ired my last cartridge into his people,
and forgotten to replace it, and my intractable hair, which was longer
than usual, had not been recently brushed. My worn Norfolk jacket was
dyed with blood from a wounded or dying man who had tumbled against me
in the scrimmage when the cavalry charged us, and my right leg and boot
were stained in a similar fashion from having rubbed against my camel
where a spear had entered it. Altogether I must have appeared a most
disreputable object.

Some indication of his opinion was given, however, in a remark, which of
course I pretended not to understand, that I overheard him make to one
of his officers:

"Truly," he said, "we must not always look to the strong for strength.
And yet this little white porcupine is strength itself, for see how much
damage he has wrought us. Also consider his eyes that appear to pierce
everything. Jana himself might fear those eyes. Well, time that grinds
the rocks will tell us all."

All of this I caught perfectly, my ears being very sharp, although he
thought that he spoke out of my hearing, for after spending a month in
their company I understood the Kendah dialect of Bantu very well.

Having delivered himself thus he rode nearer and said:

"You, Prophet Marut, my enemy, have heard the terms of me, Simba the
King, and have accepted them. Therefore discuss them no more. What I
have promised I will keep. What I have given I give, neither greater nor
less by the weight of a hair."

"So be it, O King," answered Marut with his usual smile, which nothing
ever seemed to disturb. "Only remember that if those terms are broken
either in the letter or in the spirit, especially the spirit" (that is
the best rendering I can give of his word), "the manifold curses of
the Child will fall upon you and yours. Yes, though you kill us all by
treachery, still those curses will fall."

"May Jana take the Child and all who worship it," exclaimed the king
with evident irritation.

"In the end, O King, Jana will take the Child and its followers--or
the Child will take Jana and his followers. Which of these things must
happen is known to the Child alone, and perchance to its prophets.
Meanwhile, for every one of those of the Child I think that three of the
followers of Jana, or more, lie dead upon this field. Also the caravan
is now out of your reach with two of the white lords and many of such
tubes which deal death, like that which we have surrendered to you.
Theref