Page:Taylor - In the Dwellings of the Wilderness.djvu/22

 men were the first Americans he had met, otherwise he would have said "All right." He fell back into the shadows; and by degrees the chant died to a whimper and a whine, and ceased.

"We'll get to the east wing of the palace to-morrow, don't you think?" Deane inquired.

Merritt stretched comfortably on the warm ground and cast his hat aside.

"I should think so." His voice became slow, hushed to accord with the quiet of the night. "The palace where those old people lived and died two thousand years ago. Fancy what this place must have looked like then, the centre and heart of a civilisation that throbbed with pulses as keen as ours. Tell you what, Deane, it