ed them.

The four priests rose, and bowing to the earth, crept backwards from the
room. So soon as they were gone, Otter leaped from his throne with an
exclamation of rage that caused the others to burst out laughing.

"Laugh, Baas, laugh if you will!" said the dwarf, "for you have never
been a god, and don't know what it is. What think you, Baas?--all night
long I have sat upon that great stool, while those accursed dogs burnt
stinking stuff beneath my nostrils and muttered nonsense. One hour more
and I should have fallen on them and killed them, for I have had no
meat, and hunger makes me mad."

"Hush!" said Leonard, "I hear footsteps! On to your throne, Otter!
Quick, Juanna! stand by his side; we will kneel!"

They had barely time to obey when the curtains were drawn, and a priest
entered, holding a vessel of wood covered with a cloth. Slowly he
crept towards the throne, with his head bent almost to his knees; then,
straightening himself suddenly, he lifted up the wooden vessel and cried
aloud:

"We bring you food, O Snake. Eat and be satisfied."

Otter took the dish, and, lifting the cloth, gazed upon its contents
hungrily, but with an ever-growing dissatisfaction.

"Son of a dog!" he cried in his own tongue, "is this food to set before
a man?" And he held the platter downwards, exposing its contents.

They were simple, consisting of various sorts of vegetables and
watercress--poor in quality, for the season was winter, and all of
them uncooked. In the centre of this fodder--whether placed there in
obedience to some religious tradition or by way of ornament, or perhaps
to assist the digestive process of the god, as a tenpenny nail is said
to assist that of an ostrich--was a fine ruby stone; not so big, indeed,
as that which Soa had given to Leonard, but still of considerable
size and value. Leonard saw it with delight, but not so the dwarf, the
selfish promptings of whose stomach caused him to forget that his
master had journeyed far to seek such gems as this. In the fury of his
disappointed appetite he stood upon the footstool of the throne, and,
seizing the ruby, he hurled it at the priest, hitting him fair between
the eyes.

"Am I an eel?" he roared, "that I should live on water-grass, and red
gravel?"

Then the priest, terrified at the behaviour of this strange divinity,
picked up the offending gem--to the presence of which he attributed his
anger--and fled, never looking behind him.

Juanna and F