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, the Voice spoke, and the Messenger did judgment. He is caught in his own snare, and so shall you be, every one of you who dares to think evil in his heart or to do it with his hands. "Such is the just decree of the Hesea, spoken by her from her throne amidst the fires of the Mountain." CHAPTER XIII BENEATH THE SHADOWING WINGS One by one the terrified tribesmen crept away. When the last of them were gone the priest advanced to Leo and saluted him by placing his hand upon his forehead. "Lord," he said, in the same corrupt Grecian dialect which was used by the courtiers of Kaloon, "I will not ask if you are hurt, since from the moment that you entered the sacred river and set foot within this land you and your companion were protected by a power invisible and could not be harmed by man or spirit, however great may have seemed your danger. Yet vile hands have been laid upon you, and this is the command of the Mother whom I serve, that, if you desire it, every one of those men who touched you shall die before your eyes. Say, is that your will?" "Nay," answered Leo; "they were mad and blind, let no blood be shed for _us_. All we ask of you, friend--but, how are you called?" "Name me Oros," he answered. "Friend Oros--a good title for one who dwells upon the Mountain--all we ask is food and shelter, and to be led swiftly into the presence of her whom you name Mother, that Oracle whose wisdom we have travelled far to seek." He bowed and answered: "The food and shelter are prepared and to-morrow, when you have rested, I am commanded to conduct you whither you desire to be. Follow me, I pray you"; and he preceded us past the fiery pit to a building that stood about fifty yards away against the rock wall of the amphitheatre. It would seem that it was a guest-house, or at least had been made ready to serve that purpose, as in it lamps were lit and a fire burned, for here the air was cold. The house was divided into two rooms, the second of them a sleeping place, to which he led us through the first. "Enter," he said, "for you will need to cleanse yourselves, and you"--here he addressed himself to me--"to be treated for that hurt to your arm which you had from the jaws of the great hound." "How know you that?" I asked. "It matters not if I do know and have made ready," Oros answered gravely. This second room was lighted and warmed like the first, moreover, heated water stood in basins of metal an
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