ith flowers.

"Now Evil shall cover up her face, now Mercy and Gladness shall dwell
in the land.

"Rejoice, rejoice, my people!

"Let all the stars rejoice in that this tyranny is trodden down, in
that I am the king."

Ignosi ceased his song, and out of the gathering gloom came back the
deep reply--

"_Thou art the king!_"

Thus was my prophecy to the herald fulfilled, and within the
forty-eight hours Twala's headless corpse was stiffening at Twala's
gate.

[1] It is a law amongst the Kukuanas that no man of the direct royal
blood can be put to death, unless by his own consent, which is,
however, never refused. He is allowed to choose a succession of
antagonists, to be approved by the king, with whom he fights, till one
of them kills him.--A.Q.

CHAPTER XV

GOOD FALLS SICK

After the fight was ended, Sir Henry and Good were carried into Twala's
hut, where I joined them. They were both utterly exhausted by exertion
and loss of blood, and, indeed, my own condition was little better. I
am very wiry, and can stand more fatigue than most men, probably on
account of my light weight and long training; but that night I was
quite done up, and, as is always the case with me when exhausted, that
old wound which the lion gave me began to pain. Also my head was aching
violently from the blow I had received in the morning, when I was
knocked senseless. Altogether, a more miserable trio than we were that
evening it would have been difficult to discover; and our only comfort
lay in the reflection that we were exceedingly fortunate to be there to
feel miserable, instead of being stretched dead upon the plain, as so
many thousands of brave men were that night, who had risen well and
strong in the morning.

Somehow, with the assistance of the beautiful Foulata, who, since we
had been the means of saving her life, had constituted herself our
handmaiden, and especially Good's, we managed to get off the chain
shirts, which had certainly saved the lives of two of us that day. As I
expected, we found that the flesh underneath was terribly contused, for
though the steel links had kept the weapons from entering, they had not
prevented them from bruising. Both Sir Henry and Good were a mass of
contusions, and I was by no means free. As a remedy Foulata brought us
some pounded green leaves, with an aromatic odour, which, when applied
as a plaster, gave us considerable relief.

But though the bruises were painful, they d