I am the son of Alexander by Queen Semiramis, and
you're my younger brother and a God too! It's the biggest thing we've ever
seen. I've been marching and fighting for six weeks with the Army, and every
footy little village for fifty miles has come in rejoiceful; and more than
that, I've got the key of the whole show, as you'll see, and I've got a crown
for you! I told 'em to make two of 'em at a place called Shu, where the gold
lies in the rock like suet in mutton. Gold I've seen, and turquoise I've
kicked out of the cliffs, and there's garnets in the sands of the river, and
here's a chunk of amber that a man brought me. Call up all the priests and,
here, take your crown.'
"One of the men opens a black hair bag, and I slips the crown on. It was too
small and too heavy, but I wore it for the glory. Hammered gold it was--five
pounds weight, like a hoop of a barrel.
"'Peachey,' says Dravot, 'we don't want to fight no more. The Craft's the
trick, so help me!' and he brings forward that same Chief that I left at
Bashkai--Billy Fish we called him afterward, because he was so like Billy Fish
that drove the big tank-engine at Mach on the Bolan in the old days. 'Shake
hands with him,' says Dravot; and I shook hands and nearly dropped, for Billy
Fish gave me the Grip.
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