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diff --git a/35614-0.txt b/35614-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c15357 --- /dev/null +++ b/35614-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8652 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Palos of the Dog Star Pack, by J.U. +Giesy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Palos of the Dog Star Pack + +Author: J.U. Giesy + +Release Date: February 7, 2022 [eBook #35614] + +Language: English + +Produced by: Greg Weeks, Sankar Viswanathan, Mary Meehan and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALOS OF THE DOG STAR +PACK *** + + + + + + Palos of the Dog Star Pack + + By J. U. GIESY + + _A Complete Novel_ + + _Copyright 1918 by The Frank A. Munsey Company_ + + + + + CHAPTER I + + OUT OF THE STORM + + +It was a miserable night which brought me first in touch with Jason +Croft. There was a rain and enough wind to send it in gusty dashes +against the windows. It was the sort of a night when I always felt glad +to cast off coat and shoes, don a robe and slippers, and sit down +with the curtains drawn, a lighted pipe, and the soft glow of a lamp +falling across the pages of my book. I am, I admit, always strangely +susceptible to the shut-in sense of comfort afforded by a pipe, the +steady yellow of a light, and the magic of printed lines at a time of +elemental turmoil and stress. + +It was with a feeling little short of positive annoyance that I heard +the door-bell ring. Indeed, I confess, I was tempted to ignore it +altogether at first. But as it rang again, and was followed by a rapid +tattoo of rapping, as of fists pounded against the door itself, I rose, +laid aside my book, and stepped into the hall. + +First switching on a porch-light, I opened the outer door, to reveal +the figure of an old woman, somewhat stooping, her head covered by a +shawl, which sloped wetly from her head to either shoulder, and was +caught and held beneath her chin by one bony hand. + +"Doctor," she began in a tone of almost frantic excitement. "Dr. +Murray--come quick!" + +Perhaps I may as well introduce myself here as anywhere else. I am Dr. +George Murray, still, as at the time of which I write, in charge of the +State Mental Hospital in a Western State. The institution was not then +very large, and since taking my position at the head of its staff I had +found myself with considerable time for my study along the lines of +human psychology and the various powers and aberrations of the mind. + +Also, I may as well confess, as a first step toward a better +understanding of my part in what followed, that for years before coming +to the asylum I had delved more or less deeply into such studies, +seeking to learn what I might concerning both the normal and the +abnormal manifestations of mental force. + +There is good reading and highly entertaining, I assure you, in the +various philosophies dealing with life, religion, and the several +beliefs regarding the soul of man. I was therefore fairly conversant +not only with the Occidental creeds, but with those of the Oriental +races as well. And I knew that certain of the Eastern sects had +advanced in their knowledge far beyond our Western world. I had +even endeavored to make their knowledge mine, so far as I could, in +certain lines at least, and had from time to time applied some of that +knowledge to the treatment of cases in the institution of which I was +the head. + +But I was not thinking of anything like that as I looked at the +shawl-wrapped face of the little bent woman, wrinkled and wry enough +to have been a very part of the storm which beat about her and blew +back the skirts of my lounging-robe and chilled my ankles. I lived in a +residence detached from the asylum buildings proper, but none the less +a part of the institution; and, as a matter of fact, my sole thought +was a feeling of surprise that any one should have come here to find +me, and despite the woman's manifest state of anxiety and haste, a +decided reluctance to go with her quickly or otherwise on such a night. + +I rather temporized: "But, my dear woman, surely there are other +doctors for you to call. I am really not in general practice. I am +connected with the asylum--" + +"And that is the very reason I always said I would come for you if +anything happened to Mr. Jason," she cut in. + +"Whom?" I inquired, interested in spite of myself at this plainly +premeditated demand for my service. + +"Mr. Jason Croft, sir," she returned. "He's dead maybe--I dunno. But +he's been that way for a week." + +"Dead?" I exclaimed in almost an involuntary fashion, startled by her +words. + +"Dead, or asleep. I don't know which." + +Clearly there was something here I wasn't getting into fully, and my +interest aroused. The whole affair seemed to be taking on an atmosphere +of the peculiar, and it was equally clear that the gusty doorway was no +place to talk. "Come in," I said. "What is your name?" + +"Goss," said she, without making any move to enter. "I'm housekeeper +for Mr. Jason, but I'll not be comin' in unless you say you'll go." + +"Then come in without any more delay," I replied, making up my mind. I +knew Croft in a way--by sight at least. He was a big fellow with light +hair and a splendid physique, who had been pointed out to me shortly +after my arrival. Once I had even got close enough to the man to look +into his eyes. They were gray, and held a peculiar something in their +gaze which had arrested my attention at once. Jason Croft had the eyes +of a mystic--of a student of those very things I myself had studied +more or less. + +They were the eyes of one who saw deeper than the mere objective +surface of life, and the old woman's words at the last had waked up +my interest in no uncertain degree. I had decided I would go with her +to Croft's house, which was not very far down the street, and see, if +I might, for myself just what had occurred to send her rushing to me +through the night. + +I gave her a seat, said I would get on my shoes and coat, and went back +into the room I had left some moments before. There I dressed quickly +for my venture into the storm, adding a raincoat to my other attire, +and was back in the hall inside five minutes at most. + + * * * * * + +We set out at once, emerging into the wind-driven rain, my long +raincoat flapping about my legs and the little old woman tottering +along at my side. And what with the rain, the wind, and the unexpected +summons, I found myself in a rather strange frame of mind. The whole +thing seemed more like some story I had read than a happening of real +life, particularly so as my companion kept pace with me and uttered no +sound save at times a rather rasping sort of breath. The whole thing +became an almost eery experience as we hastened down the storm-swept +street. + +Then we turned in at a gate and went up toward the large house I knew +to be Croft's, and the little old woman unlocked a heavy front door +and led me into a hall. It was a most unusual hall, too, its walls +draped with rare tapestries and rugs, its floor covered with other rugs +such as I had never seen outside private collections, lighted by a +hammered brass lantern through the pierced sides of which the rays of +an electric light shone forth. + +Across the hall she scuttered, still in evident haste, and flung open +a door to permit me to enter a room which was plainly a study. It was +lined with cases of books, furnished richly yet plainly with chairs, a +heavy desk, and a broad couch, on which I saw in one swift glance the +stretched-out body of Croft himself. + +He lay wholly relaxed, like one sunk in heavy sleep, his eyelids +closed, his arms and hands dropped limply at his sides, but with no +visible sign of respiration animating his deep full chest. + +Toward him the little woman gestured with a hand, and stood watching, +still with her wet shawl about her head and shoulders, while I +approached and bent over the man. + +I touched his face and found it cold. My fingers sought his pulse +and failed to find it at all. But his body was limp as I lifted an +arm and dropped it. There was no rigor, yet there was no evidence of +decay, such as must follow once rigor has passed away. I had brought +instruments with me as a matter of course. I took them from my pocket +and listened for some sound from the heart. I thought I found the +barest flutter, but I wasn't sure. I tested the tension of the eyeball +under the closed lids and found it firm. I straightened and turned to +face the little old woman. + +"Dead, sir?" she asked in a sibilant whisper. Her eyes were wide in +their sockets. They stared into mine. + +I shook my head. "He doesn't appear to be dead," I replied. "See here, +Mrs. Goss, what did you mean by saying he ought to have been back three +days ago? What do you mean by back?" + +She fingered at her lips with one bony hand. "Why--awake, sir," she +said at last. + +"Then why didn't you say so?" I snapped. "Why use the word back?" + +"Because, sir," she faltered, "that's what he says when he wakes up. +'Well, Mary, I'm back.' I--I guess I just said it because he does, +doctor. I--was worrit when he didn't come back--when he didn't wake up, +tonight, an' it took to rainin', I reckon maybe it was th' storm scared +me, sir." + +Her words had, however, given me a clue. "He's been like this before, +then?" + +"Yes, sir. But never more than four days without telling me he would. +Th' first time was months ago--but it's been gettin' oftener and +oftener, till now all his sleeps are like this. He told me not to be +scared--an' to--to never bother about him--to--to just let him alone; +but--I guess I was scared tonight, when it begun to storm an' him +layin' there like that. It was like havin' a corpse in the house." + +I began to gain a fuller appreciation of the situation. I myself had +seen people in a cataleptic condition, had even induced the state +in subjects myself, and it appeared to me that Jason Croft was in a +similar state, no matter how induced. + +"What does your employer do?" I asked. + +"He studies, sir--just studies things like that." Mrs. Goss gestured at +the cases of books. "He don't have to work, you know. His uncle left +him rich." + +I followed her arm as she swept it about the glass-fronted cases. I +brought my glances back to the desk in the center of the room, between +the woman and myself as we stood. Upon it I spied another volume lying +open. It was unlike any book I had ever seen, yellowed with age; in +fact not a book at all, but a series of parchment pages tied together +with bits of silken cord. + +I took the thing up and found the open pages covered with marginal +notes in English, although the original was plainly in Sanskrit, an +ancient language I had seen before, but was wholly unable to read. The +notations, however, threw some light into my mind, and as I read them +I forgot the storm, the little old woman--everything save what I read +and the bearing it held on the man behind me on the couch. I felt sure +they had been written by his own hand, and they bore on the subject of +astral projection--the ability of the soul to separate itself, or be +separated, from the physical body and return to its fleshy husk again +at will. + +I finished the open pages and turned to others. The notations were +still present wherever I looked. At last I turned to the very front +and found that the manuscript was by Ahmid, an occult adept of +Hindustan, who lived somewhere in the second or third century of the +Christian era. + +With a strange sensation I laid down the silk-bound pages. They were +very, very old. Over a thousand years had come and passed since they +were written by the dead Ahmid's hand. Yet I had held them tonight, and +I felt sure Jason Croft had held them often--read them and understood +them, and that the condition in which I found him this night was +in some way subtly connected with their store of ancient lore. And +suddenly I sensed the storm and the little old woman and the silent +body of the man at my back again, with a feeling of something uncanny +in the whole affair. + + * * * * * + +"You can do nothing for him?" the woman broke my introspection. + +I looked up and into her eyes, dark and bright and questioning as she +stood still clutching her damp shawl. + +"I'm not so sure of that," I said. "But--Mr. Croft's condition is +rather--peculiar. Whatever I do will require quiet--that I am alone +with him for some time. I think if I can be left here with him for +possibly an hour, I can bring him back." + +I paused abruptly. I had used the woman's former words almost. And I +saw she noticed the fact, for a slight smile gathered on her faded +lips. She nodded. "You'll bring him back," she said. "Mind you, doctor, +th' trouble is with Mr. Jason's head, I've been thinking. 'Twas for +that I've been telling myself I would come for you, if he forgot to +come back some time, like I've been afraid he would." + +"You did quite right," I agreed. "But--the trouble is not with Mr. +Croft's mind. In fact, Mrs. Goss, I believe he is a very learned man. +How long have you known him, may I ask?" + +"Ever since he was a boy, except when he was travelin'," she returned. + +"He has traveled?" I took her up. + +"Yes, sir, a lot. Me an' my husband kept up th' place while he was +gone." + +"I see," I said. "And now if you will let me try what I can do." + +"Yes, sir. I'll set out in th' hall," she agreed, and turned in her +rapid putter from the room. + +Left alone, I took a chair, dragged it to the side of the couch, and +studied my man. + +So far as I could judge, he was at least six feet tall, and +correspondingly built. His hair was heavy, almost tawny, and, as I +knew, his eyes were gray. The whole contour of his head and features +showed what appeared to me remarkable intelligence and strength, +the nose finely chiseled, the mouth well formed and firm, the chin +unmistakably strong. That Croft was an unusual character I felt more +and more as I sat there. His very condition, which, from what I had +learned from the little old woman and his own notation on the margins +of Ahmid's writings, I believed self-induced, would certainly indicate +that. + +But my own years of study had taught me no little of hypnosis, +suggestion, and the various phases of the subconscious mind. I had +developed no little power with various patients, or "subjects," as a +hypnotist calls them, who from time to time had submitted themselves +to my control. Wherefore I felt that I knew about what to do to waken +the sleeping objective mind of the man on the couch. I had asked for an +hour, and the time had been granted. It behooved me to get to work. + +I began. I concentrated my mind to the exclusion of all else upon +my task, sending a mental call to the soul of Jason Croft, wherever +it might be, commanding it to return to the body it had temporarily +quitted of its own volition, and once more animate it to a conscious +life. I forgot the strangeness of the situation, the rattle of the +rain against the glass panes of the room. And after a time I began +speaking to the form beside which I sat, as to a conscious person, +firmly repeating over and over my demand for the presence of Jason +Croft--demanding it, nor letting myself doubt for a single instant that +the demand would be given heed in time. + +It was a nerve-racking task. In the end it came to seem that I sat +there and struggled against some intangible, invisible force which +resisted all my efforts. I look back now on the time spent there +that night as an ordeal such as I never desire to again attempt. But +I did not desist. I had asked for an hour, because when I asked I +never dreamed the thing I had attempted, the thing which is yet to be +related, concerning the weird, yet true narrative, as I fully believe, +of Jason Croft. + +I had then no conception of how far his venturesome spirit had plumbed +the universe. If I thought of him at all, it was merely as some +experimenter who might have need of help, rather than as an adept of +adepts, who had transcended all human accomplishments in his line of +research and thought. + +In my own blindness I had fancied that his overlong period in his +cataleptic trance might even be due to some inability on his part to +reanimate his own body, after leaving it where it lay. I thought of +myself as possibly aiding him in the task by what I would do in the +time for which I had asked. + +But the hour ran away, and another, and still the body over which I +worked lay as it had lain at first, nor gave any sign of any effect +of my concentrated will. It had been close to ten when I came to the +house. It was three in the morning when I gained my first reward. + +And when it came, it was so sudden that I actually started back in +my chair and sat clutching its carved arms, and staring in something +almost like horror, I think, at first at the body which had lifted +itself to a sitting posture on the couch. + +And I know that when the man said, "So you are the one who called me +back?" I actually gasped before I answered: + +"Yes." + + * * * * * + +Croft fastened his eyes upon me in a steady regard. "You are Dr. +Murray, from the Mental Hospital, are you not?" he went on. + +"Ye-es," I stammered again. Mrs. Goss had said his sleep was like +having a corpse about the house. I found myself thinking this was +nearly as though a corpse should rise up and speak. + +But he nodded, with the barest smile on his lips. "Only one acquainted +with the nature of my condition could have roused me," he said. +"However, you were engaging in a dangerous undertaking, friend." + +"Dangerous for you, you mean," I rejoined. "Do you know you have lain +cataleptic for something like a week?" + +"Yes." He nodded again. "But I was occupied on a most important +mission." + +"Occupied!" I exclaimed. "You mean you were engaged in some undertaking +while you lay there?" I pointed to the couch where he sat. + +"Yes." Once more he smiled. + +Well, the man was sane. In fact, it seemed to me in those first few +moments that he was far saner than I, far less excited, far less +affected by the whole business from the first to last. In fact, he +seemed quite calm and a trifle amused, while I was admittedly upset. +And my very knowledge gained by years of study told me he was sane, +that his was a perfectly balanced brain. There was nothing about him to +even hint at anything else, save his extraordinary words. In the end I +continued with a question: + +"Where?" + +"On the planet Palos, one of the Dog Star pack--a star in the system of +the sun Sirius," he replied. + +"And you mean you have just returned from--there?" I faltered over +the last word badly. My brain seemed slightly dazed at the astounding +statement he had made--that I--I had called him from a planet beyond +the ken of the naked eye, known only to those who studied the heavens +with powerful glasses--farther away than any star of our own earthly +system of planets. The thing made my senses reel. + +And he seemed to sense my emotions, because he went on in a softly +modulated tone: "Do not think me in any way similar to those +unfortunates under your charge. As an alienist you must know the +truth of that, just as you knew that my trancelike sleep was wholly +self-induced." + +"I gathered that from the volume on your desk," I explained. + +He glanced toward Ahmid's work. "You read the Sanskrit?" he inquired. + +I shook my head. "No, I read the marginal notes." + +"I see. Who called you here?" + +I explained. + +Croft frowned. "I cannot blame her; she is a faithful soul," he +remarked. "I can comprehend her worry. I have explained to her as fully +as I dared, but--she does not understand, and I remained away longer +than I really intended, to tell the truth. However, now that you can +reassure her, I must ask you to excuse me, doctor, for a while. Come to +me in about twelve hours and I will be here to meet you and explain in +part at least." He stretched himself out once more on the couch. + +"Wait!" I cried. "What are you going to do?" + +"I am going back to Palos," he told me with a smile. + +"But--will your body stand the strain?" I questioned, beginning to +doubt his sanity after all. + +He met my objection with another smile. "I have studied that well +before I began these little excursions of mine. Meet me at, say, four +o'clock this afternoon." He appeared to relax, sighed softly, and sank +again into his trance. + +I sprang up and stood looking down upon him. I hardly knew what to do. +I began pacing the floor. Finally I gave my attention to the books +in the cases which lined the room. They comprised the most wonderful +collection of works on the occult ever gathered within four walls. They +helped me to make up my mind in the end. I decided to take Jason Croft +at his word and keep the engagement for the coming afternoon. + +I went to the study door and set it open. The little old woman sat +huddled on a chair. At first I thought she slept, but almost at once I +found her bright eyes upon me, and she started to her feet. + +"He came back--I--I heard him speaking," she began in a husky whisper. +"He--is he all right?" + +"All right," I replied. "But he is asleep again now and has promised +to see me this afternoon at four. In the mean time do not attempt to +disturb him in any way, Mrs. Goss." + +She nodded. Suddenly she seemed wholly satisfied. "I won't, sir," she +gave her promise. "I was worrit--worrit--that was all." + +"You need not worry any more," I sought to reassure her. "I fancy Mr. +Croft is able to take care of himself." + +And, oddly enough, I found myself believing my own words as I went +down the steps and turned toward my own home to get what sleep I +could--since, to tell the truth, I felt utterly exhausted after my +efforts to call Jason Croft back from--the planet of a distant sun. