Celis was a blue-and-gold-and-rose person; Alma, black-
and-white-and-red, a blazing beauty. Ellador was brown: hair
dark and soft, like a seal coat; clear brown skin with a healthy
red in it; brown eyes--all the way from topaz to black velvet they
seemed to range--splendid girls, all of them.
They had seen us first of all, far down in the lake below, and
flashed the tidings across the land even before our first exploring flight.
They had watched our landing, flitted through the forest with us,
hidden in that tree and--I shrewdly suspect--giggled on purpose.
They had kept watch over our hooded machine, taking turns
at it; and when our escape was announced, had followed along-
side for a day or two, and been there at the last, as described.
They felt a special claim on us--called us "their men"--and
when we were at liberty to study the land and people, and be
studied by them, their claim was recognized by the wise leaders.
But I felt, we all did, that we should have chosen them
among millions, unerringly.
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