Bands of them reeled past the garden walls, over which Ned and his companions leaned, watching the bustling midnight streets in the moonlight. Some of them were trying to sing, others laughed hysterically, while a few of the morbid class, remembering the fine women they had lost, wept feebly while they recounted the departed one's charms. Ned almost pitied those ownerless and most degenerate goats. Now that they had seen the great queen, Ned had only one desire left; that was, to lead his men safely from this city, and back to Rhodesia as quickly as possible. He had passed through every street and alley until he knew each mart and building by heart. He and his companions had sailed on the lake and along the canals that intersected the city, hundreds of times. They had watched the men in their open shops: the working jewellers and enamellers, the carvers, sculptors, and painters; the armourers and blacksmiths; the confectioners, bakers, hairdressers, and loom-workers. These were all quaint and interesting for a time, but they had now grown stale. They abhorred the men, and did not feel over comfortable with those bold-eyed, combative women, beautiful although most of them were. The day when Isori returned at the head of her victorious cohorts was the climax to all the brilliant sights they had witnessed; after that procession with the audience which followed were over, Ned began to feel that he could not get too quickly away. The citizens had been preparing for days to give their queen a right royal welcome. For the past week advance messengers had arrived every hour, announcing the progress of the army as it approached. The roads and streets had been crowded with people flocking in, and every house of entertainment was filled. In answer to his enquiries about the country, he was told that the lake was a hundred miles long by fifty broad. A wide river flowed from the eastern end of it, and, after a considerable distance, became a boiling cataract that rushed through deep gorges into low marsh and forest lands. To the north lay a range of lofty mountains, precipitous and densely wooded, where dwelt the dwarfs, who were hunted, captured, and used as slaves. In their wild state those dwarfs were rather troublesome neighbours, being very numerous and fierce, also using poisoned arrows, the slightest prick of which was fatal. They were also cannibals of the most repulsive type, torturing their victims mercilessly when they could trap them. To the west, as in the south, spread vast deserts. The climate of Karnadama was all that could be desired: our heroes and their followers had never had a day of sickness, even during the long and wet season. At present the weather was simply delightful.