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + A COUNTRY IN THE CLOUDS + + +And yet when I woke in the morning and went about my duties at the +asylum, I confess the events of the night before seemed rather unreal. +I began to half fancy myself the victim of some sort of hoax. I did +not doubt that Croft had been up to some psychic experiment when his +old servant, Mrs. Goss, had become alarmed and brought me into the +situation. But--I felt inclined to believe that after I had waked +him from his self-induced trance he had deliberately turned the +conversation into a channel which would give me a mental jolt before he +had calmly gone back to sleep. + +I knew something of the occult, of course, but I was hardly ready +to credit the rather lurid statement he had made. Before noon I was +smiling at myself, and determining to keep my appointment with him for +the afternoon, and show him from the start that I was not so complete a +fool as I had seemed. + +Hence it was with a resolve not to be swept off my feet by any unusual +fabrication of his devising that I approached his house at about three +o'clock and turned in from the street to his porch. + +He sat there, in a wicker chair, smoking an excellent cigar. No doubt +but he had recovered completely from the state in which I had beheld +him first. He rose as I mounted the steps and put out a hand. "Ah, Dr. +Murray," he greeted me with a smile. "I have been waiting your coming. +Let me offer you a chair and a smoke while we talk." + +We shook hands, and then I sat down and lighted the mate of the cigar +Croft held between his strong, even teeth. Then, as I threw away the +match, I looked straight into his eyes. And, believe me or not, it was +as though the man read my thoughts. + +He shook his head. "I really told you the truth, Murray, you know," he +said. + +"About--Palos?" I smiled. + +He nodded. "Yes, I was really there, and--I went back after we had our +talk." + +"Rather quick work," I remarked, and puffed out some smoke. "Have you +figured out how long it takes even light to reach the earth from that +distant star, Mr. Croft?" + +"Light?" He half-knit his brows, then suddenly laughed without sound. +"Oh, I see--you refer to the equation of time?" + +"Well, yes. The distance is considerable, as you must admit." + +He shook his head. "How long does it take you to think of Palos--of +Sirius?" he asked. + +"Not long," I replied. + +He leaned back in his seat. "Murray," he went on, staring straight +before him, "time is but the measure of consciousness. Outside +the atmospheric envelopes of the planets--outside the limit of, +well--say--human thought--time ceases to exist. And--if between the +planets there is no time beyond the depths of their surrounding +atmosphere--how long will it take to go from here to there?" + +I stared. His statement was startling, at least. + +"You mean that time is a mental conception?" I managed at last. + +"Time is a mental measure of a span of eternity," he said slowly. +"Past planetary atmospheres, eternity alone exists. In eternity there +is no time. Hence, I cannot use what _is not_, either in going to +or returning from that planet I have named. You admit you can think +instantly of Palos. I allege that I can _think_ myself, carry my astral +consciousness instantly to Palos. Do you see?" + +I saw what he meant, of course, and I indicated as much by a nod. +"But," I objected, "you told me you had to return to Palos. Now you +tell me you had projected your astral body to that star. What could you +do there in the astral state?" + +He smiled. "Very little. I know. I have passed through that stage. As a +matter of fact, I have a body there now." + +"You have what--" As I remember, I came half out of my chair, and then +sank back. The thing hit me as nothing else in my whole life had done +before. His calm avowal was unbelievable on its face--impossible--a man +with a double corporeal existence on two separate planets at one and +the same time. + +"A body--a living, breathing body," he repeated his declaration. "Oh, +man, I know it overthrows all human conceptions of life, but--last +night you asked me a question concerning _this_ body of mine--and I +told you I knew what I was doing. And I know you must have studied some +of the teachings of the higher cult--the esoteric philosophies, if +you will. And therefore you must have read of the ability of a spirit +to dispossess a body of its original spiritual tenant and occupy its +place--" + +"Obsession," I interrupted. "You are practicing that--up there?" + +"No. I've gone farther than that. I took this body when its original +occupant was done with it," he said. "Murray--wait--let me explain. I'm +a physician like yourself." + +"You?" I exclaimed, none too politely, I fear, in the face of this +additional surprise. + +Croft's lips twitched. He seemed to understand and yet be slightly +amused. "Yes. That's why I was able to assure you I knew how long the +body I occupy now could endure a cataleptic condition last night. I am +a graduate of Rush, and I fancy, fully qualified to speak concerning +the body's needs. And--" He paused a moment, then resumed: + +"Frankly, Murray, I find myself confronted by what I think I may call +the strangest position a man was ever called upon to face. Last night I +recognized in you one who had probably far from a minor understanding +of mental and spiritual forces. Your ability to force my return at a +time when I was otherwise engaged showed me your understanding. For +that very reason I asked you to return to me here today. I would like +to talk to you--a brother physician; to tell you a story--my story, +provided you would care to hear it. Most men would call me insane. +Something tells me you, who devote your time to the care of the insane, +will not." + +He paused and sat once more staring across the sunlit landscape which, +after the storm of the night before, was glowing and fresh. After a +time he turned his eyes and looked into mine with something almost an +appeal, in his glance. In response, I nodded and settled myself in my +chair. + + * * * * * + +"I'm not going to deny a natural curiosity, Dr. Croft," I said, since, +to tell the absolute truth, I was anxious to get at the inward facts +underlying the entire peculiar affair. + +"Then," he said in an almost eager fashion, "I shall tell you--the +whole thing, I think. Murray, when Shakespeare wrote into one of his +character's mouth the statement that there are more things in heaven +and earth than are dreamt of, he told the truth. Mankind in the main is +like a crowd storming the doors of a showhouse sold out to capacity and +unable to accommodate any one else. Mankind is the crowd in the lobby, +shut out from the real sights back of the veiling doors which bar their +perception of what goes on within. Mankind stands only on the fringe of +life, does not dream of the truth. Only here and there is there one who +_knows_. It was one such who first directed my mind toward the truth. + +"Murray"--he paused and once more fastened me with his gaze--"I am +going to tell that truth to you.... But first--in order that you may +understand, and believe if you can, I shall tell you something of +myself." + +That telling took a long time; hours, the rest of the afternoon, and +most of the following night. It was a strange tale, an unbelievably +strange story. And yet, in view of what happened inside that same week, +I am not sure, after all, but it was the truth, just as Croft alleged. +What, when all is said, do any of us know beyond the round of our own +human life? What do we know of those things which may lie outside the +scope of our mental vision? There must be things in heaven and earth +not dreamt of in the philosophy of _Horatio_. Here is the tale. + +Jason Croft was born in New Jersey, but brought West at an early age +by his parents, who had become converts to a certain faith. Right +there, it seems to me, may have been laid the foundation of Croft's +interest in the occult in later life, since that faith contains +possibly a greater number of parallels to occult teachings than any of +the Occidental creeds. Of course, in all religions there is the germ of +truth. Were it not, they would be dead dogmas rather than living sects. +But in this church, which has grown strong in the Western States, I +think there is a closer approach to the Eastern theory of soul and +spiritual life. + +Be that as it may, Croft grew to manhood in the very State and town +where I was now employed, and in the home on the porch of which we sat. +He elected medicine as a career. He went to Chicago and put in his +first three years. The second year his mother died, and a year later +his father. He returned on each occasion, and went back to his studies +after the obsequies were done. In his fourth year he met a man named +Gatua Kahaun, destined, as it seems, to change the entire course of his +life. + +Gatua Kahaun was a Hindu, a member of an Eastern brotherhood, come to +the United States to study the religions of the West. One can see how +naturally he took up with Croft, who had been raised in one of those +religions. + +The two became friends. From what Croft told me, the Hindu was a man of +marked attainments, well versed in the Oriental creeds. When Croft came +West after his graduation, Gatua Kahaun was his companion and stopped +at his home, which had been kept up by Mrs. Goss and her husband, then +still alive. The two lived there together for some weeks, and the Hindu +taught Croft the rudiments at least of the occult philosophy of life. + +Then, with little warning, Croft was assigned on a mission to Australia +by his church. He got a letter from "Box B," as he told me, smiling, +knowing I would understand. The church of which he was a member has +a custom of sending their members about the world as missionaries of +their faith, to spread its doctrines and win converts to their ranks. +Croft went, though even then he had begun to see the similarity between +his own lifelong creed and the scheme of things held before him by +Gatua Kahaun. + +For over two years he did not see the Hindu, though he kept up his +studies of the occult, to which he seemed inclined by a natural bent. +Then, just as he was nearly finished with his "mission," what should +happen but that, walking the streets of Melbourne, he bumped into Gatua +Kahaun. + +The two men renewed their acquaintance at once. Gatua Kahaun taught +Croft Hindustani and the mysteries of the Sanskrit tongue. When Croft's +mission was finished he prevailed upon him to visit India before +returning home. + +Croft went. Through Gatua's influence he was admitted to the man's +own brotherhood. He forgot his former objects and aims in life in +the new world of thought which opened up before his mental eyes. +He studied and thought. He learned the secrets of the magnetic or +enveloping body of the soul, and after a time he became convinced +that by constant application to the major purpose the spirit could +break the bonds of the material body without going through the change +which men call death. He came to believe that beyond the phenomenon of +astral projection--the sending of the conscious ego about the earthly +sphere--projections might be made beyond the planet, with only the +universe to limit the scope of the flight. + + * * * * * + +At times he lay staring at the starry vault of the heavens with a vague +longing within him to put the thing to the test. And always there was +one star which seemed to call him, to beckon to him, to draw his spirit +toward it as a magnet may draw a fleck of iron. That was the Dog Star, +Sirius, known to astronomers as the sun of another planetary system +like our own. + +Meantime his studies went on. He learned that matter is the reflex of +spirit; that no blade of grass, no chemical atom exists save as the +envelope of an essence which cannot and does not die. He came to see +that nature is no more than a realm of force, comprising light, heat, +magnetism, chemical affinity, aura, essence, and all the imponderables +which go to produce the various forms of motion as expressions of the +ocean of force, so that motion comes to be no more than force refracted +through the various forms of existence, from the lowest to the highest, +as a ray of light is split into the seven primary colors by a prism, +each being different in itself, yet each but an integral part of the +original ray. + +He came to comprehend that all stages of existence are but stages +and nothing more, and that mind, spirit, is the highest form of life +force--the true essence--manifesting through material means, yet +independent of them in itself. So only, he argued, was life after death +a possible thing. And so, he reasoned further, could the mystery be +solved, there was no real reason why the spirit could not be set free +to roam and return to the body at will. If that were true, it seemed to +him that the spirit could return from such excursions, bringing with it +a conscious recollection of the place where it had been. + +Then once more he was called home by a thing which seems like no more +than a further step in the course of what mortals call fate. His +father's brother died. He was a bachelor. He left Croft sufficient +wealth to provide for his every need. Croft decided to pursue his +studies at home. He had gained all India could give him. Indeed, he +had rather startled even Gatua Kahaun by some of the theories he had +deduced. + +He began work at once. He stocked the library where I had found him the +night before, with everything on the subject he could find. And the +more he studied, the more firmly did he become convinced that ordinary +astral projection was but the first step in developing the spirit's +power--that it was akin to the first step of an infant learning to +walk, and that, if confidence were forthcoming, if the will to dare the +experiment were sufficiently strong--then he could accomplish the thing +of which he dreamed. + +He began to experiment, sending his astral consciousness here and +there. He centered on that one phase of his knowledge alone. He roamed +the earth at will. He perfected his ability to bring back from such +excursions a vivid recollection of all he had seen. So at last he was +ready for the great experiment. Yet in the end he made it on impulse +rather than at any pre-selected time. + +He sat one evening on his porch. Over the eastern mountains which hem +in the valley the full moon was rising in a blaze of mellow glory. Its +rays caught the sleeping surface of a lake which lies near our little +city, touching each rippling wavelet until they seemed made of molten +silver. The lights of the town itself were like fireflies twinkling +amid the trees. The mountains hazed somewhat in a silvery mist, +compounded of the moonrays and distance, seemed to him no more than the +figments of a fairy tale or a dream. + +Everything was quiet. Mrs. Goss, now a widow, had gone to bed, and +Croft had simply been enjoying the soft air and a cigar. Suddenly, as +the moon appeared to leap free of the mountains, it suggested a thought +of a spirit set free and rising above the material shell of existence +to his mind. + +He sat watching the golden wheel radiant with reflected light, and +after a time he asked himself why he should not try the great adventure +without a longer delay. He was the last of his race. No one depended +upon him. Should he fail, they would merely find his body in the chair. +Should he succeed, he would have won his ambition and placed himself in +a position to learn of things which had heretofore baffled man. + +He decided to try it there and then. Knocking the ash from his cigar, +he took one last, long, possibly farewell whiff, and laid it down on +the broad arm of his chair. Then summoning all the potent power of his +will, he fixed his whole mind upon his purpose and sank into cataleptic +sleep. + +The moon is dead. In so much science is right. It is lifeless, without +moisture, without an atmosphere. Croft won his great experiment, or its +first step at least. His body sank to sleep, but his ego leaped into a +fuller, wider life. + +There was a sensation of airy lightness, as though his sublimated +consciousness had dropped material weight. His body sat beneath him in +the chair. He could see it. He could see the city and the lake and the +mountains and the yellow disk of the moon. He knew he was rising toward +the latter swiftly. Then--space was annihilated in an instant, and he +seemed to himself to be standing on the topmost edge of a mighty crater +in the full, unobstructed glare of a blinding light. + +He sensed that as the sun, which hung like a ball of fire halfway up +from the horizon, flinging its rays in a dazzling brilliance against +the dead satellite's surface, unprotected by an atmospheric screen. His +first sensation was an amazing realization of his own success. Then he +gazed about. + + * * * * * + +To one side was the vast ring of the crater itself, a well of +unutterable darkness and unplumbed depth, as yet not opened up to the +burning light of the sun. To the other was the downward sweep of the +crater's flank, dun, dead, wrinkled, seamed and seared by the stabbing +rays which bathed it in pitiless light. And beyond the foot of the +crater was a vast irregular plain, lower in the center as though eons +past it might have been the bed of some vanished sea. About the plain +were the crests of barren mountains, crags, pinnacles, misshapen and +weird beyond thought. + +Yes, the moon is dead--now. But--there was life upon it once. Croft +willed himself down from the lip of the crater to the plain. He moved +about it. Indeed it had been a sea. There in the airless blaze, still +etched in the lifeless formations, he found an ancient water-line, the +mark of the fingers of vanished waters--like a mockery of what had +been. And skirting the outline of that long-lost sea, he came to the +ruin of a city which had stood upon the shores a myriad years ago. It +stood there still--a thing of paved streets, and dead walls, safe in +that moistureless world from decay. + +Through those dead streets and houses, some of them thrown down by +terrific earthquakes which he judged had accompanied the final cooling +stages and death of the moon, Croft took his way, pausing now and then +to examine some ancient inscriptions cut into the blocks of stone from +which the buildings had been reared. In a way they impressed him as +similar in many respects to the Asiatic structures of today, most of +them being windowless on the first story, but built about an inner +court, gardens of beauty in the time when the moon supported life. + +So far as he could judge from the buildings themselves and frescoes +on the walls, done in pigments which still prevailed, the lunarians +had been a tiny people, probably not above an average of four feet +in height, but extremely intelligent past any doubt, as shown by the +remains of their homes. They had possessed rather large heads in +proportion to their slender bodies, as the paintings done on the inside +walls led Croft to believe. + +From the same source he became convinced that their social life had +been highly developed, and that they had been well versed in the arts +of manufacture and commerce, and had at the time when lunar seas +persisted maintained a merchant marine. + +Through the hours of the lunar day he explored. Not, in fact, until +the sun was dropping swiftly below the rim of the mountains beyond the +old sea-bed, did he desist. Then lifting his eyes he beheld a luminous +crescent, many times larger than the moon appears to us, emitting a +soft, green light. He stood and gazed upon it for some moment before he +realized fully that he looked upon a sun-rise on the earth--that the +monster crescent was the earth indeed as seen from her satellite. + +Then as realization came upon him he remembered his body--left on the +porch of his home in the chair. Suddenly he felt a longing to return, +to forsake the forsaken relics of a life which had passed and go back +to the full, pulsing tide of life which still flowed on. + +Here, then, he was faced by the second step of his experiment. He had +consciously reached the moon. Could he return again to the earth? If +so, he had proved his theory beyond any further doubt. Fastening his +full power upon the endeavor, he willed himself back, and-- + +He opened his eyes--his physical eyes--and gazed into the early sun of +a new day rising over the mountains and turning the world to emerald +and gold. + +The sound of a caught-in breath fell on his ears. He turned his glance. +Mrs. Goss stood beside him. + +"Laws, sir, but you was sound asleep!" she exclaimed. "I come to call +you to breakfast an' you wasn't in your room, an' when I found you +you was sleepin' like th' dead. You must have got up awful early, Mr. +Jason." + +"I was here before you were moving," Croft said as he rose. He smiled +as he spoke. Indeed, he wanted to laugh, to shout. He had done what no +mortal had ever accomplished before. The wonders of the universe were +his to explore at will. Yet even so he did not dream of what the future +held. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + BEYOND THE MOON + + +And now the Dog Star called. Croft had proved his ability to project +his conscious self beyond earth's attraction and return. And, having +proved that, the old lure of the star he had watched when a student in +the Indian mountains came back with a double strength. No longer was +it an occasional prompting. Rather it was a never-ceasing urge which +nagged him night and day. + +He yielded at last. But remembering his return from his first +experiment, he arranged for the next with due care. In order that +Mrs. Goss might not become alarmed by seeing his body entranced, he +arranged for her to take a holiday with a married daughter in another +part of the State, telling her simply that he himself expected to be +absent from his home for an indefinite time and would summon her upon +his return. + +He knew the woman well enough to be sure she would spread the word of +his coming absence, and so felt assured that his body would remain +undisturbed during the period of his venture into universal space. + +Having seen the old woman depart, he entered the library, drew down +all the blinds, and stretched himself on the couch. Fixing his mind on +Sirius to the exclusion of everything else, he threw off the bonds of +the flesh. + +Yet here, as it chanced, even Croft made a well-nigh fatal mistake. It +was toward Sirius he had willed himself in his thoughts, and Sirius is +a sun. As a result, he realized none too soon that he was floating in +the actual nebula surrounding the flaming orb itself. + +Directly beneath him, as it appeared, the Dog Star rolled, a mass +of electric fire. Mountains of flame ran darting off into space in +all directions. Between them the whole surface of the sun boiled and +bubbled and seethed like a world-wide caldron. Not for a moment was +there any rest upon that surface toward which he was sinking with +incredible speed. Every atom of the monster sun was in motion, ever +shifting, ever changing yet always the same. It quivered and billowed +and shook. Flames of every conceivable color radiated from it in waves +of awful heat. Vast explosions recurred again and again on the ever +heaving surface. What seemed unthinkable hurricanes rushed into the +voids created by the exploding gases. + +In this maelstrom of titanic forces Croft found himself caught. Not +even the wonderful force his spirit had attained could overcome the +sun's power of repulsion. His progress stayed, he hung above the molten +globe beneath him, imprisoned, unable to extricate himself from his +position, buffeted, swirled about and swayed by the irresistible forces +which warred around him in a never-ceasing tumult such as he had never +conceived. + +Something like a vague question as to his fate rather than any fear +assailed him, something like a blind wonder. The force which held him +was one beyond his experience or knowledge. He knew that a true spirit, +a pure ego, could not wholly perish, yet now he asked himself what +would be the effect of close proximity to such an enormous center of +elemental activity upon an ego not wholly sublimated, such as his. + +His will power actually faltered, staggered. For the time being he +lost his ability to chose his course. He had willed himself here, +and here he was, but he found himself unable to will himself back or +anywhere else, in fact. The sensation crept through his soul that he +was a plaything of fate, a mad ego which had ventured too far, dared +too much, sought to learn those things possibly forbidden, hence caught +in a net of universal law, woven about him by his own mad thirst +for knowledge--a spirit doomed by its own daring to an eternity of +something closely approaching the orthodox hell. + + * * * * * + +Through eons of time, as it seemed to him, he hung above that blazing +orb, surrounded by seething gases which dimmed but did not wholly +obscure his vision. Then a change began taking place. A great spot of +darkness appeared on the pulsing body of the sun. It widened swiftly. +About it the fiery elements of molten mass seemed to center their main +endeavor. Vast streamers of flaming gas leaped and darted about its +spreading center. It stretched and spread. + +To Croft's fascinated vision it showed a mighty, funnel-like chasm, +reaching down for thousands of miles into the very heart of their +solar mass. And suddenly he knew that once more he was sinking, was +being drawn down, down, to be engulfed in that terrible throat of the +terrifying funnel, swept and sucked down like a bit of driftwood into +the maw of a whirlpool, powerless to resist. + +Down he sank, down, between walls of living fire which swirled about +him with an inconceivable velocity of revolution. The vapors which +closed about him seemed to stifle even his spirit senses. Down, down, +how far he had no conception. He had lost all control, all conscious +power to judge of time or distance. Yet he was able still to see. And +so at last he sensed that the fiery walls were coming swiftly together. + +For a wild instant he conceived himself engulfed. Then he knew that he +was being thrown out and upward again with terrific force, literally +crowded forth with the outrushing gases between the collapsing walls, +and hurled again into space. + +Darkness came down, a darkness so deep it seemed a thousand suns +might not pierce it through with their rays. Sirius, the great sun, +seemed blotted out. He was seized by a sense of falling through that +Stygian shroud. In which direction he knew not, or why or how. He knew +only that his ego over which he had lost control was swirling in vast +spirals down and down through an endless void to an endless fate--that +he who had come so confidently forth to explore the universal secrets +had become a waif in the uncharted immensity of the eternal universe. + +The sensation went on and on. So much he knew. Still he was conscious. +The thought came to him that this was his punishment for daring to +know. Still conscious, he must be still bound by natural law. Had he +broken that law and been cast into utter darkness, to remain forever +conscious of his fate? Yet if so, where was he falling, where was he to +wander, and for how long? His senses reeled. + +By degrees, however, he fought back to some measure of control. His +very necessity prompted the attempt. And by degrees there came to him +a sense of not being any longer alone. In the almost palpable darkness +it seemed that other shapes and forms, whose warp and woof was darkness +also, floated and writhed about him as he fell. + +They thrust against him; they gibbered soundlessly at him. They taunted +him as he passed. And yet their very presence helped him in the end. He +called his own knowledge to his assistance. He recognized these shapes +of terror as those elementals of which occult teaching spoke, things +which roamed in the darkness, which had as yet never been able to reach +out and gain a soul for themselves. + +With understanding came again the power of independent action. +Unknowing whither, Croft willed himself out of their midst to some spot +unnamed, where he might gain a spiritual moment of rest--to the nearest +bit of matter afloat in the universal void. Abruptly he became aware of +the near presence of some solid substance, the sense of falling ended, +and he knew that his will had found expression in fact. + +Yet wherever it was he had landed, the region was dead. Like the moon, +it was wholly devoid of moisture or atmosphere. The presence of solid +matter, however, gave him back a still further sense of control. Though +he was still enveloped in darkness, he reasoned that if this was a +planet and possessed of a sun in its system, its farther side must +be bathed in