whiskers,' and she glanced down at the corpse of the fallen man.
Tanar turned, too, and looked down at Bulf, where he lay in a pool of blood upon the floor. And then quickly he faced Stellara. 'Why not?' he cried. 'Why not?'
XVII DOWN TO THE SEA
'WHAT do you mean?' demanded Stellara.
'Wait and you shall see,' replied Tanar, and drawing his dirk he stooped and turned Bulf over upon his back. Then with the razor-sharp blade of his weapon he commenced to hack off the bushy, black beard of the dead Korsar, while Stellara looked on in questioning wonder.
Spreading Bulf's head cloth flat upon the floor, Tanar deposited upon it the hair that he cut from the man's face, and when he had completed his grewsome tonsorial effort he folded the hair into the handkerchief, and, rising, motioned for Stellara to follow him.
Going to the door that led into the tunnel through which he had escaped from the dungeon, Tanar opened it, and, smearing his fingers with the pitch that exuded from the boards upon the inside of the door, he smeared some of it upon the side of his face and then turned to Stellara.
'Put this hair upon my face in as natural a way as you can. You have lived among them all your life, so you should know well how a Korsar's beard should look.'
Horrible as the plan seemed and though she shrank from touching the hair of the dead man, Stellara steeled herself and did as Tanar bid. Little by little, patch by patch, Tanar applied pitch to his face and Stellara placed the hair upon it until presently only the eyes and nose of the Sarian remained exposed. The expression of the former were altered by increasing the size and bushiness of the eyebrows with shreds of Bulf's beard that had been left over, and then Tanar smeared his nose with some of Bulf's blood, for many of the Korsars had large, red noses. Then Stellara stood away and surveyed him critically. 'Your own mother would not know you,' she said.
'Do you think I can pass as a Korsar?' he asked. 'No one will suspect, unless they question you closely as you leave the palace.'
'We are going together,' said Tanar.
'But how?' asked Stellara.
'I have been thinking of another plan,' he said. 'I noticed when I was living in the barracks that sailors going toward the river had no difficulty in passing through the gate leaving the palace. In fact, it is always much easier to leave the palace than to enter it. On many occasions I have heard them say merely that they were going to their ships. We can do the same.'
'Do I look like a Korsar sailor?' demanded Stellara.
'You will when I get through with you,' said Tanar, with a grin.
'What do you mean?'
'There is Korsar clothing here,' said Tanar; 'enough to outfit a dozen and there is still plenty of hair on Bulf's head.'
The girl drew back with a shudder. 'Oh, Tanar! You cannot mean that.'
'What other way is there?' he demanded. 'If we can escape together is it not worth any price that we might have to pay?'
'You are right,' she said. 'I will do it.'
When Tanar completed his work upon her, Stellara had been transformed into a bearded Korsar, but the best that he could do in the way of disguise failed to entirely hide the contours of her hips and breasts.
'I am afraid they will suspect,' he said. 'Your figure is too feminine for shorts and a shirt to hide it.'
'Wait,' exclaimed Stellara. 'Sometimes the sailors, when they are going on long voyages, wear cloaks, which they use to sleep in if the nights are cool. Let us see if we can find such a one here.'
'Yes, I saw one,' replied Tanar, and crossing the room he returned with a cloak made of wide striped goods. 'That will give you greater height,' he said. But when they draped it about her, her hips were still too much in evidence.
'Build out my shoulders,' suggested Stellara, and with scarfs and handkerchiefs the Sarian built the girl's shoulders out so that the cloak hung straight and she resembled a short, stocky man, more than a slender, well- formed girl.
'Now we are ready,' said the Sarian. Stellara pointed to the body of Bulf.
'We cannot leave that lying there,' she said. 'Someone may come to this room and discover it and when they do every man in the palace—yes, even in the entire city—will be arrested and questioned.'
Tanar looked about the room and then he seized the corpse of Bulf and dragged it into a far corner, after which he piled bundles of hides and baskets upon it until it was entirely concealed, and over the blood stains upon the floor he dragged other bales and baskets until all signs of the duel had been erased or hidden.
'And now,' he said, 'is as good a time as another to put our disguises to the test.' Together they approached the door. 'You know the least frequented passages to the garden,' said Tanar. 'Let us make our way from the palace through the garden to the gate that gave us escape before.'
'Then follow me,' replied Stellara, as Tanar opened the door and the two stepped out into the corridor beyond. It was empty. Tanar closed the door behind him, and Stellara led the way down the passage.
They had proceeded but a short distance when they heard a man's voice in an apartment to the left.
'Where is she?' he demanded.
'I do not know,' replied a woman's voice. 'She was here but a moment ago and Bulf was with her.'
'Find them and lose no time about it,' commanded the man, sternly. And he stepped from the apartment just as Tanar and Stellara were approaching.
It was The Cid. Stellara's heart stopped beating as the Korsar ruler looked into the faces of Tanar and herself.
'Who are you?'' demanded The Cid.
'We are sailors,' said Tanar, quickly, before Stellara could reply.
'What are you doing here in my palace?' demanded the Korsar ruler.
'We were sent here with packages to the storeroom,' replied Tanar, 'and we are but now returning to our ship.'
'Well, be quick about it. I do not like your looks,' growled The Cid as he stamped off down the corridor ahead of them.
Tanar saw Stellara sway and he stepped to her side and supported her, but she quickly gained possession of herself, and an instant later turned to the right and led Tanar through a doorway into the garden.
'God!' whispered the man, as they walked side by side after quitting the building. 'If The Cid did not know you, then your disguise must be perfect.'
Stellara shook her head for even as yet she could not control her voice to speak, following the terror induced by her encounter with The Cid.
There were a number of men and women in the garden close to the palace. Some of these scrutinized them casually, but they passed by in safety and a moment later the gravel walk they were following wound through dense shrubbery that hid them from view and then they were at the doorway in the garden wall.
Again fortune favored them here and they passed out into the barracks yards without being noticed.
Electing to try the main gate because of the greater number of people who passed to and fro through it, Tanar turned to the right, passed along the full length of the barracks past a dozen men and approached the gate with Stellara at his side.
They were almost through when a stupid-looking Korsar soldier stopped them. 'Who are you,' he demanded, 'and what business takes you from the palace?'
'We are sailors,' replied Tanar. 'We are going to our ship.'
