exclamation of rage that caused the others to burst out laughing.

"Laugh, Baas, laugh if you will!" said the dwarf, "for you have never
been a god, and don't know what it is. What think you, Baas?--all night
long I have sat upon that great stool, while those accursed dogs burnt
stinking stuff beneath my nostrils and muttered nonsense. One hour more
and I should have fallen on them and killed them, for I have had no
meat, and hunger makes me mad."

"Hush!" said Leonard, "I hear footsteps! On to your throne, Otter!
Quick, Juanna! stand by his side; we will kneel!"

They had barely time to obey when the curtains were drawn, and a priest
entered, holding a vessel of wood covered with a cloth. Slowly he
crept towards the throne, with his head bent almost to his knees; then,
straightening himself suddenly, he lifted up the wooden vessel and cried
aloud:

"We bring you food, O Snake. Eat and be satisfied."

Otter took the dish, and, lifting the cloth, gazed upon its contents
hungrily, but with an ever-growing dissatisfaction.

"Son of a dog!" he cried in his own tongue, "is this food to set before
a man?" And he held the platter downwards, exposing its contents.

They were simple, consisting of various sorts of vegetables and
watercress--poor in quality, for the season was winter, and all of
them uncooked. In the centre of this fodder--whether placed there in
obedience to some religious tradition or by way of ornament, or perhaps