I'm told to go and bring you. I've got to do it. It's a painful
duty."
The king smoked a while silently, then said something to his
warriors, who got up and marched away around the corner. "Mighty,
Jessamine!" he says, "you're slow. Most mulish man I ever saw. Well,
let it go. You can't do it. Recollect, attempting the person of the
king is a capital crime. That's the law of this land. It's decided
and it don't change. We'll drop it."
So nothing more was said of the matter, and we talked agreeably.
Whether Craney's account of his motives was accurate I couldn't say.
It didn't seem likely he ever expected to settle, when he started, or
he took all the chances that he never would. Maybe he cooked up the
theory to suit things as they stood. Maybe not. I don't defend him,
and I'm not clear where he lied or where he fancied. But it seemed to
me if he'd made a long calculation, his luck was standing by him at
that point.
When the king left us we went for a walk through the village,
talking it over. Breen said they'd better take the offer, and I
thought they'd have to, but Jessamine wasn't satisfied. He says:
"We haven't the authority. How do you know we wouldn't get into
trouble at home? We've got to take him back.
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