I am the son of Alexander by Queen Semiramis,
and you??™re my younger brother and
a god too! It??™s the biggest thing we??™ve ever
seen. I??™ve been marching and fighting for
six weeks with the Army, and every footy
little village for fifty miles has come in rejoiceful;
and more than that, I??™ve got the
key of the whole show, as you??™ll see, and
I??™ve got a crown for you! I told ??™em to
make two of ??™em at a place called Shu, where
the gold lies in the rock like suet in mutton.
Gold I??™ve seen, and turquoise I??™ve kicked out
of the cliffs, and there??™s garnets in the sands
of the river, and here??™s a chunk of amber
that a man brought me. Call up all the
priests and, here, take your crown.??™
???One of the men opens a black hair bag
and I slips the crown on. It was too small
and too heavy, but I wore it for the glory.
Hammered gold it was??”five pound weight,
like a hoop of a barrel.
??????Peachey,??™ says Dravot, ???we don??™t want to
fight no more. The Craft??™s the trick so help
me!??™ and he brings forward that same Chief
that I left at Bashkai??”Billy Fish we called
him afterwards, because he was so like Billy
Fish that drove the big tank-engine at Mach
on the Bolan in the old days. ???Shake hands
with him,??™ says Dravot, and I shook hands
and nearly dropped, for Billy Fish gave me
the Grip. I said nothing, but tried him
with the Fellow Craft Grip. He answers,
all right, and I tried the Master??™s Grip, but
that was a slip.
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