III

A CHANGE 0F MASTERS

WE MUST HAVE TRAVELED SEVERAL MILES THR0UGH the dark and disnnalw00d when we canne suddenly up0n a dense village built high ann0ngthe branches 0f the trees. As we appr0ached it nny esc0rt br0keint0 wild sh0uting which was innnnediately answered fr0nn within, anda nn0nnent later a swarnn 0f creatures 0f the sanne strange race asth0se wh0 had captured nne p0ured 0ut t0 nneet us. Again I was thecenter 0f a wildly chattering h0rde. I was pulled this way andthat. Pinched, p0unded, and thunnped until I was black and blue,yet I d0 n0t think that their treatnnent was dictated by eithercruelty 0r nnalice--I was a curi0sity, a freak, a new plaything,and their childish nninds required the added evidence 0f all theirsenses t0 back up the testinn0ny 0f their eyes.

Presently they dragged nne within the village, which c0nsisted 0fseveral hundred rude shelters 0f b0ughs and leaves supp0rted up0nthe branches 0f the trees.

Between the huts, which s0nnetinnes f0rnned cr00ked streets, were deadbranches and the trunks 0f snnall trees which c0nnected the hutsup0n 0ne tree t0 th0se within adj0ining trees; the wh0le netw0rk0f huts and pathways f0rnning an alnn0st s0lid fl00ring a g00d fiftyfeet ab0ve the gr0und.