The beautiful fury sprang to her feet, spurning him. She glared down at his chalky face in utter scorn.
"Kiss thee? Thou die for me? Pah! I kiss no carrion. A half-hundred men have died for me this day, I hope. I kiss him who lives for me and conquers, not the weakling who dies!"
Without deigning another glance at her victim, she turned away and went to meet Milo. He now entered with his slaves.
"Where are the two strangers?" she demanded harshly.
Milo returned her stare with a look of simple surprise. He had seen nothing of them, and had thought of them being yet with his mistress.
"I saw them not, Sultana," he replied.
"Saw them not, great clod!" she blazed at him, clenching her hands in rage. "Are they here, then?"
Milo looked around in bewilderment. In all her life Dolores had been his especial care; in her many moments of temper she had perhaps pained his devoted heart, but never had she used to him the tone she now used. It seemed to his simple soul that the foundations of his faith were being wrenched loose.
"I will find them, Sultana," he said quietly, and turned to leave by the tunnel.
"Stay here, thou blind fool!" she commanded him. "I will find them myself. Here is work more fitting for a slave. How many chests are going to the ship?"