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And I must congratulate you, my dear sir, on having fallen, not into the hands of Bar Senestro, but into those of my own kind. It is a proof of the prophecy, and a vindication of the wisdom of the Ten Thousand. "I bid you welcome to the Thomahlia, and I offer you my services, as guide and sponsor." Chick did not reply at once.
The Geos replied instantly: "You know the manner of his discovery, Bar Senestro. Have you not eyes?" Geos seemed to think he had said the last word. "Surely," rejoined the Bar good-humouredly. "I have very good eyes, Rhamda Geos. Likewise I have a mind to reason with; but my imagination, I fear, is defective. What I behold is just such a creature as myself; not otherwise.
And thus Chick found a staunch friend. The soldier's name, he learned, was "the Jan Lucar." He was supreme in command of the royal guards; and Chick soon came to feel that the man would as cheerfully lay down his life for him, Watson, as for the queen herself. All told, Chick was able to store away in his memory a few very important facts: First, that the Aradna did not like the Senestro.
But none of them spoke. After the first murmur of comment they lapsed into silence again. It was the Bar Senestro who broke the tension. "May I ask, Rhamda Geos, why you make such an assertion? What proof have you, to begin with, that this man," indicating Watson with a nod, "is not merely one of ourselves: a D'Hartian or a Kospian?"
Thus I found myself in this strange place with no one to guide me. And unfortunately, or rather, fortunately, I fell into the hands of the Bar Senestro. "Now, for all that he is a sceptic, the Senestro is a brave man; and like many another unbeliever, he has a sense of humour.
It was plain that the Thomahlia was blest with odd rulers. If the Bar Senestro was a priest, he was clearly still more of a soldier. The fiery challenge of the man struck an answering chord in Watson; he knew the time must come when he should weigh himself up against this Alexander, and it was anything but displeasing to him. "What must I say and do?" he asked the Rhamda Geos.
He strode straight up to the throne of the Bar; and once more he spoke from sheer impulse: "The Aradna has spoken true, O Senestro, or sinister, or whatever you may be called. I demand fair hearing! It is my due; for I have come from another world. I follow the Jarados!" If Watson had supposed that he had taken the Bar's measure, he was mistaken.
And yet, reason told him just what it was, just what had happened. It was the carbon; he was in the heart of the diamond; the Senestro had led him on and on, and then had flashed some intense light upon the vast jewel. Watson knew the terrible helplessness of the blind. His end had come! And so it seemed. Next instant someone came up to him someone he could hear if he could not see.
It was the soul of the Blind Spot, the reason and the wherefore of all about him. He heard someone step up behind him, and he turned. It was the Senestro, going over the words of the prophecy. "Can you read it, Sir Phantom?" asked the handsome Bar. His black eyes were twinkling with delight. "Have you read it all?" He put a hand on Chick's shoulder. It was a careless act, almost friendly.
But if it be anybody as is holdin' him, 'tis the Senestro an' his gang o' guards." Watson looked at the other's uniform, at the purple shako on his head, the jewelled weapon at his side, and the Jaradic leaf on his shoulder insignia of a Bar of the highest rank. "How does it come that you're a Bar, and a high one at that?" The other grinned again.
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