For a long time Alcamayn was unable to distinguish any member of the party now coming cityward, but he could see that it was of unusual importance. Soon he caught sight of Yermah seated in a palanquin, which was borne on the shoulders of four black men, and then he saw Oghi streaking along ahead of the pack of dogs which were in full cry at his heels. The ocelot often sprang to one side and played with his canine pursuers, while anon he scaled a wall for their special delection. He was a magnificent swimmer, and a good fisher, despite the fact that he occasionally put his sharp teeth through the fish, rendering it unfit for other than his own use. “It is near the third marking past meridian-time,” said Akaza; “and when the circle is once more completed there will be but ten days remaining before we shall begin our mission of amity.” “Have fitting preparations been made?” asked Alcamayn. “Hanabusa must take cognizance that a compliment of balsas do escort duty at commencement. A signal from Iaqua will apprise him.” “Yermah is but returning from a fishing expedition beachward. I have visioned him from an upper lookout.” “Then let him have speech with thee at once. Take freely the counsel he imparts, and let me have assurance of his assent when the windows of thy soul greet and speed our parting hence. Peace abide with thee.” He lightly kissed the forehead bared and inclined toward him. Alcamayn paused a moment on the threshold and gazed lingeringly into a kindly countenance flushed by close mental application. “May the preservative principle of the Trinity have thee entirely in its keeping,” he responded, as he passed from view down the same spiral which had given him so much labor to ascend earlier in the day. CHAPTER FOUR DISPATCHING RUNNERS TO THE YO-SEMITE The Servitors of Tlamco were held strictly responsible for the conduct of their respective offices. Promotion and preference did not depend upon birth but on deeds. “What has he done?” was the question propounded when a candidate presented himself for an office of public trust, and the same query met his lifeless body when it was offered for burial. Socially, and in the temples the same rule followed; so that distinctive service was the mainspring of their civilization. Next to the priestly office, agriculture ranked highest in the choice of occupations. Men profoundly learned in every branch of it were continually in attendance at Iaqua. There were stations devoted to observation of climatic conditions; to the reclamation of wild fruits and cereals, or the propagation of new ones for food; to the surveying and proper distribution of lands; to the building of aqueducts, canals, bridges, granaries and public highways—to say nothing of the research in the extraction of dye stuffs from both vegetable and mineral substances.