light. Reason also told him that in all probability he +was still within the system of Sirius despite the seemingly endless +distance he had come. + +Exerting his will, he passed over the darkened face and emerged on the +other side in the midst of a ghostly light. At once he became conscious +of his surroundings, of a valley and encircling lofty mountains. From +the sides of the latter came the peculiar light. Examination showed +Croft that it was given off by some substance which glowed with a +phosphorescence sufficient to cast faint shadows of the rocks which +strewed the dead and silent waste. + +Not knowing where he was, loath to dare again the void, hardly knowing +whether to will himself back to earth or remain and abide the issue of +his own adventure, Croft waited, debating the question, until at length +the top of a mountain lighted as if from a rising sun. Inside a few +moments the valley was bathed in light; he saw the great sun Sirius +wheel up the morning sky. + +Peace came into his soul. He was still a conscious ego, still a +creature in the universe of light. He gazed about. Close to the line of +the horizon, and shining with what was plainly reflected light, he saw +the vast outlines of another planet he had failed to note until now. + +He understood. This was the major planet, surely one of the Dog Star's +pack; and he had alighted on one of its moons. All desire to remain +there left him. He was tired of dead worlds, of bottomless voids. + +As before on the moon itself, he felt a resurgent desire to bathe in an +atmosphere of life. By now, fairly himself again, the wish was father +to the fact. Summoning his will, he made the final step of his journey, +as it was to prove, and found himself standing on a world not so vastly +different from his own. + + * * * * * + +He stood on the side of a mountain in the midst of an almost tropic +vegetation. Giant trees were about him, giant ferns sprouted from the +soil. But here, as on earth, the color of the leaves was green. Through +a break in the forest he gazed across a vast, wide-flung plain through +which a mighty river made its way. Its waters glinted in the rays of +the rising sun. Its banks were lined with patches of what he knew from +their appearance were cultivated fields. Beyond them was a dun track, +reminding him of the arid stretches of a desert, reaching out as far +as his vision could plumb the distance. + +He turned his eyes and followed the course of the river. By stages of +swift interest he traced it to a point where it disappeared beneath +what seemed the dull red walls of a mighty city. They were huge walls, +high and broad, bastioned and towered, flung across the course of the +river, which ran on through the city itself, passed beyond a farther +wall, and--beyond that again there was the glint of silver and blue +in Croft's eyes--the shimmer of a vast body of water--whether lake or +ocean he did not know then. + +The call of a bird brought his attention back. Life was waking in the +mountain forest where he stood. Gay-plumaged creatures, not unlike +earthly parrots, were fluttering from tree to tree. The sound of a +grunting came toward him. He swung about. His eyes encountered those +of other life. A creature such as he had never seen was coming out of +a quivering mass of sturdy fern. It had small, beady eyes and a snout +like a pig. Two tusks sprouted from its jaws like the tusks of a boar. +But the rest of the body, although something like that of a hog, was +covered with a long wool-like hair, fine and seemingly almost silken +soft. + +This, as he was to learn later, was the tabur, an animal still wild +on Palos, though domesticated and raised both for its hair, which was +woven into fabrics, and for its flesh, which was valued as food. While +Croft watched, it began rooting about the foot of a tree on one side of +the small glade where he stood. Plainly it was hunting for something to +eat. + +Once more he turned to the plain and stood lost in something new. +Across the dun reaches of the desert, beyond the green region of the +river, was moving a long dark string of figures, headed toward the city +he had seen. It was like a caravan, Croft thought, in its arrangement, +save that the moving objects which he deemed animals of some sort, +belonged in no picture of a caravan such as he had ever seen. + +Swiftly he willed himself toward them and moved along by their side. +Something like amazement filled his being. These beasts were such +creatures as might have peopled the earth in the Silurian age. They +were huge, twice the size of an earthly elephant. They moved in a +majestic fashion, yet with a surprising speed. Their bodies were +covered with a hairless skin, reddish pink in color, wrinkled and +warted and plainly extremely thick. It slipped and slid over the +muscles beneath it as they swung forward on their four massive legs, +each one of which ended in a five-toed foot armed with short heavy +claws. + +But it was the head and neck and tail of the things which gave Croft +pause. The head was more that of a sea-serpent or a monster lizard than +anything else. The neck was long and flexible and curved like that of a +camel. The tail was heavy where it joined the main spine, but thinned +rapidly to a point. And the crest of head and neck, the back of each +creature, so far as he could see, was covered with a sort of heavy +scale, an armor devised by nature for the thing's protection, as it +appeared. Yet he could not see very well, since each Sarpelca, as he +was to learn their Palosian name, was loaded heavily with bundles and +bales of what might be valuable merchandise. + +And on each sat a man. Croft hesitated not at all to give them that +title, since they were strikingly like the men of earth in so far as +he could see. They had heads and arms and legs and a body, and their +faces were white. Their features departed in no particular, so far as +he could see, from the faces of earth, save that all were smooth, with +no evidence of hair on upper lip or cheek or chin. + +They were clad in loose cloak-like garments and a hooded cap or cowl. +They sat the Sarpelcas just back of the juncture of the body and neck, +and guided the strange-appearing monsters by means of slender reins +affixed to two of the fleshy tentacles which sprouted about the beast's +almost snakelike mouths. + +That this strange cortège was a caravan Croft was now assured. He +decided to follow it to the city and inspect that as well. Wherefore +he kept on beside it down the valley, along what he now saw was a +well-defined and carefully constructed road, built of stone, cut to a +nice approximation, along which the unwieldy procession made good time. +The road showed no small knowledge of engineering. It was like the +roads of Ancient Rome, Croft thought with quickened interest. It was +in a perfect state of preservation and showed signs of recent mending +here and there. While he was feeling a quickened interest in this the +caravan entered the cultivated region along the river, and Croft gave +his attention to the fields. + + * * * * * + +The first thing he noted here was the fact that all growth was due to +irrigation, carried out by means of ditches and laterals very much as +on earth at the present time. Here and there as the caravan passed down +the splendid road he found a farmer's hut set in a bower of trees. +For the most part they were built of a tan-colored brick, and roofed +with a thatching of rushes from the river's bank. He saw the natives +working in the fields, strong-bodied men, clad in what seemed a single +short-skirted tunic reaching to the knees, with the arms and lower +limbs left bare. + +One or two stopped work and stood to watch the caravan pass, and Croft +noticed that their faces were intelligent, well featured, and their +hair for the most part a sort of rich, almost chestnut brown, worn +rather long and wholly uncovered or else caught about the brows by a +cincture which held a bit of woven fabric draped over the head and down +the neck. + +Travel began to thicken along the road. The natives seemed heading to +the city, to sell the produce of their fields. Croft found himself +drawing aside in the press as the caravan overtook the others and +crowded past. So real had it become to him that for the time he forgot +he was no more than an impalpable, invisible thing these people could +not contact or see. Then he remembered and gave his attention to what +he might behold once more. + +They had just passed a heavy cart drawn by two odd creatures, +resembling a deer save that they were larger and possessed of hoofs +like those of earth-born horses, and instead of antlers sported two +little horns not over six inches long. They were in color almost a +creamy white, and he fancied them among the most beautiful forms of +animal life he had ever beheld. On the cart itself were high piled +crates of some unknown fowl, as he supposed--some edible bird, with +the head of a goose, the plumage of a pheasant so far as its brilliant +coloring went, long necks and bluish, webbed feet. Past the cart they +came upon a band of native women carrying baskets and other burdens, +strapped to their shoulders. Croft gave them particular attention, +since as yet he had seen only men. + +The Palosian females were fit mates, he decided, after he had given +them a comprehensive glance. They were strong limbed and deep breasted. +These peasant folks at least were simply clad. Like the men, they +wore but a single garment, falling just over the bend of the knees and +caught together over one shoulder with an embossed metal button, so far +as he could tell. The other arm and shoulder were left wholly bare, as +were their feet and legs, save that they wore coarse sandals of wood, +strapped by leather thongs about ankle and calf. Their baskets were +piled with vegetables and fruit, and they chattered and laughed among +themselves as they walked. + +And now as the Sarpelcas shuffled past, the highway grew actually +packed. Also it drew nearer to the river and the city itself. The +caravan thrust its way through a drove of the taburs--the woolly hogs +such as Croft had seen on the side of the mountain. The hogsherds, +rough, powerful, bronzed fellows, clad in hide aprons belted about +their waists and nothing else, stalked beside their charges and +exchanged heavy banter with the riders of the Sarpelcas as the caravan +passed. + +From behind a sound of shouting reached Croft's ears. He glanced +around. Down the highway, splitting the throng of early market people, +came some sort of conveyance, drawn by four of the beautiful creamy +deerlike creatures he had seen before. They were harnessed abreast and +had nodding plumes fixed to the head bands of their bridles in front of +their horns. These plumes were all of a purple color, and from the way +the crowds gave way before the advance of the equipage, Croft deemed +that it bore some one of note. Even the captain of the Sarpelca train, +noting the advance of the gorgeous team, drew his huge beasts to the +side of the road and stood up in his seatlike saddle to face inward as +it passed. + + * * * * * + +The vehicle came on. Croft watched intently as it approached. So nearly +as he could tell, it was a four-wheeled conveyance something like an +old-time chariot in front, where stood the driver of the cream-white +steeds, and behind that protected from the sun by an arched cover +draped on each side with a substance not unlike heavy silk. These +draperies, too, were purple in shade, and the body and wheels of the +carriage seemed fashioned from something like burnished copper, as it +glistened brightly in advance. + +Then it was upon them, and Croft could look squarely into the shaded +depths beneath the cover he now saw to be supported by upright metal +rods, save at the back where the body continued straight up in a curve +to form the top. + +The curtains were drawn back since the morning air was still fresh, +and Jason gained a view of those who rode. He gave them one glance and +mentally caught his breath. There were two passengers in the coach--a +woman and a man. The latter was plainly past middle age, well built, +with a strongly set face and hair somewhat sprinkled with gray. He was +clad in a tunic the like of which Croft had never seen, since it seemed +woven of gold, etched and embroidered in what appeared stones or jewels +of purple, red, and green. This covered his entire body and ended in +half sleeves below which his forearms were bare. + +He wore a jeweled cap supporting a single spray of purple feathers. +From an inch below his knees his legs were incased in what seemed an +open-meshed casing of metal, in color not unlike his tunic, jointed +at the ankles to allow of motion when he walked. There were no seats +proper in the carriage, but rather a broad padded couch upon which both +passengers lay. + +So much Croft saw, and then, forsaking the caravan, let himself drift +along beside the strange conveyance to inspect the girl. In fact, +after the first swift glance at the man, he had no eyes save for his +companion in the coach. + +She was younger than the man, yet strangely like him in a feminine +way--more slender, more graceful as she lay at her ease. Her face was +a perfect oval, framed in a wealth of golden hair, which, save for a +jeweled cincture, fell unrestrained about her shoulders in a silken +flood. Her eyes were blue--the purple blue of the pansy--her skin, seen +on face and throat and bared left shoulder and arm, a soft, firm white. +For she was dressed like the peasant women, save in a richer fashion. +Her single robe was white, lustrous in its sheen. It was broidered with +a simple jeweled margin at throat and hem and over the breasts with +stones of blue and green. + +Her girdle was of gold in color, catching her just above the hips with +long ends and fringe which fell down the left side of the knee-length +skirt. Sandals of the finest imaginable skin were on the soles of her +slender pink-nailed feet, bare save for a jewel-studded toe and instep +band, and the lacing cords which were twined about each limb as high as +the top of the calf. On her left arm she wore a bracelet, just above +the wrist, as a single ornament. + +Croft gave her one glance which took in every detail of her presence +and attire. He quivered as with a chill. Some change as cataclysmic +as his experience of the night before above the Dog Star itself took +place in his spiritual being. He felt drawn toward this beautiful girl +of Palos as he had never in all his life on earth been drawn toward a +woman before. + +It was as though suddenly he had found something he had lost--as though +he had met one known and forgotten and now once more recognized. +Without giving the act the slightest thought of consideration, he +willed himself into the coach between the fluttering curtains of purple +silk, and crouched down on the padded platform at her feet. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + NAIA, PRINCESS OF PALOS + + +Croft, in his earth life, had never looked on a woman with the longing +such as is apt to possess the average healthy male at times. But in his +studies of the occult he had more than once come in contact with the +doctrine of twin souls--that theory that in the beginning the spirit +is dual, and that projecting into material existence the dual entity +separates into two halves, a male and a female, and so exists forever +until the two halves meet once more and unite. + +Sometimes because he had never found a woman to appeal to him as he +wished a woman to appeal, he had been half inclined to doubt. But this +morning on Palos he no longer doubted. He believed. More than that he +knew now why no earth woman had ever reached to the center of his being +with her soft attraction. He knew now why the Dog Star had always drawn +him during his student days. That longing to span the miles between +Sirius and earth was explained. It was because in the economy of the +Infinite it had been seen fit, God alone knew why, to send his half of +their original spirit to earth, and his female counterpart to this life +on another sphere. + +This beautiful girl was his twin. He knew her. He had found her. A +wonderful elation filled his conscious soul as he sat feasting his +eyes upon her every graceful line and feature. But suddenly his +contemplation was followed by the bitterest despair. + +He had found her, yes; but to what avail? The mere fact that he saw her +now and was unseen by either her or her father, as he judged the man +with whom she rode to be, was proof that his finding her was in vain. +She was a living, breathing woman, every cell of whose glowing body +sent a subtle call to his spirit, such as only the true mate can send +to its absolute complement. + +He felt love, a sense of protection, a desire for possession, spiritual +uplift, and physical passion all in a breath. He felt a mad urge to +cast himself at her side, there on the padded cushion, and gather her +lovely form to his heart close within his arms. And he knew himself but +a spirit--invisible to her--imperceptible to her--realized that should +he follow his impulse she would not know--or should she know even +faintly would not understand. + +Croft knew himself but a sublimated shape, and nothing more, and it was +then he went down into the deepest depths of a mental hell of despair. +The torture of Tantalus was his. He could see her, sense her youth, her +beauty, her sweetness, every charm which was hers; experience every +potent wave of her appeal, yet he could not reveal his presence or make +known his response to her spirit-call. Could he have done so he would +have groaned in a crushing anguish too great to be endured. Yet even +that expression was denied. + +The stopping of the gnuppas, as he was to learn the half horse, half +deerlike steers were called, brought him back from his introspection +after a time. He could hear the driver shouting, and now quite oddly, +these people being human, and thoughts being more or less akin to all +thinking minds, he found he could understand the intent, even though +the words were strange. + +"Way! Way for Prince Lakkon, Counselor to the King of Aphur!" + +On the words the girl opened her lips. "There is a wonderful press of +travelers this morning, my father." + +Croft gloried in the soft, full tones of her voice, even before Prince +Lakkon made answer. "Aye, the highway is like to a swarm of insects, +Naia, my child." + +Naia! The sound was music in Croft's ears. He whispered it over and +over to himself as the carriage once more advanced through the throngs +of market people, carters, freighters, past a caravan of heavily loaded +Sarpelcas outward bound. Naia. The word fitted her--seemed oddly +appropriate--was music in his ears. Naia, Naia--the other part of his +soul. The word beat upon his senses through the shuffle of passing feet. + +"I shall tell Chythron to drive directly to our home," Prince Lakkon +said. + +"You will go on to confer with Uncle Jadgor from there?" + +"Aye. You will have most of the day to set the servants about the +preparations for the coming of Prince Kyphallos. Spare no expense, +Naia, in those preparations. Report hath it he is a hard young man to +please." + +"Such reports as I have heard would not confirm yours, my father," Naia +retorted with a contemptuous curl of her crimson lips. "What has come +to my ears would prove him no better than a beast, far too easy to +please, indeed." + +Prince Lakkon shook his head. "Child!" he chided in sibilant fashion. +"You must not speak such words of a Prince of Tamarizia, Naia." + +But the maid replied more calmly: "I speak not of him as a Prince of +Tamarizia, but as a man and his attitude toward women." + + * * * * * + +Croft was rather surprised to see Lakkon frown at his daughter's +speech. He himself applauded her attitude toward a man he judged must +be a profligate of national reputation. He set the man's facial grimace +down to mere distaste for hearing any one of royal blood disrated, and +as the prince made no reply, sat waiting what might happen next and +watching Naia where she reclined. + +"What brings him to Himyra?" she questioned at length. + +"He comes on matters of state." Prince Lakkon's reply was almost rudely +sharp and short. As he ended his answer he sighed and lifted himself +to a cross-legged seat. "Ah, here we are at the gate. Naia, there is +nothing finer in all Tamarizia than this. No, not even in Zitra itself." + +Whether he uttered the exact truth or not Croft did not then know, but +as he gazed from the coach between the curtains of fluttering purple he +was inclined to agree. + +They had come to a place outside the walls--those monster walls Croft +had seen hours ago, shining a dull deep red in the morning sun. Now +close by, they towered above him in their mighty mass--still red--a +deep, ruddy red with an odd effect of a glaze on the surface of what +he could now perceive was some sort of artificial building block laid +in cement. So far as he could judge, the wall rose a good hundred feet +above the road and stretched away on either side, strengthened and +guarded every so far by a jutting tower as far as his eye could reach. + +Where they now stood the road came down to the bank of the river on a +wide-built approach made of stone masonry laid in cement, protected on +the shoreline by a wall or rail, fully six feet wide across its top, +which was provided every so far with huge stone urns, blackened about +their upper edges as though from fire. Croft recognized their purpose +as that of flaming beacons to light the wide stone esplanade before the +gate at night. + +Beyond the wall was the river--a vast yellow flood, moving slowly +along. It was at least a half-mile wide where it met the wall. And the +wall crossed it on a series of arches, leaving free way for the boats +Croft now saw upon the yellow water, equipped with sails and masts, +making slow advance against the current, or driven perhaps by their +crews at long sweeplike oars. He noted that each arch was guarded by +what seemed gates of metal lattice, and that drawn up above each was a +huge metal door which could be let down in case of need to present an +unbroken outward front above the surface of the flood. + +It was a wonderful sight, river, wall, and wide-paved approach as +the gnuppas drew the carriage swiftly toward the gates. Then it all +vanished. Croft caught sight of two men dressed something like ancient +Roman soldiers, huge, powerful fellows, with metal cuirass, spear and +shield, barelegged half up their thighs where a short skirt extended, +their shins covered by metal greaves, their heads inside metal casques +from the top of which sprouted a tuft of wine-red plumes. + +They stood beside the leaves of two huge doors, fashioned from copper, +as it seemed to Croft, things solidly molded, carved, graved, and +embossed in an intricate design. These doors were open and the carriage +darted through, entering a shadowy tunnel in the wall itself. + +It was high, wide, and deep, the latter dimension giving the actual +width of the wall itself. Croft judged it to be nearly as wide as tall. +Then it was passed, and he found himself gazing upon such a scene as +had never met mortal eyes perhaps since the days of Babylon. + +The great river flowed straight before him for a distance so great +that the farther wall was lost in a shimmering haze of heat. It flowed +between solid walls of stone, cut and fitted to perfect jointure. From +the lowest quay the banks sloped back in gentle terraces, green with +grass and studded with trees and blooming masses of flowers and shrubs. + +Huge stairways and gradually sloping roadways ran from terrace to +terrace, down the river's course. And back of the terraced banks there +stretched off and away the splendid piles of house after house, huge, +massive, each a palace in itself, until beyond them, seemingly halfway +down the wonderful river gardens, there loomed a structure greater, +vaster, more wide flung than any of the rest. In the light of the risen +sun it shone an almost blinding white. To Croft at that distance it +appeared built of an absolutely spotless stone. + + * * * * * + +As for the other houses, surely as he felt the abodes of the nobles and +the rich, they were constructed mainly of red sandstone, red granites +and marbles, although here and there was one which glowed white through +the surrounding trees, or perhaps a combination of red and white both. +Yet, aside from the monster structure in the distance, the majority +were red. Indeed, he was to come to know later that the word Himyra +meant red in the literal sense; that in the Palosian tongue this was +the "red city," just as he was to learn also that the name of the +mighty river was Na, because of its yellow colored flood. + +But this morning he knew none of that as he gazed down the terraced +vista, bathed in the rays of Sirius, now rapidly mounting the sky. + +And there was much to see. Across from the vast white building, on +the other side of the river Na, he beheld a pyramid. He could call it +nothing else in his earthly mind. It, too, was huge, vast--a monster +red pile, rising high above all other buildings in the city, until +near the top was a final terrace or story of blinding white, capped +with a finishing band of red; the whole thing supporting a