At these words Oros showed neither curiosity nor surprise; it was as though I told him only what he knew.

“Good,” he replied, smiling, and with a courteous bow of his shaven head, “within an hour you shall march on—­to fulfil your destinies.  If I have warned you, forgive me, for I was bidden so to do, perhaps to try your mettle.  Is it needful that I should repeat this warning to the lord——­” and again he looked at me.

“Leo Vincey,” I said.

“Leo Vincey, yes, Leo Vincey,” he repeated, as though the name were familiar to him but had slipped his mind.  “But you have not answered my question.  Is it needful that I should repeat the warning?”

“Not in the least; but you can do so if you wish when he awakes.”

“Nay, I think with you, that it would be but waste of words, for—­forgive the comparison;—­what the wolf dares”—­and he looked at me—­“the tiger does not flee from,” and he nodded towards Leo.  “There, see how much better are the wounds upon your arm, which is no longer swollen.  Now I will bandage it, and within some few weeks the bone will be as sound again as it was before you met the Khan Rassen hunting in the Plains.  By the way, you will see him again soon, and his fair wife with him.”

“See him again?  Do the dead, then, come to life upon this Mountain?”

“Nay, but certain of them are brought hither for burial.  It is the privilege of the rulers of Kaloon; also, I think, that the Khania has questions to ask of its Oracle.”

“Who is its Oracle?” I asked with eagerness.

“The Oracle,” he replied darkly, “is a Voice.  It was ever so, was it not?”

“Yes; I have heard that from Atene, but a voice implies a speaker.  Is this speaker she whom you name Mother?”

“Perhaps, friend Holly.”

“And is this Mother a spirit?”

“It is a point that has been much debated.  They told you so in the Plains, did they not?  Also the Tribes think it on the Mountain.  Indeed, the thing seems reasonable, seeing that all of us who live are flesh and spirit.  But you will form your own judgment and then we can discuss the matter.  There, your arm is finished.  Be careful now not to strike it or to fall, and look, your companion awakes.”

Something over an hour later we started upon our upward journey.  I was again mounted on the Khan’s horse, which having been groomed and fed was somewhat rested, while to Leo a litter had been offered.  This he declined, however, saying that he had now recovered and would not be carried like a woman.  So he walked by the side of my horse, using his spear as a staff.  We passed the fire-pit—­now full of dead, white ashes, among which were mixed those of the witch-finder and his horrible cat—­preceded by our dumb guide, at the sight of whom, in her pale wrappings, the people of the tribe who had returned to their village prostrated themselves, and so remained until she was gone by.