Professor and the Doctor's son to think of. Therefore I say:
Swear to anything in reason, reserving allegiance to the Crown of Great
Britain, and trust to luck. You see, Captain, we are in their power
anyway, and this oath may help, but can't hurt us, while to refuse it
must give offence to all these skunks, and perhaps to the lady also,
which is of more consequence."

"I think you are probably right, Sergeant," said Orme. "Anyway, in for a
penny, in for a pound."

Then he turned to Maqueda, who had been watching this conference in an
unknown tongue with some anxiety, or so it seemed to me, and added in
Arabic: "O Child of Kings, we will take your oath, although it is wide,
trusting to your honour to protect us from any pitfalls which it may
cover, for we would ask you to remember that we are strangers in your
land who do not understand its laws and customs. Only we stipulate
that we retain our allegiance to our own ruler far away, remaining the
subjects of that monarch with all rights thereto appertaining. Also,
we stipulate that before we enter on our duties, or at any rate during
those duties, we shall be at full liberty to attempt the rescue of our
friend and companion, now a prisoner in the hands of the Fung, and of
the son of one of us who is believed to be a slave to them, and that
we shall have all the assistance which you can give us in this matter.
Moreover, we demand that if we should be tried for any offence under
this oath, you to whom we swear allegiance shall be our judge alone,
none others intermeddling in the trial. If you accept these terms
we will swear the oath; otherwise we swear nothing, but will act as
occasion may arise."

Now we were requested to stand back while the Child of Kings consulted
with her advisers, which she did for a considerable time, since
evidently the questions raised involved differences of opinion. In the
end, however, she and those who supported her seemed to overrule the
objectors, and we were called up and told that our terms had been
accepted and engrossed upon the form of the oath, and that everything
there included would be faithfully observed by the Ruler and Council of
the Abati.

So we signed and swore, kissing the book, or rather the roll, in the
civilized fashion. Afterwards, very tired, for all this business had
been anxious, we were conducted back to our own quarters to lunch, or
rather to dine, for the Abati ate their heaviest meal at midday, taking
a siesta