The great procession stopped near a little house by the Aqueduct of the Failing Fountain, and spread round it, and the leader stepped forward to the door of the little house and entered. A silence fell upon the crowd, for they were to look upon the face of a dying girl, who chose to dwell in her little home rather than in a palace.
She was carried forth on a litter, and set down, and the long procession passed by her as she lay. She smiled at all an ineffable smile of peace, and her eyes had in them the light of a good day drawing to its close. Only once did she speak, and that was when all had passed, and a fine troop of horsemen came riding up.
This was the Dakoon of Mandakan and his retinue. When he dismounted and came to her, and bent over her, he said something in a low tone for her ear alone, and she smiled at him, and whispered the one word “Peace!”
Then the Dakoon, who once was known only as Cumner’s Son, turned and embraced the prophet Sandoni, as he was now called, though once he had been called Tang-a-Dahit the hillsman.
“What message shall I bear thy father?” asked the Dakoon, after they had talked a while.
Sandoni told him, and then the Dakoon said:
“Thy father and mine, who are gone to settle a wild tribe of the hills in a peaceful city, send thee a message.” And he held up his arm, where a bracelet shone.
The Prophet read thereon the Sacred Countersign of the hillsmen.