"We be very, very weary for our Hills!" explained the nearest man.

"Aye!" King answered. "And ye all owe Ali!"

"Uh-h-h-h-h!"

But he knew better than to browbeat them on that account just then,
for the men of the North are easier led than driven--up to a certain
point. Yet it is no bad plan to remind them of the fundamentals
to begin with.

"Will ye obey me, and him?" he asked, laying his hand on Ismail's
shoulder, as much to let them see the bracelet again as for any
other reason.

"Aye! If we fail, Allah do more to us!"

King laughed. "Ye shall leave this place as my prisoners. Here
ye have no friends. Here ye must obey. But what when ye come to
your 'Hills' at last? Can one man hold thirty men prisoners then?
In the 'Hills' will ye still obey me?"

They answered him in chorus. Every man of the thirty, and Ismail
into the bargain, threw his right hand in the air.

"Allah witness that we will obey!"

"Ah-h-h!" said King. "I have heard Hillmen swear by Allah many a
time! Many a time!"