ant man who died to protect me, I would still have saved
him if I could. But I could not, for although I tried once more, Barung
would not listen. So I answered:

"Plead, O Joshua, with him who has the power in Mur to-day, for I have
none. You have fashioned your own fate, and must travel the road you
chose."

"What road do you ride, mounted on a horse of the plains, Maqueda? Oh!
what need is there for me to ask? You go to see that accursed Gentile
whom I would I had killed by inches, as I would that I could kill you."

Then calling me by evil names, Joshua sprang at me as though to strike
me down, but he who held the rope about his neck jerked him backward, so
that he fell and I saw his face no more.

But oh! it was sad, that journey across the great square, for the
captive Abati by hundreds--men, women, and children together--with tears
and lamentations cried to me to preserve them from death or slavery at
the hands of the Fung. But I answered:

"Your sins against me and the brave foreign men who fought so well
for you I forgive, but search your hearts, O Abati, and say if you can
forgive yourselves? If you had listened to me and to those whom I called
in to help us, you might have beaten back the Fung, and remained free
for ever. But you were cowards; you would not learn to bear arms like
men, you would not even watch your mountain walls, and soon or late the
people who refuse to be ready to fight must fall and become the servants
of those who are ready."

And now, my Oliver, I have no more to write, save that I am glad to have
endured so many things, and thereby win the joy that is mine to-day.
Not yet have I, Maqueda, wished to reign again in Mur, who have found
another throne.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Sheba's Ring, by H. Rider Haggard

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