"I hope your reasoning is correct," said Duare, but it was evident that she was skeptical. I was none too enthusiastic about the plan myself.
I crossed the street to the side along which the warriors were approaching, knowing that there was less likelihood that any of them would recognize me than that they would know Duare, who had been in Skor's palace for some time.
I must admit that I felt none too comfortable as the distance between me and the warriors steadily lessened, but I kept my eyes on the ground and shuffled slowly along.
As I came abreast of them their leader halted and addressed me. My heart stood still. "Where is the house of Kroona?" he asked.
"I do not know," I replied and shuffled on my way. Momentarily I expected to be seized, but the warriors went on their way and let me go on mine. My ruse had been successful!
As soon as I felt that it was safe I crossed to the opposite side of the street, and as I caught up with the two girls I told them to follow behind me but not too closely.
It still lacked an hour until sunset, and I did not dare risk approaching the entrance to the tunnel until after dark. In the meantime we must find a place to hide and keep off the streets where every moment we were in danger of arousing suspicion.
Turning into a side street I soon found a deserted house, of which there are many in Kormor; and presently we were in hiding again.
* * * * *
Both girls were dejected. I could tell by their silence and listlessness. The future must have seemed hopeless to them, yet they voiced no complaints.
"I have some good news for you," I said.
Duare looked at me with scarcely any indication of interest, as though there never could be any good news for her again. She had been unusually silent since our escape from the palace. She seldom spoke unless directly addressed; and she avoided speech with Nalte as much as possible, although her manner toward her was not definitely unfriendly.
"What is the good news?" demanded Nalte.
"I have found the entrance to the tunnel to Havatoo," I replied.
The effect of that statement upon Nalte was electrical, but it seemed to arouse only passive interest in Duare. "In Havatoo," she said, "I shall be as far as ever from Vepaja."
"But your life will not be in danger," I reminded her.
She shrugged. "I do not know that I care to live," she replied.
"Don't be discouraged, Duare," I begged. "Once we are in Havatoo I am confident that I shall discover a way to find Vepaja and return you to your people." I was thinking of the plane ready and waiting in its hangar on Kantum Lat., but I didn't say anything about it. I wanted to save it as a surprise for her; and, anyway, we were not yet in Havatoo.
The two hours that we waited until complete darkness enveloped the city were as long a two hours as I have ever spent; but at last it seemed safe to attempt to reach the silent, deserted house near the river front, where all our hopes were centered.
The street was deserted when we left the building where we had been hiding; I was certain of my way to our destination, and without delay or adventure we at last came in sight of the decaying structure that hid the entrance to our avenue of escape.
I led the girls into the buildings, and there we huddled in the dark, listening. I regretted then that I had been unable to retrieve the sword I had taken from Skor and buried in the yard of Kroona's home. It would have given me a feeling of far greater security than I now enjoyed.
Satisfied at last that we were the sole occupants of the building and that no one had followed us, I crossed to the doorway that hid the entrance to the tunnel, Duare and Nalte close behind me.
I had no difficulty in finding the latch, and a moment later we were descending into the dark corridor with liberty and safety almost in our grasp.
There was a chance that we might meet one of Skor's creatures returning from Havatoo; but I felt that everything was in our favor inasmuch as one of them had just crossed in the opposite direction, and there had never been any evidence that they were in Havatoo in great numbers. It was my opinion that the two that set upon Nalte and me were alone in that venture, and if that were true it was also doubtless true that Skor never had more than a couple of his retainers in Havatoo at the same time. I certainly hoped that I was right.
In silence, through the utter darkness, we groped our way along the cold, moist corridor beneath the River of Death . I moved more rapidly than I had when I had come through it to Kormor, for I knew now that no pitfalls lay in my path.
At last I felt the stairs leading upward at the tunnel's end, and a moment later I stopped behind the door that would let us into Havatoo. I did not wait; I did not listen. Nothing could have stopped me then. I would have grappled a dozen of the gruesome corpses of Kormor had they stood in my way, and I believe that I should have overcome them, so desperate was my mood.
But we met neither dead nor living as we stepped out onto the lower floor of the dismal building off the Havatoo Lat. Quickly we crossed to the front of the building and out through the door there to the street beyond, and a moment later we stood in the Havatoo Lat with its brilliant lights and its two streams of traffic.
* * * * *
We were a conspicuous trio in our mean garments of rags with which we had sought to disguise ourselves in Kormor, and many were the suspicious glances cast in our direction.
As quickly as I could I hailed a public conveyance and instructed the driver to take us to the home of Ero Shan, and as we settled down upon the cushions we relaxed for the first time in many a day.
We talked a great deal during the drive, particularly Nalte and I. Duare was very quiet. She spoke of the beauty of Havatoo and the wonders that surrounded us, all strange and new to her, but only briefly and then lapsed into silence again.
Our driver had eyed us suspiciously when we entered his car, and when he deposited us in front of the house of Ero Shan he behaved peculiarly.
