“‘Don’t tempt me!’ I says.  ’I will not have any dealings with a woman, not till we are a dam’ side more settled than we are now.  I’ve been doing the work o’ two men, and you’ve been doing the work of three.  Let’s lie off a bit, and see if we can get some better tobacco from Afghan country and run in some good liquor; and no women.’

“‘Who’s talking o’ women?’ says Dravot.  ’I said wife—­a Queen to breed a King’s son for the King.  A Queen out of the strongest tribe, that’ll make them your blood-brothers, and that’ll lie by your side and tell you all the people thinks about you and their own affairs.  That’s what I want.’

“’Do you remember that Bengali woman I kept at Mogul Serai when I was a plate-layer?’ says I.  ‘A fat lot o’ good she was to me.  She taught me the lingo and one or two other things; but what happened?  She ran away with the Station-master’s servant and half my month’s pay.  Then she turned up at Dadur Junction in tow of a half-caste, and had the impidence to say I was her husband—­all among the drivers in the running-shed too!’

“‘We’ve done with that,’ says Dravot; ’these women are whiter than you or me, and a Queen I will have for the winter months.’

“‘For the last time o’ asking, Dan, do not,’ I says.  ’It’ll only bring us harm.  The Bible says that Kings ain’t to waste their strength on women, ‘specially when they’ve got a new raw Kingdom to work over.’

“‘For the last time of answering, I will,’ said Dravot, and he went away through the pine-trees looking like a big red devil, the sun being on his crown and beard and all.

“But getting a wife was not as easy as Dan thought.  He put it before the Council, and there was no answer till Billy Fish said that he’d better ask the girls.  Dravot damned them all round.  ‘What’s wrong with me?’ he shouts, standing by the idol Imbra.  ’Am I a dog, or am I not enough of a man for your wenches?  Haven’t I put the shadow of my hand over this country?  Who stopped the last Afghan raid?’ It was me really, but Dravot was too angry to remember.  ’Who bought your guns?  Who repaired the bridges?  Who’s the Grand Master of the sign cut in the stone?’ says he, and he thumped his hand on the block that he used to sit on in Lodge, and at Council, which opened like Lodge always.  Billy Fish said nothing, and no more did the others.  ‘Keep your hair on, Dan,’ said I, ’and ask the girls.  That’s how it’s done at Home, and these people are quite English.’

“‘The marriage of the King is a matter of State,’ says Dan, in a white-hot rage, for he could feel, I hope, that he was going against his better mind.  He walked out of the Council-room, and the others sat still, looking at the ground.

“‘Billy Fish,’ says I to the Chief of Bashkai, ’what’s the difficulty here?  A straight answer to a true friend.’

“‘You know,’ says Billy Fish.  ’How should a man tell you who knows everything?  How can daughters of men marry Gods or Devils?  It’s not proper.’