Chapter four
Ashti of the JungleThe folk who lived in their scattered villages along the brown rivers running through the jungle might not have advanced so far along the so-called road of civilization as many another peoples of Kregen; but they only tried to kill me once and then, when I’d explained, became very friendly.
Three villages along we ran into someone who knew my charge. The leaf-roofed, rush-walled houses were round like beehives in this village. The ground was packed hard by equally hard naked feet; to turn into a quagmire when the rains fell. The headman did not wear a bone through his nose; had he done so it would have suited his regal magnificence well.
A woman wearing a remarkable sarong-like garment of gemmed greeny-blue silk told us the child was probably from the nex
