That night they returned drunk--at least ten of them dead; the other two were missing.

When they were sober again, Leonard questioned them as to the whereabouts of their companions, but they could give him no satisfactory information.

They had been into various houses in the city, they said, where the people had plied them with beer, and they remembered nothing more.
These two men never reappeared, but the rest of them, now thoroughly frightened, obeyed Leonard's orders and stayed in the palace, although the decoy men still came frequently to the gates and called them.

They passed the days in wandering about and drinking to drown their fears, and the nights huddled together for protection from an unseen foe, more terrible and craftier than the leopard of their native rocks.

But these precautions were all in vain.
One morning, hearing a tumult among them, Leonard went to see what was the matter.