The servants also experienced Ammon as a man, but a man who had performed a remarkable feat of defeating a larger group of attackers. They believed he could not be killed. While that was not a confirmation that Ammon was the Great Spirit, it certainly provided more evidence that it was possible.
Now we get the next fascinating statement from the king. “Now I know that it is the Great Spirit; and he has come down at this time to preserve your lives, that I might not slay you as I did your brethren.” It is only at this point in the story that we learn the important information that these attacks have been going on for a long time, and that they typically end in the execution of the servants. That requires more explanation. Why are the servants killed if they are sent unarmed to water the flocks, and a larger number of armed men scatter them?
The final key to the puzzle still remains to be presented in a later part of the story, but as the story develops it becomes clear that there is a competing lineage attempting to embarrass the king. The servants were killed because the king had to save face, and the pretense that they were robbers and were killing the servants was a useful ploy.
However, the king clearly knew that this was a ploy, and that it was not the truth. Thus, when he believes that the Great Spirit has come to appear as a man and save the servants, he “began to fear exceedingly, with fear lest he had done wrong in slaying his servants.” Of course, he had done wrong. The fear came in that this semidivine and unkillable “more than a man” had come to save the servants, indicating that Ammon was likely unhappy with the king’s actions. Certainly, the king feared retribution.