approaching nuptials of Stellara and Bulf was current in the barracks where he was quartered.
The window of the room to which he had been assigned overlooked a portion of the garden of The Cid —a spot of great natural beauty in which trees and flowers and shrubs bordered graveled pathways and a miniature lake and streamlet sparkled in the sunlight.
Tanar was seldom in his apartment and when he was he ordinarily gave no more than casual attention to the garden beyond the wall, but upon one occasion, after returning from an inspection of an iron mine, he had been left alone with his own sad thoughts, and, seating himself upon the sill of the window, he was gazing down upon the lovely scene below when his attention was attracted by the figure of a girl as she came into view almost directly before him along one of the graveled paths. She was looking up toward his window and their eyes met simultaneously. It was Gura.
Placing her finger to her lips, cautioning him to silence, she came quickly forward until she reached a point as close to his window as it was possible for her to come.
'There is a gate in the garden wall at the far end of your barracks,' she said in a low whisper attuned to reach his ears. 'Come to it at once.'
Tanar stopped to ask no questions. The girl's tone had been peremptory. Her whole manner bespoke urgency. Descending the stairway to the ground floor Tanar left the building and walked slowly toward its far end. Korsars were all about him, but they had been accustomed to seeing him, and now he held himself to a slow and careless pace that aroused no suspicion. Just beyond the end of the barracks he came to a small, heavily planked door set in the garden wall and as he arrived opposite this, it swung open and he stepped quickly within the garden, Gura instantly closing the gate behind him.
'At last I have succeeded,' cried the girl, 'but I thought that I never should. I have tried so hard to see you ever since Fitt took you from The Cid's palace. I learned from one of the slaves where your quarters were in the barracks and whenever I have been free I have been always beneath your window. Twice before I saw you, but I could not attract your attention and now that I have succeeded, perhaps it is too late.'
'Too late! What do you mean? Too late for what?' demanded Tanar.
'Too late to save Stellara,' said the girl.
'She is in danger?' asked Tanar.
'The preparations for her marriage to Bulf are complete. She cannot delay it much longer.'
'Why should she wish to delay it?' demanded the Sarian. 'Is she not content with the man she has chosen?'
'Like all men, you are a fool in matters pertaining to a woman's heart,' cried Gura.
'I know what she told me,' said Tanar.
'After all that you had been through together; after all that she had been to you, how could you have believed that she loved another?' demanded Gura.
'You mean that she does not love Bulf?' asked Tanar.
'Of course she does not love him. He is a horrid beast.'
'And she still loves me?'
'She has never loved anyone else,' replied the girl.
'Then why did she treat me as she did? Why did she say the things that she said?'
'She was jealous.'
'Jealous! Jealous of whom?'
'Of me,' said Gura, dropping her eyes.
The Sarian stood looking dumbly at the dark-haired Himean girl standing before him. He noted her slim body, her drooping shoulders, her attitude of dejection. 'Gura,' he asked, 'did I ever speak words of love to you? Did I ever give Stellara or another the right to believe that I loved you?'
She shook her head. 'No,' she said, 'and I told Stellara that when I found out what she thought. I told her that you did not love me and finally she was convinced and asked me to find you and tell you that she still loves you. But I have another message for you from myself. I know you, Sarian. I knew that you are not planning to remain here contentedly a prisoner of the Korsars. I know that you will try to escape and I have come to beg you to take Stellara with you, for she will kill herself before she will become the mate of Bulf.'
'Escape,' mused Tanar. 'How may it be accomplished from the heart of The Cid's palace?'
'That is the man's work,' said Gura. 'It is for you to plan the way.'
'And you?' asked Tanar. 'You wish to come away with us?'
'Do not think of me,' said Gura. 'If you and Stellara can escape, I do not matter.'
'But you do matter,' said the man, 'and I am sure that you do not wish to stay in Korsar.'
'No, I do not wish to remain in Korsar,' replied the girl, 'and particularly so now that The Cid seems to have taken a fancy to me.'
'You wish to return to Hime?' asked Tanar.
'After the brief taste of happiness I have had,' replied the girl, 'I could not return to the quarrels, the hatred and the constant unhappiness that constitute life within the cave of Scurv and which would be but continued in some other cave were I to take a mate in Hime.'
'Then come with us,' said the Sarian.
'Oh, if I only might!' exclaimed Gura.
'Then that is settled,' exclaimed Tanar. 'You shall come with us and if we reach Sari I know that you can find peace and happiness for yourself always.'
'It sounds like a dream,' said the girl, wistfully, 'from which I shall awaken in the cave of Scurv .'
'We shall make the dream come true,' said the Sarian, 'and now let us plan on how best we can get you and Stellara out of the palace of The Cid .'
'That will not be so easy,' said Gura.
'No, it is the most difficult part of our escape,' agreed the Sarian; 'but it must be done and I believe that the bolder the plan the greater its assurance of success.'
'And it must be done at once,' said Gura, 'for the wedding arrangements are completed and Bulf is impatient for his mate.'
For a moment Tanar stood in thought, seeking to formulate some plan that might contain at least a semblance of feasibility. 'Can you bring Stellara to this gate at once?' he asked Gura.
'If she is alone, yes,' replied the girl. 'Then go and fetch her and wait here with her until I return. My signal will be a low whistle. When you hear it, unlatch the gate.'
'I shall return as quickly as possible,' said Gura, and, as Tanar stepped through the doorway into the barrack yards, he closed and latched the gate behind him.
The Sarian looked about him and was delighted to note that apparently no one had seen him emerge from the garden. Instead of returning along the front of the barracks the way he had come, he turned in the opposite direction and made his way directly to one of the main gates of the palace. And this strategy was prompted also by another motive—he wished to ascertain if he could pass the guard at the main gate without being challenged.
Tanar had not adopted the garments of his captors and was still conspicuous by the scant attire and simple ornaments of a savage warrior and already his comings and goings had made him a familiar figure around the palace yard and in the Korsar streets beyond. But he had never passed through a palace gate alone before; nor without the ever present Fitt.
As he neared the gate he neither hastened nor loitered, but maintained a steady pace and an unconcerned demeanor. Others were passing in and out and as the former naturally received much closer scrutiny by the guards than the latter, Tanar soon found himself in a Korsar street outside the palace of The Cid .
Before him were the usual sights now grown familiar—the narrow, dusty street, the small open shops or bazaars lining the opposite side, the swaggering Korsars in their brilliant kerchiefs and sashes, and the slaves bearing great burdens to and fro—garden truck and the fruits of the chase coming in from the back country, while bales of tanned hides, salt and other commodities, craved by the simple tastes of the aborigines, were being borne out of the city toward the interior. Some of the bales were of considerable size and weight, requiring the services of four carriers, and were supported on two long poles, the ends of which rested on the shoulders of the men.
There were lines of slaves carrying provisions and ammunition to a fleet of ships that was outfitting for a new raid, and another line bearing plunder from the hold of another ship that had but recently come to anchor in the river before the city.
