It was the Bar Senestro who broke the
tension.
"May I ask, Rhamda Geos, why you make such an assertion? What
proof have you, to begin with, that this man," indicating Watson
with a nod, "is not merely one of ourselves: a D'Hartian or a
Kospian?"
The Geos replied instantly: "You know the manner of his discovery,
Bar Senestro. Have you not eyes?" Geos seemed to think he had said
the last word.
"Surely," rejoined the Bar good-humouredly. "I have very good
eyes, Rhamda Geos. Likewise I have a mind to reason with; but my
imagination, I fear, is defective. What I behold is just such a
creature as myself; not otherwise. How hold you that this one is
proof out of the occult?"
"You are sceptical," returned the Rhamda, evenly. "Even as you
behold him, you are full of doubt. But do you not recall the words
of the great Avec? Do you not know the Prophecy of the Jarados?"
"Truly, Geos; I remember them both. Especially the writing on the
wall of the temple. Does not the prophet himself say: 'And behold,
in the last days there shall come among ye--the false ones. Them
ye shall slay'?"
"All very true, Bar Senestro. But you well know--we all know--that
the true prophecy was to be fulfilled when the Spot was opened.
Did not the fulfilment begin when the Avec and the Nervina passed
through to the other side?"
"The fulfilment, Geos? Perhaps it was the sign of the coming of
impostors! The end may not be until ALL the conditions are
complied with!"
But at this moment Aradna saw fit to speak.
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