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54 then dismissed them, but instead of having been encouraged, the maidens were more alarmed than before.

Thoth took Daphne aside, and said to her—

"How comes it that thy courage is so much stronger than that of thy companions? We must make another attempt to gain their confidence."

He then gave an order to his men, and they brought up on deck a strange mechanical contrivance. In shape it was something like the body of a bird, and was composed principally of a kind of wicker-work made from some shining metal. The lower part was apparently solid. In a few words Thoth explained to Daphne that by means of this brazen bird, as he termed it, a man could be carried with the greatest swiftness through the air. He commanded one of the men to enter the machine, and, to the astonishment of the