"
It was plain that the Thomahlia was blest with odd rulers. If the
Bar Senestro was a priest, he was clearly still more of a soldier.
The fiery challenge of the man struck an answering chord in
Watson; he knew the time must come when he should weigh himself up
against this Alexander, and it was anything but displeasing to
him.
"What must I say and do?" he asked the Rhamda Geos. "What do they
want me to tell them?"
"Just what you have told me: tell them of the Nervina, and of the
Rhamda Avec. The prince is a man of the world, but from the
Rhamdas you will have justice."
Whereat Chick addressed the Intellectuals. They seemed accustomed
to the outbursts of the handsome Bar, and were now waiting
complacently. In a few words Watson described the Nervina and
Avec; their appearance, manners--everything. Fortunately he did
not have to dissemble. When he had finished there was a faint
murmur of approval.
"It is proven," declared the girl queen. "It is truly my cousin,
the Nervina. I knew not the Rhamda, but from your faces it must
have been he, Senestro, what say you to this?"
But the Bar was totally unconvinced.
"All this is childish. Did I not say he is of our world--D'Hartian
or Kospian, or some other? Does not all Thomahlia know of the
Nervina? Few have seen the Rhamda Avec, but what of it? Some have.
What this stranger says proves nothing at all.
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