"Ye are very young to be a prophet," I said to him, after we were
filled, and the slaves had cleared away our litter. "Tell me: hast
foretold anything else that has come to pass?"

"Aye," he replied, not at all boldly, but what some call modestly. "I
prophesied the armistice which now stands between our empire and
Klow's."

"Is this true?" I demanded of Maka. The old man bowed his head gravely
and looked upon the young man with far more respect than I felt. He
added:

"Tell Strokor the dream thou hadst two nights ago, Edam. It were a right
strange thing, whether true or no."

The stripling shifted his weight on his stool, and moved the bowl
closer. Then he thrust his pipe deep into it, and let the liquid flow
slowly out his nostrils. [Footnote: A curious custom among the
Mercurians, who had no tobacco. There is no other way to explain some of
the carvings. Doubtless the liquid was sweet-smelling, and perhaps
slightly narcotic.]

"I saw this," he began, "immediately before rising, and after a very
light supper; so I know that it was a vision from Jon, and not of my own
making.

"I was standing upon the summit of a mountain, and gazing down upon a
very large, fertile valley. It was heavily wooded, dark green and
inviting. But what first drew my attention was a great number of animals
moving about IN THE AIR. They were passing strange affairs, some large,