careless in speech and gay at heart.

Cumner's Son told them of his ride and of Tang-a-Dahit, and, at last, of
the men of their tribe who died by the Palace wall. With one accord they
rose in their places and swore over bread and a drop of blood of their
chief that they would not sheathe their swords again till a thousand of
Boonda Broke's and the Dakoon's men lay where their own kinsmen had
fallen. If it chanced that Tang-a-Dahit was dead, then they would never
rest until Boonda Broke and all his clan were blotted out. Only Pango
Dooni himself was silent, for he was thinking much of what should be done
at Mandakan.

They came out upon the plateau where the fortress stood, and five hundred
mounted men marched past, with naked swords and bare krises in their
belts, and then wheeled suddenly and stood still, and shot their swords
up into the air the full length of the arm, and called the battle-call of
their tribe. The chief looked on unmoved, save once when a tall trooper
rode near him. He suddenly called this man forth.

"Where hast thou been, brother?" he asked.

"Three days was I beyond the Bar of Balmud, searching for the dog who
robbed my mother; three days did I ride to keep my word with a foe, who
gave me his horse when we were both unarmed and spent, and with broken
weapons could fight no more; and two days did I ride to be by a woman's
side when her great sickness should come upon her. This is all, my lord,
since I went forth, save this jewel which I plucked from the cap of a
gentleman from the Palace. It was toll he paid even at the gates of
Mandakan."