The Coming Race Page 8

  Chapter VIII.

  When I once more awoke I saw by my bed-side the child who had broughtthe rope and grappling-hooks to the house in which I had been firstreceived, and which, as I afterwards learned, was the residence ofthe chief magistrate of the tribe. The child, whose name was Taee(pronounced Tar-ee), was the magistrate's eldest son. I found thatduring my last sleep or trance I had made still greater advance in thelanguage of the country, and could converse with comparative ease andfluency.

  This child was singularly handsome, even for the beautiful race to whichhe belonged, with a countenance very manly in aspect for his years, andwith a more vivacious and energetic expression than I had hitherto seenin the serene and passionless faces of the men. He brought me the tableton which I had drawn the mode of my descent, and had also sketched thehead of the horrible reptile that had scared me from my friend's corpse.Pointing to that part of the drawing, Taee put to me a few questionsrespecting the size and form of the monster, and the cave or chasm fromwhich it had emerged. His interest in my answers seemed so grave asto divert him for a while from any curiosity as to myself or myantecedents. But to my great embarrassment, seeing how I was pledged tomy host, he was just beginning to ask me where I came from, when Zee,fortunately entered, and, overhearing him, said, "Taee, give to ourguest any information he may desire, but ask none from him in return. Toquestion him who he is, whence he comes, or wherefore he is here, wouldbe a breach of the law which my father has laid down in this house."

  "So be it," said Taee, pressing his hand to his breast; and from thatmoment, till the one in which I saw him last, this child, with whom Ibecame very intimate, never once put to me any of the questions thusinterdicted.