Cumner & South Sea Folk, Complete

e red and white pennant of the dead Dakoon. In the Palace yard a thousand men stood at attention, and at their head was Cushnan Di with fifty hill

tful crowds of people, who drew close to the mystery of the House of Death, as though the soul of a Dakoon were of more moment than those of the thousand men who had fallen that day. Along the line of the Bazaar ranged another tho

r no other reason than to give him his chance for a blow, if he dared to strike it, at the most advantageous place in the city. The furtive hangers-on, cut-throats, mendicants, followers of Boonda Broke, and haters of the English, lurked in the Bazaars, and Gis-yo-Bahim shoul

reat funeral pyres, which were set on three little hills just outside the city. These wailed as they passed by. The smoke of the 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 Boo

ith thee, but a seed of corn and a bottle of tears and wine;

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 pas

i, a fallen chief, and his daughter with the body like a trailing vine; for one knew the sorrow of disposses

Dome, the daughter of Cushnan Di lay watching for her door to open; for she knew what had happened in the cit

ice from the bed. "Nothing but the

st thou not

heaven-flowers, but a

e that my fat

et way into the Palace yard." There was silence for a moment, and then the gir

lay moveless, save where the bosom rose and fell softly, quivering under the white robe. A grea

ss body. The love burning in them was not the love of a maid for a man, but that which comes after, through pain and trouble and wisdom. It was the look that

ang-a-Dahit stepped inside. A beautiful smile settled upon the gi

e, Mami,"

rt," she answered

turned from his visit two days before, and of the journe

her had told her. "My father knows that thou d

nd he shook his head. "The young are not taken into

Son, and thou-the future of Mandakan is all with ye; neither with Cumner, nor with Pango Dooni, nor with Cushnan Di. To the old is

hout," said he. "May

nd shrank a little,

. Cumner's Son stood abashed at first to see this angelic head, so full of light and life, l

ou hast no evil in thee. Great things shall come to thee, and to t

sword, stroked the white coverlet of her couch gently and abstractedly. Once or twice Cumner's Son tried to speak, but fa

ome. A hundred hillsmen rode before, and a hundred behind, and between were two thousand soldiers of Mandakan on foot and fifty of the late Dakoon's body-guard mounted and brilliant in scarlet and gold. Behind the gun-c

ly, at a call from Cumner, the hillsmen, the British, and a thousand native soldiers, faced the Bazaar in perfect silence, their lances, swords, and rifles in a pose of menace. The whole procession stood still for a moment. In the pause the crowds in the Ba

pon the murderer, who sprang back into the Bazaar. The lad fearlessly rode straight into the Bazaar, and galloped down upon the fugitive, who suddenly swung round to meet him with naked kris; but, as he did so, a dog ran across his path, tripped him up, and he half fell. Before he could recover himself a pistol was at his head. "March!" said the

nd artillery cheered him, the native troops took it up,

he half swung round. It struck him in the shoulder, and quivered where it struck, but he

h, and every man cried: "Sleep, lord of the earth!"

ome of the Palace, ye shall come to hear your D

to be Dakoon, yet every man in Mandakan

will be as the stubble of the field befo