But Ero Shan was delighted to see us. He ordered food and drink, and plied us with questions until he had had the whole story from us several times. He congratulated me upon finding Duare, but I could see that his greatest happiness lay in the return of Nalte.
The girls were tired and needed rest, and we were preparing to take them to Nalte's home when the first blow fell that was to put the lives of two of us in jeopardy and plunge us all from the heights of happiness to the depths of despair.
There was a summons at the main entrance, and presently a servant entered the room. Behind him was a file of warriors commanded by an officer.
Ero Shan looked up in surprise. He knew the officer and called him by name, asking him what brought him here with armed men.
"I am sorry, Ero Shan," the man replied, "but I have orders from the Sanjong itself to arrest three suspicious-appearing people who were seen to enter your house earlier in the evening."
"But," exclaimed Ero Shan, "no one has entered my house but Carson Napier, whom you know, and these two young women. They are all my friends."
The officer was eyeing our mean apparel and evidently not without suspicion. "These must be those I was sent to arrest if no one else has entered your house this evening," he said.
There was nothing to do but accompany the warriors and this we did. Ero Shan came with us, and a short time later we were before an investigating board of three men. The complaining witness was the driver who had brought us from the house that hid the entrance to the tunnel to Ero Shan's. He said that he lived in the neighborhood, and having known of the abduction of Nalte he was immediately suspicious when he saw three people, garbed as we were, in the vicinity of the place.
He accused us of being spies from Kormor and insisted that we were but painted corpses like the man I had grappled with at the time of the abduction of Nalte.
The examining board listened to my story; then they examined Nalte and Duare briefly. They questioned Ero Shan concerning us, and without leaving the room they discharged Nalte and myself and ordered Duare back for a further
examination by the official examining board the following day.
I thought that they seemed a little suspicious of Duare; and so did Ero Shan, though he only admitted this after we had returned the girls to Nalte's home and were alone.
"Justice sometimes miscarries in Havatoo," he said gravely. "The loathing that we feel for Kormor and everything connected with it colors all our decisions in matters concerning it. Duare admits having been in Kormor for some time. She admits having resided in the palace of Skor , the jong. The examining board knows nothing about her other than what she claims and what you tell them, but they do not know that they can believe either of you. You will recall that the result of your examination was not such as to create considerable confidence in you.
"And you think that Duare may be in danger?" I asked.
"I cannot tell," he replied. "Everything may come out all right; but, on the other hand, if the board has the slightest suspicion concerning Duare, it will order her destroyed, for our theory of justice is that it is better to do an injustice to a single individual than to risk the safety and welfare of many. Sometimes that policy is a cruel one, but results have demonstrated that it is better for the race than a policy of weak sentimentalism."
I did not sleep well that night. The weight of a great fear for the outcome of tomorrow's trial oppressed me.
Chapter 21—Flight
I WAS NOT permitted to accompany Duare to her examination. She was placed in charge of the same woman who had guarded Nalte at the time of her examination, Hara Es.
To pass the hours until the result should be made known, I went to the hangar to inspect my plane. It was in perfect condition. The motor hummed almost noiselessly. I could not, under ordinary circumstances, have withstood the urge to have the ship wheeled out onto the plain before the city for a trial flight; but my mind was so distraught with apprehension concerning the fate of Duare that I had no heart for anything.
I spent an hour alone in the hangar. None of my assistants were there, they having all returned to their ordinary duties after the completion of the plane. Then I returned to the house that I shared with Ero Shan.
He was not there. I tried to read, but I could not concentrate long enough to know what I was reading about. My eyes followed the strange Amtorian characters, but my thoughts were with Duare. At last I gave it up and walked in the garden. An unreasoning terror enveloped me like a shroud, numbing my faculties.
How long I walked I do not know, but at last my sad reveries were interrupted by the approach of footsteps through the house. I knew that Ero Shan must be coming to the garden. I stood waiting, looking toward the doorway through which he must come; and the instant that I saw him my heart turned cold. I read the confirmation of my worst fears in the expression on his face.
He came and laid a hand upon my shoulder. "I have bad news for you, my friend," he said.
"I know," I replied; "I read it in your eyes. They have ordered her destroyed?"
"It is a miscarriage of justice," he said, "but there is no appeal. We must accept the decision as the board's honest conviction that they are thus serving the best interests of the city."
"Is there nothing I can do?" I asked.
"Nothing," he replied.
"Won't they let me take her away from Havatoo?"
"No; they are so afraid of the contaminating influence of Skor and his creatures that they will never permit one to live that falls into their hands."
"But she is not one of Skor's creatures!" I insisted.
"I am quite sure that they had their doubts, but the benefit of the doubt is given to the city and not to the accused. There is nothing more to be done."
"Do you think they would let me see her?" I asked.
"It is possible," he replied. "For some reason she is not to be destroyed until to-morrow."
"Will you try to arrange it for me, Ero Shan?"
"Certainly," he replied. "Wait here, and I will see what I can do."
