"Nowhere. Nobody knows. It is all forgotten--long ago forgotten--with no records, no memories--not even a tradition." There was a silence. Cyrus knew that his hearers were having more or less difficulty in digesting his statements. However, he smiled pleasantly, as he said: "My sympathies are with you, gentlemen, and my thanks for your courteous reception of my absurd story. But there is one thing I do know about these people. Although their buildings were often as high as ours, I know their legs were shorter. All their stone steps, in every case, had risers about half the size of ours." "Ah! Then they were a race of pigmies." "I should think so, and with long arms and very short legs. They were evidently strong on sculpture, as there are fragments of statues, heads, bas reliefs, monuments, etc., all scattered about. And the people represented are very much like ourselves, in some ways." [Illustration: "WITH LONG ARMS AND VERY SHORT LEGS"--_Page 216_] "You say you were there at dusk. Why didn't you see it by day light?" "Well, the--er--climate is peculiar. The air, if you can call it air, is so very rarefied as to be no protection whatever against the heat of the sun. And the surface of the ground, by daylight, would burn your feet. And by night, there being no atmosphere twixt you and space, the temperature is about 300 degrees below zero." "Three hundred degrees!" Cyrus smiled and nodded. "That's what the scientists say. I had no thermometer with me." "But no human being could live in such a temperature!" "That is why I stuck to the twilight. And I suspect that is why the cities were built in the cañons." "Why, of course! That explains it. I was wondering what on earth could induce anybody to want to live in those God-forsaken chasms." Mr. Bressani, however, had a deeper interest in abnormal gems than in climatic conditions. "Did you find this piece all alone, by itself,--apart from others?" "No; other pieces were near it." "But not so large as this." "Oh, yes! Some were much larger." Mr. Bressani frowned. "Larger than this?" "Yes, much larger." "But not diamonds--not this same material?" "I suppose they were. They looked just like it." "Then why didn't you bring a larger piece? It would be a fabulous fortune, in itself." Cyrus seemed uncertain as to his answer. "Well--there were--many reasons. One was that I did not know they were diamonds. Another was that I needed both hands for other purposes and could not carry--just at that moment--anything too large to go in my pocket. In fact I tried to pick up a beautifully carved fragment nearly the size of a football, but I had to drop it for this smaller one." The three jewelers regarded him with eager faces, as children listen to a fairy tale. Mr. Bressani in a low, somewhat awe stricken tone, said: "And there is really much of it?" "Lots of it." "But, of course, you are not absolutely sure it is the same material?"