A strange look shot across his father's face.

"No," he answered, and said no more. Marco watching him, knew he must
not ask the question again.

The next words his father said were about the promises. Marco was quite
a little fellow at the time, but he understood the solemnity of them,
and felt that he was being honored as if he were a man.

"When you are a man, you shall know all you wish to know," Loristan
said. "Now you are a child, and your mind must not be burdened. But
you must do your part. A child sometimes forgets that words may be
dangerous. You must promise never to forget this. Wheresoever you are;
if you have playmates, you must remember to be silent about many things.
You must not speak of what I do, or of the people who come to see me.
You must not mention the things in your life which make it different
from the lives of other boys. You must keep in your mind that a secret
exists which a chance foolish word might betray. You are a Samavian, and
there have been Samavians who have died a thousand deaths rather than
betray a secret. You must learn to obey without question, as if you were
a soldier. Now you must take your oath of allegiance."

He rose from his seat and went to a corner of the room. He knelt down,
turned back the carpet, lifted a plank, and took something from beneath
it. It was a sword, and, as he came back to Marco, he drew it out from
its sheath. The child's strong, little body stiffened and drew itself
up, his large, deep eyes flashed. He was to take his oath of allegiance
upon a sword as if he were a man. He did not know that his small hand
opened and shut with a fierce understanding grip because those of his