pure white +structure, pillared and porticoed like a temple on its truncated top. +Even in the distance it was a monster thing. How large he could not +tell. Later he was to know it was two thousand feet square at the base, +and three hundred feet in its rise above its foundation, ere the temple +of Zitu was reached. + +But then it struck him merely as vast. Indeed, the whole vista so +impressed him, with its palaces, its mighty river, its terraces and +parks, and the great white structure toward which they were rapidly +dashing along a road before the massive dwellings each surrounded by +its own private park. Far, far ahead he caught the dim outline of the +farther city wall. He began to feel somewhat like Gulliver in the land +of Brobdingnag save that the city life which he had seen was little +larger than that of its kind on earth. + +And now between the great white palace and the pyramid a bridge grew +into being before his eyes. While he watched span after span swung +into place to form the whole. Already he had noted a series of masonry +pillars in the stream, but had not comprehended what they meant. Closer +examination was to teach him that each supported a metal span, mounted +on rollers and worked by the tug of the current itself through a series +of bucketlike bits of apparatus, which dragged the sections open or +drew them shut; also that at night the sections were opened to permit +free passage to boats. + +The things like the terraces and the roads showed a good knowledge +of engineering as a characteristic of the Palosian peoples. But from +the fact that the terraces and the river embankment were studded at +intervals with more of the stone fire-urns, Croft decided that they +were unacquainted with the use of electricity in any form. Nor did +they seem to be possessed of a practical knowledge of the various +applications of steam. + +None of the boats on the river, of which there were many, some plainly +pleasure craft equipped with parti-colored sails and others as plainly +freight and commercial barges, but were propelled by sail and oar. Nor +was the traffic of the streets other than by foot, or by equipages +drawn by gnuppas, such as Prince Lakkon's driver was guiding down the +well-paved street. + +In fact, the more Croft saw of the city of Himyra, the more did he +become convinced that civilization on Palos had risen little above the +stage which had marked the Assyrian and Babylonian states on earth in +their day. + +Prince Lakkon spoke now to Chythron a word of direction and turned +to his daughter again. "I shall be with Jadgor the greater part +of the day. You, Naia, as head of my household, must see to these +preparations, since as counselor to the king I must show a noble from +Cathur what courtesy I may, in an official capacity at least. Aphur and +Cathur guard the highway to all outer nations. Those who would carry +goods must pass through the gate and so up the Na even to the region of +Mazzer. Cathur is a mighty state." + +"As is Ahpur, which holds the mouth of the Na," the girl returned. + +"Aye. Together with Nodhur, whose interests are Aphur's interests, the +three could place your Uncle Jadgor on the imperial throne when the +term of the Emperor Tamhys shall expire." + + * * * * * + +Croft pricked his ears, even as he saw a quickened interest wake in +Naia's face. Plainly Lakkon spoke of various states of the country, and +it was evident that the girl understood the full import of her father's +words. "Only Bithur would be against him," she said. + +"Hardly all of Bithur. It lies too close to the lost state of Mazhur +for that," Lakkon replied. "There were seven states in the Tamarizian +Empire, as you know, before the war with the Zollarians took one and +gave Zollaria their first seaport on the central ocean, through our +loss." His face darkened as he spoke. "Small good it did them, however, +since there is still the Na, and our other rivers to which they pay +toll, if they wish to sail to Mazzer or the other barbarian tribes. And +as long as Cathur and Aphur guard the gate small good will it do them. +Zitemque take them and all their spawn!" + +"As long as Cathur holds!" Naia exclaimed. + +Lakkon nodded. "Aye. Cathur stands cut off from the rest of Tamarizia, +as you know, by Mazhur's fall. Jadgor would see to it that Cathur still +stands despite that fact or Zollaria's plans, if she has them, as some +of us fear. Tamhys is a man of peace. So am I if I may be and Zitu +sends it; yet will I fight for my own." + +"And Kyphallos comes in regard to this--this--alliance?" + +Prince Lakkon nodded. "Aye. List you, Naia. Order Bazka to send runners +to the hills to bring back snows on the eighth day from this. Kyphallos +likes his wines cooled, and will drink no other. In our own place I +have given orders for all fruits and fish and fowls to be made ready +at the appointed time. See to it that the house is decked for his +coming--that all things are made clean and fit for inspection. As for +yourself, you must have a new robe. Spare no expense, my child, spare +no expense." + +Naia's eyes lighted as he paused. "I should desire it of gold broidered +in purple," she flashed back, smiling; "with purple sandals wrought +with gold." + +And suddenly as the carriage turned into a broad approach leading from +the main street to a huge red palace, Lakkon laughingly remarked: + +"Have what you will, so long as it becomes thy beauty. Well are you +called Naia--maid of gold." + +The carriage paused before the double leaves of a molded copper door. +Chythron reached out and, seizing a cord which hung down from an arm +at one side, tugged sharply upon it to sound a deep-toned gong, which +boomed faintly within. + +Hardly had the sound died than the two leaves rolled back, sinking into +sockets in the walls of the building itself, to reveal a vast interior +to the eye, and in the immediate foreground the figure of a man who +gave Croft a start of surprise. + +He was nude as Adam, save for a narrow cord about the loins, supporting +a broad phallary of purple leather. And he was blue! From his shaven +scalp which supported a single stiff upstanding tuft of ruddy hair +throughout his entire superbly supple length he was blue. And the color +was natural to his skin. At first Jason had thought him painted, until +a closer glance had proved his mistake. Aside from his surprising +complexion he seemed human enough, with dark eyes, high molar +prominences, and a strongly bridged nose. He was indeed not unlike an +American Indian, Croft thought, or perhaps a Tartar. He remembered now +that in times long past the Tartars had worn scalp locks, too. + +The blue man bowed from the hips, straightened, and stood waiting. + +Lakkon sprang from the coach and assisted Naia to alight. + +"Bazka," he spoke in command, "your mistress returns. Give ear to her +words and do those things she says until I come again." + +He sprang back into the coach, and Chythron swung the equipage about. +He cried aloud to the gnuppas, and they dashed away, back toward the +road along the Na. Croft found himself standing before the open door of +Prince Lakkon's city palace with Naia and the strange blue man. + +"Call thy fellow servants," the Palosian princess directed as she +passed inside and Bazka closed the doors by means of a golden lever +affixed to the inner wall. "I shall see them here and issue my +commands." + +She walked with the grace of limbs unrestrained toward the center of +the wonderful hall. + +For wonderful it was. At first Croft had thought it paved, in part at +least, with glass of a faultless grade. But as he passed by Naia's side +toward the center of the half room, half court in which flowers and +shrubs and even small trees grew in beds between the pavement, he saw +it was in reality some sort of transparent, colorless crystal, cut and +set into an intricate design. + +Yet that the Palosians made glass he soon found proof. Casting his eyes +aloft, he saw the metal framework of an enclosing roof arching the +court above his head. Plainly it was thrown across the width of the +court to support shutters made of glass of several colors, some of them +in place, others removed or laid back to leave the court open to the +air. + + * * * * * + +The court itself was two stories high, and from either end rose a +staircase of some substance like a lemon-yellow onyx, save that it +seemed devoid of any mottling of veins. These stairs mounted to the +upper gallery, supported above the central grand apartment on a series +of pure white pillars, between which gleamed the exquisite forms of +sculptured figures and groups. + +There was also a group done in some stone of a translucent white, at +the foot of each great stair. One, Croft noted, depicted a man and a +woman locked in each other's arms. The other showed a winged figure, +binding up the broken pinion of a bird. "Love" and "Mercy" he thought. +If this were a sample of the ideal of this people, they must be a +nation worth while. + +So much he saw, and then Naia seated herself on a chair of a wine-red +wood, set beside a hedge of some unknown vegetation which enclosed a +splendid central space of the crystal floor. + +Bazka had disappeared, but now came the sound of voices, and the +servants appeared, emerging from a passage beneath one of the stairs. +There were several members of both sexes in the group, and, like Bazka +himself, one and all wore no more than a purple apron about the thighs. +Croft was to learn in the end that the Palosians wore clothing more as +a protection against the elements than for any desire to conceal the +form; and with that fact he was to find them a highly moral people none +the less. + +Now, though their apparel, or lack of it, was something of a shock +to his sense of conventions, as the men and women of the blue tribe +advanced to greet their mistress in her chair, and listen to those +directions she gave, he found himself wondering if they were slaves. +Indeed he so regarded them until he knew more of the planet to which he +had come. Then he knew slavery no longer existed among the Tamarizians, +and that the blue men and women were the children of former slaves +captured in wars, but now freed, given the rights of citizenship and +paid by those whom they served. + +In the end Naia turned to one of the women and ordered her to go to a +cloth merchant and bid him attend her at once, with fabrics from which +to choose her gown. That done, she dismissed each to his or her task, +rose, and moved down the court. Croft followed as she went, mounted one +of the yellow stairs, and came out on the upper balcony, down which she +passed over an inlaid floor, beside walls frescoed with what he took to +be scenes of Palosian history and social life. + +She paused at a door fashioned from the wine-red wood, set it open, +and entered an apartment plainly her own. Its walls were faced with +the same yellow stone used in the stairs. Purple draperies broke the +color here and there. Purple curtains hung beside two windows which +she set open, turning the casings on hinges, to let in the air. In the +center of the floor, which was covered with woven rugs and the skins of +various beasts, was a circular metal basin holding water in a shallow +pool. On one side was a pedestal of gold supporting a pure white +miniature of a winged male figure, poised on toes as if about to take +flight. + +Beside the pool Naia paused as she turned from opening the window. Her +figure was reflected from the motionless surface. Croft recognized it +as a mirror in purpose, similar in all respects to those the ancient +Phoenicians used. For a time she stood gazing at the image of her +figure, then turned away to a chest, made of the wine-red wood, heavily +bound with burnished copper bands. + +Beside the chest, the room held several chairs and stools, and a molded +copper couch covered with rich draperies. + +Naia rummaged in the chest while Croft watched. She rose and turned +with a garment in her hands. Gossamer it was, fine, soft, sheer, a +cobweb of texture as she shook it out. It shimmered with an indefinable +play of colors, transparent as gauze. She lifted a hand and unfastened +the gown she wore from the heavy shoulder boss that held it in place. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + PALOSIAN DIPLOMACY + + +Taken wholly by surprise, Croft caught one glimpse of a glowing, +pliant figure, cinctured just above the hips by a golden girdle. Then, +realizing that the maiden believed herself utterly alone, he turned to +the open window and incontinently fled. + +Light as a thistle-down in his sublimated self he emerged into the full +Palosian day. Yet he quivered in his soul as with a chill. Naia of +Aphur, Princess of the Tamarizian nation, was a woman to stir the soul +of any man. And she was his--his! The thought blurred his senses as he +rushed forth. His? A second thought gave him pause. His indeed, yet no +more his now than always since their dual spirit had projected into the +material world and had been lost each to the other how many eons ago? +His--found now at last, yet unclaimable still! Unclaimable! + +The thought was madness. Croft put it away--or tried. To distract +himself he wandered over the city of Himyra stretched red in the Sirian +ray. And as before he knew it vast. From the river it stretched in its +red and white collection of walls both ways. He visited each part, +finding it poorer and poorer as he wandered from the river to the walls +until inside them, at all parts, save where the main avenue by the +river reached the two principal gates, he found the poorest classes of +the people dwelling in huts of yellow-red brick. + +Yet Himyra was a wonderful place. Croft visited the quays along the Na, +farthest from the gate, where he had entered with Prince Lakkon and his +daughter hours before. They swarmed with life, were lined with boats, +built principally of wood, though some were mere skin-covered coracles, +more than anything else. They lay by the stone loading platforms, +taking on or discharging the commerce of the Palosian world. Men, white +and blue, swarmed about them, tugging, sweating, straining at their +tasks, speaking a variety of tongues. + +From the loading platforms on the lower levels tunnels ran up beneath +the terraces on the surface to reach the warehouses above where the +goods were stored. Within them, moving in metal-grooves braced to an +equal width by cross-bars fixed to the floors, small flat-topped cars +were drawn by whipcord-muscled creatures like giant dogs. + +Croft followed one such team to a warehouse and watched the storing +of the load by a series of blue-skinned porters, under the captaincy +of a white Aphurian who marked each package and bale with a symbol +before it was carried away. This captain wore a tunic, metalwork cases +on his calves and sandals and a belt, from which depended a short, +broad-bladed sword. He had seen his counterpart on the quays as well +and was satisfied that Himyra had a very efficient system of officers +of the port. + +From the warehouse he went toward an adjacent section, evidently the +retail mart of the town. Here were shops of every conceivable nature +open in front like those of some Oriental bazaar. At this hour of the +day business was brisk. More than one Palosian lady had come in a +gnuppa-drawn conveyance to see and choose her purchases for herself. +A steady current of life, motion and speech, ran through the section. +Blue attendants, male or female, as the chance fell out, walked with +these matrons of Palos, shielding their heads from the sun with +parasols woven of feathers, held above them on long handles, while they +examined, selected, and bought. Porters brought baskets of fruit and +flowers, bolts of cloth, strings of jewels to the metal-built carriages +behind returning women, and bowed their patrons away. + +Suddenly the sound of a vast, mellow gong, a series of gongs, like an +old-time carillon rang out. The bustle of the market stopped. As by one +accord the people turned toward the vast pyramid beyond the river and +stood standing, gazing toward it. + +It came over Croft that it was here the great chime had sounded--that +this midday cessation in the activities of life had something to +do with the religion of the nation. Driven by his will, he reached +the great structure where the topmost temple shone, dazzling in the +noontime light. He found himself on the vast level top of the pyramid +itself. Before him was the temple supported on a base, its doors +reached by a flight of stairs. It was pillared with monster monoliths, +crowned by huge capitals which supported the porticoed roof. + +A sound as of chanting came from within. Croft mounted the stairs and +passed the doors and paused before the beauty of what he saw. + +The temple was roofed with massive slabs of stone save in the exact +center, where an opening was left. Through that aperture the light of +the midday sun was falling to bathe a wonderful figure in its rays. + + * * * * * + +The face of the statue was divine--the face of a man, superbly strong, +broad-browed, and with purity and strength writ in its every line. +The head and face were wrought in purest white as were the bared left +shoulder and arm. Below that the figure was portrayed as clad in gold, +which was also the material used in modeling the staff crowned by a +loop and cross-bar, grasped by the hand of the extended left arm. The +man was portrayed as seated on a massive throne. Now as the sun's rays +struck full upon it, it seemed that the strong face glowed with an +inward fire. + +On either side of the statue stood a living man, shaven of head, +wearing long white robes which extended to their feet. Each held in +his hand a miniature replica of the stave held by the statue--a staff +crowned by a golden cross-bar and loop. + +Croft started. This was the _crux ansata_ of the ancient Egyptians in +all outward form--the symbol of life everlasting, of man's immortality. +And he found it here on Palos on the top of a pyramid. + +The chant he had heard was growing louder. It held a feminine timbre +to his ears. At the rear of the temple a curtain swept aside seemingly +of its own volition and a procession appeared. It was formed of young +girls--their hair garlanded with flowers, each carrying a flaming +blossom in her hand. They advanced, singing as they came, to form a +kneeling circle in front of the monster statue on its throne. + +They were clad in purest white, unadorned from their rosy shoulders +to their dimpled knees save for a cincture of golden tissue which ran +about the neck, down between the breasts, back about the body, and +around to fasten in front like a sash with pendent ends, which hung in +a golden fringe to the edge of the knee-length skirt. + +And as they advanced and knelt and rose and cast their offering of +flowers before the glowing statue, they continued to chant the harmony +which had first reached Croft's ear. In it the word Zitu recurred, +again and again. Zitu then was the name of the statue--the name of the +god. He listened intently and finally gained the purport of the hymn. + + "Zitu, hail Zitu! + Father of all life! + Who through thy angels + Give life and withdraw it, + Into our bodies--out of our bodies; + God--the one god-- + Accept our praise." + +The chant died and the singer turned back behind the curtain, which +swung shut as they passed. Croft left the temple and stood on the +top of its broad approach, gazing across the river at the vast white +structure which he had first seen at a distance that morning, and which +now stretched directly before his eyes. It came to him that this was +the capital of Aphur--the palace of that Jadgor--Prince Lakkon had +mentioned, brother of Naia's mother, as he was to learn. Bent on seeing +the man who aspired to Tamarizia's imperial throne at close quarters, +he willed himself toward the far-flung white pile. + +It was built of stone he did not know, as he found when he came down to +the broad, paved esplanade before it. But the substance seemed to be +between a marble and an onyx, so nearly as he could judge. It stretched +for the best part of an earth-mile and housed the entire working force +of the Aphur government as he came to know in the following days. + +Now, however, he gave more attention to his immediate surroundings--the +vast towers on either side of the monstrous entrance, heavy and +imposing and each flanked by guardian figures of what seemed winged +dogs, whose front legs supported webbed membranes from body to paw. + +Croft passed between them through the entrance where flowed counter +streams of Palosians, on foot or dashing past in gnuppa-drawn chariots, +trundling on two wheels, and driven by men clad in cuirasses and belted +with short swords. + +He entered a vast court, surrounded by colonnades, reached by sloping +inclines and stairs and paved with a dull red stone. Here stood more +of the chariots before the doors of this or that office of state. Blue +porters moved about it, sprinkling the pavement with cooling streams of +water from metal tanks strapped to their shoulders and fitted with a +curved nozzle and spraying device. + +It made a splendid picture as the sun struck down on the red floor, the +gaily trapped gnuppas, the metal of the chariots and the flashing armor +on the bodies of those who rode them, or the men at arms who stood here +and there about the court, armed with sword and spear. This was the +heart of Aphur's life, Croft thought, gave it a glance, and set off in +quest of Aphur's king. + + * * * * * + +He passed through vast chambers of audience, of council, or banqueting +and reception, as he judged from the furnishing of each place. He +passed other courts, marveling always at the blending of grace with +strength in the construction of the whole. Also, he marveled at the +richness of the draperies with which various rooms and doorways and +arches were hung. Much of it seemed to possess a metallic quality in +texture. It seemed like thin-spun gold. Yet it was everywhere about +the palace as he passed. Finally he paused. He was getting nowhere. He +decided there was but one means of attaining his desire. He put it into +force. He _willed_ himself into the presence of Jadgor without further +search. + +Thereafter he was in a room, where, beside a huge wine-red table, two +men sat. The one was Prince Lakkon, whom he knew. The other was even +a larger man--heavy set, dark of complexion, with grizzled hair, and +a mouth held so tightly by habit that it gave the impression of lips +consciously compressed. His eyes were dark as those of a bird. His nose +high and somewhat bent at the middle of the bridge. The whole face +was that of a man of driving purpose, who would brook small hindrance +between himself and a predetermined goal. + +Aside from that, however, there was little of the king about him +since he was clad simply in a loose, white tunic, out of which his +neck rose massive, below which his lower limbs showed corded with +muscle and strong. Plainly Jadgor was talking state business with his +brother-in-law at ease. + +As Croft gained the room he struck the table at which he sat with +clenched fist. "Cathur must still guard the gateway with Aphur, Prince +Lakkon!" he cried. "Let Zollaria plan. Cathur's mountains make her +impregnable now as fifty years before. Had Mazhur been other than a +low-lying country she would have never fallen victim to Zollaria's +greed. But Cathur must be assured in her loyalty to the state." + +"Her loyalty?" Prince Lakkon exclaimed. "What does Aphur's king mean?" + +"What he says." Jadgor set his lips quite firmly. "Scythys is king--a +dotard! Kyphallos is what--a fop--a voluptuary, as you know--as all +Tamarizia knows. When he mounts the throne--as he doubtless will since +there seems none to oppose him--what will Zollaria do? Cathur, since +Mazhur was taken, stands alone--secure in her mountains, it is true, +but alone, none the less. And Cathur guards the western gate to the +inland sea. + +"Fifty years ago Zollaria meant to take Cathur as well, and she failed. +The capture of Mazhur, save the territorial addition to her borders, +gave her nothing at which she aimed. True, she has now a seaport at +Niera, yet to what end? We hold the gate and the mouths to all rivers +opening into the sea. Yet has Zollaria ceased to prate of a freedom of +the seas? You know she has not. With Kyphallos on Cathur's throne, will +she seek to gain by craft what was denied to her arms?" + +"But Kyphallos himself?" Lakkon objected as Jadgor paused. + +"Kyphallos!" The heavy shoulders of Aphur's monarch shrugged. "List +ye Lakkon! Zollaria is strong. Cathur stands alone. Cathur guards +the gate. Aphur could not hold it alone. Think you our foemen to the +north have ceased of their ambition or to plan or prepare, while +Tamarizia wounded by Mazhur's loss, has licked her wounds for fifty +years--and what now? Tamhys--Zitu knows I mean no unjust criticism of +a nobleman--is one who believes in peace. So, too, do I, if peace can +be enjoyed without the sacrifice of the innate right of man to regulate +his own ways of life. Yet were I on the throne at Zitra, do you think +I would ignore the possible peril to the north? No! I would prepare to +meet move by move should the occasion arise." + +"And your first step?" Lakkon asked. + +"To make sure of Cathur," Jadgor said. + +"How?" + + * * * * * + +Jadgor leaned toward his companion before he replied. "I would take a +lesson from Zollaria herself. Lakkon, we have lived--each state too +much in itself. Tamarizia is a loosely held collection of states, +each ruled by what--a nominal king and a state assembly? And those +assemblies in turn elect the central ruler--the emperor of the +nation--to serve for ten Palosian cycles. + +"Zollaria is what? A nation ruled by one man and a cycle of +advisors, whose word is ultimate law. How was that brought about? By +intermarriage--by making the governing house of Zollaria one, bound +wholly together by a common interest without regard to anything else +save that. Hence, let us make the interests of Aphur and Cathur one, +and let us not delay." + +"By intermarriage?" + +"Aye. With the right princess on Cathur's throne Kyphallos might be +swayed, and certainly nothing would transpire without our gaining word." + +"You have such an one in mind?" Lakkon asked. + +"Aye. I plan not so vaguely, Lakkon. I would give him the fairest maid +of Aphur to wife. It would require such to hold a man of his type. +Do you know that inside the last cycle he has been seen frequently at +Niera, mingling with the Zollarian nobles who come to summer there?" + +"So I have heard rumored." Prince Lakkon inclined his head. "But this +woman?" + +"Your daughter Naia," Jadgor declared. + +"Naia! Your sister's own child!" Prince Lakkon half rose from his chair. + +"Hilka!" Jadgor waved him back. "Stop Lakkon! She is beautiful as Ga, +the mother of Azil. It is because of her Kyphallos comes to Himyra +now. I, Jadgor of Aphur, sent him the invitation with this in mind for +Tamarizia's good. The betrothal must be agreed upon before he returns. +Lakkon, I speak as your king." + +Prince Lakkon's face seemed to Croft to age, to grow drawn and somewhat +pale as he bowed to his king's command. He looked to Croft, indeed, +as Jason knew he himself felt. Never had he seen Prince Kyphallos of +Cathur, yet he had heard him mentioned that morning in Lakkon's coach. +He had heard Naia's soft lips utter sincere disgust of the lecherous +young noble. + +Now Naia--the woman he himself loved--was planned a sacrifice to policy +of state. Every atom of his soul cried out in revolt--"not that--not +that." He might not win her himself, as he very well knew. Yet he had +seen her--known her, loved her. A sick loathing evoked by Jadgor's plan +waked in his soul. The thought of her surrender to the foul embrace +of the northern prince roused within him a rebellion so vast that his +senses whirled. + +Lakkon rose slowly. His features were dull and his voice a monotone of +feeling too deep for an accent of expression. + +"King of Aphur, I shall inform the maid that she is chosen a +sacrifice," he said. "I know her mind. She loathes this Prince of +Cathur in her heart." + +"Yet other women have sacrificed themselves to their nation in +Tamarizia's history," Jadgor replied. + +"I shall place the matter before her in that light," Lakkon informed +him, and turned to leave the room. + +Croft left, too, flitting out of the palace and once more taking up his +own purposeless wandering about the town. Naia, Naia, Naia, his soul +cried out within him! Naia, mate of his spirit!