Here, directly within the entrance
was a large room furnished with massive benches and tables, many of
which were elaborately hand carved with the figures of the inevitable
parrot, the lion, or the monkey, the parrot always predominating.
Behind one of the tables sat a man who differed in no way that the
captives could discover from those who accompanied them. Before
this person the party halted, and one of the men who had brought
them made what seemed to be an oral report. Whether they were
before a judge, a military officer, or a civil dignitary they could
not know, but evidently he was a man of authority, for, after
listening to whatever recital was being made to him the while
he closely scrutinized the two captives, he made a single futile
attempt to converse with them and then issued some curt orders to
him who had made the report.
Almost immediately two of the men approached Bertha Kircher and
signaled her to accompany them. Smith-Oldwick started to follow her
but was intercepted by one of their guards. The girl stopped then
and turned back, at the same time looking at the man at the table
and making signs with her hands, indicating, as best she could,
that she wished Smith-Oldwick to remain with her, but the fellow
only shook his head negatively and motioned to the guards to remove
her. The Englishman again attempted to follow but was restrained.
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