CHAPTER XIX.
At almost the same moment Gaspard stumbled to his feet.
"Asleep--asleep!" he exclaimed--"_Mon Dieu!_--the shame of it!--the shame! What pigs are men! To sleep after food and wine, and to leave a woman alone like this!...

the shame!" Morgana, quietly steering the "White Eagle," smiled.
"Poor Gaspard!" she said--"You could not help it! You were so tired! And you, Marchese! You were both quite worn out! I was glad to see you sleeping--there is no shame in it! As I have often told you, I can manage the ship alone." But Rivardi was white with anger and self-reproach.
"Gross pigs we are!" he said, hotly--"Gaspard is right! And yet--" here he passed a hand across his brow and tried to collect his thoughts--"yes!--surely something unusual must have happened! We heard bells ringing--" Morgana watched him closely, her hand on her air-vessel's helm.
"Yes--we all thought we heard bells"-- she said--"But that was a noise in our own brains--the clamour of our own blood brought on by pressure--we were flying at too great a height and the tension was too strong--" Gaspard threw out his hands with a half defiant gesture.
"No, Madama! It could not be so! I swear we never left our own level! What happened I cannot tell--but I felt that I was struck by a sudden blow--and I fell without force to recover--" "Sleep struck you that sudden blow, you poor Gaspard!" said Morgana, "And you have not slept so long--barely an hour--just long enough for me to hover a while above this black desert and then turn homeward,--I want no more of the Sahara!" Rivardi, smarting under a sense of loss and incompetency, went up to her.
"Give me the helm!" he said, almost sharply--"You have done enough!" She resigned her place to him, smiling at his irritation.
"You are sure you are quite rested ?" she asked.
"Rested!" he echoed the word disdainfully--"I should never have rested at all had I been half the man I profess to be! Why do you turn back?
I thought you were bent on exploring the Great Desert!--that you meant to try and find the traditional Brazen City ?" She shrugged her shoulders.
"I do not like the prospect"-- she said--"There is nothing but sand--interminable billows of sand! I can well believe it was all ocean once,--when the earth gave a sudden tilt, and all the water was thrown off from one surface to another.

If we could dig deep enough below the sand I think we should find remains of wrecked ships, with the skeletons of antediluvian men and animals, remains of one of the many wasted civilisations--" "You do not answer me--" interrupted Rivardi with impatience--"What of your search for the Brazen City ?" She raised her lovely, mysterious eyes and looked full at him.
"Do you believe it exists ?" she asked.
He gave a gesture of annoyance.
"Whether I believe or not is of no importance,"-- he answered--"YOU have some idea about it, and you have every means of proving the truth of your idea--yet, after making the journey from Sicily for the purpose, you suddenly turn back!" Still she kept her eyes upon him.
"You must not mind the caprices of a woman!" she said, with a smile--"And do please remember the 'Brazen City' is not MY idea! The legend of this undiscovered place in the desert was related by your friend Don Aloysius--and he was careful to say it was 'only' a legend.
Why should you think I accept it as a truth ?" "Surely it was the motive of your flight here ?" he demanded, imperatively.
Her brows drew together in a slight frown.
"My dear Marchese, I allow no one to question my motives"-- she said with sudden coldness--"That I have decided to go no farther in search of the Brazen City is my own affair." "But--not even to wait for the full daylight!" he expostulated--"You could not see it by night even if it existed!" "Not unless it was lit like other cities!" she said, smiling--"I suppose if such a city existed, its inhabitants would need some sort of illuminant--they would not grope about in the dark.

In that case it would be seen from our ship as well by night as by day." Gaspard, busy with some mechanical detail, looked up.
"Then why not make a search for it while we are here ?" he said--"You evidently believe in it!" "I have turned the 'White Eagle' homeward, and shall not turn again"-- she said--"But I do not see any reason why such a city should not exist and be discovered some day.

Explorers in tropical forests find the remains or beginnings of a different race of men from our own--pygmies, and such like beings--there is nothing really against the possibility of an undiscovered City in the Great Desert.