an absolute
monarch, with power to shape and control the destinies of the nation as
seemed to him good; with nobody to say him nay, whatever the nature of
the decrees he might promulgate, and to whom even the Queen herself
became subject. Then, with regard to Dick Maitland, it will be
remembered that he, as well as Grosvenor, had been compelled to take an
oath that he would never seek to leave the country without the royal
assent. But, now that Phil was King, that assent was, of course, to be
obtained easily enough; and obtained it was, as soon as the wedding was
over and Grosvenor was securely installed in his new position. For,
whatever inducements there might be for Phil to pass the remainder of
his life in the strange, scarcely-heard-of land of the Izreelites, no
such inducements existed in the case of Dick Maitland, who was now all
impatience to return to England and provide for the welfare of his
mother--if, haply, she still survived.

Accordingly, having in due form sought and obtained the royal assent to
his departure from Izreel, Dick lost no time in completing his
preparations for the long and perilous journey that lay before him.
And, first of all, he presented Leo--now nearly full-grown and, thanks
to careful and judicious training, a most amiable, docile, and
affectionate beast--to Queen Myra, as the most cherished possession it
was in his power to offer her. Of the horses which they had brought
with them into the country he kept only the one which King Lobelalatutu
had given him, leaving the rest with Phil--there being no horses in
Izreel. Ramoo Samee, being given his choice, elected to remain in
Izreel, in the capacity of stud groom; but Mafuta, Jantje, and 'Nkuku
returned with Dick, as a matter of course. And, as a measure of
precaution, Grosvenor arranged for an escort of five hundred Izreelite
warriors to accompany the wagon through the country immediately on the
other side of the border; for although the savage inhabitants had
received such terrible chastisement that they were scarcely likely to
interfere with anyone coming from Izreel, it was deemed wisest to run no
risk of a possible hostile demonstration.

At length the day and hour of parting came, and Dick, fully equipped for
his journey, presented himself at the palace to say farewell. The
moment was not without its emotions, for although it had already been
planned that at no very distant date Maitland should revisit Izreel,
bringing