'Come,' he said, 'you had better get out of here.'
As we reached the doorway, I turned and looked back. Muso was still standing there beside his throne like one in a trance. We left the jong's palace and crossed directly to Taman 's, nor did any of us breathe freely until we were seated in Jahara's boudoir.
'You will have to leave Sanara at once,' said Taman —'tonight, if possible.'
'I don't want to leave Sanara,' I said. 'At last Duare and I have found a place where we might live in peace and happiness. I shall not let one man drive me out.'
'But you cannot fight the jong,' he said; 'and until Kord is restored, Muso is jong.'
'I think I can,' I said, 'and I think I can create a new jong. Kord is dead.'
'Kord dead? How do you know?'
'I saw Mephis kill him,' and then I told them the story of the assassination of the jong of Korva.
'And the new jong?' asked Jahara. 'Who is he to be?'
' Taman ,' I said.
Taman shook his head. 'That cannot be. I owe allegiance to Muso, if Kord be dead.'
'Even if he were proved to be a traitor to his people?' I asked.
'No, not in that event, of course; but Muso is no traitor to the people of Korva.'
'How many high officers of the army and officials of the government would feel as you do?' I asked.
'All but a few who owe everything to Muso,' he replied.
'How many of them can you gather here tonight?' I asked.
'Twenty to thirty of the most important,' he said.
'Will you do it? I ask you to trust me. It will be for the best good of Korva—the country that I would wish to make my own.'
He summoned several aides and gave instructions; then Taman , Jahara, and Duare settled down to listen to the story of my adventures in Amlot while we awaited the coming of the invited guests. I did not tell Duare that I had found her father a prisoner in a Zani prison until after we were alone together the next morning after the guests had left. She was very brave about it, and was confident that I would rescue him eventually.
At last the great men commenced to arrive. There were generals and councillors of state and great nobles of the realm, the flower of Korvan aristocracy that had escaped the Zani massacres. We met in the large audience chamber and were seated at a great table that had been brought into the room for the occasion. Taman was seated at the head of the table; I, being without nobility or rank, sat at the lower end. When all were seated, Taman rose.
'You all know Carson of Venus and what he has done for Sanara,' he said. 'He has asked me to call you together at this late hour because a national emergency exists. I trust him, and have taken his word that such is the case. I feel that we should listen to him. Are you all agreed?'
Thirty heads nodded gravely; then Taman turned to me. 'You may speak, Carson of Venus,' he said; 'but you must have proof of what you have insinuated to me, for though you are my friend, my first duty is to my jong. Do not forget that. Proceed.'
'Let me put a hypothetical question to you gentlemen before I lay my information before you,' I commenced. 'If it were proved beyond doubt that your jong had sought to conspire with the enemy to cause the defeat of the forces holding Sanara and turn the city over to the Zanis at a price, would you feel that you were relieved of your oaths of allegiance to him and be warranted in replacing him with one of royal blood in whom you had the utmost confidence?'
Many a face was clouded by a resentful scowl. 'You are suggesting a grievous charge,' said a great general.
'I am asking you a hypothetical question,' I replied. 'I have made no charge. Do you care to answer?'
'There is no question as to what I should do,' said the general, 'if such an emergency confronted me. I should be the first to turn against any jong who did such a traitorous thing as that, but that is something that no jong of Korva would do.'
'And you other gentlemen?' I asked.
Without exception they all concurred in the sentiments of the general.
'Then I may tell you that such an emergency exists,' I said. 'I shall shock you by my disclosures, but I must have your assurance that you will hear me through and consider impartially the evidence I have to offer.'
'I can assure you that we shall,' said Taman .
'Muso, swearing me to secrecy, sent me to Amlot with a message for Spehon, Mephis's chief lieutenant. He chose me for two reasons. One was that he thought I could not read Amtorian, and therefore could not know what was in the message; and the other you had proof of in his palace this night—he wanted my woman. But I can read Amtorian; and after I got to Amlot, I became suspicious and read Muso's message to Spehon. In it he offered to open the gates of Sanara to Zani troops in return for the throne of Korva, and he agreed to accept Mephis as his advisor and to reward the Zanis. He also suggested that it would be best if Carson of Venus were destroyed in Amlot.'
'This is preposterous!' cried a great noble. 'The man must be mad to make such charges. They are prompted by jealousy, because Muso desires his woman.'
'They cannot be true,' exclaimed another.
' Taman ,' cried a third, 'I demand this man's arrest.'
'You are not keeping your promise to me,' I reminded them. 'Is this what I am to expect of Korvan nobility? And do you think I am such a fool as to make charges of this kind without ample evidence to substantiate them? What would I have to gain? I would be signing my own death warrant. I may be doing so anyway; but I am doing it for the only country on Amtor that I can call my own, the one country in which my princess and I feel that we have a chance to live happily among friends.'
'Go on,' said the great general. 'I apologize for my confreres.'
'Where are your proofs?' asked Taman .
'Here,' I said, and drew Muso's message from my pocket pouch. 'Here, in his own handwriting, Muso convicts himself.' I handed the envelope to Taman . He opened it and read it through carefully to himself; then he passed it to the man to this right. Thus it passed around the table, each man reading it carefully. It left them silent and sober-faced. Even after the last man had read it and passed it back to Taman , they sat in silence. It was the great general who spoke first.
'I do not doubt the integrity of this man or his belief in the duplicity of Muso,' he said. 'It is sufficient to shake the confidence of each of us. In addition, he knows that Muso sought his life. I cannot blame him for anything he may think; I should think as he does, were I he. But he is not a Korvan by birth. There is not bred in him the reverence and loyalty to our jongs that is part of every fiber of our beings. For him, this document is sufficient proof. As I have said, it would be for me, were I he; but I am not. I am a Korvan noble, the first general of the jong's armies; and so I must give Muso the benefit of every doubt. Perhaps this message was a ruse to lure the Zani troops from some part of the line, that Muso might order an attack upon that weakened part. It would have been excellent strategy. Now I suggest that we prove conclusively whether such was his intent, or whether he did intend to open the gates to the enemy.'
'How may that be done?' asked Taman .
'We shall try to arrange to have the enemy shoot three blue rockets into the air before the main gates of Sanara on three successive nights; then wait and see what Muso does.'
'But how can we get the enemy to co-operate?' asked another.
'I shall commission Carson of Venus to drop a message behind their lines, telling them that I should like to hold a parley with them and asking them, if they are agreeable to the suggestion, to shoot the blue rockets.'
'An excellent suggestion,' said Taman .
'But,' I objected, 'seeing me returned alive, Muso may be suspicious, for he definitely asked Spehon to have me destroyed.'
'Write a report,' said the general, 'stating that after you delivered the message you became fearful and escaped.'
'That would certainly arouse Muso's suspicions,' said Taman .
'I might tell him the truth,' I suggested, 'and that is that the very night I arrived in Amlot the message was stolen from me. The very fact that I remained there so long should convince Muso that I had no suspicion of what
