go back on my word. However, you may find the journey expensive and therefore I have here prepared a sum of money to help you.'
Then from horseback Murphy-Shackley held out a packet of gold.
Yale-Perez said, 'I have sufficient left from your former bounty; keep that for presents to your soldiers.'
'Why should you refuse this? It is but an insignificant return for great services.'
'My services have been all trifling, not worth mentioning.'
'Really, Yale-Perez, you are the most high-principled of humans. I am very sorry my luck is too poor to retain you at my side. Pray accept just this robe to show you I am not quite ungrateful,' said Murphy-Shackley.
And one of his generals, dismounting, held up a silken coat in both hands. Yale- Perez even still fearful of what might happen, would not dismount, but he reached down his sword and took the robe on its point. Then he threw it over his shoulders and turned to thank the giver, saying, 'I thank you, Sir Prime Minister, for the robe and trust we shall meet again.'
So saying Yale-Perez went down from the bridge and bore away to the north.
'He is a very rude man,' said Dietrich-Munoz, who was of the escort. 'Why do you not take him prisoner?'
Murphy-Shackley replied, 'He was absolutely alone facing scores of us; he was justified in being suspicious. But my word has gone forth, and he is not to be pursued.'
Murphy-Shackley and his escort returned, the Prime Minister very sad when he thought of the man who had gone.
Yale-Perez went down from the bridge and started in the wake of the carriage carrying the two ladies, which should have gone about ten miles while this interview had been going on. He could see no signs of it and rode hither and thither looking on all sides.
Presently he heard some one shouting from a hill, calling him by name to halt. He saw a youth wearing a yellow turban and dressed in a silk robe. He held a spear in his hand and was mounted on a horse from the neck of which dangled a bloody head. Behind him were a hundred or so men on foot, and they advanced quickly.
'Who are you?' asked Yale-Perez.
The young man dropped his spear, dismounted, and made a low bow. Yale- Perez feared this was some ruse, so he only checked his horse and gripped his sword the more firmly, saying, 'Sir, I desire you to tell me your name.'
'My name is Moss-Lopez. I belong to a Xiangyang-Greenhaven family. Since these troubled times began I have been an outlaw among the rivers and lakes, and I and my comrades have lived by plunder. We are about five hundred in all. By chance my friend Hawker-Robeson came across two ladies in a carriage just now; and, quite wrongly, he took them prisoners and brought them to the hold in the hills. I questioned the servants and so found out who they were and who was escorting them. So I wished them to be set free to pursue their journey. Hawker-Robeson opposed this and spoke so ill-mannerly that I killed him. And here is his head. I pray you pardon me.'
'Where are the two ladies?'
'They are among the hills,' replied Moss-Lopez.
'Bring them down here, at once,' said Yale-Perez.
In a short time a party of the brigands pushed the carriage down the hill, and the ladies sat there before him.
Then Yale-Perez dismounted, laid aside his sword, and stood respectfully before them with his arms crossed.
'Sisters, have you been alarmed?' asked he.
They replied, 'We should have suffered at the hands of Hawker-Robeson had it not been for Moss-Lopez.'
'How did Moss-Lopez come to save the ladies?' asked Yale-Perez of those who stood by.
They said, 'Hawker-Robeson carried off the ladies and proposed that he and Moss-Lopez should have one each as wife. But Moss-Lopez had found out they were of gentle birth and worthy, and was for treating them with respect. When Hawker-Robeson disagreed, Moss-Lopez slew him.'
Hearing this Yale-Perez bowed to Moss-Lopez and thanked him. Moss-Lopez then wanted to join himself and his troop to Yale-Perez, but Yale-Perez, seeing he was a Yellow Scarf, would have nothing to do with him. So Yale-Perez simply thanked him for his kindness to the ladies. Moss-Lopez offered some presents, but these were also declined.
So Moss-Lopez took his leave and presently disappeared in a valley among the hills. Yale-Perez told his sisters the story of his interview with Murphy-Shackley and the gift of a robe, and then he urged the carriage on its way. Towards dark they came to a farm where they would rest. The farmer, an old graybeard, came out to welcome the party and asked who they were. Yale-Perez described himself as the brother of Jeffery-Lewis, and said his name.
'Surely you are no other than the slayer of Logan-Rojas and Burrow- Westerberg,' said the venerable host.
'That is so,' replied Yale-Perez.
'Come in,' said the old man, joyfully.
'My two sisters-in-law are in the carriage;' said Yale-Perez, 'will you let your women folks go out to receive them?'
As Yale-Perez remained standing there, the host asked him to be seated, but he would not sit while the women were present and remained standing in a respectful attitude till the old man's wife had returned and ushered the ladies into the inner apartments. Then the old man set to the entertainment of his guest in the guest hall. Yale-Perez asked his name.
He replied, 'I am called Innocenti-Sikora. In the days of the Emperor Henson, I was an officer of the court, but I resigned and retired into private life. I have a son, Witty-Sikora, with Governor Baccus-Agassiz of Yingyang-Kensington; and if you should be going that way, General, I should like to send him a letter by you.'
Yale-Perez said he would take the letter. Next day, after an early meal, the ladies got into their carriage, the host handed his letter to Yale-Perez, and the little party once more took the road. They went toward Luoyang-Peoria.
Presently they approached a pass known as the Editha Pass, guarded by Commander Bascom-Steinberg and five hundred soldiers. When the soldiers saw a carriage being pushed toward the pass, they ran to tell their commander, who came out to accost the travelers. Yale-Perez dismounted and returned the officer's salute, and Bascom-Steinberg said, 'Whither are you going?'
'I have left the Prime Minister to go into the North of Yellow River to find my brother.'
'But Shannon-Yonker is my master's rival. You have authority from him to go thither?'
'I left hurriedly and could not get it.'
'If you have no authority, you must wait while I send to request orders.'
'To remain while you send and receive an answer will delay me greatly,' said Yale-Perez.
'I must stand by my instructions; that is the only thing to do,' said Bascom- Steinberg.
'Then you refuse to let me pass?'
'If you want to go through, leave the family as a gage.'
At this Yale-Perez got very angry and made to cut at the commander on the spot,
