And , once in a while , the strangers seemed to taste something that they did not like . `` Here is an odd kind of spice in this dish , '' said one . `` I ca n't say it quite suits my palate . Down it goes , however . '' `` Send a good draught of wine down your throat , '' said his comrade on the next throne . `` That is the stuff to make this sort of cookery relish well . Though I must needs say , the wine has a queer taste too . But the more I drink of it , the better I like the flavor . '' Whatever little fault they might find with the dishes , they sat at dinner a prodigiously long while ; and it would really have made you ashamed to see how they swilled down the liquor and gobbled up the food . They sat on golden thrones , to be sure ; but they behaved like pigs in a sty ; and , if they had had their wits about them , they might have guessed that this was the opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens . It brings a blush into my face to reckon up , in my own mind , what mountains of meat and pudding , and what gallons of wine , these two and twenty guzzlers and gormandizers ate and drank . They forgot all about their homes , and their wives and children , and all about Ulysses , and everything else , except this banquet , at which they wanted to keep feasting forever . But at length they began to give over , from mere incapacity to hold any more . `` That last bit of fat is too much for me , '' said one . `` And I have not room for another morsel , '' said his next neighbor , heaving a sigh . `` What a pity ! My appetite is as sharp as ever . '' In short , they all left off eating , and leaned back on their thrones , with such a stupid and helpless aspect as made them ridiculous to behold . When their hostess saw this , she laughed aloud ; so did her four damsels ; so did the two and twenty serving men that bore the dishes , and their two and twenty fellows that poured out the wine . And the louder they all laughed , the more stupid and helpless did the two and twenty gormandizers look .
Then the beautiful woman took her stand in the middle of the saloon , and stretching out a slender rod -LRB- it had been all the while XXXXX her hand , although they never noticed it till this moment -RRB- , she turned it from one guest to another , until each had felt it pointed at himself .
Though about except from in into of on to with