"Stay!" said the regent, and there was no mistaking his tone.
Sanders did not come the next day, nor the next. He was moving leisurely, traversing a country where many misunderstandings existed that wanted clearing up. When he arrived, having sent a messenger ahead to carry the news of his arrival, he found the city peaceably engaged.
The women were crushing corn, the men smoking, the little children playing and sprawling about the streets.
He halted at the outskirts of the city, on a hillock that commanded the main street, and sent for the regent.
"Why must I send for you?" he asked. "Why does the king remain in his city when I come? This is shame."
"Master," said Sato-Koto, "it is not fitting that a great king should so humble himself."
Sanders was neither amused nor angry. He was dealing with a rebellious people, and his own fine feelings were as nothing to the peace of the land.
"It would seem that the king has had bad advisers," he reflected aloud, and Sato-Koto shuffled uneasily.
"Go, now, and tell the king to come—for I am his friend."
The regent departed, but returned again alone.