I have never spent such long and bitter hours as those while I was awaiting the return of Ero Shan. Never before had I felt so helpless and hopeless in the face of an emergency. Had these been ordinary men with whom I had to deal, I might have seen somewhere a ray of hope, but there was none here. Their uprightness precluded the possibility that I might influence even a minor guard by bribery; they could not be moved by an appeal to sentiment; the cold, hard logic of their reasoning left their minds impregnable fortresses of conviction that it was useless to assail.
I have said that I was hopeless, but that was not entirely true. Upon what my hope fed I do not know, but it seemed so impossible to believe that Duare was to be destroyed that my mind must in some slight measure have been stunned.
* * * * *
It was dark before Ero Shan returned. I could read neither hope nor despair in his expression as he entered the room where I had finally gone to await him. He appeared very serious and very tired.
"Well?" I demanded. "What is the verdict?"
"I had a hard time of it," he said. "I had to go all the way up to the Sanjong, but at last I got permission for you to visit her."
"Where is she? When may I see her?"
"I will take you to her now," he replied.
After we entered his car I asked him how he had accomplished it.
"I finally took Nalte with me," he replied. "She knew more about you and all that you and Duare have passed through together than any one else in Havatoo. For a while I almost thought that she was going to persuade the Sanjong to reverse the verdict against Duare, and it was solely through her appeal that they at last gave their consent to this last meeting.
"I learned a great deal about you and Duare from Nalte, much more than you have ever told me; and I learned something else."
"What was that?" I asked as he paused.
"I learned that I love Nalte," he replied.
"And did you learn that she loves you?"
"Yes. Were it not for your unhappiness I should be quite the happiest man in Havatoo tonight. But what made you think that Nalte loved me?"
"She told me so."
"And you did not tell me?" he asked reproachfully.
"I could not," I replied, "until after I knew that you loved her."
"I suppose not. She told me that you were planning on taking her back to Andoo; but now that won't be necessary—she seems quite content to remain in Havatoo."
We had been driving along the Korgan Lat. toward the stadium, and now Ero Shan turned into a side street and stopped before a small house.
"Here we are," he said. "This is the house of Hara Es, in whose charge Duare has been placed. Hara Es is expecting you. I shall wait out here. You are to be allowed to remain with Duare for five vir."
Five vir are a little over twenty minutes of earth time. It seemed all too short, but it was better than nothing. I went to the door of the house, and in answer to my summons Hara Es admitted me.
"I have been expecting you," she said. "Come with me."
She led me up to the second floor and unlocking a door, pushed it open. "Go in," she directed. "In five vir I shall come for you."
* * * * *
As I entered the room Duare rose from a couch and faced me. Hara Es closed the door and locked it. I heard her footsteps as she descended the stairs. We were alone, Duare and I, for the first time in what seemed an eternity to me.
"Why did you come here?" asked Duare in a tired voice.
"You ask me that!" I exclaimed. "You know why I came."
She shook her head. "You cannot do anything for me; no one can. I supposed you would come if you could help me, but as you can't I do not know why you came."
"If for no other reason, because I love you. Is not that reason enough?"
"Do not speak to me of love," she said, looking at me queerly.
I determined not to make her last moments more unhappy by pressing unwelcome attention upon her. I sought to cheer her, but she said that she was not unhappy."
"I am not afraid to d
ie, Carson Napier," she said. "As it seems impossible that, living, I should ever return to Vepaja, I prefer to die. I am not happy. I can never be happy.
"Why could you never be happy?" I demanded.
"That is my secret; I shall take it to the grave with me. Let us not speak of it any more."
"I don't wish you to die, Duare. You must not die!" I exclaimed.
"I know that you feel that way, Carson , but what are we to do about it?"
"There must be something we can do. How many are there in this house besides Hara Es and yourself?"
"There is no one."
Suddenly a mad hope possessed me. I searched the room with my eyes. It was bare of all except absolute necessities. I saw nothing with which I might carry out my plan. Time was flying. Hara Es would soon return. My eyes fell upon the saronglike scarf that Duare wore, the common outer garment of Amtorian women.
"Let me take this," I said, stepping to her side.
"What for?" she demanded.
"Never mind. Do as I say! We have no time to argue! Duare had long since learned to submerge her pride when my tone told her that an emergency confronted us and to obey me promptly. She did so now. Quickly she unwound the scarf from about her and handed it to me.
"Here it is," she said. "What are you going to do with it?"
"Wait and see. Stand over there on the right side of the room. Here comes Hara Es now; I hear her on the stairs."
I stepped quickly to one side of the door so that I should be behind it and hidden from Hara Es as she entered. Then I waited. More than my own life lay in the balance, yet I was not nervous. My heart beat as quietly as though I were contemplating nothing more exciting than a pleasant social visit.
I heard Hara Es stop before the door. I heard the key turn in the lock. Then the door swung open and Hara Es stepped into the room. As she did so I seized her by the throat from behind and pushed the door shut with my foot.
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