and scourged him continually with his sharp tongue, "but if the Fung get
hold of you, then we shall learn the truth."

"Shall I punch his head, sir?" queried Quick in a meditative voice.

"Be quiet, please," interrupted Orme. "We have troubles enough before
us, without making more. It will be time to settle our quarrels when we
have got through the Fung."

Then he turned to Shadrach and said:

"Friend, this is no time for angry words. You are the guide of this
party; lead us as you will, remembering only that if it comes to war, I,
by the wish of my companions, am Captain. Also, there is another thing
which you should not forget--namely, that in the end you must make
answer to your own ruler, she who, I understand from the doctor here, is
called Walda Nagasta, the Child of Kings. Now, no more words; we march
as you wish and where you wish. On your head be it!"

The Abati heard and bowed sullenly. Then, with a look of hate at Higgs,
he turned and went about his business.

"Much better to have let me punch his head," soliloquized Quick. "It
would have done him a world of good, and perhaps saved many troubles,
for, to tell the truth, I don't trust that quarter-bred Hebrew."

Then he departed to see to the camels and the guns while the rest of us
went to our tents to get such sleep as the mosquitoes would allow. In
my own case it was not much, since the fear of evil to come weighed upon
me. Although I knew the enormous difficulty of entering the mountain