“Le Diable! ’tis easy for some people to discover excuses at such a time.  Still, Monsieur, as you refuse to fight I may as well lie down; having been early awake I am somewhat weary.”

I watched him silently while he arranged his robes for the night.

“Before you sleep,” I ventured, “it would please my curiosity to know where this pure and peerless Queen of yours makes her abode.”

“Ah! would you pay her a visit?” he asked suspiciously.

“Far from it; rather that I may avoid her.  Yet we are not in specially pleasant surroundings, and such information might not come amiss.”

He sulked a moment over his answer, but finally relented.

“In that large hut upon the second mound.”

“You spoke as if Madame de Noyan were beneath the same roof, yet you saw her not.  Does the hut differ from this in being divided into rooms?”

“A partition runs through it from roof to floor.  Naladi holds court in the south room, which is decorated most lavishly with things of beauty.”

“Then Madame occupies the northern portion?”

“So I understood,” with a sleepy yawn.  “I asked little in detail; ’twas enough for me to be assured she was well.”

CHAPTER XXVII

A VENTURE IN THE DARK

It is occasion for deep regret that I was so blind to my opportunities for learning much relative to this strange people.  During those hours of trial my thoughts were so occupied with our own dangers, it was merely incidentally I considered anything else.  No small temptation now assails me to record many things I believe true, things I remember vaguely; but I pass the temptation by, determined to write only what I may vouch for as of my own observation.

I remained silent, leaning against the wall and making vigorous use of my pipe, a long time after De Noyan fell peacefully asleep.  While the fast fading daylight clung dimly to the interior, my eyes were fastened upon his upturned face, almost boyish in the unconsciousness of repose, and I began to feel pity for his weakness, my anger against him fading away.  As the darkness became pronounced I remained there still, my sleepless eyes paying small heed to night, the scenes I saw being of the brain, memory awakening to paint with glowing colors across the black screen.  The evening was quiet,—­within, no more was heard than the regular breathing of my companion; without, an occasional savage outcry, mingled with the low moaning of the night wind.