Leaning over the side of the machine, her chin resting upon her hands at the edge of the car, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her form was tall and slender, her features exquisitely regular in contour and her eyes deep brown and soft as velvet. Her fleecy white tunic was without color save a broad band of green that formed a zigzag pattern around its edge, and in her dark hair was twined a wreath of white blossoms with delicate green leaves.
I noticed that her skin was almost white in the sunshine, the bronze hue being so soft as to be scarcely observable. She had not the same expression of sadness that seemed an inherited characteristic of her people, but gazed upward with a faint smile that showed her dainty white teeth, full at the face of Duncan Moit. When I appeared upon the scene the inventor was sitting on the side of the car opposite the girl and returning her frank regard with a look of wonder and admiration.
A little back stood a silent group of young women, whose demeanor indicated that they were the girl’s attendants. Their eyes, I noticed, roved over the strange machine with eager curiosity.
Chief Ogo uttered an exclamation of impatience and strode quickly forward.
“This is no place for you, my Princess!” he said, addressing the girl. “You must retire at once to your rooms.”
She turned her head without altering her position and said in a calm, sweet tone:
“Does my lord Ogo command Ilalah, then?”
“When the king is not present it is my duty to guard his women,” he returned, brusquely.
With a contemptuous shrug as her only reply she looked toward Duncan again, and as if continuing a conversation already begun, she said to him in soft but awkward English:
“And shall it fly like a bird, too?”