In the midst of the revelry there arose an ominous sound, and a pale light played around the base of the walls. Even as the occupants of the fort turned their affrighted eyes from the nautch-girls to seek the cause, flames leaped into the air on all sides and a dense smoke enveloped them. Under cover of the darkness, and while the attention was centred upon the crafty queen and her girls, the King's men had brought straw and firewood, with which they had built up a circle under the walls. At a given signal the pile was simultaneously fired, and the fort was enveloped in flames.
Madly and triumphantly danced the queen and her troupe, while the crackling of the fire rose above their shrill song. In mocking tones the queen bade her lover come and claim her. The young chief advanced to the very edge of the parapet, and stood in the clear yellow light of the burning straw. With fierce words he cursed his betrayer, declaring that the reward of her treachery should be nothing less than death. He cursed the King, who had instigated the evil deed, and the people of the country who had assisted in the destruction of the fort, saying that the hour would arrive when they would be glad in their dire necessity to rebuild the fort with walls of gold if they could only recall the inhabitants. Then leaping into the fire below he was the first to perish.
The heated stones snapped asunder and split from end to end, and the fort crumbled beneath the only power that could destroy it. The place was reduced to a mass of ruins, and the magic spell of the loadstone was gone. The King with his troops effected an entrance unopposed; and what the fire failed to perform the sword completed. Nearly all were killed. The few who escaped fled in terror to the seashore and took ship to the Far East. They did not dare to land until they reached China. There they were kindly welcomed, and in return for the
