He began singing in German a ballad that recited the sorrows of a pale maiden prisoner in a dark tower on the Rhine, whence her true knight rescued her, after many and fearsome adventures.

On the last stave he ceased abruptly, and an exclamation of wonder broke from him.
They had been riding along a narrow trail that afforded, as Oscar said, a short cut across a long timbered ridge that lay between them and Armitage's property.

The path was rough and steep, and the low-hanging pine boughs and heavy underbrush increased the difficulties of ascent.
Straining to the top, a new valley, hidden until now, was disclosed in long and beautiful vistas.
Armitage dropped the reins upon the neck of his panting horse.
"It is a fine valley--yes ?" asked Oscar.
"It is a possession worthy of the noblest gods!" replied Armitage.

"There is a white building with colonnades away over there--is it the house of the reigning deity ?" "It is not, sir," answered Oscar, who spoke English with a kind of dogged precision, giving equal value to all words.

"It is a vast hotel where the rich spend much money.