“I thought it,” I said.  “But tell me, Kari, if we were to make this journey and perchance live to reach your people, how would they welcome us?”

“I do not know, Master; but I think that of the master they would make a god, as will all the other people of this country.  Perhaps, too, they will sacrifice this god that his strength and beauty may enter into them.  As for me, some of them will try to kill me and others will cling to me.  Who will conquer I do not know, and to me it matters little.  I go to take my own and to be avenged, and if in seeking vengeance I die—­well, I die in honour.”

“I understand,” I said.  “And now, Kari, let us start as soon as possible before I become as mad from staring at those trees and flowers and those big-eyed natives, that you say would make me a king, as you tell me you were when you left your country.  Whether we shall ever find that country I cannot say.  But at least we shall have done our best and, if we fail, shall perish seeking, as in this way or in that it is the lot of all brave men to do.”

“The Master has spoken,” said Kari, even more quietly than usual, though as he spoke I saw his dark eyes flash and a trembling as of joy run down his body.  “Knowing all, he has made his choice, and whatever happens, being what it is, he will not blame me.  Yet because the Master has thus chosen, I say this—­that if we reach my country, and if, perchance, I become a king there, even more than before I shall be the Master’s servant.”

“That is easy to promise now, Kari, but it will be time to talk of it when we do reach your land,” I said, laughing, and asked him when we were to start.

He replied not yet awhile, as he must make plans, and that in the meantime I must walk upon the shore so that my legs might grow strong again.  So there every day I walked in the cool of the morning and in the evening, not going out of sight of the wreck.  I went armed and carrying my big bow, but saw no one, since the natives had been warned that I should walk and must not be looked upon while I did so.  Therefore, even when I passed through one of their villages of huts built of mud and thatched with leaves, it seemed to be deserted.

Still, in the end the bow did not come amiss, for one evening, hearing a little noise in a big tree under which I was about to pass that reminded me of the purring of a cat, I looked up and saw a great beast of the tiger sort lying on the bough of the tree and watching me.  Then I drew the bow and sent an arrow through that beast, piercing it from side to side, and down it came roaring and writhing, and biting at the arrow till it died.

After this I returned to the ship and told Kari what had happened.  He said it was fortunate I had killed the beast, which was of a very fierce kind, and if I had not seen it, would have leapt on me as I passed under the tree.  Also he sent natives to skin it who when they saw that it was pierced through and through by the arrow, were amazed and thought me an even greater god than before, their own bows being but feeble and their arrows tipped with bone.