'I hope that that is all he wants,' said Hor. 'He has been a very wicked man, failing to pay due respect to the priesthood and even deriding them. It is said that he does not believe in Karana or Molop Az or the teachings of Pu and that he used to say that no Noada would ever come to Lolo-lolo because there was no such thing as a Noada.'
'Now he knows better,' said Dian.
Shortly after this conversation, Gamba came to the temple while Hor was asleep; he knelt before Dian and covered his eyes with his hands.
'Arise, Gamba,' said Dian.
She was seated on a little platform upon a carved stool covered with painted leather and studded with bronze; she wore a soft leather robe fastened at the waist with a girdle. The robe was caught over one shoulder, leaving the other bare, and on one side it was slit to her hip and fastened there with a bronze disc. Around her neck were eight strands of carved ivory beads, each strand of a different length, the longest reaching below her waist. Bronze bracelets and anklets adorned her limbs, while surmounting this barbaric splendor was a headdress of feathers.
Dian the Beautiful, who had never before worn more than a sketchy loin cloth, was most uncomfortable in all this finery, not being sufficiently advanced in civilization to appreciate the necessity for loading the feminine form with a lot of useless and silly gew-gaws. She knew that Nature had created her beautiful and that no outward adornment could enhance her charms.
Gamba appeared to be in hearty accord with this view, as his eyes seemed to ignore the robe. Dian did not like the look in them.
'Did the go-sha come to worship?' inquired Dian the Goddess.
Gamba smiled. Was there a suggestion of irony in that smile? Dian thought so.
'I came to visit,' replied Gamba. 'I do not have to come here to worship you—that I do always.'
'It is well that you worship your Noada,' said Dian; 'Pu will be pleased.'
'It is not the Noada I worship,' said Gamba, boldly; 'it is the woman.'
'The Noada is not pleased,' said Dian, icily; 'nor is Pu; nor will Hor, the high priest, be pleased.'
Gamba laughed. 'Hor may fool the rest of them; but he doesn't fool me, and I don't believe that he fools you. I don't know what accident brought you here, nor what that thing was you came in; but I do know you are just a woman, for there is no such thing as a Noada; and there are a lot of my nobles and warriors who think just as I do.'
'The Noada is not interested,' said Dian, 'the go-sha may leave.'
Gamba settled himself comfortably on the edge of the dais. 'I am the go-sha,' he said. 'I come and go as I please. I please to remain.'
'Then I shall leave,' said Dian, rising.
'Wait,' said Gamba. 'If you are as wise as I think you are, you will see that it is better to have Gamba for a friend than an enemy. The people are dissatisfied; Hor bleeds them for all he can get out of them; and since he has had you with whom to frighten them, he has bled them worse. His priests threaten them with your anger if they do not bring more gifts, especially pieces of bronze; and Hor is getting richer, and the people are getting poorer. They say now that they have nothing left with which to pay taxes; soon the go-sha will not have the leather to cover his nakedness.'
'Of these things, you should speak to Hor,' said Dian.
'By that speech you convict yourself,' exclaimed Gamba, triumphantly, 'but yours is a difficult role; I am surprised that you have not tripped before.'
'I do not know what you mean,' said Dian.
'The Noada is the representative of Pu in Pellucidar, according to Hor; she is omnipotent; she decides; she commands—not Hor. When you tell me to speak to Hor of the things of which the people complain, you admit that it is Hor who commands—not you.'
'The Noada does command,' snapped Dian; 'she commands you to take your complaints to Hor; just as the common people take their complaints to the lesser priests—they do not burden their Noada with them, nor should you. If they warrant it, Hor will lay them before me.'
Gamba slapped his thigh. 'By Pu!' he exclaimed, 'but you are a bright girl. You slipped out of that one very cleverly. Come! let us be friends. We could go a long way together in Lolo-lolo. Being the wife of the go-sha would not be so bad, and a lot more fun than being a Noada cooped up in a temple like a prisoner—which you are. Yes, you are a prisoner; and Hor is your jailer. Think it over, Noada; think it over.'
'Think what over?' demanded a voice from the side of the room.
They both turned. It was Hor. He came and knelt before Dian, covering his eyes with his hands; then he rose and glared at Gamba, but he spoke to Dian. 'You permit this man to sit upon this holy spot?' he demanded.
Gamba eyed Dian intently, waiting for her reply. It came: 'If it pleases him,' she said, haughtily.
'It is against the laws that govern the temple,' said Hor.
'I make the laws which govern the temple,' said Dian; 'and I make the laws which govern the people of Lolo-lolo,' and she looked at Gamba.
Hor looked very uncomfortable. Gamba was grinning.
Dian rose. 'You are both excused,' she said, and it sounded like a command—it was a command. Then Dian stepped down from the dais and walked toward the door of the temple.
'Where are you going?' demanded Hor.
'I am going to walk in the streets of Lolo-lolo and speak with my people.'
'But you can't,' cried Hor. 'It is against the rules of the temple.'
'Didn't you just hear your Noada say that she makes the temple laws?' asked Gamba, still grinning.
'Wait, then,' cried Hor, 'until I summon the priests and the drums.'
'I wish no priests and no drums,' said Dian. 'I wish to walk alone.'
'I will go with you.' Gamba and Hor spoke in unison, as though the line had been rehearsed.
'I said that I wished to go alone,' said Dian; and with that, she passed through the great doorway of the temple out into the eternal sunlight of the square.
'Well,' said Gamba to Hor, 'you got yourself a Noada, didn't you?' and he laughed ironically as he said it.
'I shall pray Pu to guide her,' said Hor, but his expression was more that of an executioner than a suppliant.
'She'll probably guide Pu,' said Gamba.
As the people saw their Noada walking alone in the square, they were filled with consternation; they fell upon their knees at her approach and covered their eyes with their hands until she bade them arise. She stopped before a man and asked him what he did.
'I work in bronze,' said the man. 'I made those bracelets that you are wearing, Noada.'
'You make many pieces for your work?' Dian had never known a money system before she came to Lolo- lolo; but here she had learned that one could get food and other things in exchange for pieces of bronze, often called 'pieces' for short. They were brought in quantities to the temple and given to her, but Hor took them.
'I get many pieces for my work,' replied the man, 'but—' He hung his head and was silent.
'But what?' asked Dian.
'I am afraid to say,' said the man; 'I should not have spoken.'
'I command you to speak,' said Dian.
'The priests demand most of what I make, and the go-sha wants the rest. I have barely enough left to buy food.'
'How much were you paid for these bracelets that I am wearing?' demanded Dian.
'Nothing.'
'Why nothing?'
'The priests said that I should make them and give them as an offering to the Noada, who would forgive my sins and see that I got into Karana when I died.'
'How much are they worth?'
'They are worth at least two hundred pieces,' said the man; 'they are the most beautiful bracelets in Lolo- lolo.'
