On entering the back room, a curious sight presented itself.

The seeress looked far different from the picture Paul had formed of her in his mind.

She was not over five feet high and so thin and wrinkled that she resembled a mummy rather than a human being.

On her head she wore a turban formed of some bright colored cloth, while the balance of her apparel consisted of a dark robe embroidered with snakes and other reptiles.

The room was adorned with skins of serpents, bunches of herbs, and many weird looking objects.
"So, Captain Balbo, you came to see me at last," exclaimed the old crone; "and who is that young stranger from the far off north that I see at your side ?" The captain was dumbfounded at hearing his name announced by a person whom he had never seen before, but shrewdly remarked: "If ye know me, why is it ye don't know this young stranger ?" "Ah," responded the fortune-teller, "if he sought me I would know him.
He has simply accompanied you as a sightseer.