--sweet, pure maid of +gold. Would that he had a body here on the planet of Palos! He would +fight this monstrous step, he told himself, to the death! He would +seize this golden girl and bear her away--somewhere--anywhere, beyond +the reach, the touch of the satyr Prince of Cathur. He would prevent +this intended sacrifice of all that was holy in human existence--or die +in the attempt! + +Here and there he made his way among the life of Himyra, torn by an +agony of thought. Dimly he saw where he went--through the stables of +the mighty caravans full of the ungainly sarpelcas--through what seemed +a market of cattle, where were droves of the long-haired taburs and +herds of other creatures like monster sheep save that they had huge +pendulous udders, evidently the source of the nation's supply of milk. + +He noted these things without being fully aware of the fact at the +time. Only later did he recall them as objects beheld before. In a +similar fashion he came upon the barracks of troops guarding the +various gates in the great wall, entered them, passed through them, +found Himyra's weapons no more than strong bows and swords and spears, +her soldiery, sturdy looking fellows clad in leathern tunics. + +Yet not for one instant did the tumult in his senses cease as he passed +from scene to scene. Always was the thought of Naia with him. Always +was his spirit hot in revolt against the plan of Aphur's king. And so +in the end thoughts of Naia seemed to draw him back in a circuit to +Lakkon's palace where was the girl herself. + +He reached it and paused outside its doors. They were open. The +copper-hued chariot drawn by the four plumed gnuppas stood before them, +with Chythron back of the reins. + +Bazka, too, stood between the open leaves of the portal, and across +the crystal pavement, leading to them, Lakkon was leading Naia toward +the coach. + +While Jason watched, Aphur's prince and his daughter entered the +conveyance and the great doors closed. Chythron spoke to the gnuppas +and they sprang into their stride. Quite as he had done that morning +Croft entered the carriage and crouched on the padded cushion where +Naia already reclined. Where they were going, he did not know. Nor did +he care, so long as she lay there before his eyes. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + A VIRGIN'S PRAYER + + +For a time as they turned toward the city gate, which they had entered +that morning, silence held between Prince Lakkon and his child. + +Lakkon broke it himself at last. "All is arranged as you thought best, +my Naia?" he inquired. + +"Aye, my father." She turned her eyes. "The messengers have departed to +the mountains for the snows; the servants are cleaning. I have ordered +the tables set in the crystal court, inside the hedge, and I have +arranged for a band of dancers and musicians on the appointed day." + +"And the robe. You did not forget the new robe?" Lakkon smiled. + +Naia shook her head, her eyes dancing. "I am a woman," she replied. +"The makers came at my summons to take my measure. It will be ready on +the seventh day from this." + +"That is well," Prince Lakkon said. But he sighed. + +And suddenly Naia's face lost its light and grew sweetly brooding. She +stretched out a rounded arm and touched him on the breast. "You are +tired, my father," she spoke in almost crooning fashion, edging nearer +to him. "The day with Uncle Jadgor has left you weary." + +"Aye, somewhat," Lakkon confessed. With a swift, yet powerful gesture, +he reached out and swept her into his arms, drawing her against his +massive chest and sinking his cheek to touch her golden hair. "Naia, my +daughter, thou knowest that I love you well," he said. + +Croft quivered in his being. It seemed to him he was looking into +Lakkon's heart and reading there all his lips held back--the fatherly +love, the fatherly pain, attendant on that scene in Jadgor's apartment, +where he had spent much of the day. It was that, he felt, inspired +that sudden, almost hungry clasping of the girl's supple figure to the +father's breast--that almost plaintive cry for her assurance of her +faith in his love. + +But Naia seemed not to sense any deeper reason than the mere love +between them expressed. Her red lips parted, and she laughed softly as +she lay against him, lifting a hand to his gray-shot hair. "Know that +you love me?" she repeated. "Think you I could doubt it? Did you not +give me my life? Do we not love what we create--so long as it comes +from ourselves?" She nestled her head in the hollow of his corded neck. + +Above that gold-crowned head the man's face worked. "We were happy the +day of thy birth, thy mother and I," he said. + +And now it seemed that at last the woman sensed some trouble +unexpressed in the mind of the man. Very gently she released herself +and sat up on the padded cushion. Her almost purple eyes looked full +into those of her parent. "Concerning what did you speak with Uncle +Jadgor today?" + +"Concerning thee." Lakkon met the issue fairly now that it confronted +him at last. + +"Concerning me?" To Croft every line of Naia's figure stiffened. + +"Aye." Prince Lakkon sat up. He spoke swiftly, briefly, and paused. Yet +ere he paused he had fully outlined all King Jadgor planned. + +And while he spoke the eyes of the woman widened swiftly, as the iris +stretched to leave her pupils deep wells of horror. + +Then as Lakkon finished speaking she cried out: "No!" in swift +instinctive protest, and lifted herself upon her pink bent knees to +poise so an instant before she flung herself once more upon her +father's breast. "No!" she cried again, clinging to him. "No, no! Not +that--not that! Father, unsay it! Give me not to that beast!" + +"Hush!" Prince Lakkon stayed her. "Chythron will hear your outcry." + +"Chythron!" she exclaimed. "Not Chythron but all Aphur--all Tamarizia +shall hear my outcry against what Jadgor intends--every woman in the +nation shall give thanks to Azil and Ga, that she stands not in my +place." + +"Naia." Her father spoke in a voice not wholly steady. + +"Would you profane a shrine, sully a temple, defile a sacred thing?" +she flared. "Is a virgin's body a thing to be bartered and sold in +Aphur? Does my uncle regard me as a shameless creature who sells +herself for a price? Azil and his holy mother would veil their faces +from such marriage rites." + +"Think not I wish it," her father said. "Yet can I not deny the truth +of Jadgor's words, or that the union of the houses of the two states +would work for Tamarizia's great good." + +Naia was panting. "Tamarizia's?" she faltered now. + +"Aye, did you not comprehend what I said concerning the welfare of our +nation?" Lakkon asked. + +She shook her head. "I--I think horror must have dulled my +understanding," she said. "Explain to me again." + +Long since they had left the city gates and were following a well-built +road which led off toward those mountains where Croft had first stood +and viewed the Palosian landscape in the light of this waning day. As +he reached the end of his second exposition of the facts, Prince Lakkon +turned and suddenly swept aside the purple curtain which draped the +side of the coach. He flung out an arm and pointed straight to where +the dull red walls of Himyra still shone in the afternoon rays. + +"Behold Himyra, jewel on the breast of Aphur," he cried. "There she +lies. Think you I would have given ear to Jadgor's plans save for that? +Think you I would send you flesh of my loins to such a union save for +the good of unborn souls to come? Think you were it not for Himyra, +Aphur, Tamarizia herself, I would have bowed my head to the words of +Aphur's king? Nay. If so, you are wrong. But for Tamarizia and that +glory and honor which are hers and have been for a thousand cycles of +our sun, a true son of the nation must sink all thoughts of self, must +live, if by living he can serve, or should it serve better, must--die!" + + * * * * * + +Despite himself, Croft thrilled at the words, such as only a true +patriot might speak in such tones of fire--tones which quivered and +pulsed with emotion, one might not deny. In spite of his own sorry +rebellion of spirit, echoed, as he now knew, in the soul of the gentle +girl before him, some feeling akin to pity for this royal father of +hers, crept through his mind. Prince Lakkon was a man torn between +parental love and the love of his nation--destined, as it seemed, to +suffer, no matter how this thing fell out. + +And while he spoke, the girl, his child, flesh of his flesh, crept +to his side, to kneel and gaze out at the distant walls of the city +she knew as her own. Her expression changed. Some of the indefinable +quality of girlhood seemed to fall from her and expose the deeper, +firmer woman's nature, as though a veil had been torn aside. + +"And I must live for her--with--Kyphallos?" she whispered tensely as +Lakkon once more paused. + +"If you can win him--hold him--sway him--with Jadgor on the throne at +Zitra you will have made Tamarizia strong." + +"I--will have made--Tamarizia--strong." + +O girl of gold! Croft's heart cried out as he caught her scanning +speech. O wonderful woman--so true to womanhood--so true now to the +spirit of ultimate woman, ultimate sacrifice through which attribute +of woman comes life itself! Unseen, unknown to her or the man who rode +beside her, Croft approached and bent above her in that moment of +struggle and decision. For, as she turned her eyes back to the interior +of the coach, Croft knew she had decided, and that in deciding she had +chosen the path which led against every personal impulse of her own +clean spirit. + +"What am I against Tamarizia?" she said. + +"You are my daughter and I love thee," said Lakkon, Aphur's prince. + +"I know." Naia crept to him and laid herself in his arms. "I know," +she murmured after a time of silence. + +Lakkon's arms tightened about her as the coach swung along. Her arm +crept up and stole about his neck. Silence came down again save for the +patter of the gnuppa's feet on the stone surface of the highway which +had now left the plain and begun to scale the mountainside. + +Crouched invisible, Croft turned his gaze from the man and woman to +stare out between the fluttering curtains. + +The road came to an end in a mountain valley, open toward the east and +so unveiled a fresh scene of beauty to Jason's eyes. + +Here was a country palace, gleaming white above a series of terraced +gardens which rose from the shores of a tiny mountain lake. Toward it +Chythron guided his steeds along a private drive which branched off +from the highway they had traversed thus far. + +As though the turning had been a signal, Naia loosened the embrace +which held her and sat up, still without speaking, before Chythron +brought his team to a stand. + +Then, as in the morning, Prince Lakkon helped her to descend and moved +beside her up a low, broad flight of steps to reach the portals of +their home. + + * * * * * + +At their heels Croft followed on. His eyes swept the scope of the +valley so far as he could mark it from the steps. Groups of the +woolly, sheep-like cattle he had seen in Himyra fed in the lush grass +of mountain meadows. Cultivated fields stretched out before his eyes. +At the top of the steps he turned briefly and looked off to the east. +There his eyes caught the glint of distant sun-kissed water--the +Central Sea, of which Prince Lakkon had spoken, he now believed. + +Then the portals before which Lakkon and Naia stood swung open, and +once more a blue native appeared. Beside him was a monster beast, +similar in all respects to those Croft had seen harnessed to the tiny +trams in the cargo tunnels. It marked the advent of Lakkon and Naia +with a slow wagging of its tail, and, suddenly rearing, laid its huge +front paws, one on each of the girl's shoulders. + +She spoke to the creature softly, and when it dropped back, at her +command, she patted its head. Then turning to the man of Mazzer, who +stood waiting, she proferred a command: "I am going to my apartments, +Miltos; send Maia to me there." + +"You will attend me later--over our evening viands?" her father asked. + +"Aye, presently," she returned as she moved toward a stair at one +end of the entrance court, which, in a smaller way, was not unlike +Prince Lakkon's Himyra palace, save that here its pavement was laid +in alternate squares of pale yellow and dull red. The treads of the +stairway, also, were of yellow and red, as Croft saw while mounting, +and the pillars which supported the balcony were yellow, while the +balcony itself was red. Here, too, as in the city, a group of white +sculpture stood at the foot of the stair. It depicted a very Hercules +of a man throttling a creature not far unlike a tiger, while behind him +crouched a woman, holding a tiny figure of a child. + +All this he saw as Naia ascended without pause, reached a door, guarded +by a heavy golden curtain, swept it aside and entered into her own room. + +Here, as in Himyra, Croft found couch and chairs, and windows, the +mirror basin, the pedestal, and the winged figure poised as though for +flight. + +Once more the golden curtain was drawn back and a young Mazzer woman +appeared. + +Naia turned. "Maia, how is the pool?" + +"It should be delightful, princess," the blue girl replied. "All this +day Zitu warmed it with his light." + +Naia tapped with her foot. "Procure fresh raiment and bring it +thither," she said. "The ride was tiresome and I will bathe." + +Five minutes later, accompanied by Maia, who bore fresh robes, she +left the room and led the way to one end of the corridor and through +a small door to an outer stair. Descending that she passed through a +sort of sunken garden, laid out in odd geometric designs and planted +with shrubs and trees and flowers, among which gleamed the white of +ornamental urns, fire-urns, and statues toward a low, white wall in +which an opening appeared. Passing this, she turned about the angle +of a protecting inner stone screen and stood on the margin of an open +bath, its water clear as crystal and tinted a delicate amber from the +yellow bottom and sides of the peculiar onyxlike stone. + +Naia bathed. Refusing to spy upon her, Croft waited without the +concealing wall, while twilight fell and the sounds of soft splashings +came to his ear. The bath took a long time. Croft fancied the girl +found some vague comfort in the soft, warm kiss of the waters tempered +all day by the sun--that to lie wrapped in their liquid caress soothed +somewhat her spirit, torn by the revelations her recent journey had +held. While he waited twilight deepened, and after a time a softer +light stole through the garden. + +He lifted his gaze to the skies. Three moons hung there, casting their +blended light over mountain and valley and plain. Vaguely he wondered +which of the three he had visited during the night before--that night +with its weird experience, ending on the edge of this day which, after +all, had been but little less weird--this day in which he had found and +recognized and yielded to the one feminine counterpart of his nature, +only to find her destined to another less worthy than himself, and to +know himself unable to intervene between her and her fate. + + * * * * * + +While he sat there brooding the whole strange situation--a man in all +save material body--a consciousness, suffering all the pangs of spirit +he was unable to physically express, Naia came forth and moved with her +accompanying servant, a pure, white figure, through the garden to the +house. + +Like her shadow, Croft pursued her every step. He stood beside her +while she sat waiting for the evening meal. He was behind her when she +reclined on the couch beside the table, opposite her father, and ate. +He dogged her steps when she once more sought the quiet of her room, +and bade Maia leave her for the night. + +Hence he witnessed what no other eyes beheld as the flaring oil-lamp, +with its guttering wick little better than a candle extinguished, and +the apartment flooded only by the light of the Palosian moons, she +knelt by the mirror basin, before the winged figure on the wine-red +pedestal. + +And he heard what no other ears save her own could hear as she lifted +her hands to the figure, before which she knelt--the cry of her +soul--her womanhood's suppliant prayer. + +"O, Azil, Giver of Life, must this be forced upon me? O Ga, Mother of +Azil--thou virgin woman, whom Zitu ordained the one to give an angel +life, that he might speak to men of Zitu himself and teach them how to +live, do thou intercede for me! Thou knowest woman guards the sacred +flame, which is life itself; so that it burns clear and never ceasing. +Must that flame in me be fouled? Ga the Mother, Azil the Son--Azil the +Angel--hear ye my prayer!" + +She ceased and knelt on, silent, with hands clasped and lovely head +bowed down. + +And once more it seemed to Croft that his senses went spinning, +eddying, whirling around. Azil the Giver of Life. Ga the mother of Azil +the Son. A Virgin and a Child. And Zitu the father--God. She prayed to +them. + +This was the Palosian religion, at least, in part. Strange analogy +to the earth-creed Croft found it--to the creed in which he had been +raised. Zitu was the one creative source here as elsewhere, no matter +by what name called--the source to which the projected atoms of its +thought looked back, to whom they lifted their voices in praise or +prayer. + +What did it matter whether on earth or Palos, life was then the same, +and the source was one place as another, all-embracing, universal, +always the same? And Azil the Angel of Life was what? A Messianic +spirit, surely, which had come to speak to the human atoms and tell +them of the source. What else? And Ga--the medium, through which spirit +was translated into matter--the eternal woman, through whom Life came +to the incarnated man. + +And to these, this maid--this other woman who had pledged herself as a +sacrifice for her nation, prayed. Alone here before the pedestal shrine +of Azil, Son of Zitu, she knelt and asked that the cup she had promised +to drink might be divinely removed from her lips since all human hope +of such a removal seemed to have died in so far as she could know. + +Should that prayer go unheeded or unheard? Could the pure cry of a +clean spirit fail to reach the listening ears of the source? + +No! Croft's spirit cried the word to his soul. No, no! A thousand times +no! Somehow, some way, he knew not how that prayer must be heard and +answered. He tore himself free from the spell of the kneeling figure, +and with no definite purpose in his going save to remove himself from +a privacy he felt he must no longer intrude, went blindly out of the +room. