important families.
There were certain questions that it would be quite natural for any Zani to ask. Those relative to the defenses of the city and other military matters he answered glibly—so glibly that I knew he was lying, and I admired him for it. When I asked him about Muso, he talked freely. It was evident that he didn't like Muso.
'He's turned his woman out,' he volunteered. 'Her name is Illana. She is a fine woman. Everyone is very much incensed over it, but what can anyone do? He is jong. The woman he has selected in Illana's place does not want to take it. It is common talk that she loathes Muso; but he is jong, and if he orders her to come, she will have to come, because she has no man. He was killed here in Amlot. Muso sent him here on a dangerous mission. Everyone believes that he sent him to his death purposely.'
I felt myself turning cold. The next question on my lips withered in my dry mouth. I made two attempts before I could utter an intelligible sound.
'Who was this man?' I asked.
'He was the man who used to fly over your lines and drop bombs on you,' he replied. 'His name was Carson of Venus—odd name.'
I had asked my last question of that man. I took him out and turned him over to the soldiers who were to entertain the prisoners; then I hastened toward the quay. It was already dark, and the street I chose was not well lighted. That was the reason I chose it. I had almost reached the quay, when I ran into a detachment of the Zani Guard in command of an officer. The latter hailed me from the opposite side of the street; then he crossed toward me, leaving his detachment behind.
'I thought I recognized you,' he said. It was Mantar. 'I have an order for your arrest. They are scouring the city for you.'
'I have been in my quarters. Why didn't they look there?'
'Torko said you had gone fishing.'
'Why am I being arrested?' I asked.
'They think you are a Sanaran spy. A prisoner named Horjan informed on you. He said he found you hiding in his house just the day before you applied for a commission in the Guard.'
'But Zerka?' I asked. 'Won't they suspect her? It was she who sponsored me.'
'I hadn’t thought of that,' he said.
'Well, what are you going to do with me?' I asked. 'Are you going to turn me in?'
'I wish you would tell me the truth,' he said. 'I am your friend; and if what Zerka and I have suspected for long is true, I will help you.'
I recalled that Zerka had told me I could trust this man implicitly. I was lost anyway. They had enough against me to torture and murder me. Here was a straw. I clutched it.
'I am Carson of Venus,' I said. 'I came here with a message for Spehon from Muso. It was stolen from me.'
'Where were you going when I stopped you?' he asked.
'I was going back to Sanara, where my friends and my heart are,' I told him.
'Can you get there?'
'I think I can.'
'Then go. It is fortunate for you that none of my detail knew Vodo by sight. Good luck!' He turned and crossed the street, and I went on toward the quay. I heard him say to his kordogan. 'He says that Vodo is in his quarters at the barracks. We shall go there.'
I reached the quay without further incident, and found the same boat I had used for fishing earlier in the day and on several other occasions. It was a small boat with a single sail scarcely more than a canoe. As I put off, I heard the sound of running feet along the quay; and then I saw men approaching.
A voice cried, 'Stop! Come back here!' but I set my sail and got under way; then I heard the staccato br-r-r of r-rays, and a voice crying, 'Come back here, Vodo! You can't get away.'
For reply I drew my own pistol and fired back at them. I knew that that would disconcert their aim and give me a better chance to escape with my life. Long after I could no longer see them, they stood there firing out into the night.
I thought of Mintep with regret, but there was something far more precious at stake than his life or that of any man. I cursed Muso for his duplicity, and prayed that I might reach Sanara in time. If I did not, I could at least kill him; and that I promised to do.
Presently I heard the sound of a launch behind me, and knew that I was being pursued. Inside the harbor the breeze was light and fitful. If I couldn't reach the open sea ahead of my pursuers, I should have to depend upon eluding them in the darkness. In this I might be successful, or I might not. I couldn't hope to outdistance a launch even with a good wind, and about my only hope was to escape detection until I was able to discern from the sound of the launch in which direction they were searching for me. I felt that they would naturally assume that I would head northeast up the coast in the direction of Sanara, whereas my destination lay southwest—the little island where I had grounded my ship. Nor was I mistaken, for presently I heard the sound of the launch receding to my left; and I knew that it was making for the open sea by way of the easterly side of the harbor's mouth. With a sigh of relief, I kept to my course; and presently rounded the headland at the west side of the harbor and turned into the open sea. The offshore breeze was no better than that which I had had in the harbor, but I continued to hug the shore because I had one last duty to perform in Amlot before I continued on my way.
I owed much to Zerka, and I could not leave without warning her of the danger which threatened her. I knew where her palace was situated on the shore of the ocean with its gardens running down to the water line. It would delay me no more than a few minutes to stop there and warn her. I felt that I could do no less. The conditions were ideal—low tide and an offshore wind.
Silently and smoothly my light craft skimmed the surface of the water, the faint luminosity of the Amtorian night revealing the shoreline as a black mass dotted with occasional lights that shown from the windows of the palaces of the rich and powerful. Even in the semi-darkness, I had no difficulty in locating Zerka's palace. I ran in as close as I could on the tack I was holding; then dropped my sail and paddled for the shore. Beaching my craft, I drew it well up toward the sea wall, where only a very high tide could have reached it; then I made my way up to the palace.
I knew that I was undergoing considerable risk, for, if Zerka were under suspicion, as I feared might be the case, she would doubtless be under surveillance. There might be watchers in the palace grounds, or even in the palace itself. For all I knew, Zerka might already be under arrest, for Narvon's dying confession was not cut off quickly enough to hide from me the identity of the accomplice he had almost named. Of course, I had already been suspicious of the truth. I did not think that the Zanis were, and so there was a possibility that they had not connected Zerka's name with that which the dying man had almost spoken. In any event, I must take this chance.
I went directly to the great doors that opened onto the terrace overlooking the gardens and the sea. On Amtor there are no doorbells, nor do people knock on doors—they whistle. Each individual has his own distinctive notes, sometimes simple, sometimes elaborate. At entrance doorways there are speaking tubes into which one whistles, and it was with some perturbation that I now whistled into the mouthpiece of the tube at the great doors of the toganja's palace.
I waited for several minutes. I heard no sound within the building. The silence was ominous. I was, nevertheless, about to repeat my whistle when the door swung partly open, and Zerka stepped out onto the terrace. Without a word, she took my hand and hurried me down into the garden where trees and shrubbery cast black shadows. There was a bench there, and she drew me down on it.
'Are you mad?' she whispered. 'They were just here looking for you. The doors on the avenue had scarcely closed behind them when I heard your whistle. How did you get here? If you can get away again, you must leave at once. There are probably spies among my servants. Oh, why did you come?'
'I came to warn you.'
'Warn me? Of what?'
'I saw Narvon tortured,' I said.
I felt her stiffen. 'And?'
'Mephis was trying to wring the names of his accomplices from him.'
'Did-did he speak?' she asked breathlessly.
