"Nay," answered Ama; "you saved my life, and for that my father will spare you. It is not he whom you have to fear, but Mafuta. Mafuta hates you, I know, and would willingly `smell you out' if he dared; but the people will not let him; for where would they get any one else to play beautiful music to them if you were to die? Besides, do you think _I_ would allow any one to hurt you? My father is the king; no one, not even Mafuta, dare dispute his will; and I have more influence than any one else with the king. Nay, fear not, Dick, none shall hurt you while I live." "I would that I could feel as fully assured of that as you appear to be, Ama," answered I. "With all due respect to your father, I may perhaps be permitted to remark that he has impressed me as a man of singularly short and uncertain temper; and if I should ever chance to be so unfortunate as to offend him--" At this moment two guards presented themselves at the door of my hut and, saluting, one of them curtly remarked: "The king is ill, and commands the presence of the white man at the palace _at once_!" "The king--my father--ill!" ejaculated Ama, in a tone of greater consternation than seemed quite called for. "Let us go at once, Dick. And--oh, you must cure him--you must, _for your own sake_, Dick!" CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. DOOMED TO THE TORTURE. "You must cure him--you _must, for your own sake, Dick_!" Exactly. In uttering those words Ama unconsciously disclosed how slight was her confidence in the influence over her father, of which she had been boasting only a moment or two before the arrival of the summons for me to attend that father on his bed of sickness. It was all very well for her to tell me that I _must_ cure him; but suppose that I could not, suppose that the sickness--whatever it might be--should run its course and fail to yield to my treatment, what then? The reason, so urgently expressed by her, why I must effect a cure--"for your own sake, Dick,"-- was significant enough of the direction in which her apprehensions pointed; there was no necessity for me to inquire what she meant. I _must_ cure the king, or it would be so much the worse for me! And how was I to cure him? My knowledge of disease was of the slightest and most amateurish kind, and, for aught that I could tell to the contrary, might not even be sufficient to enable me to diagnose the case correctly, much less to treat it successfully! However, there was no use in meeting trouble half-way; the only possible course was to obey the summons forthwith, and do my best, leaving the result in the hands of Providence. I accordingly rose to my feet and, motioning the guards to lead the way, followed them to the palace, with Ama walking by my side and holding my hand in a protective sort of way.