could they travel fast.

"Come then," I said, "and know that while you are faithful to me, I
will be good to you, men of my own trade, and perhaps in the end set
you free in a land where brave fellows are not given to be torn to
pieces by wild beasts at the word of any kind. But if you fail me or
betray me, then either I will kill you, or sell you to those who deal
in slaves, to work at the oar, or in the mines till you die."

"Henceforth we have no lord but you, O Shabaka," they said, and one
after another took my hand and pressed it to their foreheads, vowing
to be true to me in all things while we lived.

So I bade them begone to bid farewell to those they loved and return
again within half an hour of noon, never expecting, to tell the truth,
that they would come. Indeed I did this to give them the opportunity
of escaping if they saw fit, and hiding themselves where they would.
But as I have often noted, the trade of hunting breeds honesty in the
blood and at the hour appointed all of these men appeared, one of them
with a woman who carried a child in her arms, clinging to him and
weeping bitterly. When her veil slipped aside I saw that she was young
and very fair to look on.



So at noon we left the city of the Great King in the charge of two of
his officers who brought me his thanks for the bow I had sent him,
which he said he should treasure above everything he possessed, a
saying at which Bes rolled his yellow eyes and grinned. We were
mounted on splendid stallions from the royal stables and clad in the