row.

"There remains the king," said the chief priest.

Umballa shrugged.

The chief priest stared soberly at the lamp above his head. The king
would be, then, Umballa's affair.

"He is ill?"

"He is moribund . . . Silence!" warned Umballa.

The curtains became violently agitated. They heard the voice of the
young priest outside raised in protest, to be answered by the shrill
tones of a woman.

"You are mad!"

"And thou art a stupid fool!"

Umballa's hand fell away from his dagger.

"It is a woman," he said. "Admit her."

The curtains were thrust aside, and the painted dancing girl, who had
saved Umballa from death or capture in the fire of his own contriving,
rushed in. Her black hair was studded with turquoise, a necklace of
amber gleamed like gold around her neck, and on her arms and ankles a
plentitude of silver bracelets and anklets. With her back to the
curtains, the young priest staring curiously over her shoulder, she
presented a picturesque tableau.

"Well!" said Umballa, who understood that she was here from no idle
whim.

"Highness, you must hide with me this night."

"Indeed?"

"Or die," coolly.

Umballa sprang forward and seized her roughly.

"What has happened?"

"I was in the zenana, Highness, visiting my sister, whom you had
transferred from the palace. All at once we heard shouting and
trampling of feet, and a moment later your house was overrun with men.
They had found the king in the hut and had taken him to the palace.
That they did not find you is because you came here."

"Tell me all."

"It seems that the majordomo gave the poison to Ramabai, but the white
goddess . . ."

"The white goddess!" cried Umballa, as if stung by a cobra's fang.

"Ay, Highness. She did not die on that roof. Nothing can harm her.
It is written."

"And I was never told!"

She lived, lived, and all the terrors he had evoked for her were as
naught! Umballa was not above superstition himself for all his
European training. Surely this girl of the white people was imbued
with something more than mortal. She lived!

"Go on!" he said, his voice subdued as was his soul.

"The white goddess by mistake took Ramabai's goblet and was about to
drink when the majordomo seized the goblet and drained the poison
himself. He confessed everything, where the king was, where you were.
They are again hunting through the city for you. For the present you
must hide with me."

"The white woman mu