"So be it. But thou must give thy message quickly and let me go; for thou hast hurt me sore and the blood flows fast----" "We will see to thy wound," Monella replied composedly. "Let me bind it up till we get to the king's palace; there it shall be seen to farther." And Dakla, reluctantly, and with an ill grace, submitted to have his wound bound up by his enemy, who, before commencing, took away the other's dagger. "I cannot trust thee with these playthings," he observed. "Thou art of the wolf tribe, Dakla." Meanwhile, the officer and men of their guard had come down to the lower terrace, with Templemore and Elwood, and were looking in awe and horror upon the outcome of the fight--if so one-sided an encounter could be so called. On Monella and the two young men they gazed in wonder; and, gradually, they drew away from them in fear, from that moment treating them with even greater deference than before. Monella despatched Abla to summon more soldiers from the king's palace to bring down the dead and wounded; and himself set about attending to the latter, first handing Dakla over to Templemore. "Look you!" said Jack to his prisoner, "if you attempt to escape, I shall not kill you, but hurt your other arm; and, if that does not stop you, I shall hurt your leg, and I know that that _will_. Do you follow me?" Dakla nodded a sour assent; then stood looking with evident surprise at the trouble Monella was now taking with some of his late enemies. Such singular behaviour he did not understand, and he shrugged his shoulders in contempt. When, after a time, more soldiers, with some officers, arrived upon the scene, these were at once set to work to bear the dead and wounded down the hill. Monella followed with his friends and Dakla. The noise of the firing had brought out great crowds of people, who were now massed about the palace waiting to receive them. They had watched the precipitate flight of the survivors of the soldiers of Coryon, and rejoiced greatly at their defeat. But, when they saw the dead and wounded, and that Dakla was himself a prisoner, and heard that not one had been hurt upon the other side, their astonishment was complete. The king himself, with some of his ministers and officials, came out to meet the victors; and his gratitude and emotion, when he noted all these things and greeted Monella and his friends, were profuse and heartfelt. "Ye have indeed rendered us a service," he exclaimed, "and taught Coryon a lesson he will do well to take to heart. I feared me greatly that harm would come to ye, and that war would follow in the land." "Nay, we have laid the dogs of war, I trust, at any rate, for the present," Monella returned, with a grave smile. "They will not attack us further, I opine, nor brave thee in the future in this rebellious fashion." Then they entered the palace, and Ulama came forward to welcome them, with Zonella and many more.