(Aid! that the evil still walk the ways of the world!)
V
So the time went by and the beauty of the Queen grew, and her
King could see none but hers. Like the moon she obscured the
stars, and every day he remembered her wisdom, her valour, and
his soul did homage at her feet, and there was great content in
Chitor.
It chanced one day that the Queen, looking from her high window
that like an eagle's nest overhung the precipice, saw, on the
plain beneath, a train of men, walking like ants, and each
carried a basket on his back, and behind them was a cloud of dust
like a great army. Already the city was astir because of this
thing, and the rumours came thick and the spies were sent out.
In the dark they returned, and the Rana entered the bower of
Padmini, his eyes burning like coal with hate and wrath, and he
flung his arm round his wife like a shield.
"He is returned, and in power. Counsel me again, 0 wife, for
great is thy wisdom!"
But she answered only this,-
"Fight, for this time it is to the death."
Then each day she watched bow the baskets of earth, emptied upon
the plain at first, made nothing, an ant heap whereat fools might
laugh.
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