"It is the language of my forefathers, and as a child I could speak it well. Listen, and I will tell you what it says. Long years ago there was a rich and powerful white race living in these lands, and they built a wonderful city on the Mountain of Gold. But the Children of Darkness captured the city, and they enticed people up there so they could sacrifice them to the Devil-tree. There is never any thunder or lightning on top of Roraima, and its crest is a flat tableland edged with a high forest and guarded by white eagles. The mountains surrounding it were once islands in a great lake, and Mellenda was the ancient king of the Children of Light who lived there. The King was a man of peace and very great wisdom, and he had a wife and four beautiful children whom his enemies, the Children of Darkness, sacrificed to the Devil-tree while he was away in a distant part of the kingdom. He had a great fleet and could have punished the Children of Darkness."
The old crone ceased speaking, and seemed lost in deep study. Finally Carino roused her by asking:
"Did Mellenda do nothing for revenge?"
"No; he went away, but he promised he would come back again, and he will. Not long after his departure came the great sinking of the waters, and the lake of Parima has disappeared into another region of our country. For centuries after this the surrounding land was but a chaos of swamp and mud. By degrees vegetation grew up, and in time the trees became the thick tangled forest that cannot now be penetrated."
"Did this Mellenda take with him all the gold and silver?" asked a Cavalier, intent upon finding something worth carrying away.
"In the city on top of the mountain is kept a full suit of his gold armor, bright and ready, waiting to receive him."
"We will get it and take it home with us," said the Spaniards, now all eagerness.
"We, of Mellenda's race, firmly believe that he will come again, and none of us would dare touch any of his belongings," said the crone, earnestly.
"You need not touch it," began one of the Cavaliers. "We will bring it down the trail ourselves."
"There is no trail up the sides of Roraima. The entrance to its hidden passageway is guarded by a giant Devil-tree."