may be written down,
for the snows of age have gathered on thy venerable head and soon thou
must leave us for awhile. Therefore bid thy scribes that it be written
down, so that the Hesea who rules after thee may fulfil it in its
season."

"Cease," said the Hesea, "cease to pour out thy bitterness at that which
should command thy reverence, oh! thou foolish child, who dost not know
but that to-morrow the fire shall claim the frail youth and beauty which
are thy boast. I bid thee cease, and tell me how did death find this
lord of thine?"

"Ask those wanderers yonder, that were his guests, for his blood is on
their heads and cries for vengeance at thy hands."

"I killed him," said Leo, "to save my own life. He tried to hunt us down
with his dogs, and there are the marks of them," and he pointed to my
arm. "The priest Oros knows, for he dressed the hurts."

"How did this chance?" asked the Hesea of Atene.

"My lord was mad," she answered boldly, "and such was his cruel sport."

"So. And was thy lord jealous also? Nay, keep back the falsehood I see
rising to thy lips. Leo Vincey, answer thou me. Yet, I will not ask thee
to lay bare the secrets of a woman who has offered thee her love. Thou,
Holly, speak, and let it be the truth."

"It is this, O Hes," I answered. "Yonder lady and her uncle the Shaman
Simbri saved us from death in the waters of the river that bounds
the precipices of Kaloon. Afterwards we were ill, and they treated us
kindly, but the Khania became enamoured of my foster-son."

Here the figure of the Priestess stirred beneath its gauzy wrappings,
and the Voice asked--"And did thy foster-son become enamoured of the
Khania, as being a man he may well have done, for without doubt she is
fair?"

"He can answer that question for himself, O Hes. All I know is that he
strove to escape from her, and that in the end she gave him a day to
choose between death and marriage with her, when her lord should be
dead. So, helped by the Khan, her husband, who was jealous of him, we
fled towards this Mountain, which we desired to reach. Then the Khan set
his hounds upon us, for he was mad and false-hearted. We killed him and
came on in spite of this lady, his wife, and her uncle, who would have
prevented us, and were met in a Place of Bones by a certain veiled
guide, who led us up the Mountain and twice saved us from death. That is
all the story."

"Woman, what hast thou to say?" asked the Hesea in a menacing voice.