This mightily impressed the king.
“That sounds reasonable,” he said with a pitiful air of wisdom, “but it may be attended to hereafter. We are facing a present crisis. You said that a leader of an insurrection would be required.”
“Yes, Sire.”
“The army could put down any trouble.”
“With the army itself in revolt?”
“But Gato’s control of the army is powerful.”
“Yet it is on the edge of revolt. If Gato is all-powerful with his men, and in spite of that fact says he can’t control them,——But your Majesty is abler than I to draw inferences.”
The king came nervously to his feet.
“It is easy to understand, Sire,” I went on, “that an ambitious and unscrupulous man would see his opportunity when the people are paralyzed with fear of the Face or with an outburst of its wrath.”
“Opportunity for what?” the king demanded. “What would he want, Sire? Your throne would be a temptation, and so would Lentala to a man who wanted a beautiful wife.”