"It's the fault of the aneroid barometer,
my dear. We were very comfortable and
commonplace until that came along and
revealed anomalies. The secret lies, I
suppose, in the trend of the strata, which is
generally north and south. You see the
ridges cropping out all through the desert;
and there's a good deal of lava oozing over
them, too. They probably act as walls, to
prevent the sea getting in from the west, or
the Colorado leaking in from the east."

"In that case," remarked the general, "a
little more seismic disturbance might produce
a change."

"It would have to be more than a little, I
suspect," returned Meschines.

"Kamaiakan told me that the Indians
have a prophecy that a great lake will come
back and make the desert fruitful, and that
there are some who know the very place
where the water will begin to flow." And
here the hammock, with a final convulsion,
gave birth to a beautiful young woman, in a
diaphanous silk dress and a white lace
mantilla. She crossed the veranda, and seated
herself on the broad arm of her father's