"
"The past few centuries!" gasped Nerle. "What do you mean?"
At this the prince blushed, seeing he had nearly disclosed his secret.
But he said, quickly:
"Does it not seem centuries when one is unhappy?"
"It does, indeed!" responded Nerle, earnestly. "But please tell me
your story."
"Not now," said Prince Marvel, with a smile. "It will please you to
desire in vain to hear a tale I will not tell. Yet I promise that on
the day we part company I shall inform you who I am."
7. The Gray Men
The adventurers gave no heed to the path they followed after leaving
the cave of the reformed thieves, but their horses accidentally took
the direction of the foot-hills that led into the wild interior
Kingdom of Spor. Therefore the travelers, when they had finished
their conversation and begun to look about them, found themselves in a
rugged, mountainous country that was wholly unlike the green plains of
Heg they had left behind.
Now, as I have before said, the most curious and fearful of the island
people dwelt in this Kingdom of Spor. They held no friendly
communication with their neighbors, and only left their own mountains
to plunder and rob; and so sullen and fierce were they on these
occasions that every one took good care to keep out of their way until
they had gone back home again.
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