That was how he came to our first village
without any trouble, just as though we had tumbled from the skies. But we
tumbled from one of those damned rope-bridges, you see, and--you couldn't
expect a man to laugh much after that?"
"Take some more whisky and go on," I said. "That was the first village you
came into. How did you get to be King?"
"I wasn't King," said Carnehan. "Dravot he was the King, and a handsome man he
looked with the gold crown on his head and all. Him and the other party stayed
in that village, and every morning Dravot sat by the side of old Imbra, and
the people came and worshipped. That was Dravot's order. Then a lot of men
came into the valley, and Carnehan Dravot picks them off with the rifles
before they knew where they was, and runs down into the valley and up again
the other side, and finds another village, same as the first one, and the
people all falls down flat on their faces, and Dravot says, 'Now what is the
trouble between you two villages?' and the people points to a woman, as fair
as you or me, that was carried off, and Dravot takes her back to the first
village and counts up the dead--eight there was. For each dead man Dravot
pours a little milk on the ground and waves his arms like a whirligig, and
'That's all right,' says he.
Pages:
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285