Night came on while the people were in this fearful condition of fear and suspense. Less than a day’s march would bring the fierce enemy into their midst. No one went to bed, for who could sleep at such a time? No fires or lamps were lighted. They all gathered together by the faint light of the new moon, and bewailed their sad condition. There was only one person among them who seemed to have retained his courage and thoughtfulness. This was a young man named Adar Gan Ip. He was named Adar because he was a painter. Ip was his family name, and he was called Gan after his grandfather. He was the only painter in the whole nation, and he had learned his trade in a neighboring country, where he had been to sell grain. He principally painted signs and portraits. He did not paint many portraits, because the people had but little time to sit for them, but he painted a good many signs on barns and granaries. People liked to have their names on their barns. He had no paint but one pot of white paint. So when he painted portraits he painted only old men, so that the white paint would do for their hair and beards as well as for their faces. Having no colored paint for eyes, he always painted portraits with the faces turned around, so that the eyes could not be seen. This young man was, as I have said, the only person among the Cabordmen who seemed to have his wits about him. He conceived a plan of safety, and lost no time in putting it in execution. The Cabordmen placed great confidence in him because of the excellence of his portraits, and so when he told them his plan—or that part of it which they were to carry out—they agreed to it at once. What they were to do was very simple; each person was to take two days’ provision, and to clear out of the country, every man, woman, and child of them. They were to march away as fast as they could over the south border, and to stay there until they heard from Adar Ip. They were to take nothing with them but their two days’ provision and the clothes they wore, which were generally scanty, as the climate was mild, and were to leave their houses and fields, and everything just as they were at that time. Doors all open, and everything lying where it had been last used. So up got every man, woman and child, took food for two days, and departed, leaving Adar Ip behind. They were all great walkers, being so accustomed to activity in the field, and before morning they had all passed out of sight over the south border of the land. Then with his pot of white paint in one hand, and his brush in the other, went Adar Ip, at the first peep of day, to the grave-yards of the Cabordmen. There were three of these, not very far from the centre of their country, which was a small country as you may well imagine.