed by
his daughter, waving to us to remain where we were. As she passed

us, however, the Glittering Lady whispered--this time to Bastin--
that he would see them again in a few hours, adding:

"We have much to learn and I hope that then you who, I
understand, are a priest, will begin to teach us of your religion

and other matters."
Bastin was so astonished that he could make no reply, but when

they had gone he said:
"Which of you told her that I was a priest?"

We shook our heads for neither of us could remember having done
so.

"Well, I did not," continued Bastin, "since at present I have
found no opportunity of saying a word in season. So I suppose she

must have gathered it from my attire, though as a matter of fact
I haven't been wearing a collar, and those men who wanted to cook

me, pulled off my white tie and I didn't think it worth while
dirtying a clean one."

"If," said Bickley, "you imagine that you look like the
minister of any religion ancient or modern in a grubby flannel

shirt, a battered sun-helmet, a torn green and white umbrella and
a pair of ragged duck trousers, you are mistaken, Bastin, that is

all."
"I admit that the costume is not appropriate, Bickley, but how

otherwise could she have learned the truth?"
"These people seem to have ways of learning a good many things.

But in your case, Bastin, the cause is clear enough. You have
been walking about with the head of that idol and always keep it

close to you. No doubt they believe that you are a priest of the
worship of the god of the Grove--Baal, you know, or something of

that sort."
When he heard this Bastin's face became a perfect picture.

Never before did I see it so full of horror struggling with
indignation.

"I must undeceive them without a moment's delay," he said, and
was starting for the cave when we caught his arms and held him.

"Better wait till they come back, old fellow," I said,
laughing. "If you disobey that Lord Oro you may meet with another

experience in the sacrifice line."
"Perhaps you are right, Arbuthnot. I will occupy the interval

in preparing a suitable address."
"Much better occupy it in preparing breakfast," said Bickley.

"I have always noticed that you are at your best extempore."
In the end he did prepare breakfast though in a distrait

fashion; indeed I found him beginning to make tea in the
frying-pan. Bastin felt that his opportunity had arrived, and was

making ready to rise to the occasion.
Also we felt, all three of us, that we were extremely shabby-

looking objects, and though none of us said so, each did his best
to improve his personal appearance. First of all Bickley cut