he palace, faintness suddenly
overtook her, and she could hardly stagger up the staircase to her own
apartments.

'I am wounded,' she cried, sinking down on the mats where he had been
lying, 'but do not be anxious; it is really nothing. You have only got
to wound yourself slightly in the same spot and no one will guess that
it was I and not you who were fighting.'

'What!' cried Samba, his eyes nearly starting from his head in
surprise and terror. 'Can you possibly imagine that I should agree to
anything so useless and painful? Why, I might as well have gone to
fight myself!'

'Ah, I ought to have known better, indeed,' answered the princess, in
a voice that seemed to come from a long way off; but, quick as
thought, the moment Samba turned his back she pierced one of his bare
legs with a spear.

He gave a loud scream and staggered backwards, from astonishment, much
more than from pain. But before he could speak his wife had left the
room and had gone to seek the medicine man of the palace.

'My husband has been wounded,' said she, when she had found him, 'come
and tend him with speed, for he is faint from loss of blood.' And she
took care that more than one person heard her words, so that all that
day the people pressed up to the gate of the palace, asking for news
of their brave champion.

'You see,' observed the king's eldest sons, who had visited the room
where Samba lay groaning, 'you see, O wise young brother, that we were
right and you were wrong about Samba, and that he really _did_ go into
the battle.' But the boy answered nothing, and only shook his head
doubtfully.

It was only two days later that the Moors appeared for the third time,
and though the herds had been tethered in a new and safer place, they
were promptly carried off as before. 'For,' said the Moors to each
other, 'the tribe will never think of our coming back so soon when
they have beaten us so badly.'

When the drum sounded to assemble all the fighting men, the princess
rose and sought her husband.

'Samba,' cried she, 'my wound is worse than I thought. I can scarcely
walk, and could not mount my horse without help. For to-day, then, I
cannot do your work, so you must go instead of me.'

'What nonsense,' exclaimed Samba, 'I never heard of such a thing.
Why, I might be wounded, or even killed! You have three brothers. The
king can choose one of them.'

'They are all too young,' replied his wife; 'the men would not obey
them. But i