," he went on, addressing Maqueda directly, "fair daughter
of the great god Harmac and a mortal queen, what we have offered to
the white lords, your guests, we offer to you also. Barung, our Sultan,
shall make you his head wife; or, if that does not please you, you shall
wed whom you will"--and, perhaps by accident, the envoy's roving eyes
rested for a moment upon Oliver Orme.

"Leave, then, your rock-rabbits, who dare not quit their cliffs when but
three messengers wait without with sticks," and he glanced at the spear
in his hand, "and come to dwell among men. Listen, high Lady; we know
your case. You do your best in a hopeless task. Had it not been for you
and your courage, Mur would have been ours three years ago, and it was
ours before your tribe wandered thither. But while you can find but a
hundred brave warriors to help you, you think the place impregnable,
and you have perhaps that number, though we know they are not here; they
guard the gates above. Yes, with a few of your Mountaineers whose hearts
are as those of their forefathers were, so far as you have defied all
the power of the Fung, and when you saw that the end drew near, using
your woman's wit, you sent for the white men to come with their magic,
promising to pay them with the gold which you have in such plenty in the
tombs of our old kings and in the rocks of the mountains."

"Who told you that, O Tongue of Barung?" asked Maqueda in a low
voice, speaking for the first time. "The man of the West whom you took
prisoner--he whom you call Fat One?"

"No, no, O Walda Nagasta, the lord Black Windows has told us nothing as
yet, except sundry things about the history of our god, with whom, as we
said, he seems to be familiar, and to whom, therefore, we vowed him at
once. But there are others who tell us things, for in times of truce
our peoples trade together a little, and cowards are often spies. For
instance, we knew that these white men were coming last night, though it
is true that we did not know of their fire magic, for, had we done so,
we should not have let the camels slip through, since there may be more
of it on them----"

"For your comfort, learn that there is--much more," I interrupted.

"Ah!" replied the Tongue, shaking his head sadly, "and yet we suffered
Cat, whom you call Shadrach, to make off with that of your fat brother;
yes, and even gave it to him after his own beast had been lamed by
accident. Well, it is our bad luck, and without d