This, then, was the story told by Shooks-gee, the father of Benee's child-love.
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Had Dick Temple himself been there he could no longer have doubted the fidelity of poor Benee.
But there was much to be done, and it would need all the tact and skill of this wily Indian to carry out his plans.
He could trust his father and mother, as he called Weenah's parents, and he now told them that he had come, if possible, to deliver Peggy, or if that were impossible, to hand her a letter that should give her both comfort and hope.
Queen Peggy's apartments on the mountain were cannibalistically regal in their splendour. The principal entrance to her private room was approached by a long avenue of bamboo rails, completely lined with skulls and bones, and the door thereof was also surrounded by the same kind of horrors.
But every one of her subjects was deferential to her, and appeared awe-struck with her beauty.
And now Benee consulted with his parents as to what had best be done.
[CHAPTER XVI--ON THE BANKS OF A BEAUTIFUL RIVER]
They would not allow Benee to harbour for a single moment the idea of stealing the queen and escaping with her into the forest.