So we also became popular for a little while.

Everybody was pleasant and flattered us--everybody, even Joshua, bowed when we approached, and took a most lively interest in the progress of our work, which many deputations and prominent individuals urged us to expedite.
Better still, the untoward accidents such as those I have mentioned, ceased.

Our dogs, for we had obtained some others, were no longer poisoned; rocks that appeared fixed did not fall; no arrows whistled among us when we went out riding.

We even found it safe occasionally to dispense with our guards, since it was every one's interest to keep us alive--for the present.

Still, I for one was not deceived for a single moment, and in season and out of season warned the others that the wind would soon blow again from a less favourable quarter.
We worked, we worked, we worked! Heaven alone knows how we did work.
Think of the task, which, after all, was only one of several.