"Would be rather more slow to get up enthusiasm, eh?" Jack interrupted with a laugh. "Not at all. Fooling about in a dark, gloomy forest, with no apparent end in view, was one thing; taking part in an adventure of this kind to help a lot of people who have received us kindly, is quite another; to say nothing of helping the king, who's a regular brick, and his daughter, who's----" "An angel!" put in Leonard. And Jack laughed, but approvingly, and said good-night. CHAPTER XV. MARVELS OF MANOA. During the following days Elwood and Templemore learned much of the strange land in which they found themselves; of its people, of their condition, and other details. But, since to give every separate conversation, incident, or other means by which they gained their information, would be tedious, it will suffice to cite some extracts from Templemore's diary that summarise the knowledge then and subsequently obtained. * * * * * "I am able now to jot down some account of this strange place and its inhabitants, so far, at least, as my limited knowledge of its language and other means of information go. "The people seem to be amiable, fairly intelligent--considering, of course, that they know nothing of the great world outside--and generally well disposed. Although they maintain a small force of 'soldiers' or 'guards,' and drill and discipline them with as much assiduity as though they might be called upon to engage in warfare, yet, as a matter of course, there are no people with whom they can go to war; nor is there any likelihood of their having to fight, except amongst themselves. And this, unfortunately, has not been unknown; moreover, there are 'signs in the air' that it may not be unknown again. "An unexpected discovery we have made is, that this mountain is connected with another close to it and called 'Myrlanda.' The connection is underground, and was made originally in the course of mining operations. "Undoubtedly, _once_ these people were a great nation. Their arts and sciences, their buildings, their engineering works, and their knowledge of mechanics, all give evidence of this; but, since a nation, isolated as this has been for ages, must necessarily either progress or retrogress, the Manoans slowly, gradually, but surely, have done the latter. They have numerous museums which are full of wonders of all sorts, pointing to lost arts, lost sciences, lost inventions, lost knowledge of all kinds. The fact that the demand has fallen off with diminishing population has led to the discontinuance of manufactures; though, in the museums, there are evidences that they once existed.