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'King, says he, 'be you man or God or Devil, I'll stick by you to-day. I have twenty of my men with me, and they will follow me. We'll go to Bashkai until the storm blows over. "A little snow had fallen in the night, and everything was white except the greasy fat clouds that blew down and down from the north.
I was too heart-sick to care, though it was all his foolishness that brought the smash. "'I'm sorry, Dan, says I, 'but there's no accounting for natives. This business is our Fifty-Seven. Maybe we'll make something out of it yet, when we've got to Bashkai.
He used to call in Billy Fish from Bashkai, and Pikky Kergan from Shu, and an old Chief we called Kafuzelum, it was like enough to his real name, and hold councils with 'em when there was any fighting to be done in small villages. That was his Council of War, and the four priests of Bashkai, Shu, Khawak, and Madora was his Privy Council.
The six Bashkai men looked at Billy Fish hungry-wise as if they wanted to ask something, but they said never a word. At noon we came to the top of a flat mountain all covered with snow, and when we climbed up into it, behold, there was an Army in position waiting in the middle! "'The runners have been very quick, says Billy Fish, with a little bit of a laugh. 'They are waiting for us.
The priests rolled great stones on us, and the regular Army fired hard, and there wasnt more than six men, not counting Dan, Billy Fish, and Me, that came down to the bottom of the valley alive. Then they stopped firing and the horns in the temple blew again. Come away for Gords sake come away! says Billy Fish. Theyll send runners out to all the villages before ever we get to Bashkai.
But there's so much to be done in every place Bashkai, Khawak, Shu, and everywhere else. "'What is it? I says. 'There are no more men coming in to be drilled this autumn. Look at those fat black clouds. They're bringing the snow.
"'Let's get to Bashkai, then, says Dan, 'and, by God, when I come back here again I'll sweep the valley so there isn't a bug in a blanket left! "We walked all that day, and all that night Dan was stumping up and down on the snow, chewing his beard and muttering to himself. "'There's no hope o' getting clear, said Billy Fish.
Billy Fish and two of his matchlock men catches hold of Dan by the shoulders and drags him into the Bashkai lot, while the priests howls in their lingo, 'Neither God nor Devil, but a man! I was all taken aback, for a priest cut at me in front, and the Army behind began firing into the Bashkai men. "'God A'mighty! says Dan, 'what is the meaning o' this? "'Come back! Come away! says Billy Fish.
One of the old priests was watching us continuous, and I felt uneasy, for I knew we'd have to fudge the Ritual, and I didn't know what the men knew. The old priest was a stranger come in from beyond the village of Bashkai. The minute Dravot puts on the Master's apron that the girls had made for him, the priest fetches a whoop and a howl, and tries to overturn the stone that Dravot was sitting on.
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 know everything? How can daughters of men marry Gods or Devils? It's not proper.
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