The People of the Mist

was, the woman Soa had been up before him, and on coming out of the cave the first thing that he saw was her tall

that which shall cure you of your sickness as I pro

iffed at the liquor, w

ly to poison me,

ink half of it now and half at midday, a

ol enough Leonard obeyed, t

down with a gasp, "if nastiness is any pr

vely; "many have been dragged

that hour. By nightfall he felt a different man, and before three days were over he was as strong as he had ever been

d observed Otter walking up the hill, bear

his burden. "Once more the bush is full of game; scarcely had I reached it w

and ate it, and when the meal

a reward in payment. Now, as you said, we Englishmen will do much for gold, and I am a poor

oked at him awhi

u ever heard of the

London. I mean that I know nothin

led from them many many years ago, because I was doomed to be offered up as a sacrific

nteresting," said

but their women are fair. Now of the beginning of my people I know nothing, for it is lost in the past. But they worship an ancient stone statue fashioned like a dwarf, and to him they offer the

dwarf lives in the c

t crocodile in the whole world, and the oldest, for he has dwelt there from the beginni

s very romantic and interesting, but I cannot see

his eyes were dazzled when he looked at it. The gem, though roughly polished, was uncut, but its dimensions were those of a small blackbird's egg, it was of the purest pigeon-blood colour, without a flaw, and worn almost round, apparently by the action of water. Now, as it chanced, Leonard knew something of gems, although

se pebbles, Soa?" he asked, "and

hey dig them out of a dry river-bed in some spot that is known to the

d Leonard to himself: "th

d as a wife to the god Jal. Afterwards, before she dies, they take the gem from her brow and store it in a secret place, and there in that secret pla

stones are found he slew her, and the red gems are her blood, and the blue gems are her tears which she shed praying to him for mer

gold, but there are other stones so like it that none who are not learned can tell the difference, and if it be one of these it is of little value. Still it may happen that this, and the others of which yo

many years, tellings its story to none, no, not even to Mavoom. I offer to give it to you now if you will promise to attempt the rescue

ice does not seem quite good enough. As I told you, this sto

oa with a sneer; "also you are wise: little work for l

e this on her behalf and on my own: that I will guide you to the land of the People of the Mist

romise on behalf of your mistress and y

e is great and strong, and we have no force with which

g riddles. How will you conquer this people by craft, and what ha

en my lips are shut. I tell you that I have a plan, and this must be enough, fo

seeing that she was determined

m I to know that your mistress

nd there, should I be discovered, my death waits me. I tell you the tale, or some of it, and I offer you the bribe because I see that you need money, and I am sure that without the chance of winning money you will not hazard your l

ghtfully pulling at his beard, "you have hear

e reasons why they would not have me for a chief. If I had been clever only, they could have borne it, they said, or if I had been ugly only, but being both ugly and clever I was no chief for them.

that the dwarf was talking thus in order to give himself t

a fog and worship a god shaped as I am. None have ever worshipped me, yet there may be a land where I should be deemed worthy of worship, and if so I should like to travel in that land. But as

m perchance,"

there are many if's about it, Baas. Still if you think the pay is good enough we can try. It will be better

ave, we will put the matter into writing so that there may be no mistake about it afterwards. Get a little bl

of his brother's death. Then he bethought him of the prayer-book which Jane Beach had given him. He would not use the fly-leaf, because her name was on it, so h

eonard Outram and So

ue Juanna, the daughter of Mr. Rodd, now reduced to a state of sla

the said Soa delivers to him a certain stone believed to be a ruby

ibe known as the People of the Mist, there to reveal to him and to help him to gain possession of the store of rubies used in the religious ceremonies of the said tribe. Further, the said Soa agrees, on behalf of th

prises be prosecuted until the said Leonard

tains, Eastern Africa, on

ision of the prospective spoils of Peru, Leonard read it aloud and laughed heartily to himself. It was the first time that he had laughed for some m

that, Otter?" he asked

nderful are the ways of the white man! But, Baas, how

herself, who said quietly, "Have no fear, White Man; that which I promise in her name, my mistress will certainly perform, if so be that you can save her.

the comicality of the transaction, which indeed he had carried out more by way of joke than for any other reason, Leonard put the prayer-book in his pocket

ervant to the end. He who swears upon the blood of Aca swea

into the matter of the blood of Aca. It seems to me more probable that our own blood will be in