ur journey you shall
camp at the mouth of the pass which the cattle and the women have
already travelled, and his outposts and spies will bring it to the ears
of the king that your force is sleeping there, purposing to climb the
pass on the morrow.

"But on that night, so soon as the darkness falls, you must rise up with
your captains and your regiments, leaving your fires burning and men
about your fires, and shall travel very swiftly across the valley, so
that an hour before the dawn you reach the second range of mountains,
and pass it by the gorge which is the burying-place of kings. Here you
shall light a fire, which those who watch will believe to be but the
fire of a herdsman who is acold. But I, Hokosa, also shall be watching,
and when I see that fire I will creep, with some whom I can trust, to
the little northern gate of the outer wall, and we will spear those
that guard it and open the gate, that your army may pass through. Then,
before the regiments can stand to their arms or those within it are
awakened, you must storm the inner walls and by the light of the burning
huts, put the dwellers in the Great Place to the spear, and the rays of
the rising sun shall crown you king.

"Follow this counsel of mine, O Prince Hafela, and all will go well
with you. Neglect it and be lost. There is but one thing which you need
fear--it is the magic of the Messenger, to whom it is given to read the
secret thoughts of men. But of him take no account, for he is my charge,
and before ever you set a foot within the Great Place he shall have
taken his answer back to Him Who sent him."

Hokosa finished speaking.

"Have you heard?" he said to Noma.

"I have heard."

"Then speak the message."

She repeated it word for word, making no fault. "Have no fear," she
added, "I shall forget nothing when I stand before the prince."

"You are a woman, but your counsel is good. What think you of the plan,
Noma?"

"It is deep and well laid," she answered, "and surely it would succeed
were it not for one thing. The white man, Messenger, will be too clever
for you, for as you say, he is a reader of the thoughts of men."

"Can the dead read men's thoughts, or if they can, do they cry them on
the market-place or into the ears of kings?" asked Hokosa. "Have I not
told you that, before I see the signal-fire yonder, the Messenger shall
sleep sound? I have a medicine, Noma, a slow medicine that none can
trace."

"The Messenger may sleep