mysterious Hesea who had sent the letter from the Mountain, commanding the Shaman Simbri to meet us: the priestess or spirit whom he declared was mighty from of old
and had servants in the earth and air.
Presently the prow of our barge bumped against the bank of the river, and looking round I saw that Simbri had left the boat in which he sat and was preparing to enter ours. This he did, and, placing himself gravely on a seat in front of us, explained that nightfall was coming on, and he wished to give us his company and protection through the dark.
And to see that we do not give him the slip in it,
muttered Leo.
Then the drivers whipped up their ponies, and we went on again.
Look behind you,
said Simbri presently, and you will see the city where you will sleep to-night.
We turned ourselves, and there, about ten miles away, perceived a flat-roofed town of considerable, though not of very great size. Its position was good, for it was set upon a large island that stood a hundred feet or more above the level of the plain, the river dividing into two branches at the foot of it, and, as we discovered afterwards, uniting again beyond.
The vast mound upon which this city was built had the appearance of being artificial, but very possibly the soil whereof it was formed had been washed up in past ages during times of flood, so that from a mudbank in the centre of the broad river it grew by degrees to its present proportions. With the exception of a columned and towered edifice that crowned the city and seemed to be encircled by gardens, we could see no great buildings in the place.
How is the city named?
asked Leo of Simbri.
Kaloon,
he answered, as was all this land even when my fore-fathers, the conquerors, marched across the mountains and took it more than two thousand years ago.
