"This is that man," she said, "who told us he came from a land called
Roma. Look, the helmet still rests upon his head, though time has eaten
into it, and that ring upon your hand was taken from his finger. I have
a head-dress made upon the model of that helmet which I wear sometimes
in memory of this man who, my soul remembers, was brave and pleasant and
a gallant lover."
"Indeed," answered Alan, looking at the sunken face above which a rim of
curls appeared beneath the rusting helmet. "Well, he doesn't look very
gallant now, does he?" Then he peered down between the body and its gold
casing and saw that in his body hand the man still held a short Roman
sword, lifted as though in salute. So she had not lied in this matter
either.
Meanwhile the Asika had glided on to the end of the hall behind the
heaps of treasure.
"There is one more white man," she said, "though we know little of him,
for he was fierce and barbarous and died without learning our tongue,
after killing a great number of the priests of that day because they
would not let him go; yes, died cutting them down with a battle-axe and
singing some wild song of his own country.
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