Standing at less than ten yards' distance, the correspondent raised his weapon and, without apparently taking aim, pressed the trigger. There was a faint flash, a sharp crack, and a very thin wreath of smoke. "You have failed!" exclaimed the man Garth. "Your arrow, or whatever you call it, has not even struck the hauberk." "If you were inside it you wouldn't be alive now," replied Reeves, striding over to the palm tree. "See!" The look of incredulity on the faces of the Croixilian soldiers turned to one of blank astonishment when they saw that a link in both back and front of the hauberk had been severed as if with a cold chisel, while a small circular hole marked the passage of the bullet into the shield. Turning the buckler round, a jagged gash, caused by the bullet flattening against the steel, was disclosed. Pulling out his dagger, Reeves probed the tree trunk, and presently extracted the distorted lump of nickel and lead. "By St. George, I crave your pardon, stranger!" exclaimed Garth. "This passes my understanding. Mail is useless against the weapon. But now you must break your fast, for it is a good five leagues to the city." "Doesn't it seem wonderful?" remarked Gerald, as the three sat down to breakfast. "We have suddenly dropped back into the Middle Ages. Why haven't these fellows made progress, the same as the rest of the world?" "Possibly they have--after a fashion," replied Reeves; "only, you see, their rate of progress has been slower. I should put it down to want of intercourse with other nations; consequently a sort of national stagnation has ensued. That is evident by the disbelief expressed by the man Garth, who seems quite a decent sort of fellow in spite of it." "I wonder how they will swallow yarns about railways, aeroplanes, submarines, and wireless telegraphy, for example?" said Hugh. "I would advise you not to spring these upon them all at once," replied Reeves dryly. "They might need ocular demonstration--then where would you be? But hurry up with your breakfast; they are waiting for us before they make a start." Soon the cavalcade began its homeward journey, the soldiers riding horses rather higher than those on which the baggage was packed, while the three Englishmen were provided with steeds resembling those ridden by the Croixilians. Reeves noticed that the saddle was very similar in construction to those used by the Arabs, but the stirrups were more after the style of Europe. Also he remarked that all the men wore a copper cross, which was affixed to the breast of the hauberk after the coat of mail had been donned. The oasis extended for nearly a mile, giving place to a broad and deep ravine through which a river flowed with extreme violence, leaping over ledges and foaming betwixt jagged rocks in a manner that rendered it impossible for a horseman to cross. "Whence comes this river?" asked Reeves.