"An eye for a false move!" hissed Mahommed Khan. "Two eyes are the
forfeit unless they go down the stairs again! Then my half-brother
here will follow to the temple and if any watch, or stay behind, thy
ears will sizzle!"
The High Priest raised his voice into a wail again, and the feet shuffled
along the landing and descended.
"Put down that coal!" he pleaded. "I have done thy bidding!"
"Watch through the window!" said the Risaldar. "Then follow!"
His giant half-brother peered from behind the curtain and listened.
He could hear laughter, ribald, mocking laughter, but low, and plainly
not intended for the High Priest's ears.
"They go!" he growled.
"Then follow."
Once again the Risaldar was left alone with the priest and the unconscious
Ruth. She was suffering from the effects of long days and nights
of nerve-destroying heat, with the shock of unexpected horror super-
added, and she showed no disposition to recover consciousness. The
priest, though, was very far from having lost his power to think.
"You are a fool!" he sneered at the Risaldar, but the sword leaped
from its scabbard at the word and he changed that line of argument.
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