The Hawk drank in the water and quickly spat it
out.
16 "Yuck!" he cried, "Salt! This water's full of salt!"
17 "Yes, Lord," Bright Star told him. "That's why it's called The Lake
of Tears. The lake rises and falls each year and seems to get more and
more salty. No one knows why."
18 "It's like no other lake I know of," muttered The Hawk. "Perhaps
someday The Lords will teach us why."
19 "Come," suggested Bright Star, "there's an inn up the street. We can
get some food and wine to take that taste out of your mouth."
20 As they started up the street some men were unloading an ox cart to
the upper story of a warehouse. One man was throwing the sacks to a man
standing on top of the cart, and he was throwing them to a man in the
window. As they neared, one of the sacks missed the window, hit the
wall, and burst open. A black cloud filled the air. The men in the cart
and several passer bys in the street began to cough terribly, and put
their hands to their eyes.
21 Bright Star, seeing what had happened, called to some men nearby.
"Don't just stand there, you fools! Get some buckets of water! Hurry!"
22 In moments they were bathing the men's eyes. As The Hawk watched the
others work he picked up a handful of the black pepper and smelled it.
It burned his nose. "What man can fight," he whispered, "when he is
coughing helplessly, and blind?"
23 "They're all right," commented Bright Star, as the men were led
away. "The pepper does no real damage, it just burns like fire for a
while!"
24 "I want all this pepper we can lay our hands onto," ordered The
Hawk, "ALL of it! I want it ground to fine powder and any other strong
spice you have. I want every last bit of it in the city, and I want it