te 'Thank you's' and 'You're very kind's.'

'Nothing,' said Blue Mantle, 'is too good for the Chosen of the Gods.
All that we have is yours, to the very last day of your life you have
only to command, and we obey. You will like to eat in seclusion. And
afterwards you will let us behold the whole person of the Chosen of the
Gods.'

Quentin retired into the purple tent, with the fruits and the cocoa-nut.
As you know, a cocoa-nut is not handy to get at the inside of, at the
best of times, so Quentin set that aside, meaning to ask Blue Mantle
later on for a gimlet and a hammer.

When he had had enough to eat he peeped out again. Blue Mantle was on
the watch and came quickly forward.

'Now,' said he, very crossly indeed, 'tell me how you got here. This
Chosen of the Gods business is all very well for the vulgar. But you and
I know that there is no such thing as magic.'

'Speak for yourself,' said Quentin. 'If I'm not here by magic I'm not
here at all.'

'Yes, you are,' said Blue Mantle.

'I know I am,' said Quentin, 'but if I'm not here by magic what am I
here by?'

'Stowawayishness,' said Blue Mantle.

'If you think that why don't you treat me as a stowaway?'

'Because of public opinion,' said Blue Mantle, rubbing his nose in an
angry sort of perplexedness.

'Very well,' said Quentin, who was feeling so surprised and bewildered
that it was a real relief to him to bully somebody. 'Now look here. I
came here by magic, accidental magic. I belong to quite a different
world from yours. But perhaps you are right about my being the Chosen of
the Gods. And I sha'n't tell you anything about my world. But I command
you, by the Sacred Tau' (he had been quick enough to catch and remember
the word), 'to tell me who you are, and where you come from, and where
you are going.'

Blue Mantle shrugged his shoulders. 'Oh, well,' he said, 'if you invoke
the sacred names of Power.... But I don't call it fair play. Especially
as you know perfectly well, and just want to browbeat me into telling
lies. I shall not tell lies. I shall tell you the truth.'

'I hoped you would,' said Quentin gently.

'Well then,' said Blue Mantle, 'I am a Priest of Poseidon, and I come
from the great and immortal kingdom of Atlantis.'

'From the temple where the gold statue is, with the twelve sea-horses in
gold?' Quentin asked eagerly.

'Ah, I knew you knew all about it,' said Blue Mantle, 'so I don't need
to tell you that I am taking the sacred s