to search Vepaja first. If he isn't there, we'll go back to Noobol and search inland.'
'I should think that would be quite a man-size job,' I remarked.
'Yes, it will,' he admitted, 'but he should be an easy man to trace. Here and there inland someone must have seen him, and if anyone once saw this Carson they'd never forget him. He has yellow hair, and as far as anyone ever heard no one else in the world has yellow hair.' I was grateful for my black wig. I hoped it was on securely.
'How are you going to get into the tree cities of Vepaja?' I asked. 'They don't care much for strangers there, you know.'
'What do you know about it?' he demanded.
'I've been there. I lived in Kooaad.'
'You did? That's just where we expect to find Carson .'
'Then maybe I can help,' I suggested.
'I'll tell the captain. No one aboard has ever been to Kooaad.'
'But how do you expect to get into that city? You haven't told me that. It's going to be very difficult.'
'They'll probably let one man go in to trade,' he said. 'You see, we've picked up a lot of jewels and ornaments off the ships we've taken. A man could go in with some of these and if he kept his ears and eyes open, he'd soon find out whether or not Carson was there. If he is, we'll have to find some way to entice him aboard the Nojo Ganja.'
'That should be easy,' I said.
Nurn shook his head. 'I don't know about that,' he said.
'It would be easy for me, knowing Kooaad as I do,' I said. 'You see I have friends there.'
'Well, first we've got to find Vepaja,' he remarked quite aptly.
'That's easy, too,' I told him.
'How so?'
'Go tell the captain that I can pilot him to Vepaja,' I said.
'You really can?'
'Well, I think I can. One never knows, what with the rotten maps we have.'
'I'll go now and talk with the captain,' he said. 'You wait here and, say, keep a weather eye open for Folar— he's the stinkingest mistal of all the stinking mistals on Amtor. Just keep your back against something solid and your eyes open.'
Chapter 20—To Kooaad
I watched Nurn as he crossed the deck and ascended the companionway leading to the captain's quarters. If the captain could be persuaded to trust me, here was such an opportunity to enter Kooaad as might never come to me again. I knew from the course that the Nojo Ganja was holding that she was paralleling the coast of Vepaja , but too far off shore for the land to be visible. At least I was confident that such was true. I really could not know it, as one could know nothing for certain about his position on one of these Amtorian seas unless he were in sight of land.
As I stood by the rail waiting for Nurn to return, I saw Folar come on deck. His expression was black as a thunder cloud. He came directly toward me. A man near me said, 'Look out, fellow! He's going to kill you.' Then I saw that Folar carried one hand behind him and that his pistol holster was empty. I didn't wait then to see what he was going to do or when he was going to do it. I knew. I whipped out my own gun just as he raised his. We fired simultaneously. I could feel the r-rays pinging past my ear; then I saw Folar slump to the deck. Instantly a crowd surrounded me.
'You'll go overboard for this,' said a man.
'It won't be as easy as that,' said another, 'but in the end you'll go overboard.'
An officer who had witnessed the affair came running down from the upper deck house. He pushed his way through the crowd of sailors to me.
'So you're trying to live up to your name, are you, fellow?' he demanded.
'Folar was trying to kill him,' spoke a sailor.
'And after he'd spared Folar's life,' said another.
'Folar had a right to kill any member of the crew he wanted to kill,' snapped the officer. 'You mistals know that as well as I do. Take this fellow up to the captain and throw Folar overboard.'
So I was taken up to the captain's quarters. He was still talking with Nurn as I entered. 'Here he is now,' said Nurn.
'Come in,' said the captain, rather decently; 'I want to talk with you.'
The officer who had accompanied me looked rather surprised at the captain's seemingly friendly manner. 'This man has just killed Folar,' he blurted.
Nurn and the captain looked at me in astonishment 'What difference does it make?' I asked. 'He wasn't any good to you, anyway, and he was just about to kill the only man who can pilot you to Vepaja and get into the city of Kooaad for you. You ought to thank me for killing him.'
The captain looked up at the officer. 'Why did he kill him?' he asked.
The officer told the story quite fairly, I thought; and the captain listened without comment until he had concluded; then he shrugged.
'Folar,' he said, 'was a mistal. Someone should have killed him long ago. You may go,' he said to the officer and the sailors who had brought me up; 'I want to talk with this man.' When they had left, he turned to me. 'Nurn says that you can pilot this ship to Vepaja and that you are acquainted in Kooaad. Is that right?'
'I am well acquainted in Kooaad,' I replied, 'and I believe I can pilot the Nojo Ganja to Vepaja. You will have to help me get into Kooaad, though. I'll be all right after I get in.'
'What course shall we take?' he asked.
'What is your course now?'
'Due east,' he replied.
'Change it to south.'
He shook his head, but he gave the necessary orders. I could see that he was very skeptical of our chances of reaching Vepaja on the new course. 'How long before we'll raise land?' he asked.
'That, I can't tell,' I said; 'but I'd keep a sharp lookout, and at night cut your speed down.'
He dismissed me then, telling me that I'd be quartered with the officers. I found my new companions little different from the common sailors. They were all bravos and rascals; and, without exception, had been common sailors themselves. I found little in common with them, and spent most of my time in the crow's nest with the lookout watching for land.
It was right after the 1st hour the next morning that I discerned the black-appearing mass ahead that I knew to be the giant forest of Vepaja, those mighty trees that rear their heads five and six thousand feet to drink sustenance from the moisture of the inner cloud envelope that surrounds the planet. Somewhere in that black mass and a thousand feet above the ground was the great tree city of Kooaad . There, too, if she still lived, would be my Duare.
I went down to the captain's quarters myself to report sighting land, and as I reached the door I heard voices. I would not have stopped to listen; but the first word I heard was the name they knew me by, Sofal. The captain was speaking to one of his officers.
'—and when we are through with him, see that he's put out of the way. Let the men know that it was because he killed Folar. We can't let them think they can get away with anything like that. If I hadn't needed him, I'd have had him killed yesterday.'
I walked away as noiselessly as I could; and returned a moment later, whistling. When I had reported land, they both came out. It was plainly visible by now, and shortly after the 2nd hour we were close in shore. We were a little too far east; so we came about and skirted the coast until I sighted the harbor. In the meantime I had suggested to the captain that he'd better lower his pirate flags and fly something more in keeping with his purportedly peaceful designs.
