"Fellow Kondalians, greet the Karfedo Seaton and Crane," he began, his tongue fumbling over the strange names, "of a distant world, the Earth, and the two noble ladies, Miss Vaneman and Miss Spencer, soon to be their Karfediro. "Guests from Earth, allow me to present to you the Kofedir Sitar, the only one of my wives who accompanied me upon our ill-fated hunting expedition." Then, still ignoring DuQuesne as a captive, he introduced the other Kondolians in turn as his brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, and nephews--all members of the great ruling house of Kondal. "Now," he concluded, "after I have a word with you in private, Doctor Seaton, I will be glad to give the others all the information in my power." He led Seaton out of earshot of the others and said in a low voice: "It is no part of Nalboon's plan to kill the two women. They are so beautiful, so different from our Osnomian women, that he intends to keep them--alive. Understand?" "Yes," returned Seaton grimly, his eyes turning hard, "I get you all right--but what he'll do and what he thinks he'll do are two entirely different breeds of cats." Returning to the others, they found Dorothy and Sitar deep in conversation. "So a man has half a dozen or so wives?" Dorothy was asking in surprise. "How do you get along together? I'd fight like a wildcat if my husband tried to have other wives!" "We get along splendidly, of course," returned the Osnomian princess in equal surprise. "I would not think of being a man's only wife. I wouldn't consider marrying a man who could win only one wife--think what a disgrace it would be! And think how lonely one would be while her husband is away at war--we would go insane if we did not have the company of the other wives. There are six of us, and we could not get along at all without each other." "I've got a compliment for you and Peggy, Dottie," said Seaton. "Dunark here thinks that you two girls look good enough to eat--or words to that effect." Both girls flushed slightly, the purplish-black color suffusing their faces. They glanced at each other and Dorothy voiced the thought of both as she said: "How can you, Kofedix Dunark? In this horrible light we both look perfectly dreadful. These other girls would be beautiful, if we were used to the colors, but we two look simply hideous." "Oh, no," interrupted Sitar. "You have a wonderfully rich coloring. It is a shame to hide so much of yourselves with robes." "Their eyes interpret colors differently than ours do," explained Seaton. "What to us are harsh and discordant colors are light and pleasing to their eyes. What looks like a kind of sloppy greenish black to us may--in fact, does--look a pale pink to them." "Are Kondal and Mardonale the only two nations upon Osnome?" asked Crane.