had long ago lost all courage and enterprise, and were content to sit in
their fertile and mountain-ringed land, feeding themselves with tales of
departed grandeur and struggling for rank and high-sounding titles, till
the day of doom overtook them.

"I inquired whether she were also content, and she replied, 'Certainly
not'; but what could she do to regenerate her people, she who was
nothing but a woman, and the last of an endless line of rulers?

"'Rid me of the Fung,' she added passionately, 'and I will give you
such a reward as you never dreamed. The old cave-city yonder is full of
treasure that was buried with its ancient kings long before we came to
Mur. To us it is useless, since we have none to trade with, but I have
heard that the peoples of the outside world worship gold.'

"'I do not want gold,' I answered; 'I want to rescue my son who is a
prisoner yonder.'

"'Then,' said the Child of Kings, 'you must begin by helping us to
destroy the idol of the Fung. Are there no means by which this can be
done?'

"'There are means,' I replied, and I tried to explain to her the
properties of dynamite and of other more powerful explosives.

"'Go to your own land,' she exclaimed eagerly, 'and return with that
stuff and two or three who can manage it, and I swear to them all the
wealth of Mur. Thus only can you win my help to save your son.'"

"Well, what was the end?" asked Captain Orme.