and released him. Now the whole city is being scoured for you. They may be here any minute.'
'What can we do?' asked Duare. 'Where can we hide?'
'You can do nothing,' said the old man, 'but wait until they come. There is no place in all Kormor that they will not search.'
'We can do something,' said Nalte; then she turned to our informant. 'Can you get us paints such as the corpses use to make themselves appear like living men?'
'Yes,' said the old man.
'Well, go quickly and fetch them,' urged Nalte.
The old man hobbled out of the room, mumbling to himself.
'It is the only way, Nalte,' I cried. 'I believe that if he returns in time we can fool them; dead men are not very bright.'
It seemed a long time before the old man came back; but he came finally, and he brought a large box of make-up with him. It was quite an elaborate affair which he said that he had obtained from a friend of his, a living man, whose craft was applying the make-up to corpses.
Quickly Nalte went to work on Duare and soon had transformed her into an old woman with lines and wrinkles and hollows. The hair was the most difficult problem to solve, but we finally succeeded in approximating the results we desired, though we used up all of the cosmetician's white pigment, rubbing it into our hair.
Duare and I together worked on Nalte, for we knew that we had no time to spare, the old man having brought word when he returned with the make-up that the searchers were working in the next block and coming our way; then Nalte and Duare transformed me into a very sad-looking old man.
Kroona said that we should each have some task that we could be performing when the searchers arrived, to that we might appear natural. She gave Duare and Nalte some old rags which they might pretend to be fashioning into garments, and she sent me out into the yard to dig a hole. It was fortunate that she did so, because the association of ideas resulting reminded me that I must hide Skor's sword. Were that found we were doomed.
I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth and carried it out into the yard with me, and you may take my word for it that I dug one hole there in record time. When I had covered the sword with dirt I started digging another hole beside it and threw that dirt also on the spot above the weapon.
I had just finished when the yard gate was thrown open and a score of dead men came shuffling in. 'We are looking for the strangers who escaped from the palace,' said one. 'Are they here?'
I cupped my hand behind my ear and said, 'Eh?'
The fellow repeated his question, shouting very loud, and again I did the same thing and said, 'Eh?' Then he gave up and went on into the house, followed by the others.
I heard them searching in there, and every instant I expected to hear cries of excitement when one of them discovered and pierced the thin disguises of Duare and Nalte.
Chapter 20—Under Suspicion
SKOR'S CREATURES searched Kroona's house far more carefully than they would have searched that of one of their own kind, for Skor must have assumed that of all the people in Kormor the living would be most likely to aid the living; but at last they came out and went away. And I sat down on the pile of dirt I had dug and mopped the perspiration from my forehead, nor was it the sweat of toil. I think that for fifteen minutes I had come as near to sweating blood as a man can.
When I went into the house I found Duare, Nalte, and Kroona just sitting there in dazed silence. They couldn't seem to realize that we had passed through the ordeal successfully.
'Well,' I said, 'that's over.'
My voice seemed to break the spell.
'Do you know what saved us?' demanded Nalte.
'Why, our disguises, of course,' I replied.
'Yes,' she admitted, 'they helped, but our real salvation was the stupidity of the searchers. They scarcely looked at us. They were hunting for somebody who was hidden, and because we were not hiding they didn't give us a second thought.'
'Do you think we might remove the paint now?' asked Duare. 'It is very uncomfortable.'
'I think we should not remove it at all,' I replied. 'As we know, they won't find us in this search; so Skor may order another search, and next time we may not have time to disguise ourselves even if we are lucky enough to get the materials again.'
'I suppose you are right,' said Duare, 'and after all the discomfort is not much by comparison to what we have already gone through.'
'The disguises have one advantage,' said Nalte. 'We can move about more freely without danger of detection. We won't have to sit in this stuffy little back room all the time, and I for one am going to the front of the house and get a breath of fresh air.'
It was not a bad suggestion, and Duare and I joined Nalte while Kroona went about some household duties. The front room on the second floor, to which we went, overlooked the street. We could hear the searchers ransacking the house next door, and we could see the pedestrians shuffling along the dusty street.
Suddenly Nalte seized my arm and pointed. 'See that man?' she exclaimed in an excited whisper.
Shuffling along the street was a large corpse painted in the semblance of life. His trappings were finer than those ordinarily seen in Kormor. Only his peculiar gait revealed to the initiated eye the fact that he was not as alive as we.
'Yes, I see him,' I replied. 'What about him?'
'He is the man that abducted me from Havatoo!'
'Are you sure?' I demanded.
'Absolutely,' replied Nalte. 'As long as I live I shall never forget that face.'
A plan, perhaps I had better call it an inspiration, shot into my mind. 'I am going to follow him,' I said. 'I shall be back soon; hope for the best.' I turned and hurried from the room.
* * * * *
A moment later I was in the street. The fellow was only a short distance ahead of me. If my guess was correct he would lead me eventually to the entrance to the tunnel that led to Havatoo. Perhaps not today, but if I learned where he lived today; then some other day.
His gait was more rapid than that of the average Kormoran, and he walked as though with a definite purpose in view. I judged that he was one of Skor's more successful experiments and that for this reason he had been chosen as one of the jong's agents in Havatoo, where the ordinary run of Kormoran corpses could not long have passed themselves off as living men.
As I followed him I noted carefully every detail of the street in which we were; so that I would not again be unable to return to my starting point. When presently he turned into a street leading toward the river my hopes rose, and I noted carefully the buildings at the intersection.
Near the river the fellow turned into a small alley, followed it to the next street, and then turned again toward the river. Directly ahead of us, even before he turned into it, I saw and recognized the building beneath which lay the Kormor end of the tunnel.
At the gateway leading into the yard before the house the man turned for the first time and looked behind him, I presume to see if he was being observed. Then he saw me.
There was nothing for me to do but keep on toward him. I kept my eyes on the ground and paid no attention to him as I approached him, though I could almost feel his gaze upon me. It seemed an eternity before I reached him. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief as I passed him, then he spoke to me.
'Who are you and what are you doing here?' he demanded.
'I am looking for another house to live in,' I cackled. 'The doors and the windows have all fallen off mine.'
'There are no houses here for you,' he snapped. Your kind is not allowed in this district. Get out of here and never let me see you here again.'
