he raw yellow
yolk of the portion of one egg, plastered by Agno to represent many eggs,
still about his eyes and above his eyes to the bulge of his forehead. In
vain Bashti looked about for one egg, the six months' hunger stronger
than ever upon him in the thick of the disaster. And Jerry, under the
consent and encouragement of Agno, wagged his tail to Bashti in a bid for
recognition, of prowess, and laughed with his red-dripping jowls and
yellow plastered eyes.

Bashti did not rage as he would have done had he been alone. Before the
eyes of his chief priest he disdained to lower himself to such commonness
of humanity. Thus it is always with those in the high places, ever
temporising with their natural desires, ever masking their ordinariness
under a show of disinterest. So it was that Bashti displayed no vexation
at the disappointment to his appetite. Agno was a shade less controlled,
for he could not quite chase away the eager light in his eyes. Bashti
glimpsed it and mistook it for simple curiosity of observation not
guessing its real nature. Which goes to show two things of those in the
high place: one, that they may fool those beneath them; the other, that
they may be fooled by those beneath them.

Bashti regarded Jerry quizzically, as if the matter were a joke, and shot
a careless side glance to note the disappointment in his priest's eyes.
Ah, ha, thought Bashti; I have fooled him.

"Which is the high taboo?" Agno queried in the Somo tongue.

"As you should ask. Of a surety, the megapode."

"And the dog?" was Agno's next query.

"Must pay for breaking the taboo. It is a high taboo. It is my taboo.
It was so placed by Somo, the ancient father and first ruler of all of
us, and it has been ever since the taboo of the chiefs. The dog must
die."

He paused and considered the matter, while Jerry returned to digging the
sand where the scent was auspicious. Agno made to stop him, but Bashti
interposed.

"Let be," he said. "Let the dog convict himself before my eyes."

And Jerry did, uncovering two eggs, breaking them and lapping that
portion of their precious contents which was not spilled and wasted in
the sand. Bashti's eyes were quite lack-lustre as he asked

"The feast of dogs for the men is to-day?"

"To-morrow, at midday," Agno answered. "Already are the dogs coming in.
There will be at least fifty of them."

"Fifty and one," was Bashti's verdict, as he nodded at Jerry.

The priest m