rsation, with one of the
women standing behind her.

"I knew that you were a language shark, Dottie, with five or six
different ones to your credit, but I didn't suppose you could learn to
talk this stuff in one day."

"I can't," she replied, "but I've picked up a few words of it. I can
understand very little of what they are trying to tell me."

The woman spoke rapidly to the man standing behind Seaton, and as soon
as the table had been carried away, he asked permission to speak to
Dorothy. Fairly running across to her, he made a slight obeisance and in
eager tones poured forth such a stream of language that she held up her
hand to silence him.

"Go slower, please," she said, and added a couple of words in his own
tongue.

There ensued a strange dialogue, with many repetitions and much use of
signs. She turned to Seaton, with a puzzled look.

"I can't make out all he says, Dick, but he wants you to take him into
another room of the palace here, to get back something or other that
they took from him when they captured him. He can't go alone--I think he
says he will be killed if he goes anywhere without you. And he says that
when you get there, you must be sure not to let the guards come inside."

"All right, let's go!" and Seaton motioned the man to precede him. As
Seaton started for the door, Dorothy fell into step beside him.

"Better stay back, Dottie, I'll be back in a minute," he said at the
door.

"I will not stay back. Wherever you go, I go," she replied in a voice
inaudible to the others. "I simply will not stay away from you a single
minute that I don't have to."

"All right, little girl," he replied in the same tone. "I don't want to
be away from you, either, and I don't think that we're in any danger
here."

Preceded by the chief slave and followed by half a dozen others, they
went out into the hall. No opposition was made to their progress, but a
full half-company of armed guards fell in around them as an escort,
regarding Seaton with looks composed of equal parts of reverence and
fear. The slave led the way rapidly to a room in a distant wing of the
palace and opened the door. As Seaton stepped in, he saw that it was
evidently an audience-chamber or court-room, and that it was now
entirely empty. As the guard approached the door, Seaton waved them
back. All retreated across the hall except the officer in charge, who
refused to move. Seaton, the personification of offended dignity, first
stare