Then, at last, I reached the top of the saddle, and the land to the east opened up, and I could see the village in the near distance below. I stopped and looked around as I regained my breath. I lost all thought of the prisoners. They would not have been permitted a rest break. They would have carried on walking, heads bowed. The guards would never have let them stand as I was, king of the world, beholding a vista that was panoramic and magnificent, the various ranges in all directions rising up out of the gently undulating plain. Not a patch of green anywhere. All was russet and pinkish brown and creamy stone. I could even see the ocean, a pleasing blue to the east and the west, and I got a sense of the size of the island which was long and rather narrow. Everywhere the mountains, their l
