'Couldn't they get along the spit,' suggested Chris, absolutely at random. 'Might be done, mayhap,' admitted the other, after a reflective pause. 'Leastways, if you was a "_Ram Rammer_" an' 'ad a right o' way through the 'ouse o' Rimming--beg pardin, sir, though you _'ave_ chucked old 'Oneyman an' 'is lot--I mean, if you was a Hindoo an' they'd let you through the temple. But even then we could nick 'em in the water afore they could get ropes slung.' 'There's the ladder, suggested Chris once more. He was not thinking of what he said. He was asking himself _what_ he had not 'chucked' away recklessly? 'It is only about six feet up; they could easily----' 'They could easily do a lot if they was let, sir,' interrupted Jân-Ali-shân, as he turned to go, with a pitying look. 'But we don't let 'em. That's how it is. An we ain't such bally fools as to leave 'em ladders. No, sir? Two men--if they _was_ men-'u'd keep that pier a Christian country for a tidy time.' As the trolly buzzed back stationwards, the group of yellow faces above the faded brocades gave up watching the man[oe]uvres of the drawbridge, and returned to their kite-flying; and on the bathing-steps the men and women returned to the day's work. On the bastion there was a shade more listless doubt and dislike, on the steps a shade more uneasy wonder as to the signs of the times. That was all. Only Burkut Ali, as he weighted his kite's tail with an extra grain or two of rice, nodded his head, and said with a sinister look-- 'Two could play that game, and the first come would be master. "_He who sits on the throne is king_."' 'And he who sits not is none,' added Jehân's antagonist with a wink. He had quarrelled two days before with the Rightful Heir's pretensions to authority in the matter of a dancing-girl, and so, for the time being, headed the dissentient party which, with ever-shifting numbers and combinations, made the royal house--to the great satisfaction of the authorities--one divided against itself. 'If the Sun of the Universe is ready,' he went on, with mock ceremony, 'his slave waits to begin the match.' Jehân's face sharpened with anger. He had come there in an evil temper, because, after having virtuously denied himself an over-night orgy for the sake of steadying his hand for the match, Lateefa--on whom he had relied for a superexcellent new kite--had neither turned up nor sent an excuse; consequently the chances of victory were small. And now this ill-conditioned hound was palpably insolent. The fact roused Jehân's pretensions, and made him assert them. 'I fly no kite to-day,' he said haughtily, 'the match will be to-morrow.' His opponent smiled. 'As my lord chooses!' he replied coolly, 'his slave is ready to give revenge at any time.' 'Revenge!' echoed Jehân sharply, 'wherefore revenge? There is no defeat.'