Their comparatively white faces and hands puzzled her most. Also,
she could not understand the heavy black robes in which all were
dressed. Falling to the floor and reaching far above their necks,
such garments would have been intolerable to the free-limbed
Sanusians. To the watchers on the earth, however, the robes made the
group look marvelously like a company of monks.
Not that there was anything particularly religious about the place
or in their behavior. All twelve seemed to be silent only because
they were voraciously hungry. A meal was spread on the table. Except
for the garments, the twelve might have been so many harvest hands,
gathered for the evening meal in the cook-house. From the
white-bearded man who sat at the head of the table and passed out
large helpings of something from a big pot, to the fair-haired young
fellow at the foot, who could scarcely wait for his share, there was
only one thing about them which might have been labeled pious; and
that was their attitude, which could have been interpreted: "Give us
this day our daily bread--and hurry up about it!"
Apparently Rolla was convinced that these men were thoroughly human,
and as such fairly safe to approach.
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