ed an ancient Buddhist, who was
a holy man, as they called him, and who had been there during time
which had not been measured. They said that their grandparents and
great-grandparents had known of him, though very few persons had ever
seen him. It was told that the most savage beast was tame before him.
They said that a man-eating tiger would stop to salute him, and that a
thirsty lioness would bring her whelps to drink at the spring near his
hut."

"That was a lie," said The Rat promptly.

Marco neither laughed nor frowned.

"How do we KNOW?" he said. "It was a native's story, and it might be
anything. My father neither said it was true nor false. He listened to
all that was told him by natives. They said that the holy man was the
brother of the stars. He knew all things past and to come, and could
heal the sick. But most people, especially those who had sinful
thoughts, were afraid to go near him."

"I'd like to have seen--" The Rat pondered aloud, but he did not
finish.

"Before my father was well, he had made up his mind to travel to the
ledge if he could. He felt as if he must go. He thought that if he
were going to die, the hermit might tell him some wise thing to do for
Samavia."

"He might have given him a message to leave to the Secret Ones," said
The Rat.

"He was so weak when he set out on his journey that he wondered if he
would reach the end of it. Part of the way he traveled by bullock
cart, and part, he was carried by natives. But at last the bearers
came to a place more than halfway up the mountain, and would go no
further. Then they went back and left him to climb the rest of the way
himself. They had traveled slowly and he had got more strength, but he
was weak yet. The forest was more wonderful than anything he had ever
seen. There were tropical trees with foliage like lace, and some with
huge leaves, and some of them seemed to reach the sky. Sometimes he
could barely see gleams of blue through them. And vines swung down
from their high branches, and caught each other, and matted together;
and there were hot scents, and strange flowers, and dazzling birds
darting about, and thick moss, and little cascades bursting out. The
path grew narrower and steeper, and the flower scents and the
sultriness made it like walking in a hothouse. He heard rustlings in
the undergrowth, which might have been made by any kind of wild animal;
once he stepped across a deadly snake without s