A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille

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did. I went back to the shore, and returned on my steps, shouting all
the time, until at length I was rejoiced to hear the answering shout
of Almah. After this it was easy to reach her.
We now took up the grapple and once more mounted. The athaleb, eager
to be off, raised himself quickly in the air, and soon our late
resting-place was far behind. His flight was now different from what
it was before. Then he stood off in one straight line for a certain
fixed destination, as though under some guidance; for though I did not
direct him, still his long training had taught him to fly to Magones.
But now training and guidance were both wanting, and the athaleb was
left to the impulse of his hunger and the guidance of his instinct; so
he flew no longer in one undeviating straight line, but rose high, and
bent his head down low, and flew and soared in vast circles, even as I
have seen a vulture or a condor sweep about while searching for food.
All the while we were drawing farther and farther away from the spot
which we had left.
We passed the lofty volcano; we saw more plainly the rivers of molten
lava; we passed vast cliffs and bleak mountains, all of which were
more terrific than all that we had left behind. Now the darkness
lessened, for the aurora was brightening in the sky, and gathering up
swiftly and gloriously all its innumerable beams, and flashing forth
its lustrous glow upon the world. To us this was equal to the return
of day; it was like a blessed dawn. Light had come, and we rejoiced
and were exceeding glad.
Now we saw before us, far beyond the black precipices, a broad bay
with sloping shores, and a wide beach which seemed like a beach of
sand. The surf broke here, but beyond the surf was the gentle sandy
declivity, and beyond this there appeared the shores, still rocky and
barren and desolate, but far preferable to what we had left behind.
Far away in the interior arose lofty mountains and volcanoes, while
behind us flamed the burning peak which we had passed.
Here the athaleb wheeled in long, circuitous flights, which grew lower
and lower, until at length he descended upon the sandy beach, where
I saw a vast sea-monster lying dead. It had evidently been thrown up
here by the sea. It was like one of those monsters which I had seen
from the galley of the Kohen at the time of the sacred hunt. By this
the athaleb descended, and at once began to devour it, tearing out