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + KYPHALLOS AND KALAMITA + + +Yet once outside the mountain villa, Croft knew where he wanted to +go. It was back to Himyra--back to the palace of Lakkon itself--to be +alone with his thoughts. To that point, therefore, he once more willed +himself. + +The city swam beneath him. The yellow Na sparkled and glinted in the +flickering gleams of the fire basins lighted along the embankments +as they leaped and flared. Other fires flashed out in various of +the public squares. And here the population met for their hours of +relaxation. Here groups of wandering musicians played on reed and harp +and horn as the gaily decked crowds filed by. Here mountebanks plied +their stock of tricks, and acrobats proved their supple agility and +strength. Over it all the three moons of Palos poured a silvery light +as Croft flitted past. + +Then he was at the palace of Lakkon, finding still open, a window of +Naia's own room, and so at length the place he sought. The moonlight +filtered in. It fell in a broad bank, which struck across the pure +white figure of Azil with its outstretched wings. + +Through a long moment Croft stood gazing at the statue, bathed in the +light of the moons. Then, without removing his eyes, he found the couch +and sat down upon it, and thought, still staring at Azil--the material +symbol of that spirit to whom the girl, the aura of whose presence +pervaded this room, had prayed. + +And, after a time, out of all his agony of spirit, his tumult of +thought, his rebellion at what was proposed for the girl's fate, the +sick knowledge of his own futility to aid her, there came to him a +prompting impulse as to his future course. To what end he did not know. +In his present state he could do nothing and knew it--had raged at the +knowledge ever since he had seen Naia of Aphur on her way to this room, +where he now sat. + +Yet despite the acknowledged fact of impotency, something seemed to +urge him to go on, to learn all he might of Palos and its people, of +Tamarizia and its history, its manners and customs, its government and +laws, and more particularly the true state of things in Cathur and the +truth concerning Kyphallos, son of Cathur's king. + +To Cathur then would he go, Croft decided, while he sat there staring +at Azil, the Angel of Life. And Cathur, he judged, lay toward the north +since Jadgor had spoken of the state of Nodhur as lying beyond Aphur on +the Na. Hence he willed his spirit in projection without further delay. + +Thereafter followed a week in which Jason Croft, disembodied spirit, +learned much concerning the nation and the country to which he had +dared venture across millions of miles of space. + +He found Cathur, a mountainous state lying to the north of a wide +mountain walled strait. He found Scira, its capital city, not unlike +Himyra save that it was built of an odd blue stone quarried from the +mountains which ribbed the state in all directions. There was white +stone, too, used in the governmental palace, and also in a splendid +collection of buildings lying on a small plateau above the city proper. +This was the National University of Tamarizia, as Jason quickly +learned, once he was inside its walls. Endowed as he was with the +peculiar ability of reading the words of the people by reason of his +sublimated state, he found this school a wonderful means of quickly +gaining all knowledge of the nation which he desired to know. + +He literally went to school, an unknown scholar who listened to the +recitation of classes and the lectures of grave professorial men clad +in long robes of spotless white. Geography held his interest mainly at +first. He learned that Tamarizia lay upon a continent holding itself +completely surrounded save for the narrow strait, a vast central sea, +studded here and there with islands, the major of which, Hiranur, some +fifty miles long by twenty wide, was the seat of the imperial throne +at the city of Zitra, of which Jadgor had made mention before. The +Tamarizian states bordered this central ocean--or had done so before +the Zollarian war had wrested Mazhur, on the extreme north shore, from +the original group of states. + +East of Mazhur lay Bithur. South of that was Milidhur, completing the +eastern side of the Central Sea. Aphur joined Milidhur on the west--its +name literally meaning "the state to the west," and south of Milidhur +and Aphur was Nodhur, gaining outlet for its commerce by means of the +river Na. + +Cathur lay west of Mazhur, north of the strait, to the outer +ocean, completing the circle. Its name might be translated as the +battle-ground, which, in fact, it was, Zollaria having more than once +sought to conquer it and lost because of the nature of its mountainous +terrain. Having learned so much, he could readily see wherein the +possession of this state would give Zollaria the freedom of the seas, +which she desired, and a joint control of the entire Central Sea. + +From geography he turned to sociology and science. He found out quickly +that the Tamarizians used a metric system, numbering their population +by tens and dividing the national census on the basis of thousands +and tens of thousands, each thousand unit having a captain and each +ten thousand a local governor. Their day was twenty-seven hours long, +their year longer than that of earth, but divided into twelve periods +or months, each in their belief ruled over by an angel designated by a +symbolic sign. + +They believed in the immortality of the soul, as he had learned the +first day. They believed in the resurrection of the dead. They used +a system of social castes, to which the naturalized descendants of +the Mazzerian nations belonged, being purely a caste of the lowest or +serving type. The trades of fathers descended to sons, instruction in +crafts and arts being largely by word of mouth alone. They had a bard +or minstrel caste, a caste of dancers wholly female in its circle. + +A Palosian year was called a cycle, a day a sun, a month a Zitran--or +period set by Zitu, the national God. There was a priesthood and a +vestal order of women. Also, there was an order of knighthood, to which +belonged men of noble blood or those raised to it by kingly decree +for some signal accomplishment in the arts or sciences or some other +service to the state. + + * * * * * + +The royal house of each state was hereditary, but governed jointly +with a state assembly elected by the vote of each ten thousand unit of +population, each unit selecting a state delegate to the assembly. The +imperial throne was filled by the choice of the states, as he had once +before heard Jadgor, of Aphur, say. + +Agriculture was highly held and greatly specialized. Metal working +was a very advanced science, as he had already guessed. Copper was +abundant, and the Tamarizians held the secret of tempering the metal, +now unknown on earth. Of it they made their weapons and most of their +public structural metal, including their carriages and chariots and +all conveyances of a finer sort. Gold was plentiful, too. But silver +and lead were rare and held in high esteem. Steam and electricity were +unknown in their application, as Croft had already seen. + +They had reached a high plane in art, sculpture and weaving. He +discovered that the golden cloth was actually gold spun into threads +and mixed with a vegetable fiber to form warp and wool. There was also +a medical caste, somewhat crude, but seemingly efficient, so far as he +could learn, and attached to it a female or nursing caste, consisting +wholly again of women, who entered it from choice. In fact, women, as +he came to see, held a prominent place in the nation. They held the +right of suffrage. Their citizenship was coequal with their men. They +sat in the class-rooms of the university, as he actually saw, and even +took part in public ceremonials and competed in the public games. + +All in all, before his week at Scira was past, he had come to +understand that Tamarizia was a very democratic nation despite its +form of royal rulership, and that the emperor of Zitra was little more +than a relic of old-time government, with little more power than a +republican president. + +And that, like most republics, the nation had grown weak in the pursuit +of the profession arms, he had to admit that Jadgor was right. Each +city had a sort of civic guard--each unit of ten thousand possessed a +military police. There was an imperial guard at Zitra of possibly five +hundred men. Civic guards, imperial guards and police, the national +maximum force none too well armed or trained would not be judged as +aggregating over fifty thousand effective men. + +To the north of Tamarizia lay Zollaria, her western shore line that +of the great or outer ocean. Like Tamarizia, Zollaria was a nation of +whites, differing, however, in their national regime and their physical +appearance to no small degree. As Jadgor had said to Lakkon, theirs was +a rule of absolutism, first and last, with the governing class distinct +from the common people in each detail of their life. + +Larger than Tamarizia, Zollaria looked with envy on the position of the +country to the south. Fifty years before she had sought to change it +and failed. Yet Jadgor was assured she had not laid aside her ambition, +and Croft was inclined to agree. + +The Zollarians themselves were a light-haired race, to a great extent, +heavily built, strong, virile, sturdy, many of them blue-eyed, except +in the southern part of the nation, where they approached more nearly +to the Tamarizian type. + +East of Tamarizia and south of Zollaria, in the hinterland of the +continent on which the three nations lived, was the half-savage tribe +of Mazzer, the blue men, inhabiting a region consisting mainly of +semitropic forests and plains, living largely by hunting and the +exporting of skins and dried meats and natural fruits, together with +a variety of cheese. In these articles they maintained commerce with +Zollaria and Tamarizia, along their adjoining borders, and had done so +for years. Commerce was entirely by water in such boats as Croft had +seen on the Na, and by means of the sarpelca caravans across stretches +of desert to regions not approachable by the streams. + +That week in school proved a rather peculiar experience to Croft. He +came to feel actually at home in Scira. Without being seen or known he +came to know the youths of the various classes. + +And to one in particular he gave special note. He was a wonderful +man in so far as physique was concerned. He stood a good six feet in +height and was built in perfect proportion. In the games and sports he +always excelled because of his splendid strength. And there he ceased. +Mentally he was not the equal of those with whom he strove. + +Nature seemed to have left her task uncompleted so far as Jasor was +concerned. That was his name--Jasor, from Nodhur, the state to the +south of Aphur as Croft learned by degrees. He was a lovable young +man, mild-mannered, friendly and kind. But he was rated in his studies +with youths two years his juniors and appeared unable to do more than +maintain his standing with them. Watching him, Croft felt both pity +and interest develop through the course of the seven days wherein he +himself acquired so great an understanding of Palosian life. + +It seemed a pity to Croft that one so splendidly endowed with physical +perfection should be so mentally weak. He rather followed young Jasor +about and discovered to his pleasure that although seemingly well +provided with means the youth was naturally of a cleanly life. More +than that, through association with him, he came to know that Jasor +felt his position acutely, and was brooding over his own mental +capacity to an unwise degree. + + * * * * * + +Throughout his stay in Cathur, however, Croft did not lose sight of his +main object in coming to the northern state. He had come to find and +judge Kyphallos for himself, and he attended to that, not the first +night, as he had intended, but the next night after that. There was a +reason for the delay. Kyphallos was not in Scira when Croft came to the +capital of Cathur. Jason managed to see Scythys the king. He found him +in a splendid room clad in a loose robe of scarlet, a senile husk of +a once massive man, with a look of vague trouble in his half-blinded +cataract-filmed eyes. But of Kyphallos the son there was no sign. + +Only by chance remarks was Croft able to learn the whereabouts of the +prince. By such means he finally learned of a second palace maintained +on an island in the Central Sea, off the coast of Cathur, not far from +the border of the former Tamarizian state of Mazhur. The island was +known as Anthra, was a part of the state of Cathur, and a favorite +retreat with the crown prince. + +To Anthra on the second night Croft went. And on Anthra he plunged +into such a scene as he had not met in Tamarizia as yet. Heretofore +he had been struck with the mild beauty of Palosian life, with a sort +of personal dignity which seemed to pervade the nation, despite the +magnificence of their public structures and the undoubted wealth of the +state. + +Not but what, being human, there was a percentage of criminality in +the social life. Such things, as among other races, were known and +recognized, but he had found it here regulated to a surprising extent. + +On Anthra, he came into an atmosphere the antithesis of this, combined +with a degree of voluptuous luxury, cradled in a setting of utter +magnificence. + +He came upon a saturnalia of pleasure. He could liken it to nothing +else. A feast was in progress in the palace Kyphallos had made the +scene of his private debauches for years. + +Above an artificial harbor as calm as glass, the palace rose an +imposing pile. At the quays of the harbor their colored sails picked +out by flaming fire-urns, their gilded hulls set asparkle in the +flicker of the light-giving flames, lay a number of elaborate pleasure +craft more like gold and copper galleys than anything else. + +Steps led up from the stone quays to the palace proper, giving on a +wide expanse of crystal flagging, under a heavy portico supported by +pillars of lemon-yellow stone. And beyond this through wide airy arches +was the main court, in the center of which was a pool of limpid water, +some fifty feet long, by as many wide. + +Like the other Palosian palaces this central court was the main +gathering place of the inmates and guests. On Anthra the structure +was flagged in a pale-green stone. The pillars supporting the balcony +about it were lemon-yellow, and the stairways at either end of a clear +translucent blue. Innumerable oil-lamps lighted it this night, and +about one corner of the central pool were arranged the tables for the +feast. + +Here Croft found the man he sought, reclining on a padded divan, his +too full red lips slightly parted in a bibulous smile, his long hair +curled and anointed and perfumed till he reeked of aromatic scents; +his well-formed hands loaded with rings, his body clad in a crimson +garment, embroidered in gold. + +Beside him, lying outstretched like some splendid creature of the +jungle as it came to Croft, was a woman; tawny as a lioness in the tint +of her hair and heavy-lidded eyes, lithe as a lioness, too, in every +sensuous line of her body, well-nigh unclothed. + +Her sandalless feet were stained on the soles with crimson. Anklets +gripped her lower limbs, and tinkled tiny golden bells as she moved. +Bracelets banded her graceful naked arms. Gem-incrusted cups, fastened +by jeweled bands covered in part her breasts. A bit of gold gauze, +studded with bright red stones, accentuated rather than veiled the rest +of her perfect figure from waist to the bend of her knees. She lay +there close to Kyphallos and after a bit she lifted a golden goblet and +pressed it to his lips and laughed. + +Beyond her was a man, Croft marked at a glance. He was heavy, gross; +yet gave an impression of mighty strength in the size of his hairy +arms, the pillars of his mighty limbs, the breadth of his shoulder and +chest. And he, too, was tawny haired. + +And on the other side of Kyphallos was a figure to give Croft pause. +A blue warrior sat there; but surely no member of the serving class, +Jason thought. This man was never made to serve. His were the features +of one who commands, strong, firm-lipped, high-cheeked, with almost +a somnolent sneer in the expression of his mouth and the glint of his +eyes as he turned them on Kyphallos and the woman by his side. This was +some Mazzerian chief--here in the palace of Cathur's prince. Who then +were the tawny woman and man, Croft asked himself, and found he was +soon to know. + +For as the woman laughed Kyphallos spoke. "Your laughter is music +better than any I can offer, my Kalamita. Since first I heard it in +Niera, the time I met you there with your brother, Bandhor, I have +longed to hear it more. Your graciousness in coming to this farewell +feast, ere I sail for Aphur, burdens me with debt. Yet were I loath to +have sailed without a final sight of you--a parting word. And I have +provided such entertainment as I might." + +"As you do always, Prince of Aphur," his companion responded. "Is it +not true, Bandhor, my brother, that we are honored to be present when +Cathur desires?" + +"Aye. Wine, food, music, and women. What more can a man desire?" +the massive individual at whom she smiled over her rounded shoulder +replied. "When Cathur returns, he must come to our house at Niera as he +has done before. There are others of Zollaria I desire him to meet, as +well as other men of Mazzer, besides the noble Bazd, whom we made bold +to bring with us tonight." + + * * * * * + +As he finished the blue man smiled, and Kyphallos picking up his own +goblet of wine passed it to the Mazzerian with a languid grace. "Thy +friends are my friends, O Bandhor of Zollaria!" he exclaimed, and +bending close to the face of the girl said: "Shall I come when I return +from Aphur?" + +And as he gazed upon her the heavy lids slowly contracted until her +eyes narrowed to slits. Then they shot up, fully open, and she flashed +him a smile. "Aye, my Kyphallos, unless you desire me to suffer, come +when you return." + +Kyphallos took back the cup from which Bazd, the Mazzerian, had drunk +and drained it at a gulp. "I shall come," he shouted and clapped his +hands. "Let the entertainment begin!" + +After that Croft could only watch and marvel at what he beheld. A sound +of harps burst forth. Golden and scarlet curtains drew apart at one +end of the immense court. He caught a glimpse of moving figures behind +them, and then--fifty dancing girls broke forth. + +Swaying, posturing, gesturing they moved down the hall toward the +tables. At first they were clothed. But as they advanced they dropped +veil after veil from their posturing bodies, until they gleamed white +and pink swinging figures, caught in the eddies of the dance. Closer +and closer they came. They reached the tables themselves. They sprang +upon them. They danced among the remnants of the feast. The hands +of the guests--other companions of Cathur's prince, reached toward +them--sought to capture them and draw them down upon the divans. + +And then the music ceased. Crying aloud the dancers leaped from the +table into the pool. Like nymphs they swam across it and disappeared +behind a curtain of flowers and shrubs at the farther end. Yet in a +moment they were back, dragging what looked like a monster shell in +which sat the figure of an aged man, carrying yet another shell in his +hand, and wearing a long green robe. + +This they launched in the pool, and seizing ropes fastened to it they +swam back toward the tables towing it along. At the corner of the pool +they clustered on each side, while the aged passenger rose and stepped +to land. + +Kyphallos rose, too. "Hail Kronhor--Ruler of the Seas!" he exclaimed. +"I am about to entrust myself to your domain for a journey to the +south. What fare may I expect?" + +"Good, O Prince of Cathur," the aged one returned. "I shall instruct +all handmaids to wait upon you and steer your ship in safety, even as +they have brought me into your presence tonight." + +Kyphallos filled a goblet with wine and held it out. + +He who played Kronhor took it. + +"Drink!" the Cathurian cried. "Cathur does honor to Kronhor--thus." + +Kalamita sprang to her feet. She filled other goblets, swiftly +motioning the others about the tables to do the same. "Drink!" her +voice rang out. "Drink to Kronhor. Drink to Kyphallos and the safety of +his voyage." + +The toast was drunk. Kronhor made his adieus and was towed back to the +other side of the pool. Kalamita was leaning with both hands locked +over Kyphallos's shoulder. "Tell me," she whispered. "Why does Jadgor +of Aphur ask your presence, my friend?" + +"I know not," said the Cathurian prince. "Some business of state, no +doubt, to which I must attend for my father, who grows feeble with age +as you know." + +The dancing girls were hauling the shell from the pool. They made what +looked like a straining group in pink bisque. + +"It was a pretty play," Kalamita murmured. "Did you design it, +Kyphallos? I know from the past you are clever." + +The man turned and looked once more into her eyes. "I designed it--I +planned it to amuse--you." + +Croft turned away. He had seen enough. This was the man to whom it was +planned to give the woman he--Jason Croft--loved; that sweet, pure +Naia of Aphur who had knelt two nights ago in appeal before Azil the +Angel of Life. This scented sensualist, caught fast in the charms of a +Zollarian woman, of a type Croft could not mistake. Jadgor had hinted +at something like this in his talk with Lakkon two days before. And +tonight--on the eve of his departure of Aphur, Kyphallos of Cathur sat +as the host of the enemies of his land. Surely Jadgor had reason for +the fears he had expressed. Surely here was food for serious thought. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + APHUR ACCEPTS + + +Croft left the court and made his way outside into the calm beauty of +the night. Flooded by the moonlight, he stood watching the flicker of +the fire-urns on the waters of the tiny harbor, where lay the gilded +pleasure craft. + +And after a time he turned back attracted by the fact that the inner +lights had died. Only for a moment, however, did he remain inside. In +the court, flooded now only by the moons, a wild and loathesome orgy +was taking place between the dancing girls and the guests, in and about +the pool. Cries, shrill laughter, sounds of splashing and fleeting +glimpses of flitting shapes told him the full story as to the end of +Kyphallos's feast. It sickened him, and once more he fled the spot to +spend the night outside. + +Naia! The thought came to him. Suddenly he wanted to see her, be near +her, away from this scene of brutal carnival where license reigned +supreme. He wanted to be in the hills of Aphur, where she had her home. +And swiftly he was. There was Lakkon's palace, white under the triple +moons--and here was the window of the room where she had knelt and +prayed. + +Invisible, yet seeing, he crept inside, like a wraith of the night. +Only the moon gave him light. But it showed him the woman of his soul. +She lay on the metal couch, asleep. Her fair hair shadowed her face as +he bent above her. A slender arm was thrown out to one side. Coverings +as light as silk betrayed the grace of her form. Her lips were half +parted, and as Jason bent down, she sighed. + +Croft straightened and stood like a guardian spirit above her. His +soul was once more on fire at the thought of what was planned. This +was the girl who was to be offered to the lecherous young spawn of +royalty, even now disporting himself with the tawny siren from another +nation--that Kalamita, whose name, Croft knew, might best be translated +into English as Magnet. Kalamita--the magnet--a human magnet--a female +magnet to draw men to her by her shameless charms and bind them fast +past any chance of escape. + +How much he wondered did Jadgor of Aphur really know of what was going +on. How fully was he informed of what was coming now to seem, to Croft, +as one side of the workings of Zollaria's plot? Surely he must know how +much to be willing to sacrifice this fair young sleeper, his sister's +child. Little by little Croft was coming to understand the workings of +Jadgor's mind--to believe him a patriot really rather than a seeker of +selfish power, such as he had fancied he might be for all his brave +words at first. + +What then? Croft could not answer. Bound as he was--despite his ability +to hear and see and know, he could do nothing in himself. All night +long he raved in impotent rage, unknowing that by degrees he was +solving the problem presented to him. + +At morn he went back to Anthra. He witnessed the departure of Kyphallos +in a gilded galley, with red sails and red silken cordage rowed by +twenty blue men, ten to each bank of oars. + +Kalamita's barge, in which rode the Zollarian woman, her brother and +Bazd the Mazzerian chief, accompanied the Cathurian for some two hours +before it turned north and made off for Niera, as Croft gathered from +what conversation passed. + +Kyphallos's craft continued south. Croft let him go. He himself went +back to Scira and the national school for his lessons of the day. The +Cathurian prince was safe for five days while he sailed and rowed to +Himyra. Meanwhile Croft was determined to learn all he could. It was +after that he first met Jasor and studied him during the few days +remaining until the first meeting between Kyphallos and Naia which he +had determined to attend. And in so studying the youth, he discovered +Jasor's full recognition of his own shortcomings, and that his +knowledge of his own backward mental powers was preying upon his mind +to produce a melancholic turn in the young man's thoughts. + +At night Jasor sat in his quarters brooding, or took long solitary +walks. Even in the four days he lost flesh. Croft realized that his +introspections were sapping the young Nodhurian's strength--that he +was physically as well as mentally sick. He had drawn into himself and +no longer took part in the games in which, not only the dares of his +classmates, but his very stature, told Croft he had once excelled. + +Then came the seventh day, and Croft had willed himself back to Himyra +once more, with an eye out for the galley from Anthra along the yellow +Na. + +He found it a little below the city wall, and followed it as it worked +its way up the current with flashing dripping blades which rose and +glistened and fell in the brilliant light. Under a scarlet awning, +Kyphallos, curled and perfumed, lay on a burnished divan and watched +the city slip past until the galley swung into one of the quays in +front of the palace, where a chariot accompanied by a part of the +royal guard waited as the galley moored. Meanwhile vast crowds lined +the terraces along that portion of the Na and trumpets blared a +greeting to the northern guest. + +The Cathurian came ashore and entered the burnished car. The detachment +of the guards fell in on either side. The procession mounted the +inclines from terrace to terrace past the gathered throngs, until +in the end it passed through the monster entrance of the palace and +brought up in the principal court. + +There various nobles of the state, Lakkon among them, waited to conduct +the visiting noble to Aphur's king. Under their escort Kyphallos moved +through the corridors and across courts to where, in an audience-room +of huge proportions, Jadgor sat in state. + +Here his guard of honor drew aside and left the prince standing alone +as Jadgor rose. + + * * * * * + +"Welcome Cathur, to such poor hospitality as is mine," said Aphur's +king. + +"Hail Aphur," Kyphallos replied, bowing in the least degree. "Cathur +sends greeting through me, his son." + +Jadgor descended a step of the dais on which he sat. He put out a hand. +"Accept a seat beside me, son of Cathur, whose presence gladdens the +eye," he went on. + +Kyphallos advanced, clasped palms with the Aphurian king, mounted the +steps and seated himself on the gilded divan where Jadgor had sat alone. + +The king of Aphur turned to two guards stationed on either side. +"Announce that Cathur is Aphur's guest." + +"Cathur is the guest of Aphur!" proclaimed the soldier heralds. + +This completed the ceremonial of the royal arrival and the nobles +withdrew with the exception of Lakkon, who, at a sign from Jadgor, +remained and approached the dais. + +Jadgor waved away his guards. "I would speak with you on matters of +weight, O Cathur," he said when the three were alone. + +"I give ear, King of Aphur," Kyphallos replied. + +Like