“But how wonderful to think that a single man could have made his way so far across the desert. And how extraordinary your friend’s finding him in the way he did. I wonder who he could have been. Were there any things on him to tell?” “Yes; there was a picture which we have with us here, and we think it must be one of his sister because of the writing on it. I’ll get it, if you like.... Why, what is it?” Aryenis’s exclamation of wonder had stopped me. “A picture of his sister! But we were sure he had died in the gate when the Shamans captured him! Tell me,” she went on breathlessly, “was the name ‘Euphrosine’ on the picture? A girl with brown hair and blue eyes?” “Yes; that’s it. I hope it wasn’t some great friend of yours?” I said, seeing her eyes. “But it was! It was Ziné’s brother! She’s my greatest friend. But, no! It isn’t a great shock, because we were sure he was dead. We never even thought of him being alive, although the spies said they believed he had escaped from the gate. But, in the first place, we did not believe them, and then, although a certain archer of the chief Shaman’s guard, who professed a secret friendliness for our folk, and we did our best to help him through them, we never thought he could traverse the desert, nor did we know what lay beyond.” She was silent a space, her lips moving, praying, I think, for the man’s soul after the manner of the Christian Sakae. “Who was he, then, and how came he by his death, or rather by the captivity that led to it?” I asked at last. “He was one of the biggest chiefs of the Green Sakae. As I told you, the Shamans for some years have been overcoming the other clans--the Red, Brown, and Green Sakae--always beginning by stirring up the people against their chiefs. Some were slain by their own folk, misled by the Shamans’ guile; then others, whose people would not rise against them, were attacked by the Shamans when the country was weakened, and so overthrown and slain, save some few who escaped to us. “When the state of the Green Sakae country was at its worst, Carius--that was his name--sent Ziné to stop with us for greater safety, hoping that things would be better. But by treachery the Shamans captured his fort by night. We heard that, though he made a good fight, he was taken prisoner and carried off to their country.