charge which, it will be noted, contained no allusion
whatever to the love entanglement between Maqueda and Oliver. When it
was finished the prosecutor asked us what we pleaded, whereon Oliver
answered as our spokesman that it was true there had been fighting and
men killed, also that we had been driven into the cave, but as to all
the rest the Child of Kings knew the truth, and must speak for us as she
wished.

Now the audience began to shout, "They plead guilty! Give them to
death!" and so forth, while the judges rising from their seats, gathered
round Maqueda and consulted her.

"By heaven! I believe she is going to give us away!" exclaimed Higgs,
whereon Oliver turned on him fiercely and bade him hold his tongue,
adding:

"If you were anywhere else you should answer for that slander!"

At length the consultation was finished; the judges resumed their seats,
and Maqueda held up her hand. Thereon an intense silence fell upon the
place. Then she began to speak in a cold, constrained voice:

"Gentiles," she said, addressing us, "you have pleaded guilty to the
stirring up of civil war in Mur, and to the slaying of numbers of its
people, facts of which there is no need for evidence, since many widows
and fatherless children can testify to them to-day. Moreover, you did,
as alleged by my officer, commit the crime of bearing off my person into
the cave and keeping me there by force to be a hostage for your safety."

We heard and gasped, Higgs ejaculating, "Good gracious, what a lie!" But
none of the rest of us said anything.

"For these offences," went on Maqueda, "you are all of you justly worthy
of a cruel death." Then she paused and added, "Yet, as I have the power
to do, I remit the sentence. I decree that this day you and all the
goods that remain to you which have been found in the cave city, and
elsewhere, together with camels for yourselves and your baggage, shall
be driven from Mur, and that if any one of you returns hither, he shall
without further trial be handed over to the executioners. This I do
because at the beginning of your service a certain bargain was made with
you, and although you have sinned so deeply I will not suffer that
the glorious honour of the Abati people shall be tarnished even by the
breath of suspicion. Get you gone, Wanderers, and let us see your faces
no more for ever!"

Now the mob gathered in the hall shouted in exultation, though I heard
some crying out, "No, kill them! Kill