A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille

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triumph, was Layelah.
"Ataesmzori alonla," said she, with a sweet smile, giving me the
usual salutation of the Kosekin.
I was too bewildered to say a word, and stood mute as before, looking
first at her and then at Almah.
The sight of Almah a prisoner once more, surrounded by the Kosekin,
excited me to madness. I seized my rifle, and raised it as if to take
aim; but Almah, who understood the movement, cried to me:
"Put down your sepet-ram, Atam-or! you can do nothing for me. The
Kosekin are too numerous."
"Sepet-ram!" said Layelah; "what do you mean by that? If your
sepet-ram has any power, do not try to use it, Atam-or, or else
I shall have to order my followers to give to Almah the blessing of
death."
At this my rifle was lowered: the whole truth flashed upon me, and I
saw, too, the madness of resistance. I might kill one or two, but the
rest would do as Layelah said, and I should speedily be disarmed. Well
I knew how powerless were the thunders of my fire-arms to terrify
these Kosekin; for the prospect of death would only rouse them to a
mad enthusiasm, and they would all rush upon me as they would rush
upon a jantannin--to slay and be slain. The odds were too great. A
crowd of Europeans could be held in check far more easily than these
death-loving Kosekin. The whole truth was thus plain: we were
prisoners, and were at their mercy.
Layelah showed no excitement or anger whatever. She looked and spoke
in her usual gracious and amiable fashion, with a sweet smile on her
face.
"We knew," said she, "that you would be in distress in this desolate
place, and that you would not know where to go from Magones; and so we
have come, full of the most eager desire to relieve your wants. We
have brought with us food and drink, and are ready to do everything
for you that you may desire. We have had great trouble in finding you,
and have coursed over the shores for vast distances, and far over the