positively sinful. The entrance of a menagerie and horticultural
exhibition into the town--for thus I explained to myself what was going
on before my eyes--could not be severely censured by the harshest critic,
and I prepared to show my affability by joining in an innocent diversion
and popular entertainment.

Soon I found that, after all, I was not to be absolutely last in the
advance of this miscellaneous exhibition, nor were the intentions of the
people so harmless as I had imagined. This was no affair of cottage
window gardens, and a distribution of prizes.

The crowd which had collected in front of the chief's house opened
suddenly, and, in the throng of people, I detected a movement of
excitement and alarm. Next I saw the horns of animals mixed with the
heads and shoulders of the multitude, and then an extraordinary spectacle
burst, at full speed, upon my gaze. Four great wild stags, plunging,
rearing, and kicking, rushed by, dragging a small vehicle of unusual
shape, in which stood, to my horror, the chief's beautiful daughter,
Doto. The vehicle passed me like a flash of horns, in spite of the
attempts of four resolute men, who clung at the stags' heads to restrain
the impetuosity of these coursers. The car, I should explain--though I
can hardly expect to be believed--was not unlike the floor of a hansom
cab, from which the seat, the roof, the driver's perch, and everything
else should have been removed, except the basis, the wheels, and the
splashboard, the part on which we generally find the advertisements of
Messrs. Mappin and Webb. On this floor, then, Doto stood erect, holding
the reins; her yellow hair had become unbound, and was floating like a
flag behind her, and her beautiful face, far from displaying any alarm,
was flushed with pleasure and pride. She was dressed in splendid and
glittering attire, over which was fastened--so strange were the manners