ow thy cunning scheme to carry
thy favorites away from here--to carry away the treasure that is ours,
not thine! Think ye we men will let ye go, to set the dogs of war-ships
upon us? Here and now we demand a settlement."

"Demand, again? Good Caliban"--she said softly, and smiled upon
him--"thy training has been faulty. Come, I will answer thee."

"Ye answer us all, or none. I know thee too well to trust thee. Answer
these men, who ask thy reason for keeping these three strangers to the
detriment of thine own people. Sancho paid dearly for his sight of thy
great chamber. Did the stranger who was in there with thee last night
suffer, too?"

"That's the talk; answer!" shouted the crew, led by Caliban's band and
supported less vociferously by the rest.

"Silence, then; I will answer!" cried Dolores, quivering with suppressed
rage. She spoke again to Milo, then turned to face the mob, her head
erect, her eyes ablaze.

She flashed a keen glance toward Pearse, who had sidled over to the band
led by Stumpy, who seemed less accusative than the others; she nodded
faintly, approvingly, and sought the others. Venner stood aloof, on the
fringe of Hanglip's crowd; Tomlin stood almost by the side of Spotted
Dog.

"I will answer. I see among ye men of troubled minds, who are not yet
disposed to flout my authority. Thee, Caliban, I have forgiven before;
yet here thou art, venturing again to confront me with demands. I will
not reply to thee, nor to any one man or party. To ye all, my people, I
have my answer. In one hour, in the grove, ye shall hear and be
satisfied. That is my answer now. Come Milo."

She walked slowly and steadily straight through the midst of the
muttering, grumbling mob, Milo at her back like a gargantuan shadow. And
looking neither to one way or the other, meeting eyes that glared in her
path with cold, dignified disdain, she proceeded through the camp,
across the grove, and to the ledge behind the altar. Savage curses
followed her; men jostled at her heels and dared Milo to prevent them;
the giant, calm and cold as his mistress, moved forward like a human
Juggernaut, laying a resistless hand upon a presuming shoulder here,
flinging aside a leering ruffian there.

And as the mob thinned, and Dolores entered the cool glade, something in
the situation which she had failed to realize before now struck her with
force; she started at the thought, then uttered a low, rippling laugh of
satisfaction. For Pascher