old Zu-Vendian to keep our spirits up, and
presently one of our attendants came and told a story that gave
us something to think about.

It may, perhaps, be remembered that, after his quarrel with
Umslopogaas, Alphonse had gone off in an exceedingly ill temper
to sulk over his scratches. Well, it appears that he walked
right past the Temple to the Sun, down the wide road on the further
side of the slope it crowns, and thence on into the beautiful
park, or pleasure gardens, which are laid out just beyond the
outer wall. After wandering about there for a little he started
to return, but was met near the outer gate by Sorais' train of
chariots, which were galloping furiously along the great northern
road. When she caught sight of Alphonse, Sorais halted her train
and called to him. On approaching he was instantly seized and
dragged into one of the chariots and carried off, 'crying out
loudly', as our informant said, and as from my general knowledge
of him I can well believe.

At first I was much puzzled to know what object Sorais could
have had in carrying off the poor little Frenchman. She could
hardly stoop so low as to try to wreak her fury on one whom she
knew was only a servant. At last, however, an idea occurred
to me. We three were, as I think I have said, much revered by
the people of Zu-Vendis at large, both because we were the first
strangers they had ever seen, and because we were supposed to
be the possessors of almost supernatural wisdom. Indeed, though
Sorais' cry against the 'foreign wolves' -- or, to translate
it more accurately, 'foreign hyenas' -- was sure to go down very
well with the nobles and the priests, it was not as we learnt,
likely to be particularly effectual amongst the bulk of the population.
The Zu-Vendi people, like the Athenians of old, are ever seeking
for some new thing, and just because we were so new our presence
was on the whole acceptable to them. Again, Sir Henry's magnificent
personal appearance made a deep impression upon a race who possess
a greater love of beauty than any other I have ever been acquainted
with. Beauty may be prized in other countries, but in Zu-Vendis
it is almost worshipped, as indeed the national love of statuary
shows. The people said openly in the market-places that there
was not a man in the country to touch Curtis in personal appearance,
as with the exception of Sorais there was no woman who could
compete with Nyleptha, and that therefore it