At that instant she was seen.  A tall, dark-haired chap on the far side of the table glanced up and gave a sharp, startled exclamation.  Instantly the whole dozen whirled around and with one accord shot to their feet.

Rolla stopped short.

There was a second’s silence; then the white-bearded man, who seemed, to be the leader of the group, said something peremptory in a deep, compelling voice.  Rolla did not understand.

He repeated it, this time a little less commandingly; and Rolla, after swallowing desperately, inclined her head in the diffident way she had, and said: 

“Are ye friends or enemies?”

Eleven of the twelve looked puzzled.  The dark-haired man, who had been the first to see her, however, gave a muttered exclamation; then he cogitated a moment, wet his lips and said something that sounded like:  “What did you say?  Say it again!”

Rolla repeated.

The dark-haired man listened intently.  Immediately he fell to nodding with great vigor, and thought deeply again before making another try:  “We are your friends.  Whence came ye, and what seek ye?”

Rolla had to listen closely to what he said.  The language was substantially the same as hers; but the verbs were misplaced in the sentences, the accenting was different, and certain of the vowels were flatted.  After a little, however, the man caught her way of talking and was able to approximate it quite well, so that she understood him readily.

“I seek,” Rolla replied, “food and rest.  I have traveled far and am weary.”

“Ye look it,” commented the man.  His name, Rolla found out later, was Somat.  “Ye shall have both food and rest.  However, whence came ye?”

“From the other side of the world,” answered Rolla calmly.

Instantly she noted that the twelve became greatly excited when Somat translated her statement.  She decided to add to the scene.

“I have been away from my people for many days,” and she held up one hand with the five fingers spread out, opening and closing them four times, to indicate twenty.

“Ye came over the edge of the world!” marveled Somat.  “It were a dangerous thing to do, stranger!”

“Aye,” agreed Holla, “but less dangerous than that from which I fled.  However,” impatiently, “give me the food ye promised; I can talk after my stomach be filled.”

“Of a surety,” replied Somat apologetically.  “I were too interested to remember thy hunger.”  He spoke a word or two, and one of his companions brought another stool, also dishes and table utensils.

Whereupon the watchers on the earth got a first-class surprise.  Here they had been looking upon twelve men, living in almost barbaric fashion amid the ruins of a great city; but the men had been eating from hand-painted china of the finest quality, and using silverware that was simply elegant, nothing less!  Luxury in the midst of desolation!