Part 31 (1/2)
”Who has dared to forbid my servants to come before me and worshi+p me?
My will is my own, and I only make it known It is my will that these white men and yonder black woman pass in before me at their pleasure”
”Your will is our will, Mother,” said the priests humbly
So they went in, and the curtains were closed behind them
”I am so thankful to see you,” said Juanna ”You don't kno dreadfully lonely it has been in this great rooht, and I am afraid of those solehtcrawled about the place on all fours like dogs; it was horrible!”
”I am sorry that you have been left alone,” said Leonard, ”but you ht sleep with you, at any rate
Where is Otter? Let us pay hi on”
Juanna went to the door and addressed the priests, saying that she desired to be led before the Snake, and her servants with her They deave way, and all four of them were conducted, first into the courtyard, in which no hu chae chair set upon a dais sat Otter, looking furious and by no round in front of hily
”Welcoht of Leonard ”Welcome, Shepherdess!”
”You idiot!” answered Leonard in Dutch, but speaking in theto his knees ”If you will not remember that you are a God, I will pay you out so soon as we are alone Bid these fellows begone; the Shepherdess will translate for you”
”Go, dogs!” said Otter, taking the hint; ”go, and bring me food I would speak with my servant, who is named Baas, and with my mother”
”These are the words of the Snake that he speaks in the holy tongue,”
said Juanna, and she translated the to the earth, crept backwards froone, Otter leaped froe 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 knohat 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 theer makes me mad”
”Hush!+” said Leonard, ”I hear footsteps! On to your throne, Otter!
Quick, Juanna! stand by his side; ill 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 al 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 aits contents
They were sietables and watercress--poor in quality, for the season inter, and all of them uncooked In the centre of this fodder--whether placed there in obedience to soious tradition or by way of ornaestive process of the God, as a tenpenny nail is said to assist that of an ostrich--was a fine ruby stone; not so big, indeed, as that which Soa had given to Leonard, but still of considerable size and value Leonard saith delight, but not so the dwarf, the selfish proet that his ems as this In the fury of his disappointed appetite he stood upon the footstool of the throne, and, seizing the ruby, he hurled it at the priest, hitting him fair between the eyes
”Arass, and red gravel?”
Then the priest, terrified at the behaviour of this strange divinity, picked up the offending geer--and fled, never looking behind him