“Initiation is a task imposed upon me by the Brotherhood of the White Star in my father’s court. When I have finished the labors I shall be of the Brotherhood myself. This is necessary for a Grand Servitor.” “Tell me of thy journeyings,” she said, nestling close beside him, yet with a coyness and reserve all her own. “Thou hast traveled very far.” “The second year was spent at[8]Memphis, Egypt, where I performed the second labor. Then I went among our colonists in [8]Phœnicia; thence to the [8]Etruscans, where I learned to work in metals; then among the [8]Kelts, where I learned bow-craft; thence to the [8]Vikings and the land of the [8]Basques. Returning to Poseidon’s kingdom, I set sail for the land of the [8]Incas; and from there I came to Tlamco, the last outlying colony of the [8]Toltecs, one of the three main tributaries to the Grand Servitor Poseidon. Art thou satisfied?” he asked. “Not quite. Hast thou loved no one all these years?” “Yes; and very much,” confidently assented Yermah. Kerœcia shrank back as if a blow had been dealt her. Everything swam before her, and she was faint and wan. “Whom?” she gasped. “Myself,” said Yermah, holding her tightly. “Art thou jealous?” “Not now,” she replied, with a look that enchanted her admirer. “Wilt thou hear other confessions? I can accuse myself of much more.” “And compel me to love thee the more for them all. Thou shalt leave me sufficient mind for besetting affairs,” answered Kerœcia. “Wouldst thou have me for thy slave?” “No. But I would be thine.” “Lend thy confidence fully, that I may worship where thou art pleased, and abhor that which offends thee.” “That which I value most of all my possessions is this distaff given me by my mother,” said Kerœcia, bringing forward a slender strip of bamboo, not much larger than a darning-needle, lightly weighted with pellets of clay. It had a jeweled handle and a wheel of hardwood, polished and set with mother-of-pearl. A tiny shell served for a socket, should the weight of the spindle prove too heavy for the gossamer threads used. “Wilt thou spin?” asked her companion, placing a seat for her. With girlish eagerness and gratified pride, Kerœcia sat down so intent upon a display of dexterity and skill that she was unconscious of the fact that her soft clinging skirts were tightly drawn over one leg the entire length, and high enough to reveal the ankle and instep to good advantage. With the other foot she set the treadle going, and soon her shapely arms were following the flying shuttle. The well-poised head, the long, slender throat, and the regular rise and fall of a perfect bosom helped to complete the poetry of her motions, and Yermah feasted his eyes while she worked. Glancing upward by chance, Kerœcia caught the expression of his face, but was by no means displeased because she saw desire mirrored there.