CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRST ORDEAL The shaman advanced to my side and asked me courteously how I fared.
I answered, "Better.

Far better, oh, my host--but how are you named ?" "Simbri," he answered, "and, as I told you by the water, my title is Hereditary Guardian of the Gate.

By profession I am the royal Physician in this land." "Did you say physician or magician ?" I asked carelessly, as though I had not caught the word.

He gave me a curious look.
"I _said_ physician, and it is well for you and your companion that I have some skill in my art.

Otherwise I think, perhaps, you would not have been alive to-day, O my guest--but how are _you_ named ?" "Holly," I said.
"O my guest, Holly." "Had it not been for the foresight that brought you and the lady Khania to the edge of yonder darksome river, certainly we should _not_ have been alive, venerable Simbri, a foresight that seems to me to savour of magic in such a lonely place.