After that, the tide of events welled almost too fast for Ramey's comprehension, certainly too fast for his peace of mind. Again--as on the opposite shore, but this time grimly, tightly--he found himself imprisoned by the powerful arms of Videlian soldiers. He was aware of tossing a mute, apologetic glance in Sheng-ti's direction, and of seeing the old Buddhist bow his head, hearing the _bonze_ mutter, "It is the Will of Him Who watches. You could not have done otherwise, my son." Then the Lady Rakshasi herself, a great, golden panther with eyes glinting triumphantly, was before him. "We meet again--so soon, my Lord Ramaíya?" she asked mockingly. Then to the soldiers, "Take him to my brother!" Ravana sat in his council hall, imperiously enthroned on a dais ornamented, Ramey could not help but think dazedly, with all the wealth of the Indies. The Gaanelian lord Sugriva held court in a chamber rich and luxurious, too, but never had its pomp and circumstance compared with such ostentation as this. The richness of Sugriva's throne-room was that of painstaking artistry, hand-wrought by craftsmen whose hearts were in their work, whose hands loved the tools with which they labored. But Ravana's throne-room was one vast blaze of opulence! Rarest gems from the far-flung corners of the globe ... tapestries that seem to flow with restless life ... teakwood and burnished ebony ... sandalwood, mother-of-pearl encrusted ... ivory from tushes so huge one could scarcely conceive the size of the beast which had borne them. No single man, Ramey Winters knew with swift positiveness, could have gathered together such a display save at the cost of other men's blood! Each gem that lent its hue to the array seemed to cry a horrid tale of death and sorrow; even the fragrance of rare scents wafting through the room seemed coarsened by an underlying reek of blood and death. Thus the great hall in which the Lord Ravana held court. The Videlian overlord was toying with an oddly shaped instrument as the captives were brought into his presence. A metal arch about three feet long, supported by a cross-brace upon which was mounted a sealed cylinder, also of metal. He laid this aside as Ramey and Sheng-ti were prodded before him, but not so swiftly that Ramey could not recognize it. It was the Bow--the Bow of Rudra! And--Ramey's spirits lifted--the very fact that Ravana toyed with it, studying it curiously, was evidence that so far it had not been charged. For a fleeting instant the Videlian's eyes shadowed with fear as he identified the pair thrust before him. Then his eyes lighted with an expression of unpleasant amusement. He said mockingly, "And what have we here? It is a swill-drenched alley-cat--No! By my faith, 'tis a man-god! The one who called himself the Lord Ramaíya!" He touched his forehead in a sign of taunting obeisance. "Welcome, my Lord! We had not expected to greet thee so soon in our humble palace."