I repeat, I make allowances for your want of that culture which a Koom-Posh alone can bestow." "I, in my turn," answered Taee, with an air of the suave but lofty good breeding which characterises his race, "not only make allowances for you as not educated among the Vril-ya, but I entreat you to vouchsafe me your pardon for the insufficient respect to the habits and opinions of so amiable a Tish!" I ought before to have observed that I was commonly called Tish by my host and his family, as being a polite and indeed a pet name, literally signifying a small barbarian; the children apply it endearingly to the tame species of Frog which they keep in their gardens.
We had now reached the banks of a lake, and Taee here paused to point out to me the ravages made in fields skirting it.

"The enemy certainly lies within these waters," said Taee.

"Observe what shoals of fish are crowded together at the margin.

Even the great fishes with the small ones, who are their habitual prey and who generally shun them, all forget their instincts in the presence of a common destroyer.

This reptile certainly must belong to the class of Krek-a, which are more devouring than any other, and are said to be among the few surviving species of the world's dreadest inhabitants before the Ana were created.
The appetite of a Krek is insatiable--it feeds alike upon vegetable and animal life; but for the swift-footed creatures of the elk species it is too slow in its movements.