"The interior is in good condition?"
"Very good, your majesty."
"My orders to the effect that nothing should be removed from it have been carried out?"
"The executioner-general would have that tub of white pigment. Nothing else has been taken from the house."
"Very good. How many of our people will the house contain comfortably?"
"I should say that fifty or more could dwell in it without much inconvenience."
"Then select fifty soldiers, the flower of the Gaddbaizets. Among your stores be sure you have a good supply of black kaka. I want some one who is away up in ideographs to accompany the expedition as historian."
"It will be attended to, your highness."
The king turned and aimed his word-box at the professor.
"Is that tub of white pigment essential to the proper equipment of the metal house?" he asked.