the man of purpose he was Jadgor did not waste time in airy +persiflage. "Cathur guards the western gate with Aphur, Kyphallos," he +began. "To my mind it occurs the guards are bound by a common interest. +It occurs to me to strengthen the tie." + +"To what end?" A slight frown grew between the younger man's eyes. He +seemed like one taken suddenly by surprise and his words came only +after a perceptible pause. + +"To the end of strengthening our nation," Jadgor shot out his reply. +"In one year Tamhys's reign is done, unless he be reelected, as you +know. With Cathur's help and that of Nodhur, which is well assured, and +support from Milidhur already promised, Aphur can win the day." + +"Ah!" Suddenly Kyphallos smiled. And as swiftly his eyelids drew +together. "But what," he asked, "if Cathur should look toward Zitra as +well?" + +Like a stab of light a thought pierced Croft's listening brain. Was +that it--was that the bait Zollaria held forth? Kyphallos on the throne +of Tamarizia--not for ten years, but for life--Zollaria and Tamarizia +practically one if not actually united--Cathur in Zollaria's hands and +Kyphallos a noble of a vast empire--a dual monarchy such as Palos had +never seen. The conception from the standpoint of royalty at least was +no less than magnificent. + +Jadgor, too, gave his companion a piercing glance. "Could Cathur win +without Aphur?" he asked. + +Kyphallos shrugged. "My words were but a question," he evaded the +answer direct. "What does Aphur propose?" + +"An alliance of their houses," Jadgor said and paused. + +And once more Kyphallos frowned without reply. Plainly he was giving +this matter consideration. + +Jadgor resumed. "It is in our minds to offer you the fairest flower in +Aphur's garden of women to this end." + +"Hai! A woman! Thou meanest marriage?" Kyphallos cried. + +"Aye." + +Kyphallos smiled. "And this wonderful woman--who is she?" + +"The daughter of Prince Lakkon here," Jadgor declared. "Naia, the child +of my sister, more beautiful than any girl in Aphur and pure as the +Virgin Ga." + +"Naia!" Kyphallos's eyes lighted. "I have heard of her, O Aphur. It +would seem you plan to make this alliance strong." + +"The guard of the western gate should be strong," Jadgor said. + +Kyphallos nodded. "Yet have I never seen her," he remarked in a tone +of musing, "though the fame of her beauty has reached Cathur ere this. +I have heard she has hair like spun gold and eyes as purple as the +twilight in the mountains. Is this true?" + +"Cathur shall judge the truth for himself," Jadgor made response. +"Prince Lakkon craves the presence of Kyphallos at a feast tomorrow +night. The maiden shall be there." + +"Good." Once more Kyphallos smiled. Women were his main interest in +life. "I have never given serious thought to marriage, yet it can do no +harm to see this fairest of Aphur's maids. Say to Prince Lakkon that +Cathur shall do himself the pleasure to accept his invitation to a +feast. As for the rest--" He shrugged. "A man, O Jadgor, should never +marry in haste. I must think upon your words." + +There was something in the Cathurian's mind. Croft tried to read the +secret thought, and failed. Jadgor, too, seemed to sense some reason +beyond the one assigned for the man's hesitation, although an immediate +answer was hardly to have been expected to such a proposition as that +by which the prince was faced. + +And Jadgor did not seek to press the matter further. Instead, he +turned to Lakkon with a request to escort the royal guest to the rooms +prepared against his coming, and rose from his seat. + + * * * * * + +Croft sought Prince Lakkon's palace without more delay. + +He found it receiving the finishing touches of preparation for the +Cathurian's entertainment, and Naia, with her own maid beside her, +supervising the hangings of fresh draperies in the huge central court. + +His soul quickened at sight of her and then sank as he saw the +expression of her face. It was an expression of deliberate endurance, +and he recalled how nights before she had sighed in her sleep. + +Yet he hovered near her and after hours Lakkon himself arrived and came +to her side. Father and daughter sat upon one of the carved and gilded +seats with which the court had been set forth. + +Naia looked into Lakkon's eyes. "What said the Cathurian to Jadgor's +proposal?" she inquired. + +"He accepted our invitation for the night after this," Lakkon replied. +"He seems a cautious man. He would see you before he decides." + +"He would see me!" Naia of Aphur flashed. "He would view me--learn if I +please his royal fancy--Zitu! must I submit to this?" + +"Nay." Lakkon shook his head. "Cathur's prince was but gaining time to +consider all sides of the case. Jadgor's offer took him by surprise." + +"Perhaps," said Naia in almost eager fashion, "he does not wish a wife." + +Lakkon shook his head again. "Scythys, his father, is old. Kyphallos +must marry when he gains the throne at latest. Is everything prepared?" + +"Aye--even to--the sacrifice." Naia's tone was bitter. She rose and +moved away without more words, mounting the stairs toward her rooms. + +Croft's heart was bitter, too, as he left the place and returned by his +will to Scira and the apartment of Jasor of Nodhur. + +Just why he went there he hardly knew--save that the sympathy he felt +for the soul-sick youth seemed to keep the boy in his mind. Yet once in +his presence he found the youth sitting before an untouched plate of +food. And after a time he hurled this to the floor and buried his head +in his hands, to break into muttered speech. + +Croft listened and after a time he found the cause. Jasor's father had +sent him word to come home. The two leaves of a writing tablet--bits of +thin metal covered with hardened wax, in which characters were cut with +a metal stylus, lay unbound and spread out on the table where the food +had sat. Jasor's father had evidently become convinced that his son was +a dullard and was wasting his time in seeking to learn more than he +already knew. + +Croft remained with him during the night. For a time he whimpered and +cursed. Later he destroyed the tablets as he had destroyed his food. +After that he flung himself on his couch and for hours he dozed and +waked and tossed and muttered. Croft fancied him in a fever from the +broken nature of the words he spoke. And in the morning the boy did +not rise. The woman of whom he rented his lodgings came to clean and +found him muttering and mouthing. He sprang up and drove her from the +room. She ran crying downstairs and out to the street and along it for +some distance to a house where quite evidently one of the nursing caste +lived. + +Presently a woman in the uniform of her calling, a short blue-skirted +costume, embroidered with a red, heart-shaped symbol came forth and +followed her back to her house. Five minutes after her arrival she had +sent the old woman for a doctor and was herself bathing Jasor's flushed +neck and face. + +The doctor came, examined the patient, left some liquid substance to +be given in interval doses and went away. Croft remained till evening. +Jasor was more quiet by then, and he left. But, physician as he was, +he felt that the young Nodhurian's days were numbered, that unless he +had the will to recover he would sink slowly and die in the end. And he +knew Jasor had not the will to get well. + +His own will carried him to Himyra in a flash, and to Lakkon's palace +at once. Night had fallen when he reached it and the central court was +a blaze of light from a myriad of oil-lamps. In the main expanse of the +crystal flooring the tables were set forth, decked with flowers and +loaded with viands. Serving men and maidens of the blue Mazzerian race +were still at work in the final preparations. Of Naia or Lakkon there +was no sign. + +The latter came down the stairs at one end after some time, however, +and signing to Bazka, the Mazzerian _major-domo_, took up a place near +the massive doors. There he remained until a clatter of hoofs marked +the first arriving guests. + + * * * * * + +They came in a stream thereafter, nobles of Aphur and their daughters +and wives; captains of the civic guard, and finally, with a blare of +trumpets from riders mounted on gnuppas, Jadgor himself and Kyphallos +in a golden coach drawn by eight gnuppas harnessed four abreast. + +And still Naia had not appeared. But as the King of Aphur and the +Prince of Cathur moved down the crystal pave from the doors toward the +tables in the center of the court, she came slowly down the stairs. + +Croft stared in delight. She was a thing of purple and gold. The gown +she had described that first day wrapped her supple form like a second +skin, from right shoulder to hip, and fell from there to the knees. It +was a shimmering thing embroidered in purple stones. + +Halfway down the stairs she stood and inclined her head, while Jadgor +and Kyphallos paused. Then as the men advanced she began again to +descend, until near the head of the tables she sank on her left knee +and bowed before the king. + +Jadgor's own hand helped her to rise. Jadgor made Kyphallos known. +Prince and princess touched hands. Lakkon led toward the feast. + +At the head sat Jadgor and Kyphallos side by side. Lakkon reclined +beside the king. Naia's place was on the Prince of Cathur's left. Blue +servants in Lakkon's livery placed the other guests and began their +service at once. + +For an hour the feast went on. Hidden musicians filled the air with +the sound of their harps. That snow-chilled wine, of which Lakkon +had spoken, poured from golden pitchers into goblets of silver as +serving-maids passed up and down the board to keep all well supplied. + +Croft noted Kyphallos more closely than the rest. He had seen the +swift lighting of his eyes when Naia appeared on the stairs; the swift +instinctive parting of his too full lips, the twitch of his nostrils, +accompanying that first glance of the maid suggested for his wife. + +Now, as he lay on the divan, he found him watching her with what seemed +a steady interest, plying her with gallant conversation, finding excuse +to frequently touch her hands, staring into her long-lashed purple +eyes. With his resentment for the Cathurian growing by swift leaps and +bounds, he realized that Kyphallos was impressed, sensed that before +this chaste beauty of his own people, he had forgotten Zollaria's +magnet for the time. + +Also he thought it had been better had the wine been less nicely +chilled, for Kyphallos drank deep and his eyes began to sparkle as time +passed with new toasts proposed and drunk about the board. It came to +Croft that Cathur's prince was losing his head at a time when he had +better have kept it, as his voice became more and more loud. + +Intoxication may be very well on Anthra, where it was the accepted +thing. In Himyra and the palace of Lakkon, before his proposed bride, +it might prove another thing. He was strengthened in his belief by the +questioning glance Naia cast at the northern noble from time to time--a +glance of something like surprised dismay. + +The harps struck up a different measure toward the last. Golden +curtains parted under the balcony, near the stairs. A band of dancing +girls trooped in. They were things of beauty, laughing faced, their +soft hair flowing, clad in what seemed no more than garlands of +flowers twined about their slender bodies and halfway down their +limbs. Beginning to dance they advanced and as they danced they sang. +The scene became one of rhythmic beauty, delightful to the senses. +Each girl bore a parti-colored veil of gauze and waved it as she +moved. Massed inside the rectangle of the tables on the crystal floor, +they seemed to be a very dancing, nodding bed of flowers, amid which +twinkled their flying feet and gesturing arms, beating time to the +pulse of the harps. + +Then it was done. The dancers were drawing back with graceful +genuflections, as applause broke forth from the guests. Lakkon tossed +a handful of silver pieces among them. Jadgor cast a double handful of +jewels into the scarf of a maid who advanced at his sign. + +"Divide them among you," he said. + +The girl sank to the floor, and rose. + + * * * * * + +"Hold!" cried Cathur's prince. His face was flushed and his eyes +shone with an unholy light. Croft saw his nostrils fairly quiver as +he watched the lissom dancer. He lifted himself and struck the table. +"Up!" he commanded thickly. "Up beauteous maid." + +With a glance at Jadgor, who made no sign whatever, the dancing girl +obeyed. She stood on the table before Kyphallos. + +"Unveil!" he said. + +Again the woman glanced at Aphur's king. But Jadgor did not draw back +from the situation invoked by his bibulous guest. Too much hung on the +moment as Jadgor saw it to quibble over the uncloaking of a dancer. +"Unveil!" he added his command. + +The girl lifted her hands. Her garlands fell away. She stood a lithely +rounded form, her feet lost in the mass of blossoms she had worn. + +Kyphallos laughed. His eyes were blazing. He caught up a goblet of +wine and rose. "Hail Adita, goddess of womanly beauty," he exclaimed. +"Now, are you perfect as you stand revealed, stripped of the silly +trappings which concealed the greater charms beneath. Flowers are +things of beauty in their place, but--woman unadorned is the fairest +flower of life. Arise, my friends, and drink with me to woman as she +is, this new Adita I have found!" + +They rose at Jadgor's sign, though Croft caught more than one glance of +question passing among the guests. + +So much he saw and turned back to Naia who had risen, too, her face a +mask of outraged dignity and scorn. + +Kyphallos lifted his goblet and set it to his lips. + +Naia lifted hers and cast it from her so that its contents spilled and +flowed across the table at the dancer's feet. + +"Thou beast!" her voice came in tones of sharp displeasure. "Thou +sensuous offspring of Cathur! 'Tis thus I drink your toast!" + +Silence came down--a breathless pause about the tables. + +Kyphallos lowered his cup and turned toward the Princess of Aphur +slowly. + +And suddenly the Cathurian smiled. He replaced his goblet on the +table and sank to one knee before the haughty daughter of his host. +"By Zitu!" his voice rang out; "but you are truly royal. You are +magnificent, daughter of Aphur. Did I pick me a lesser toy, 'twas but +that I knew you for what you are--one fit to be a queen. Naia of +Aphur, wilt pledge yourself queen of Cathur's throne?" + +The words were out. Croft felt his senses sink. Yet even so he saw +the whole psychology of the event. To Cathur, the maiden offered, had +seemed but an easy prize--to take at his pleasure, if at all. To Cathur +drunk the dancer had appealed. To Cathur still drunk Naia of Aphur, +offended, angered, hurling her scorn in his teeth, appeared suddenly +not a thing to be taken lightly, but a beautiful consort to be won if +taken at all. + +On Jadgor's face was a satisfaction unvoiced. He rose and lifted his +hands. "My lords and ladies," he announced, "I call you to witness that +Cathur asks the hand of Aphur's princess. Let Naia choose." + +Kyphallos drew himself up and folded his arms. To Croft it seemed +the man was sobered by Jadgor's words. Yet as cries of assent and +acclamation rang out through the court, he remained silent before the +tense figure of the girl. + +And slowly the golden head beneath the curling plume of purple bowed. +One bared arm rose and extended its fingers toward the northern prince. +"Aphur accepts." Her words came scarcely above a whisper and were +drowned in a greeting roar of voices upraised by the waiting guests. + +Cathur caught the extended hand and turned to the forward straining +faces, the watching eyes. + +"A happy consummation to our feast," rang the words of Aphur's king. +"Men and women of Aphur this shall be arranged. I, Jadgor, myself shall +sponsor the formal betrothal on a day one twelfth of a cycle hence." + +The thing was done. A month from tonight would see it ratified. A +sick impotency filled Croft's soul as once more cries of approbation +greeted the promise of the king. And into the midst of his despair +there flashed one ray of blinding thought. Before it he staggered, drew +back, shaken in the primal elements of his being. Yet he did not put it +aside. He held it. He marveled at it. And suddenly taking it with him, +he left the scented atmosphere of Lakkon's palace court and rose up +toward the heavens, studded with stars. + +To earth! His will gathered, centered, focused by the wonder of the +thing he had conceived cast all its driving power into the demand. +Palos and all it held sank swiftly away beneath him. He opened the eyes +of the form he left on his library couch. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + 'TWIXT EARTH AND HEAVEN + + +Nothing had been disturbed. Everything was as he had last seen it, save +that a layer of dust had collected, thanks to the absence of Mrs. Goss, +and that due to the difference of the length of the Palosian day. Nine +terrestrial days had passed since Croft had lain his body on the couch. + +Rising slowly, he ignited the flame of a small alcohol-lamp and quickly +brewed himself a cup of strong beef-extract, which he drank. The hot +beverage and the food put new physical life into his sluggish veins, as +he knew it would. Seating himself in a chair, he gave himself over to +a consideration of the thought he had brought with him from Palos--a +thought more weird than any of which he had ever dreamed. + +Briefly, Croft had conceived of a way to acquire a physical life on +Palos. That was his unheard-of plan, the possibility of which had +wakened in his consciousness as Jadgor announced the formal betrothal +of Naia to Kyphallos at the end of the month. It was that that had sent +him back here to his study and his books. + +And after a bit he rose and drew a volume from a case and brought it +back to the desk. It was a work dealing with obsessions--that theory of +the occultist that a stronger spirit might displace the weaker tenant +of an earthly shell, and occupy and dominate the body it had possessed. + +He read over the written page and sat pondering once more while the +night dragged past. Even as he had gone a step farther in astral +projection, carrying it into spirit projection as a further step, so +now he was considering a step beyond mere obsession, and questioning +whether or not it were possible for a spirit, potent beyond the average +ego of earth, to enter and revivify the body laid down by another soul. + +His thoughts were of Jasor as he sat there wrapped in thought. The +young Nodhurian was dying, unless Croft's medical knowledge was all +at fault. Yet he was dying not from disease in the physical sense. +His body was organically healthy. It was his soul which was sick unto +death. And--here was the wonderful question: Could Croft's strong +spirit enter Jasor's body as Jasor laid it aside and, operating on the +still inherent and reasonably sound cell-energy still contained within +it, possess it for its own? + +It was an amazing thought--a daring thought--yet not so far beyond the +spirit which had dared the emptiness of the unknown in the adventure +which had brought Croft to his present position, thereby inspiring the +thought itself. Day broke, however, before Croft made up his mind. + +He realized fully that he must remain on earth for a day or two to +provide his present body against another period of trance. He realized +also that in the experiment he meant to make he might lose that earthly +body and fail in his other attempt at one and the same time. But he +made up his mind none the less. + +Should he succeed, he would live as an inhabitant of Palos--would be +able to physically stand between Naia--the one woman of his soul--and +her fate--and, winning, be able perhaps to claim her for himself. +Against the possibility of such a consummation to his great adventure +no argument of a personal peril held weight. + +Croft sent for Mrs. Goss, telegraphing her shortly after it was +light. He spent the day waiting her arrival in feeding his body with +concentrated foods. He met her when she came, and for a week life went +on in the Croft house as it had gone on before. Then Croft summoned +the little woman and bade her sit down in one of the library chairs. +He told her he was engaged on a wonderful investigation of the forces +of life. He made her understand dimly he was doing something never +attempted before, which, if it succeeded, would make him very happy. +He explained that he was about to take a long sleep--that it would +last for three, and possibly four days. He forbade her to disturb his +body during that time, or to touch it for a week. Then, if he was not +returned and in his sane mind, she might know that he was dead. + +With quivering lips and wide eyes and apron-plucking hands, she +promised to obey. Croft sensed her anxiety for himself, and tried to be +very gentle as he saw her from the room. + +But with the door closed behind her, he moved quickly to the couch and +stretched himself out. For a moment he lay staring about the familiar +room. Then into his mind there came a thought of Naia--and of Jasor--of +love for the one and pity for the other. He smiled and fastened his +mind on the object of this present attempt. And suddenly his eyelids +closed and his body relaxed. Once more time and space suffered +annihilation, and he knew himself in Jasor's room. + +It was full. The nurse was there, and the physician. And there was +another--a young man with a strong, composed face, clad in a tunic of +unembroidered brown, whom Croft recognized as a priest. + +He stood by the couch on which Jasor lay, pallid as wax, with closed +lids, and a barely perceptible respiration. He held a silver basin in +his hands, and as Croft watched he sprinkled the face of the dying +youth with his fingers dipped in the water it contained. A quiver of +emotion shook Croft's spirit. He had returned to Palos none too soon. + +The priest drew back. The doctor approached the bed. He lifted the +wrist of Jasor and set his fingers to the pulse. In a moment he laid it +down, and bowed his head. And as he did so, Jasor sighed once deeply +like one very tired. + +"He passes," the physician said. + + * * * * * + +Priest, nurse, and physician all saw it. But Croft saw more than they. +He saw the astral form, the soul-body of Jasor, rise from the discarded +clay. And swiftly casting aside all other considerations, he willed his +own consciousness into the vacant brain. + +Thereafter followed an experience, the most terrible he had ever +known. He was within Jasor's body, yet he was chained. For what seemed +hours he fought to control the physical elements of the fleshy form he +had seized. And always he failed. In some indefinable way it seemed +to resist the new tenant who had taken the place of the old. Croft +describes his own sensations as those of one who presses against and +seeks to move an immovable weight. + +He suffered--suffered until the very suffering broke down the bonds +in a demand for some outward expression. Then, and only then he knew +that the chest of the body had once more moved, and that he had drawn +air into the lungs. Encouraged, he exerted his staggering will afresh, +and--he knew he was looking into the faces above him--through Jasor's +physical eyes! + +"He lives!" + +With Jasor's ears he heard the physician exclaim: + +"This passes understanding, man of Zitu. He was dead, yet now he lives +again!" + +"The ways of Zitu oft pass the understanding, man of healing," said the +priest, advancing to the bed. "What is man to understand the things +that Zitu plans?" + +Croft thrilled. Coordination between his conscious spirit and the body +of the man of Palos was established. He had won again--won a visible, +material existence on the planet with the woman he loved. The thought +brought a sense of absolute satisfaction; he closed the lids above +Jasor's eyes, and slept. + +For several hours he lay in restful slumber, then awoke refreshed. His +deductions had been correct. Jasor's body was healthy, aside from the +weakening influences of his spirit. Given a strong spirit to dominate +it now, it responded in full tide. + +He glanced about. It was night. By the dim light of an oil-lamp he saw +two persons in the room. One was the nurse. The other was the priest. +They appeared to converse in lowered tones. + +"Man of Zitu," Croft spoke for the first time with his new-found tongue. + +The priest rose and hurried to him. "My son." + +"I am much improved," said Croft. "In the morning I shall be almost +wholly well." + +"It is a miracle," the priest declared, holding his forearms +horizontally before him until he made a perfect cross. + +A miracle! Croft considered the words. They carried a sudden meaning to +his mind. Truly the priest had spoken rightly. This was little short of +a miracle indeed, did the other know the facts. Swiftly Croft formed a +plan. "Father, what is your name?" he inquired. + +"Abbu, my son." + +Croft turned his eyes. "Send the nurse away. I would talk with you +alone." + +The priest spoke to the woman, who withdrew slowly, her face a mingled +mask of emotions, chief among which Croft read a sort of awed wonder. + +"Why does she look at me like that?" he asked. + +The priest seated himself on a stool beside the couch. "I said