eck themselves out, the
rock-rabbits who seek safety in the cliffs, and come to him. He will
give you not only life, but all your heart's desire--lands and wives
and horses; great shall you be in his councils and happy shall you live.
Moreover, for your sakes he will try to spare your brother, the Fat One,
whose eyes look out of black windows, who blows fire from his mouth, and
reviles his enemies as never man did before. Yes, although the priests
have doomed him to sacrifice at the next feast of Harmac, he will try to
spare him, which, perhaps, he can do by making him, like the Singer of
Egypt, also a priest of Harmac, and thus dedicate forever to the god
with whom, indeed, he says he had been familiar for thousands of years.
This is our message, O white men."

Now, when I had translated the substance of this oration to Orme and
Quick, for, as I saw by the quiver that passed through her at the
Fung insults upon her tribe, Maqueda understood it, their tongues
not differing greatly, Orme who, for the time at any rate, was almost
himself again, said:

"Tell these fellows to say to their Sultan that he is a good old boy,
and that we thank him very much; also that we are sorry to have been
obliged to kill so many of them in a way that he must have thought
unsportsmanlike, but we had to do it, as we are sure he will understand,
in order to save our skins. Tell him also that, speaking personally,
having sampled the Abati yonder and on our journey, I should like to
accept his invitation. But although, as yet, we have found no men among
them, only, as he says, baboons, rock-rabbits, and boasters without
a fight in them, we have"--and here he bowed his bleeding head to
Maqueda--"found a woman with a great heart. Of her salt we have eaten,
or are about to eat; to serve her we have come from far upon her camels,
and, unless she should be pleased to accompany us, we cannot desert
her."

All of this I rendered faithfully, while every one, and especially
Maqueda, listened with much attention. When they had considered our
words, the spokesman of the messengers replied to the effect that the
motives of our decision were of a nature that commanded their entire
respect and sympathy, especially as their people quite concurred in our
estimate of the character of the Abati ruler, Child of Kings. This
being so, they would amend their proposition, knowing the mind of their
Sultan, and having, indeed, plenipotentiary powers.

"Lady of Mur