“Therefore,” added another, “you must die to save Faytan.” “In what way?” I asked, more to gain time than because the mode of dying interested me just then. “The King will determine that. We will take you to the King.” “Very well,” I responded cheerfully. “Come, Joe; let’s visit the King.” He grinned at this, for Joe isn’t easily scared, and we allowed the Faytans to escort us from the roof, going so docilely that they did not bind us or even touch our bodies. They merely surrounded us in a dense mass, and since they were of gigantic size and strong as bulls that was as secure a method as any. The house through which we passed was not badly arranged or furnished. We saw numerous rooms from the corridors we traversed, and they were more pleasant and homelike than you might suppose, considering this to be an uncivilized island which the world’s progress had never yet thought of. The square outside—it was a circle, really—was thronged with men, women and children, all scantily clad as far as clothing was concerned, but the humblest wearing a fortune in pearl ornaments. This island of Faytan must be very populous. There were at least two hundred men in the boats guarding the reefs; the forest was full of them; many were working in the fields, and still the Pearl City was packed full, as far as we could see. The natives were of superior physique and intelligence. We had thought Nux and Bry exceptionally well built fellows, for South Sea Islanders, and we had often proved their fidelity and keenness of intellect; but the Faytans were fully their equals in every respect, and I knew from the reports of Tuamotu that they had no such capital as the Pearl City and lived in a more primitive manner. Crossing the square between close ranks of silent, staring natives, we were escorted to the steps of the Great Temple and in through a high arched doorway. CHAPTER XI A KING, A PRIEST AND A BOY To our surprise there was no great hall of concourse before us, but an entrance hall from which opened several doorways hung with finely woven mats, all of which were lavishly decorated with conventional designs in pearls. Before each doorway stood a guard, armed with a spear and a double-edged battle-ax, the latter fashioned from gypsum by the method employed by the North American Indians. There was a captain of these guards and when one of our conductors spoke to him in a low voice this official disappeared through a central doorway. He returned presently and Joe and I were told to follow him. After us came merely a half dozen of our captors, closing the rear, and so in stately procession we tramped down a long corridor and came to the throne room.