hom you speak was overtaken by the
vengeance of the god, and died on her journey."

"That is not so, lord. I am your daughter, and you are none other than
my father. I knew you when I first saw your face, though you did not
know me."

"Prove it, and beware how you lie," he said. "Show me the secret sign,
and whisper the hidden word into my ear."

Then, glancing suspiciously behind her, Soa came to him, and made
some movements with her hands in the shadow of the table. Next bending
forward, she whispered awhile into his ear. When she had finished, her
father looked up, and there were tears in his aged eyes.

"Welcome, daughter," he said. "I thought that I was alone, and that none
of my issue lived anywhere upon the earth. Welcome! Your life is forfeit
to the Snake, but, forgetting my vows, I will protect you, ay, even at
the cost of my own."

Then the two embraced each other with every sign of tenderness, a
spectacle that would have struck anyone acquainted with their characters
as both curious and interesting.

Presently Nam left the chamber, and having dismissed the attendant
priest and his great-niece, Saga, who were waiting outside, he returned
and prayed his daughter to explain the reason of her presence in the
train of Aca.

"First, you shall swear an oath to me, my father," said Soa, "and if you
swear it not, I will tell you no word of my story. You shall swear by
the blood of Aca that you will do nothing against the life of that Queen
with whom I journeyed hither. For the others, you may work your will
upon them, but her you shall not harm."

"Why should I swear this, daughter?" he asked.

"You shall swear it because I, whom you love, love her, and also because
so you shall gain the greater honour."

"Who am I that I should lift my hand against the gods, daughter? I swear
it by the blood of Aca, and if I break my oath, then may Jal deal with
me as once he dealt with Aca."

Then Soa went on freely, for she knew that this was a vow that could not
be broken. Beginning at its commencement, she told him all the story of
her life since, forty years ago, she had fled from among the People of
the Mist, passing on rapidly, however, to that part of it which had to
do with the capture and rescue of Juanna from the slave-traders, and
with the promise that she had made to Leonard as the price of his
assistance. This promise, she was careful to explain, she had not
intended to fulfil until she was forced to do so