THE SWEET-SCENTED NAME
III
That very day we laded our camels, and before sunset had left the horrible town.
We had much time on the way to think on what had happened to us at the menagerie of the Great Emperor. But the phenomenon entirely baffled us.
It was not necessary to think that it portented evil and frightful misfortune, nor could we take it as a sign of blessing. Do we ever hear of the most powerful one appearing with the single object of being a sign to man? No, when even in the most ancient traditions, true, it has been handed down that the dweller on the other side of the river Mairure showed himself as a sign of impending calamity or blessing, or that he came to prophesy at all—he always came roaring threateningly, and took the one of us on whom his choice fell.
For a long time we wandered through the desert saying not a word to one another. I knew by my brother's gloomy silence that he also thought on what had happened. At last, when we were but three days' journey from home, he broke silence, saying, "Whilst we lay on the ground and the people laughed at us, and I lifted my head, I saw the open
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