ere
now the husbandmen, those that were left of them, ploughed the land and
scattered seed, and so on to its city. But amidst those blackened ruins
over which Atene's palace still frowned unharmed, I would not enter,
for to me it was, and always must remain, a home of death. So I camped
outside the walls by the river just where Leo and I had landed after
that poor mad Khan set us free, or rather loosed us to be hunted by his
death-hounds.

Next day we took boat and rowed up the river, past the place where we
had seen Atene's cousin murdered, till we came to the Gate-house. Here
once again I slept, or rather did not sleep.

On the following morning I went down into the ravine and found to my
surprise that the rapid torrent--shallow enough now--had been roughly
bridged, and that in preparation for my coming rude but sufficient
ladders were built on the face of the opposing precipice. At the foot of
these I bade farewell to Oros, who at our parting smiled benignantly as
on the day we met.

"We have seen strange things together," I said to him, not knowing what
else to say.

"Very strange," he answered.

"At least, friend Oros," I went on awkwardly enough, "events have shaped
themselves to your advantage, for you inherit a royal mantle."

"I wrap myself in a mantle of borrowed royalty," he answered with
precision, "of which doubtless one day I shall be stripped."

"You mean that the great Ayesha is not dead?"

"I mean that She never dies. She changes, that is all. As the wind blows
now hence, now hither, so she comes and goes, and who can tell at what
spot upon the earth, or beyond it, for a while that wind lies sleeping?
But at sunset or at dawn, at noon or at midnight, it will begin to blow
again, and then woe to those who stand across its path.

"Remember the dead heaped upon the plains of Kaloon. Remember the
departing of the Shaman Simbri with his message and the words that she
spoke then. Remember the passing of the Hesea from the Mountain point.
Stranger from the West, surely as to-morrow's sun must rise, as she
went, so she will return again, and in my borrowed garment I await her
advent."

"I also await her advent," I answered, and thus we parted.

Accompanied by twenty picked men bearing provisions and arms, I climbed
the ladders easily enough, and now that I had food and shelter, crossed
the mountains without mishap. They even escorted me through the desert
beyond, till one night we camped within si