s happened to be in the audience
chamber that morning and heard what had been said. He went to his
father, the ruler of the Golden Palace, and told the king what he had
heard; therefore his majesty called the _amat_ to the Golden Foot and
asked him of these things.

"What is this I hear?" he demanded. "Has this wicked man robbed as much
as the people say? Why hast thou not caught him as it was thy duty to
do?"

"Son of the Sun," replied the servant, trembling very much as he kneeled
before him, for who would not be afraid when the king is angry? "it is
true; but this thief is a very wicked and clever thief, besides which he
has a wonderful charm tattooed upon his body which is so potent that it
makes him invulnerable to wounds from sword or gun, neither can he be
bound with ropes, therefore it hath been impossible for the slave of our
lord the king to capture or harm him."

"Then," said the king, still very angry, "get thee a charm still more
potent than the one the robber chief hath, for if thou dost not bring
him or his head to me ere three days have elapsed, thou shalt fall from
thy rank of chief _amat_. Dost thou hear?"

The _amat_ bowed till his head touched the floor before the Golden Foot
and he crawled away from the presence the most unhappy man in all the
king's possessions. Then in great haste he ran to his house and called
all the charm-makers in the city to come to him without delay. Then when
they had assembled before him he commanded them to make him a charm
which would be stronger than the one tattooed upon the body of the
robber chief, Boh Lek Byah. But the charm-sellers one and all declared
that this was an impossibility, for the thief had upon the luckiest day
of the whole year eaten a piece of flesh cut from the body of a murdered
man, and so he could not be harmed in any way, neither was it in their
power to give his lordship the amat a charm stronger than his.

Very frightened was the amat when he heard this, and very frightened
were the soldiers who had been ordered to go with him and catch the
thief. Their wives also cried all that night, for they knew what a
terrible man the robber was, and how angry he would be with the men who
had dared come to capture him. He would show no mercy, and without doubt
would kill them all, and in derision send their heads back to the city
afterward. This the robber had done before more than once to parties of
soldiers sent to take him.

Now it happened that