n sleeves of thin red silk. The lieutenants' sashes were
black and yellow; that of the captain red; they wore buskins of white
leather, while his feet and legs were encased in golden armour to just
below the knee; and lastly, his sword hilt, belt and scabbard were much
more richly ornamented than theirs.

The introduction having been effected, Acor addressed himself at some
length and with much gesture to Earle. Precisely what he said was of
course unintelligible to the white men; but they gathered some hint of
meaning from his gestures, which they interpreted--rightly, as
afterwards transpired--as a sort of qualified welcome to Ulua, founded
entirely upon Earle's possession of the mysterious amulet. Acor
concluded his address by beckoning forward his two lieutenants and
directing the attention of the white men to the contents of the bundles,
which, when unrolled, proved to be two dresses made of an exceedingly
fine, silky sort of woollen material. The dresses consisted of a sort
of singlet without sleeves, a pair of short pants somewhat like those
worn by football players, and an outer garment, cut somewhat like a
shirt, but rather longer, the hem reaching to just below the knee. This
garment, made quite loose, was confined at the waist by a belt. The
costumes were completed by the addition of sandals and a kind of turban.
But the two costumes, although similar in cut, were different in
appearance; for while that which was offered for Earle's acceptance was
decorated with turquoise blue braid sewn round the edges of the outer
garment in a broad pattern very similar to the Greek "key" pattern, with
an edging of bead fringe of the same colour, the ornamentation of the
costume offered to Dick consisted of an elaborate pattern beautifully
worked in red braid, with a fringe of red beads. The turbans, too, were
somewhat different in shape, Earle's being considerably the higher of
the two, intertwined with a rope of large blue beads, while Dick's was
perfectly plain. Recognising that Acor was inviting them to accept
these garments and don them, the two white men bowed their assent and
took the garments, whereupon Acor and his lieutenants retired, leaving
Earle and Dick to themselves. Truth to tell, the presented garments
were most acceptable gifts, for not only were the clothes which the
explorers were wearing grimy and tattered, but, having been originally
designed for hard service, they were also unpleasantly heavy