"You have done well, indeed, good Oleric," she said quickly. "My king shall forgive you for the lost fademe, the losing of which was surely no fault of yours. And these—these be worth many fademes to me." She selected two of the pearls of fair size and goodly sheen and gave them to Oleric.
"You did venture your life to get them. Perchance some maid of Adlaz town shall look on you more kindly for the gift," she said.
Bel-Ar frowned; then he smiled, too.
"Well, Raissa has said it. I must agree, I suppose. I forgive you the fademe," he said, somewhat dryly, while the lords and ladies laughed. "Only sail no more ships at present, captain. Get you to the harbor, and there for a space relieve Atlo as captain of the port. I have need of him at the Kimbrian Wall, where the robbers of Ruthar have grown overbold.
"Now, another matter." The king's brow clouded. "Which of these foreigners slew the bull of Shamar? This one surely." He pointed to Minos. "Never saw I such a man."
"No, O king, not he," Oleric said. "He is from a far land in the southern snow wastes, which was destroyed by the earth-fires. There he was the king. The other one, the golden-haired man, it was, who slew the bull—to save a child—"
"Have done. The reason for the deed avails him not," Bel-Ar broke in. "Have him come hither, that I may judge."
Oleric fetched Polaris Janess into the space before the throne. The son of the snows advanced with a firm step and halted directly in front of Bel-Ar, where he gazed at the king with steady eyes. Close at his heels came the great dog Rombar.
"Why does the man not bow?" inquired Bel-Ar harshly. "Where learned he his manners? And how does it come that he is attended by a sacred dog of Shamar, that seems ready to do battle for him?"