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Dressed as one of the lowest of peasants, the mother of Weenah set boldly out on her forlorn hope the very next day, and in the afternoon she was within one mile of the palace itself.

Here she hid herself in the jungle, and after eating a little fruit went to sleep.

The stars were still shining when she awoke, but she knew them all, and those that were setting told her that day would soon break.

To pass through the soldier-guards and enter the palace would, she knew, be an utter impossibility. There was nothing for it but to wait with patience, for her husband had told her that the queen rode out for a scamper over the plains every forenoon.

He had even told her the direction she usually took, not riding fast, but with Weenah running by her side, keeping a long way ahead of her lover guardian, whichever one of them might happen for the time being to be the happy man.

Benee's mother was as courageous as a mountain cat. She had a duty to perform, and she meant to carry it out.

Well, we are told in some old classic that fortune favours the brave.

It does not always do so, but in this case, at all events, this good woman was successful.

At a certain part of the plain there were bushes close and thick enough, and just here Leeboo with her little charger must pass if she came out to-day at all.