“Why, of course!” she exclaimed, astonished at so self-evident a question. “How else do you think we got here beneath the sea?” And she pointed significantly to the great greenish roof and the bright, golden orbs above us, while into her eyes came a wonderfully sweet, indulgent light, as into the eyes of one who delights to teach children the obvious. “Where did you suppose we could be now,” she continued, “except in Archeon, the Capital of Atlantis?” It was at this point that Stranahan thought it time to let himself be heard. He drew his lips far apart as if to speak, uttered an inarticulate syllable or two, and then stopped abruptly short, as though unable to frame the desired words. “What is it, my friend?” asked Aelios, turning to Stranahan with a gracious smile. But since Stranahan could only gape idiotically in reply, I thought it my duty to answer for him. “What I cannot understand,” I said, returning to the question that had been puzzling me most of all, “is that you say there was a submergence, and yet seem to think it was not a disaster. Surely, if the whole continent of Atlantis was lost--” “What makes you think the whole continent was lost?” demanded Aelios, a quizzical, almost amused light in her great blue eyes. “Why, the better part of Atlantis is safe here beneath the sea!” “Safe here beneath the sea?” I cried, in growing confusion. “Why, how is that possible?” “That is a long story,” she started to explain. “It goes back very far, thousands of years, in fact--” “And cannot you tell me that story?” I proposed, eagerly. “Cannot you tell me from the beginning? Remember, I am a stranger here and find everything very confusing. What is this Atlantis of yours? And how old is it? And how large? And how did it come to be submerged? And how does it happen that you are living here now beneath the ocean?” “Whole volumes have been written in answer to those questions,” declared Aelios, with a winning smile. “But I’ll try to explain everything as best I can.” And she paused momentarily, while Stranahan craned his long neck far forward, as if to take in all that she had to say.