[*] Curiously enough, Leo’s hair has lately been to some extent regaining its colour—­that is to say, it is now a yellowish grey, and I am not without hopes that it will in time come quite right.—­L.  H. H.

“Thou hast slept long, my Baboon,” said old Billali.

“How long, my father?” I asked.

“A round of the sun and a round of the moon, a day and a night hast thou slept, and the Lion also.  See, he sleepeth yet.”

“Blessed is sleep,” I answered, “for it swallows up recollection.”

“Tell me,” he said, “what hath befallen you, and what is this strange story of the death of Her who dieth not.  Bethink thee, my son:  if this be true, then is thy danger and the danger of the Lion very great—­nay, almost is the pot red wherewith ye shall be potted, and the stomachs of those who shall eat ye are already hungry for the feast.  Knowest thou not that these Amahagger, my children, these dwellers in the caves, hate ye?  They hate ye as strangers, they hate ye more because of their brethren whom She put to the torment for your sake.  Assuredly, if once they learn that there is naught to fear from Hiya, from the terrible One-who-must-be-obeyed, they will slay ye by the pot.  But let me hear thy tale, my poor Baboon.”

This adjured, I set to work and told him—­not everything, indeed, for I did not think it desirable to do so, but sufficient for my purpose, which was to make him understand that She was really no more, having fallen into some fire, and, as I put it—­for the real thing would have been incomprehensible to him—­been burnt up.  I also told him some of the horrors we had undergone in effecting our escape, and these produced a great impression on him.  But I clearly saw that he did not believe in the report of Ayesha’s death.  He believed indeed that we thought that she was dead, but his explanation was that it had suited her to disappear for a while.  Once, he said, in his father’s time, she had done so for twelve years, and there was a tradition in the country that many centuries back no one had seen her for a whole generation, when she suddenly reappeared, and destroyed a woman who had assumed the position of Queen.  I said nothing to this, but only shook my head sadly.  Alas!  I knew too well that Ayesha would appear no more, or at any rate that Billali would never see her again.

“And now,” concluded Billali, “what wouldst thou do, my Baboon?”

“Nay,” I said, “I know not, my father.  Can we not escape from this country?”

He shook his head.

“It is very difficult.  By Kor ye cannot pass, for ye would be seen, and as soon as those fierce ones found that ye were alone, well,” and he smiled significantly, and made a movement as though he were placing a hat on his head.  “But there is a way over the cliff whereof I once spake to thee, where they drive the cattle out to pasture.  Then beyond the pastures are three days’ journey through the marshes, and after that I know not, but I have heard that seven days’ journey from thence is a mighty river, which floweth to the black water.  If ye could come thither, perchance ye might escape, but how can ye come thither?”