This Book is Dedicated
Contents
| Chapter | Page | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | A Slave’s Secret | [1] |
| II. | The Pass of Blood | [17] |
| III. | What Next Befell | [31] |
| IV. | At the Queen’s Mercy | [45] |
| V. | Astolba’s Errand | [60] |
| VI. | The Cup of the Beast | [73] |
| VII. | The High Priest’s Council | [84] |
| VIII. | In the Cage | [109] |
| IX. | The Mad Man of the Moon | [121] |
| X. | The Red Witch holds her Revel | [133] |
| XI. | The Treasure House of Edba and of Hed | [144] |
| XII. | The Dance of the Maidens | [161] |
| XIII. | A Strange Story | [182] |
| XIV. | The Flower of Death | [194] |
| XV. | The White Dove’s Flight | [202] |
| XVI. | Zobo the Mighty Wrestles | [215] |
| XVII. | Check to the Queen | [225] |
| XVIII. | The Wisdom of Hubla | [231] |
| XIX. | For life, for Love, for Freedom | [240] |
| XX. | The Beginning of the End | [252] |
List of Illustrations
| Page | |
|---|---|
| At the Queen’s Mercy | [Frontispiece] |
| The Mysterious Map | [13] |
| For Life or Death | [127] |
| At Bay | [179] |
| The Beginning of the End | [258] |
At the Queen’s Mercy
Chapter I
A Slave’s Secret
I am a plain man, and to do a plain man’s work was ever more to my taste than to set down with a clerk’s skill such happenings as have befallen.
Nevertheless, something within me spurs me onward; for, to tell the truth, I am loath to die leaving no record of the sights that I have seen; sights to brand the memory and stir the blood, and doings to turn one hot and cold, years after the doers thereof have crumbled into dust.
Fate, fickle jade, has willed a peaceful end for me—a man from whom peace has ever been afar off. Yet by my fireside I am not alone: Zobo, the Mighty, wrestles in the flames; Astolba, my fair white dove Astolba, gently smiles upon my waking dreams, and she, the Queen with deadly wondrous beauty, like some fair poisonous flower, flaunts before my eyes.