He was darkly handsome; magnificent physique, his magnetism invincible. He was born to rule. With piercing glance he scanned our faces, then like a mask the sternness vanished. His smile was as sweetly alluring as a woman’s.
“Greetings! greetings!” he cried, clasping Saxe.’s hand.
We clustered about him and each in turn received the embrace of welcome. He motioned us to seats, then explained he had been commissioned by the Centaurians to discover the cause of the phenomenal northern lights, but Potolili, with whom he was at war (his face darkened ominously), had spies, vermin, crawling throughout the Octrogona forces, who conveyed to their chief the news of the northern commission, etc.
Potolili at once organized and headed an expedition and was well on his way north before the Octrogonas had commenced preparations.
“To the Potolilis,” he continued, “is the credit, reward, of discovery; but it is an honor stolen, and for the theft they shall pay. I have vowed this war shall end only with the extermination of the Potolilis. The black tribes must dissolve in one; the enemy does not progress; they are now as centuries ago—savages. They are guilty of innumerable outrages against us; from our stock they pick the best, and for years have appropriated our women and boasted of their gallantry because the women failed to return—they dared not. They have in every way sought to injure our good repute, with the Centaurians, and Potolili’s latest offence is the seizure of my sister. He forcibly removed her and her women from the retreat I had placed her in. She was the most beautiful woman of the Octrogona tribe, but the moment she became Potolili’s possession she became an outcast—she hastens his downfall.”
I didn’t dare look at Sheldon.
“I say, boys,” he muttered, “what a jolly opinion they have of each other, and what holy liars! Five to one on crafty Potolili, against this fiery young scamp!”
We didn’t take his bet, but it went hard to keep from grinning. His language was so droll beside Octrogona’s lofty tirade, whose eyes now snapped as he realized, for some reason, we were laughing at him.
Saxe. hastened to express sympathy, and declared we all hoped the Octrogona forces would be victorious. Octrogona saluted deeply, at the same time keeping a suspicious eye on Sheldon, which caused Saunders to irritably remark: That Sheldon was an ass whose noisy braying would eventually get us all into trouble.
Potolili’s agility in discovering us evidently greatly exasperated Octrogona.