hat _he_ will
be unharmed I do not promise. The black savage captain shall fight his
fill and gain the glory that he seeks, also something that he seeks
still more. The little yellow man asks nothing save to be with his
master like a dog and to satisfy at once his stomach and his apish
curiosity. You, Allan, shall see those dead over whom you brood at
night, though the other guerdon that you might have won is now passed
from your reach because you mock me in your heart."

"What must we do to gain these things?" I asked. "How can we humble
creatures help one who is all powerful and who has gathered in her
breast the infinite knowledge of two thousand years?"

"You must make war under my banner and rid me of my foes. As for the
reason, listen to the end of my tale and you shall learn."

I reflected that it was a marvellous thing that this queen who claimed
supernatural powers should need our help in a war, but thinking it wiser
to keep my meditations to myself, said nothing. As a matter of fact I
might just as well have spoken, since as usual she read my thoughts.

"You are thinking that it is strange, Allan, that I, the Mighty and
Undying, should seek your aid in some petty tribal battle, and so it
would be were my foes but common savages. But they are more; they are
men protected by the ancient god of this immemorial city of Kor, a great
god in his day whose spirit still haunts these ruins and whose strength
still protects the worshippers who cling to him and practise his unholy
rites of human sacrifice."

"How was this god named?" I asked.

"_Rezu_ was his name, and from him came the Egyptian Re or Ra, since in
the beginning Kor was the mother of Egypt and the conquering people of
Kor took their god with them when they burst into the valley of the
Nile and subdued its peoples long before the first Pharaoh, Menes, wore
Egypt's crown."

"Ra was the sun, was he not?" I asked.

"Aye, and Rezu also was a sun-god whom from his throne in the fires of
the Lord of Day, gave life to men, or slew them if he willed with his
thunderbolts of drought and pestilence and storm. He was no gentle king
of heaven, but one who demanded blood-sacrifice from his worshippers,
yes, even that of maids and children. So it came about that the people
of Kor, who saw their virgins slain and eaten by the priests of Rezu,
and their infants burned to ashes in the fires that his rays lit, turned
themselves to the worship of the gentle moon, the