I had noticed that as we traveled northward from the Alus' country

the land had gradually risen until we were now several hundred feet

above the level of the inland sea. Ajor told me that the Galus

country was still higher and considerably colder, which accounted

for the scarcity of reptiles. The change in form and kinds of the

lower animals was even more marked than the evolutionary stages

of man. The diminutive _ecca_, or small horse, became a rough-coated

and sturdy little pony in the Kro-lu country. I saw a greater

number of small lions and tigers, though many of the huge ones still

persisted, while the woolly mammoth was more in evidence, as were

several varieties of the Labyrinthadonta. These creatures, from

which God save me, I should have expected to find further south;

but for some unaccountable reason they gain their greatest bulk in

the Kro-lu and Galu countries, though fortunately they are rare.

I rather imagine that they are a very early life which is rapidly

nearing extinction in Caspak, though wherever they are found, they

constitute a menace to all forms of life.

It was mid-afternoon when To-mar and So-al bade us good-bye. We

were not far from Kro-lu village; in fact, we had approached it

much closer than we had intended, and now Ajor and I were to make

a detour toward the sea while our companions went directly in search

of the Kro-lu chief.

Ajor and I had gone perhaps a mile or two and were just about to

emerge from a dense wood when I saw that ahead of us which caused

me to draw back into concealment, at the same time pushing Ajor

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