waste time in torturing that fat knave."

"Then why did you torture him?" I asked.

"Because my god, the Grasshopper, when he fashioned me a dwarf, gave
me a big mouth and good teeth," he answered, whereon I stared at him,
thinking that he had gone mad.

"Listen, Master. I did not hurt Houman. All I did was to cut his cords
nearly through from the under side, so that when night comes he can
break them and escape, if he has the wit. Now, Master, you may not
have noticed, but I did, that before the King doomed you to death by
the boat yesterday, he took a certain round, white seal, a cylinder
with gods and signs cut on it, which hung by a gold chain from his
girdle, and gave it to Houman to be his warrant for all he did. This
seal Houman showed to the Treasurer whereon they produced the gold
that was weighed in the scales against me, and to others when he
ordered the boat to be prepared for you to lie in. Moreover he forgot
to return it, for when he himself was dragged off to the boat by
direct command of the King, I caught sight of the chain beneath his
robe. Can you guess the rest?"

"Not quite," I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own
words.

"Well, Master, when I was walking with Houman after he had put you in
the boat, I asked him about this seal. He showed it to me and said
that he who bore it was for the time the king of all the Empire of the
East. It seems that there is but one such seal which has descended
from ancient days from king to king, and that of it every officer,