So I jumped up to escape and make arrangements for a wash, only to
butt into old Billali, who was standing in the doorway contemplating
Robertson with much interest and stroking his white beard.

He greeted me with his courteous bow and said,

"Tell your companion, O Watcher, that it is not necessary for him to go
upon his knees to She-who-commands--and must be obeyed," he added with
emphasis, "when he is not in her presence, and that even then he would
do well to keep silent, since so much talking in a strange tongue might
trouble her."

I burst out laughing and answered,

"He does not go upon his knees and pray to She-who-commands, but to the
Great One who is in the sky."

"Indeed, Watcher. Well, here we only know a Great One who is upon the
earth, though it is true that perhaps she visits the skies sometimes."

"Is it so, Billali?" I answered incredulously. "And now, I would ask you
to take me to some place where I can bathe."

"It is ready," he replied. "Come."

So I called to Hans, who was hanging about with a rifle on his arm, to
follow with a cloth and soap, of which fortunately we had a couple of
pieces left, and we started along what had once been a paved roadway
running between stone houses, whereof the time-eaten ruins still
remained on either side.

"Who and what is this Queen of yours, Billali?" I asked as we went.
"Surely she is not of the Amahagger blood."

"Ask it of herself, O Watcher, for I cannot tell you. All I know is
that I can trace my own family for ten generations and that my tenth
forefather told his son on his deathbed, for the saying has come down
through his descendants--that when he was young She-who-commands had
ruled the land for more scores of years than he could count months of
life."

I stopped and stared at him, since the lie was so amazing that it seemed
to deprive me of the power of motion. Noting my very obvious disbelief
he continued blandly,

"If you doubt, ask. And now here is where you may bathe."

Then he led me through an arched doorway and down a wrecked passage to
what very obviously once had been a splendid bath-house such as some I
have seen pictures of that were built by the Romans. Its size was that
of a large room; it was constructed of a kind of marble with a sloping
bottom that varied from three to seven feet in depth, and water still
ran in and out of it through large glazed pipes. Moreover round it was
a footway about five feet across, from which o