and their hair
black as night. Yet these strange children, maybe, are their gods, who
have come before to make ready the way for them.'

A murmur ran through the crowd.

'No, NO,' said Cyril again. 'We are on your side. We will help you to
guard your sacred things.'

The headman seemed impressed by the fact that Cyril knew that there WERE
sacred things to be guarded. He stood a moment gazing at the children.
Then he said--

'It is well. And now let all make offering, that we may be strong in
battle.'

The crowd dispersed, and nine men, wearing antelope-skins, grouped
themselves in front of the opening in the hedge in the middle of
the village. And presently, one by one, the men brought all sorts of
things--hippopotamus flesh, ostrich-feathers, the fruit of the date
palms, red chalk, green chalk, fish from the river, and ibex from the
mountains; and the headman received these gifts. There was another hedge
inside the first, about a yard from it, so that there was a lane inside
between the hedges. And every now and then one of the headmen would
disappear along this lane with full hands and come back with hands
empty.

'They're making offerings to their Amulet,' said Anthea. 'We'd better
give something too.'

The pockets of the party, hastily explored, yielded a piece of pink
tape, a bit of sealing-wax, and part of the Waterbury watch that Robert
had not been able to help taking to pieces at Christmas and had never
had time to rearrange. Most boys have a watch in this condition. They
presented their offerings, and Anthea added the red roses.

The headman who took the things looked at them with awe, especially at
the red roses and the Waterbury-watch fragment.

'This is a day of very wondrous happenings,' he said. 'I have no more
room in me to be astonished. Our maiden said there was peace between you
and us. But for this coming of a foe we should have made sure.'

The children shuddered.

'Now speak. Are you upon our side?'

'YES. Don't I keep telling you we are?' Robert said. 'Look here. I will
give you a sign. You see this.' He held out the toy pistol. 'I shall
speak to it, and if it answers me you will know that I and the others
are come to guard your sacred thing--that we've just made the offerings
to.'

'Will that god whose image you hold in your hand speak to you alone, or
shall I also hear it?' asked the man cautiously.

'You'll be surprised when you DO hear it,' said Robert. 'Now, then.' He
loo