And there, at the royal landing place, were priests also awaiting him. In spite of the anxiety, shout after shout went up from all sides as his galley touched the granite steps. But terrible was the hush when the king came forth, unsmiling, unanswering. After the steps were ascended, his chariot entered, and he was driven off, they knew their every fear was verified.
Shivering with dismay, they looked on in silence as the downcast nobles, now that the king no longer needed their attendance, thought of their homes, and, entering their chariots, drove off. But there came diversion for the time when the half-fainting captives were borne to a chariot, and driven after the king.
The priests, who were of inferior rank, were about to drive to the temple when these children appeared. They waited until they were gone, when one spoke out to the captain of the galley that had borne them:
“Sir Captain, whence are those children?”
“Priest Kluto, Maron telleth that they are of Pelasgia, and the children of a great chief.”
“Well, I knew it!” exclaimed a swarthy man, a Kabyle of the Amazirgi.[[12]] “Before I lost this arm, and when I was in Shaphana, I saw these Pelasgians. Fair were some even as these children, and of foreheads as straight. Marked ye their foreheads?”
“I marked them!”
“And I!”
“And I!”
Then, for the first time in the history of the island, these Atlanteans began to regard the receding foreheads everywhere about them with less than the usual favor.