us, and every other King
who has dazzled the world with his talents. The man who can minister to
human needs may, when he is lucky, earn a little towards his own; the
man who contributes to the pleasure of his fellows must find reward in
his own; but he who can gratify the vanity of his race is the master of
their pockets.

Twemlow had been carried from the deadly coast (as before related by
Captain Southcombe) to the mountainous district far inland, by the great
King Golo of the Quackwas nation, mighty warriors of lofty stature. Here
he was treated well, and soon learned enough of their simple language to
understand and be understood; while the King, who considered all white
men as of canine origin, was pleased with him, and prepared to make him
useful. Then Twemlow was sent, with an escort of chiefs, to the land of
the Houlas, as a medicine-man, to win Queen Mabonga for the great King
Golo. But she--so strange is the perversity of women--beholding this man
of a pearly tint, as fair as the moon, and as soft as a river--for he
took many months to get properly tanned--with one long gaze of amazement
yielded to him what he sought for another. A dwarf and a whipster he
might be among the great darkies around her--for he had only six feet
and one inch of stature, and forty-two inches round the chest--but, to
her fine taste, tone and quality more than covered defect of quantity.
The sight of male members of her race had never moved her, because she
had heard of their wickedness; but the gaze of this white man, so tender
and so innocent, set her on a long course of wondering about herself.
Then she drew back, and passed into the private hut behind, where no one
was allowed to disturb her. For she never had felt like this before, and
she wanted nobody to notice it.

But the Houla maidens, with the deepest interest in matters that came
home to them outside their understanding, held council with their
mothers, and these imparted to the angelic stranger, as plainly as
modesty permitted, the distressing results of his whiteness, and
implored him to depart, before further harm was done. Twemlow perceived
that he had tumbled into a difficult position, and the only way out of
it was to make off. Giving pledges to return in two moons at the latest,
he made his salaam to the sensitive young Queen, whose dignity was
only surpassed by her grace, and expecting to be shortened by the head,
returned with all speed to the great King Golo. H