“Now,” I said, throwing a blanket over my shoulders, for the air was chilly, “now let us talk,” and taking the lantern which Hans had thoughtfully lighted, I held it up and contemplated them. There they were, Harût and Marût without doubt, to all appearance totally unchanged since some years before I had seen them at Ragnall in England. “What are you doing here?” I asked in a kind of fiery indignation inspired by my intense curiosity. “How did you get out of England after you had tried to steal away the lady to whom you sent the necklace? What did you do with that lady after you had beguiled her from the boat at Abu-Simbel? In the name of your Holy Child, or of Shaitan of the Mohammedans, or of Set of the Egyptians, answer me, lest I should make an end of both of you, which I can do here without any questions being asked,” and I whipped out my pistol. “Pardon us,” said Harût with a grave smile, “but if you were to do as you say, Lord Macumazana, many questions would be asked which _you_ might find it hard to answer. So be pleased to put that death-dealer back into its place, and to tell us before we reply to you, what you know of Set of the Egyptians.” “As much or as little as you do,” I replied. Both bowed as though this information were of the most satisfactory order. Then Harût went on: “In reply to your requests, O Macumazana, we left England by a steamboat and in due course after long journeyings we reached our own country. We do not understand your allusions to a place called Abu-Simbel on the Nile, whence, never having been there, we have taken no lady. Indeed, we never meant to take that lady to whom we sent a necklace in England. We only meant to ask certain questions of her, as she had the gift of vision, when you appeared and interrupted us. What should we want with white ladies, who have already far too many of our own?” “I don’t know,” I replied, “but I do know that you are the biggest liars I ever met.” At these words, which some might have thought insulting, Harût and Marût bowed again as though to acknowledge a great compliment. Then Harût said: “Let us leave the question of ladies and come to matters that have to do with men. You are here as we told you that you would be at a time when you did not believe us, and we here to meet _you_, as we told you that we would be. How we knew that you were coming and how we came do not matter at all. Believe what you will. Are you ready to start with us, O Lord Macumazana, that you may bring to its death the wicked elephant Jana which ravages our land, and receive the great reward of ivory? If so, your camel waits.” “One camel cannot carry four men,” I answered, avoiding the question. “In courage and skill you are more than many men, O Macumazana, yet in body you are but one and not four.”