“Come hither, Soa,” she said, “and tell me what all this nonsense means about rubies and the People of the Mist.”
“Shepherdess,” answered Soa, squatting down on the ground before her, “it is not nonsense. The language which I taught you when you were little is that of this people. It is a true tale, though hitherto I have hid it from you and your father, Mavoom, lest Mavoom should seek to win the precious stones and come to his death through them. Listen, Shepherdess,” and she repeated the outlines of the story with which she had already made Leonard acquainted, ending thus:
“I told this tale to the White Man because I saw that he was greedy, after the fashion of his race, and my strait was desperate. For this reason I bribed him with the red stone, and with the promise that I would lead him to the land of the People of the Mist, for had I not done so he would never have used his wit or put out his strength to rescue you from the Yellow Devil. Therefore it was also that I marked this paper on your behalf and my own, knowing well that I had no right to speak for you, and that by and by you could refuse to abide by it, though I am bound.”
“Frank, at any rate,” said Leonard to himself. “What an attorney the old lady would have made!”
“Say, Soa,” asked Juanna, “to succeed in the search for these stones is it necessary that I should act a part among your people?”
“I can see no other way,” she answered. “But what of that? You are free, and what I promised on your behalf is nothing. Let the White Man go without his reward, it will save him a long journey.”
“Attorney!” murmured Leonard in admiration; “she ought to be Attorney-General.”
“Wow! The wicked old cheat!” put in Otter. “If I had my way I would break her neck, though she is so clever with the big gun.”
Juanna took no notice of these asides. For the moment she remained in thought, then looked up smiling.
“Really,” she said, “this is a capital legal document. But oh! Mr. Outram, why did you dispel my illusions? You see, I had been making up such a romantic story out of this adventure. You were the knight-errant, and I was the Christian maiden in the hands of the ogre, and when you heard of it you buckled on your armour and started to the rescue. And now you bring me down to the nineteenth century with a run.