Norman appealed to the Governor, who was walking at his other side. "Do they often eat distinguished strangers here?" he said, in as indifferent a tone as he could assume. "Not often--not ever!" was the welcome reply. "They are not good for it. Pigs we eat, for they are fat. This old man is thin." "And thankful to be so!" muttered the elder traveller. "Beaten we shall be without a doubt. It's a comfort to know it won't be Beaten without the B! My dear boy, just look at the peacocks!" They were now walking between two unbroken lines of those gorgeous birds, each held in check, by means of a golden collar and chain, by a black slave, who stood well behind, so as not to interrupt the view of the glittering tail, with its network of rustling feathers and its hundred eyes. The Governor smiled proudly. "In your honour," he said, "Her Radiancy has ordered up ten thousand additional peacocks. She will, no doubt, decorate you, before you go, with the usual Star and Feathers." "It'll be Star without the S!" faltered one of his hearers. "Come, come! Don't lose heart!" said the other. "All this is full of charm for me." "You are young, Norman," sighed his father; "young and light-hearted. For me, it is Charm without the C." "The old one is sad," the Governor remarked with some anxiety. "He has, without doubt, effected some fearful crime?" "But I haven't!" the poor old gentleman hastily exclaimed. "Tell him I haven't, Norman!" "He has not, as yet," Norman gently explained. And the Governor repeated, in a satisfied tone, "Not as yet." "Yours is a wondrous country!" the Governor resumed, after a pause. "Now here is a letter from a friend of mine, a merchant, in London. He and his brother went there a year ago, with a thousand pounds apiece; and on New-Year's-day they had sixty thousand pounds between them!" "How did they do it?" Norman eagerly exclaimed. Even the elder traveller looked excited. The Governor handed him the open letter. "Anybody can do it, when once they know how," so ran this oracular document. "We borrowed nought: we stole nought. We began the year with only a thousand pounds apiece: and last New-Year's-day we had sixty thousand pounds between us--sixty thousand golden sovereigns!" Norman looked grave and thoughtful as he handed back the letter. His father hazarded one guess. "Was it by gambling?" "A Kgovjnian never gambles," said the Governor gravely, as he ushered them through the palace gates. They followed him in silence down a long passage, and soon found themselves in a lofty hall, lined entirely with peacocks' feathers. In the centre was a pile of crimson cushions, which almost concealed the figure of Her Radiancy--a plump little damsel, in a robe of green satin dotted with silver stars, whose pale round face lit up for a moment with a half-smile as the travellers bowed before her, and then relapsed into the exact expression of a wax doll, while she languidly murmured a word or two in the Kgovjnian dialect.