I determined to speak, come evil or come good!
Fixing my gaze upon their fair young faces, I uncovered and addressed them thus:
“O, strange and mysterious beings, resent not this bold intrusion of a puny mortal upon your sacred repose! Speak to me! If ye so will, let me take my feet off the soil of your fair island. But ere I go, speak to me, let me know whether ye be not the creations of some spirit of this isle, or whether ye are really living, breathing beings!”
No sound issued from those rosy lips, parted as if in the very act of speaking.
No movement, no tremor, came to break the marble-like pose of these fair figures.
A whole minute elapsed.
To me it seemed an eternity.
I stood riveted to the ground in most anxious suspense.
The minutes dragged their heavy bodies along one after another.
But joy unutterable!