burnt powder had been carried away by a gentle wind, and in its place was
the pervasive perfume of the peach and cherry trees, and the aroma of the
gugan wood which was like cut sandal in the sun after a rain. In the
homes of a few rich folk there was feasting also, for it mattered little
to them whether Boonda Broke or Pango Dooni ruled in Mandakan, so that
their wealth was left to them. But hundreds of tinkling little bells
broke the stillness. These were carried by brown bare-footed boys, who
ran lightly up and down the streets, calling softly: "Corn and tears and
wine for the dead!" It was the custom for mourners to place in the hands
of the dead a bottle of tears and wine, and a seed of corn, as it is
written in the Proverbs of Dol:

"When thou journeyest into the Shadows, take not sweetmeats with thee,
but a seed of corn and a bottle of tears and wine; that thou mayest have
a garden in the land whither thou goest."

It was yet hardly night when the pyres were lighted on the little hills
and a warm glow was thrown over all the city, made warmer by roseate-hued
homes and the ruddy stones and velvety dust of the streets. At midnight
the Dakoon was to be brought to the Tomb with the Blue Dome. Now in the
Palace yard his body lay under a canopy, the flags of Mandakan and
England over his breast, twenty of his own naked body-guard stood round,
and four of his high chiefs stood at his head and four at his feet, and
little lads ran softly past, crying: "Corn and tears and wine for the
dead!" And behind all these again were placed the dark battalions and
the hillsmen. It went abroad through the city that Pango Dooni and
Cumner paid great homage to the dead Dakoon, and the dread of the
hillsmen grew less.

But in one house there had been no fear, for there, by the Aqueduct of