seem to flout me after the fashion of maidens, and that we Abati
are jealous of the honour of our women. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Prince," I answered, for by now my temper was roused. "But I would
have you understand something also--that we are men of a high race whose
arm stretches over half the world, and that we differ from the little
tribe of the Abati, whose fame is not known to us, in this--that we are
jealous of our own honour, and do not need to hire strangers to fight
the foes we fear to face. Next time I come to attend to your wounds,
O Prince, I trust that they will be in front, and not behind. One word
more, if you will be advised by me you will not threaten that Captain
whom you call a Gentile and a mercenary, lest you should learn that it
is not always well to be a coward, of blood however ancient."

Then, in a towering rage, I left him, feeling that I had made a thorough
fool of myself. But the truth was that I could not sit still and hear
men such as my companions, to say nothing of myself, spoken of thus by
a bloated cur, who called himself a prince and boasted of his own
poltroonery. He glowered at me as I went, and the men of his party who
hung about the end of the great room and in his courts, glowered at
me also. Clearly he was a very dangerous cur, and I almost wished that
instead of threatening to slap his face down in the tunnel, Quick had
broken his neck and made an end of him.

So did the others when I told them the story, although I think it opened
their eyes, and especially those of Oliver, to the grave and growing
dangers of the situation. Afterward he informed me that he had spoken of
the matter with Maqueda, and that she was much frightened for our sakes,
and somewhat for her own. Joshua, she said, was a man capable of any
crime, who had at his back the great majority of the Abati; a jealous,
mean and intolerant race who made up in cunning for what they lacked in
courage.

Yet, as I saw well, the peril of their situation did nothing to separate
this pair or to lessen their love. Indeed, rather did it seem to bind
them closer together, and to make them more completely one. In short,
the tragedy took its appointed course, whilst we stood by and watched it
helplessly.

On the afternoon of my angry interview with Joshua we were summoned to
a meeting of the Council, whither we went, not without some trepidation,
expecting trouble. Trouble there was, but of a different sort to that
which