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 old fellow? Another moment and we were bound to be found out, and you can guess as well as I what would have been the summary proceeding by which we should have made our forcible exit from this beautiful land."

"It was a bold stroke, Girlie; worthy of you. But I want to know where it will all lead to."

"To the most glorious discoveries the world of antiquity has ever dreamed of," he replied enthusiastically, his eyes literally glowing with buoyancy of spirit. "Discoveries of which my dear father used to dream, over which he broke his heart when he realised that they would be made by other eyes, other hands than his. I mean to rule over these people, Mark, study them, know them, love them, conquer them; then, having learned all their secrets, go back to England and set the world gaping with the treasures which I shall place before its wondering eyes."

"Go back to England, Girlie," I said with a laugh; "that sounds feasible, doesn't it? You forget that Hammersmith lies some considerable distance from this picturesque Elysium, that the last 'bus to the Broadway has gone, and the tramway service is interrupted for the present. There is only one exit from this fairyland, and that is the one through which malefactors are cast out, without food or water, into the desert wilderness; unless you propose to cross those hills over there in a balloon."

"Propose? I propose nothing at present, old Mark, but to enjoy ourselves to our hearts' content. I as king-regent of this land, and you as my guide, philosopher, etc. After that—presently—a long time ahead, I hope, when you and I are tired of this place, and are ready to let the world know some of these wondrous secrets, then …"