“I will tell you, but beware that you do not betray my counsels in this or in any other matter, for I have sharp ears and a long arm.  You know how things are between me and the lady Elissa and her father Sakon and the city which he governs.  They stand thus:  Unless within eight days she is given to me in marriage, I have sworn that I will make war upon Zimboe.  Ay, and I will make it, for, filled with hate for the white man, already the great tribes are gathering to my banners in ten armies, each of them ten thousand strong.  Once let them march beneath yonder walls, and before they leave it Zimboe, city of gold, shall be nothing but a heap of ruins, and a habitation of the dead.  Such shall be my vengeance; but I seek love more than vengeance, for what will it avail me to butcher all that people of traders if—­as well may chance in the accidents of war—­I lose her whom I desire, whose beauty shall be my crown of crowns, and whose mind shall make me great indeed?

“Therefore, Metem, if may be, I would win her without war; let the war come afterwards, as come it must, for the time is ripe.  And though she turned from me, this I should have done, had it not been for yonder prince Aziel, whom she met in a strange fashion, and straightway learned to love.  Now the thing is more difficult.  Nay, while the prince Aziel can take her to wife it is well-nigh impossible, since no threats of war or ruin can turn a woman’s heart from him she seeks—­to him she flies.  Therefore, I ask you——­”

“Your pardon, King,” Metem broke in, “I see that you, like your rival, are so besotted with the beauty of this girl, that in all with which she has to do you have lost the rule of your own reason.  I would save you perchance from saying words to which I do not wish to listen, and when you find a quiet mind again, that you may regret having spoken.  If you were about to require of me that I should cause or be privy to the death of the prince Aziel, you would require it in vain; yes, even if you were willing to pay me gold in mountains, and gems in camel loads.  With murder I will have nothing to do; moreover, the prince, your rival, is my friend and master, and I will not harm him.  Further, I may tell you that after the adventure of last night none will be able to come near him to hurt a hair of his head, seeing that through daylight and through darkness he is guarded by two men.”

“With a woman’s body to set before him as a shield,” said Ithobal bitterly.  “But you speak too fast; I was not about to ask you to kill this man, or even to procure his death, because I know it would be useless, but rather that you should so contrive that he cannot take Elissa.  How you contrive it I care nothing, so that she is not harmed.  You may kidnap him, or stir up the city against him, as one destined to be the source of war, and cause him to be despatched back to the great sea, or bribe the priests of El to hide him away, or what you will, if only you separate him from this woman for ever.  Say, merchant, are you willing to undertake the task, or must my good gold go elsewhere?”