"Have you not heard?" he smiled. "Gela, the Kha Khan, desires the White Spirit for himself. Tomorrow night he will marry her, according to the custom of the Wusun. Bassalor Danek has agreed." Gray checked an exclamation with difficulty. "That may not be," he said sternly. "The White Spirit is not one to marry among the Wusun." Garluk laughed. "Did not Gela, the strongest of the Wusun, take her from the yellow priests? Does she not wear the talisman which is the same as that of our shrine? Gela as yet has no wife. Why should he not marry?" While the two watched him, Gray considered the new turn affairs had taken. All his instincts prompted him to cry out that the thing was impossible. Mary must be protected. Yet he knew the futility of a protest. "Has the Kha Rakcha agreed to this?" he playing for time. "She does not know of it," asserted Garluk complacently. "Why should a maiden be told before she has the armlet"--he pointed at the bronze circlet about Gela's powerful arm--"of her lord bound about her throat?" Gela interrupted brusquely. "The Kha Khan asks," said Garluk, "if you are the husband of the Kha Rakcha?" "Good Lord!" meditated the American. He thought of asserting that he was. Then reflected that Mary, who knew nothing of what was passing, would hardly bear out his story. But he could not let the opportunity go by without asserting some claim to the girl. "I was to marry her," he compromised, "when we returned from the desert." Gela barked forth a curt word and strode from the door, after a keen glance at the American. "The Kha Khan says that he will take her. Doubtless there are many women where you come from. He desires the Kha Rakcha, whose life he saved. Wu Fang Chien would have slain her. So said the yellow priests." Gray glowered at Garluk, who smiled back. "Gela has never seen such a woman as the Kha Rakcha. She is as beautiful as an aloe tree in bloom," chattered the _tumani_. "She will bear him strong children, and a son to wear his sword when he is old." "If she does not agree--what then?" "It will make no difference. Bassalor Danek has said that she will be a worthy wife to his grandson. Does she not wear the talisman at her throat? That is a good omen for the Wusun. Did she not come here to seek the Wusun? Moreover, if Gela marries her, then Wu Fang Chien cannot take her." "What if I forbid?" asked Gray dryly. "No one will heed you," explained Garluk frankly. Gray considered the matter, frowning. "Take me to the Kha Rakcha," he ordered. Garluk made a gesture of denial. "It is forbidden. To-morrow night the maiden is to be married. There will be a feast, and a great chant. We will drink wine of mare's milk." "Then send Timur to me." "It is night, and he is lame. After sunrise, perhaps he will come." With that Garluk slipped from the door. Gray heard the sound of a bar falling into place. He was shut in for the night. CHAPTER XXIII THE CHALLENGE