So they went in, and the curtains were closed behind them.
“I am so thankful to see you,” said Juanna. “You don’t know how dreadfully lonely it has been in this great room all night, and I am afraid of those solemn-eyed priests who stand round the doors. The women who brought me food last evening crawled about the place on all fours like dogs; it was horrible!”
“I am sorry that you have been left alone,” said Leonard, “but you must try to make better arrangements. Soa might sleep with you, at any rate. Where is Otter? Let us pay him a visit; I want to see how the god is getting on.”
Juanna went to the door and addressed the priests, saying that she desired to be led before the Snake, and her servants with her. They demurred a little, then gave way, and all four of them were conducted, first into the courtyard, in which no human being was to be seen, and thence to an adjoining chamber, where a curious sight awaited them. In a huge chair set upon a dais sat Otter, looking furious and by no means at ease; while stretched upon the ground in front of him lay four priests, who muttered prayers unceasingly.
“Welcome, Baas!” he cried in rapture at the sight of Leonard. “Welcome, Shepherdess!”
“You idiot!” answered Leonard in Dutch, but speaking in the most humble voice, and sinking to his knees. “If you will not remember that you are a god, I will pay you out so soon as we are alone. Bid these fellows begone; the Shepherdess will translate for you.”
“Go, dogs!” said Otter, taking the hint; “go, and bring me food. I would speak with my servant, who is named Baas, and with my mother.”
“These are the words of the Snake that he speaks in the holy tongue,” said Juanna, and she translated them.
The four priests rose, and bowing to the earth, crept backwards from the room. So soon as they were gone, Otter leaped from his throne with an exclamation of rage that caused the others to burst out laughing.
“Laugh, Baas, laugh if you will!” said the dwarf, “for you have never been a god, and don’t know what it is. What think you, Baas?—all night long I have sat upon that great stool, while those accursed dogs burnt stinking stuff beneath my nostrils and muttered nonsense. One hour more and I should have fallen on them and killed them, for I have had no meat, and hunger makes me mad.”