“That cannot be,” said another standing near the first speaker. “To allow a stranger from the world beyond the sea to escape would be to allow him to carry tales of Faytan to his countrymen. Then they would send many boats here to rob us of our pearls and make us trouble.”
“Therefore,” added another, “you must die to save Faytan.”
“In what way?” I asked, more to gain time than because the mode of dying interested me just then.
“The King will determine that. We will take you to the King.”
“Very well,” I responded cheerfully. “Come, Joe; let’s visit the King.”
He grinned at this, for Joe isn’t easily scared, and we allowed the Faytans to escort us from the roof, going so docilely that they did not bind us or even touch our bodies. They merely surrounded us in a dense mass, and since they were of gigantic size and strong as bulls that was as secure a method as any.
The house through which we passed was not badly arranged or furnished. We saw numerous rooms from the corridors we traversed, and they were more pleasant and homelike than you might suppose, considering this to be an uncivilized island which the world’s progress had never yet thought of.
The square outside—it was a circle, really—was thronged with men, women and children, all scantily clad as far as clothing was concerned, but the humblest wearing a fortune in pearl ornaments.
This island of Faytan must be very populous. There were at least two hundred men in the boats guarding the reefs; the forest was full of them; many were working in the fields, and still the Pearl City was packed full, as far as we could see. The natives were of superior physique and intelligence. We had thought Nux and Bry exceptionally well built fellows, for South Sea Islanders, and we had often proved their fidelity and keenness of intellect; but the Faytans were fully their equals in every respect, and I knew from the reports of Tuamotu that they had no such capital as the Pearl City and lived in a more primitive manner.
Crossing the square between close ranks of silent, staring natives, we were escorted to the steps of the Great Temple and in through a high arched doorway.