your +recovery was a miracle, my son," he replied. "I am minded that I told +the truth. You have changed, even your face has changed while you +slept. You are not the same." + +Croft felt his muscles stiffen. He understood. The new spirit was +molding the fleshy elements to itself--uniting itself to them, knitting +soul and body together. The experiment was a success. He smiled. "That +is true, Father Abbu," he replied. "I am not the same as the Jasor who +died." + +"Died?" The priest drew back. His eyes widened. + +"Died," repeated Croft. "Listen, father. These things must be in +confidence." + +"Aye," Abbu agreed. + +Croft told what had occurred. + + * * * * * + +Abbu heard him out. At the end he was seized by a shaking which caused +him to quiver through body and limbs. + +"Listen, father," Croft said. "I am not Jasor, though I inhabit his +form. Yet I know something of him, and of Tamarizia as well. Jasor had +a father." + +"And a mother." The priest inclined his head. + +Croft had gained information, but he did not make a comment upon it +then. "To them I must appear still as Jasor," he returned. + +"They are looked for in Scira," Abbu declared. "We hoped for their +coming. Why have you done this thing? Are you good or evil?" + +"Good, by the grace of Zitu," said Croft. "I come to help Tamarizia. +Think you I could have come had not Zitu willed?" + +Suddenly the face of the young priest flamed. "Nay!" he cried, and rose +to stand by the couch. "Now my eyes are open and I see. This thing is +of Zitu, nor could he save by his will. It is as I said, a miracle +indeed." Again he lifted his arms in the sign of the cross. + +"Then," said Croft, striking quickly while the man was lost in the +grip of religious fervor. "Will you help me to do that for which I +came--will you help me to help Tamarizia should the need arise?" + +"Aye." To his surprise Abbu sank before him on bended knees. "How am I +to serve him who comes at the behest of Zitu, in so miraculous a way?" + +"Call me Jasor as in the past," decided Croft. The name was near enough +to his own to fit easily into both his ears and mouth. "Yet think me +not Jasor," he went on. "Jasor was a dullard, weak in his brain. Soon +shall I show you things such as you have never dreamed. Think you I am +Jasor or another indeed?" + +"You are not Jasor," said the priest. + +"Nay--by Zitu himself, I swear it," said Croft. "Go now and send back +the nurse. Say nothing of what I have told you. Swear silence by Zitu, +and come to me every day." + +"I swear," Abbu promised, rising, "and--I shall come, O Spirit sent by +Zitu." He left the room backward and with bowed head. + +Croft let every cell of his new body relax and stretched out. He closed +his eyes as he heard the nurse return, and gave himself up to thought. +It appeared to him that he had made a very good beginning and won an +ally in Abbu, into whose astonishment he had woven a thread of the +man's own religion to strengthen his belief. Now it remained to gain +utter control of the body he possessed--to master it completely, and +make it not only responsive to his physical use, but to so impregnate +it with his own essence that he might leave it for short times at least +in order to return to the earth. + +And to accomplish that he had just four days. Lying there apparently +asleep, he sought to exercise that control he possessed over the body +now lying on his library couch. And he failed. Strive as he might, he +could not compass success. In something like a panic he desisted after +a time and sought to fight back to a balanced mental calm. + +Was he trapped? he asked himself. Was he a prisoner of the thing he had +sought to make his own? Reason told him the question was folly--that +already the body was responding in a physical sense. In the end he +decided to take a longer time in his endeavors, and so at last fell +into a genuine sleep. + +From that he awakened to the sound of voices, and turned his eyes to +behold a woman past middle age, with graying hair, and a man, strongly +built, with a well-featured face, in the room. + +Working swiftly, his mind recalled Abbu's words concerning Jasor's +parents. The priest had said they were expected in Scira. This woman, +then, must be the Nodhurian's mother. + +He opened his lips and called her by that word. + +She ran to him and sank her knees by the couch. "Jasor, my son!" she +cried in a voice which quavered, and as the man approached more slowly, +turned her face upward to meet his eyes. "He knows me, Sinon--he knows +me," she said. + +"Aye, Mellia, praise be to Zitu. Jasor, my son, dost thou know me +also?" the Nodhurian's father said. + +"Aye, sir," said Croft, marking his parents' names. "But--how come you +in Scira?" + +"Did we not write that we should arrive and take you with us on our +return?" Sinon asked. + +Croft saw it in a flash, and the slip he had made. This explained +Abbu's assertion that they were expected. The tablets hurled to the +floor by Jasor had been deciphered after his illness, it appeared. +"Aye," he admitted somewhat faintly. "But--I have been ill." + +"And are recovered now," he who was to be his father said. + +"Aye. Had I my clothing I could rise." + +"We shall return then at once," Sinon declared. + +But Mellia, the mother, broke into protests, and Croft became much +more cautious, spoke for delay. He did not wish to undertake a trip to +Nodhur before he had returned to earth. That was necessary if he was to +protect his earth body from Mrs. Goss at the end of the week, since now +he knew he must have more time. He determined to make another attempt +at escape from his new body, when he would appear merely to be asleep. + +And he succeeded late that night, freeing himself and once more rousing +on the library couch. He did several things at once. He examined his +own body and found it sound. He wrote a note telling his housekeeper he +had returned and gone away for at least a month. He knew many a body +had been kept entranced for longer periods by the Indian adepts of the +East, so did not fear the attempt. + +Next he crept up-stairs to his former bedroom and packed a suitcase, +carrying it to one of the several spare rooms seldom used and always +kept closed. Locking himself into this room, he opened the window +slightly to assure a supply of air. He had told Mrs. Goss to remain at +the house or go to her daughter's, as she preferred, until his return. +He felt assured he would be undisturbed. Laying himself on the bed, he +once more satisfied himself that all was as he wished it, and returned +to Jasor's room. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + WHOM ZITU CHANGED + + +Dawn was breaking on Palos as he opened his eyes. The nurse dozed not +far from his couch. He waked her and demanded his clothing. She brought +it in some doubt and assisted him to put it on. Ten minutes later he +sat on the edge of the couch a Palosian in all physical seeming. Yet +the woman regarded him still in a more or less uncertain fashion. + +Croft smiled. "Thank you for your kindness, my nurse," he said. "I +shall ask my father to remunerate you for it. Now I would eat." + +She nodded and hurried from the room, to return with food. Hardly had +Croft disposed of the meal with a zest evoked of his physical needs, +that Sinon of Nodhur appeared. + +Croft rose and stood as the man came in. "We return home today, my +father," he declared. + +Sinon seemed embarrassed before the words of his son. "Aye, if you +wish," he made answer after a pause. "Sit you, my son. We must speak +together. Your sickness has wrought changes within you. You are not the +Jasor to whom I wrote it were useless to remain in Scira. The glance of +your eye, the sound of your voice, even the lines of your face, have +changed." + +Croft smiled. "That is true," he agreed. "Yet even so it is of small +value to remain in Scira, since now I know all and more than the +learned men can teach me, were I to linger among them for many more +cycles that I have." + +"Zitu!" Sinon regarded him oddly. "My son, is this change to make you a +braggart instead of a dullard?" he began slowly after a time. + +"Not so," Croft returned. "My father, I am as one born anew. I shall +prove my words, yet not until I have returned to our home. Let us begin +the journey this day." + +"It shall be as you wish," Sinon said, and left the room. + +Later Abbu came and was admitted. To him Croft explained that he was +going south to Nodhur with his father. He went further and questioned +the priest concerning Sinon himself, learning that he was a wealthy +merchant, residing in Ladhra, capital of the southern state. + +The information was a considerable shock to Croft. The merchant caste, +while exercising great influence and weight in Tamarizian affairs, were +not of noble blood. Hence now, at the very beginning he found himself +confronted by a gulf of caste separating him from Naia of Aphur hardly +less completely than before he had made Jasor's body his own. For a +moment the thought occurred to him that he had chosen that body rather +badly. Then his natural determination came to his aid, and he set his +lips as he resolved to find a way to win to Naia's side. + +Abbu rather drew back before the gleam which crept into his eyes. +"Jasor, since I know you by no other name," he cried, "wherein have I +given offense?" + +Croft laughed. He rose and flexed his arms and stared into Abbu's +face. "In nothing; I was but thinking," he made answer. "Abbu, give +me tablets to the priesthood at Himyra, stating those things you have +seen." + +Abbu nodded. "You stop at Himyra?" he said. + +"Aye." The first step of winning to the woman of his soul flashed into +Croft's brain, even as his plan for winning a body had flashed there +days before. + +But he kept it to himself, locked safely in his breast, as he set +forth for his new home, with his parents, Sinon and Mellia, that +afternoon. + +That Sinon of Nodhur was wealthy he was assured when he saw the galley +in which the homeward journey was to be made. It was a swift craft, +gilded and ornate as to hull and masts and spars. Ten rowers furnished +power on its two banks of oars, seated on the benches in the waist of +the hull. Behind them were the cabin and a deck under an awning of the +silklike fabric, a brilliant green in hue. Not only did all this show +Croft his supposed father's financial condition, but he learned from +Sinon that he was owner of a fleet of merchant craft which plied up and +down the Na, and across the Central Sea. In addition, the largess Sinon +bestowed on the nurse was evidence of a well-filled purse. + + * * * * * + +All these things Croft considered in the intervals of conversation with +Sinon and Mellia while the galley ran south. In his boyhood Jason had +been possessed of a natural aptitude for mechanics. In later manhood he +had owned and operated his own automobiles, making most of the repairs +upon the cars himself. Learning now of his father's line of business, +it occurred to him to revolutionize transportation on Palos as a first +step toward making his name a word familiar to every tongue. + +To this end he approached Sinon the first evening as he and Mellia +reclined on the deck. + +"My father," he said, "what if the trip to Ladhra could be shortened by +half?" + +"Shortened, in what fashion?" Sinon asked, turning a swift glance +toward Croft. + +"By increasing the speed." + +Sinon smiled. "The galley is the best product of our builders," he +replied. + +"Granted," said Croft. "But were one to place a device upon it, to do +the work of the rowers with ten times their strength?" + +"Zitu!" Sinon lifted himself on his couch. "What, Jasor, is this? What +mean you, my son? What is this device?" + +"One I have in mind," Croft told him. "Come. You make your money with +ships. Apply some of it to making them more swift of motion. Let me +make this device, and they shall mount the Na more swiftly than now +they run with the current and the wind." + +Sinon turned his eyes to the woman at his side. "And this is our son, +who was a dullard!" he exclaimed. + +"In whom I always have had faith," Mellia replied with a smile of +maternal joy on her face. + +"You have faith in this thing he proposes?" Sinon went on. + +"Aye. I think Zitu himself spoke to him in his deathlike sleep," the +woman said. + +"Then, by Zitu--he shall make the attempt!" Sinon roared. "Should he +succeed, the king himself would make him a knight for his service to +the state." + +Croft's heart leaped and ran racing for a minute at the words. +Knighthood! That was the answer to the question in his brain--the +bridge which should cross the gulf between Naia of Aphur and himself. +He crushed back his emotions, however, and faced Sinon again. "Then I +may carry out my plan?" + +"Aye--to the half of my wealth," Sinon declared. "Jasor, I do not +understand the change which has come upon you. But this thing you may +do if you can." + +"Then we stop at Himyra," Croft announced. + +"At Himyra!" Sinon stared. + +"Aye. I would see Jadgor of Aphur so quickly as I may." + +"See Jadgor? You?" Sinon protested. "Think you Jadgor receives men of +our caste without good cause?" + +"He will see Jasor of Nodhur," Croft told him with a smile. "Wait, my +father, and you shall witness that, and more." + +And now all doubt, all foreboding left him, and he planned. That night +as he lay in his bunk aboard the galley, he smiled. To him it seemed +that any doubt must have been transferred to the minds of Sinon and +Mellia. He heard them speaking above the lap of the waters and the +squeak of the oars. He realized how much of an enigma he had become to +these two who believed themselves his parents--how wonderful to them +must be the change in their son. + +But his own mind was coolly collected and calm. He would see Jadgor. +He would use his knowledge of that monarch's present wishes to interest +him in his plans. He would become not a knight of Nodhur, but a knight +of Aphur instead. And then--then--Croft smiled and fell asleep. + +The next day he questioned Sinon concerning the nature of the oil used +in the lamps, and found it a vegetable product, as he had feared. +But--he had been given evidence that the wine supply of the country +held no small alcoholic content, which could be recovered in pure +form with comparative ease. And--he knew enough of motors to know +that slight changes would enable them to burn alcohol in lieu of +petroleum-gas. Straightway he asked for something on which to draft his +plans. + +Sinon, eager now in the development of his son's remarkable plan, +furnished parchment and brushes with a square of color, something like +India ink, and Croft set to work during the remainder of the trip. He +had assembled more than one motor in his day, and after deciding upon +his type of construction he immediately went to work. At the end of +four days, while the galley was mounting the Na toward the gates of +Himyra, he finished the first drafting of parts, and was ready for +Jadgor the king. Yet he did not go to Jadgor first, when once he has +stepped ashore. + +"Wait here," he requested Sinon. "After a time I shall return." + +"Hold, my son," Sinon objected at once. "What have you in mind?" + +"To see the priest of Zitu without delay," Croft replied without +evasion. "Shall Jadgor not give ear, if the priest of Zitu asks?" + +"And the priest?" Sinon asked. + +"I carry a message to him from Abbu of Scira." Croft held up the +tablets that Abbu had inscribed. + +"My son!" Sinon gave him a glance of admiration. "Go, and Zitu go with +you. We shall wait for you here." + +Croft nodded and left. He had purposely had the galley moored as near +the Palace as he might. Now he rapidly made his way to the bridge +across the Na, and along it to the middle span. And there he paused and +gazed about him, at the palace, the pyramid, the vista of the terraced +stream. This was Himyra--this was the home of Naia. Today he stood here +unheralded and unknown. Yet he stood there because of the dominant +spirit which was his, which had dared all to stand there, and--it +should not be long until all Himyra--all Tamarizia knew of Jasor of +Nodhur, as he surely must be known. + + * * * * * + +He went on across the bridge and approached the pyramid. It lifted its +vast pile above him. He found an inclined way and began to mount. After +a considerable time he reached the top and entered the temple itself. +The huge statue of Zitu sat there as he had seen it in his former +state. Now almost without volition he bent his knees before it. After +all, it stood for the One Eternal Source. He gave it reverence as such. + +A voice spoke to him as he knelt. He rose and confronted a priest. + +"Who art thou?" the latter asked, advancing toward him. "How come you +here at no hour appointed for prayer?" + +Croft smiled and held forth the tablets he had brought. + +The priest took them, unbound them, and looked at the salutation. His +interest quickened. "Ye come from Scira?" he said. + +"Aye. Carrying these tablets from the good Abbu, as you see." + +The priest considered. "Come," he said again at last, and led the way +back of the statue to the head of a descending stair. + +Together they went down, along the worn tread of stone steps, turning +here and there, until at length they came into a lofty apartment where +sat a man in robes of an azure blue. + +Before him Croft's guide bowed. "Thy pardon, Magur, Priest of Zitu," he +spoke, still in his stilted formal way. "But one comes carrying tablets +inscribed with thy name. Even now he knelt in the Holy Place, so that I +questioned--asking what he sought." + +Magur, high priest in Himyra, at least as Croft judged, took the +tablets and scanned each leaf. As he read, his expression altered, grew +at first well-nigh startled, and after that nothing short of amazed. + +In the end he waved the lay brother from the room and faced Croft +alone. "Thou art called how?" he began. + +"Jasor of Nodhur--son of Sinon and Mellia of Nodhur," Croft replied. + +"Whom, Abbu writes, Zitu hath changed?" + +"Aye." + +"Thou comest to Himyra, why?" + +"To assist the State--to safeguard Tamarizia from the designs of +Zollaria perhaps." + +"Hold!" Magur cried. "What know ye of Zollaria's plans?" + +"Zollaria desires Cathur and plots the downfall of Tamarizia, Priest of +Zitu. Think that I bring no knowledge to my task?" + +"Yet, were you Jasor indeed, thou mightest know somewhat of Zollaria's +plans to some extent," said the priest. + +"And Jasor was a dullard, as the schools of Scira will declare," Croft +flashed back. "Let my works show whether I stand a fool or not." + +"Thy works?" Magur inquired. + +"Aye--those I shall do in Tamarizia's name. The first shall be one +which shall span the desert twenty times as quickly as the sarpelca +caravan--or drive a boat without sails or oars, or propel a carriage +without any gnuppa, and so haul ten times the load." + +"Thou canst do this?" Magur laid the tablets on the lap of his robe and +sat staring at the man who spoke such words. + +"Aye." + +"And what do you desire of me?" + +"An audience with Jadgor," Croft replied: "Since Aphur's king suspects +the things Zollaria plans." + +Magur frowned. Croft's knowledge seemed to have swept him somewhat off +his feet. For moments he sat without motion or sound. But after a time +he raised his head. "To me Abbu seemeth right in this," he said. "In +this Zitu's hand is. This thing shall be arranged." + +He clapped his hands. A brown-robed priest appeared. + +"Prepare my chariot for use," the high priest said. + +The other bowed and withdrew. + +Thereafter Magur sat through another period of silence ere he rose and, +signing to Croft, led him through a passage to a small metal platform +which, when Magur pulled on a slender cord, began to descend. + +Croft smiled. It was a primitive sort of elevator as he saw while they +sank down a narrow shaft. He fancied it not unlike the ancient lifts +employed in Nero's palace in Rome. But he made no comment as they +reached the bottom of the shaft and emerged past double lines of bowing +priests to the waiting chariot. + +Magur mounted and took the reins. Croft stepped into a place at his +side. The gnuppas leaped forward at a word. They rumbled down the +street and out upon the bridge. Croft had crossed it alone and on foot +an hour before. Now he rode back in the car of Zitu's priest. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + WITH A MOTOR IN PALOS + + +And in that car he passed the palace gates, where the winged dogs stood +guard, and entered the palace court. + +Guards in burnished cuirasses leaped to the gnuppas' heads when Magur +drew rein. + +Inclining his head, Magur stepped from his car and led the way within +that wing of the palace where Croft already knew that Jadgor led his +private life. The high priest moved as of perfect right, saluted by a +sentry here and there in corridor and hall. So at length he came to two +guardsmen posted outside a door of molded copper, embossed with the +symbol of a setting sun, which Croft sensed at once as Aphur's sign. + +And here Magur asked for the king. + +Quitting his fellow, one of the guardsmen disappeared through the door, +was absent for some few moments, and returned. Leaving the door agape +behind him, he signed Magur and Croft to enter the room beyond. + +Thus for the third time Croft came upon Jadgor of Aphur. And now, as +on the first occasion, he found him in the room where he had conversed +with Lakkon concerning a way to counter Zollaria's plans. Yet now for +the first time he met Aphur's ruler in the flesh, and faced him man to +man. + +Magur approached the seat where Jadgor waited his coming. "King of +Aphur," he said. "I bring with me Jasor of Nodhur, in whom Zitu himself +has worked a miracle, as it seems, so that he who was known a dull wit +for cycles at Scira's school, having fallen ill unto death, returns +to life with a changed mind, and comes bringing tablets to me from a +brother in Scira to the end that I gain him audience with thee." + +"With me," Jadgor said, bending a glance at Croft. + +"Aye." + +Jadgor continued to study Croft. "To what end?" he inquired at length. + +"To the end that Himyra and all Aphur may grow strong beyond any +Tamarizian dream, and Cathur never mount the throne at Zitra," Croft +replied. + +Jadgor started. He narrowed his eyes. "What talk is this?" he cried, +his strong hand gripping the edge of his seat. + +"Jadgor the king knows best in his heart," said Croft, and waited. "I +ask but his aid to bring this thing to pass." + +"These things have been spoken to Magur?" Jadgor turned his eyes to the +face of the priest. + +"Aye," Croft said quickly. + +Jadgor nodded. "Then speak of them to me." + +An hour passed while Croft explained and the two Tamarizians listened +or bent above the drawings he unrolled. "And this--how do you name +it--" Jadgor began at last. + +"Motur." Croft threw the word into the native speech. + +"This motur will do these things?" Jadgor asked in a tone of amaze. + +"All I have promised, and more." + +"And what is required to bring this to pass?" + +"Workers in metals--a supply of wine to be used as I shall direct--and +a closed mouth that Cathur shall not be advised, nor permitted to view +the work until done." + +"Those things are granted. I shall see it arranged." Jadgor turned +his eyes again in Magur's direction. "Priest of Zitu--Zitu's own hand +appears in the plans of Jasor's mind. The designs of Zitu himself have +surely entered his soul. I, Jadgor, shall sponsor the carrying out." +And once more he addressed Croft. "When shall this work begin?" + +"So soon as Aphur wills." + +"Good." Jadgor clapped his hands. He was a man of action as Croft knew, +quick to see an opportunity and seize it. Now as a guardsman answered +the summons, he spoke quickly in direction. "Make search for my son, +Prince Robur, and say I desire him here." + +The soldier withdrew, and Jadgor plunged into further questions +concerning Croft's plans. Croft on his part answered him fully, +promising other wonders than the motor in good time, until a faint +tinge of color crept into Jadgor's cheeks and his eyes were aglint with +a deep and subtle light. Croft would not doubt but that he saw Aphur +dominating all the nation, that he dreamed a far-reaching dream. + +And at that moment there entered the room a youth to whom Croft's +heart went out. Clean-limbed, strong-featured, with a well-shaped jaw, +and a mouth not lacking in humor, he advanced with a springing stride +and stood before the king. + + * * * * * + +"Robur, my son," Jadgor began. "Jasor of Nodhur is our guest. In +all things shall you aid him, speaking in all such matters as the +mouthpiece of the king. See to it that he has metal-workers under his +command to do his bidding, also that wine is given into his hands for +such use as he sees fit." + +Robur put forth a hand, which Croft took in his own. The Prince +of Aphur smiled. "My father's word is the law in Aphur," he said. +"Welcome, Nodhur. Ask and I obey." + +"First, then," said Croft, "I would visit my father's galley at the +quays and acquaint them with what has occurred before they continue up +the Na." + +"Come, then," Robur responded to the natural request. + +He led Croft from the room. Five minutes later the two men were driving +down the terraced inclines to the quay where Sinon's galley lay. Not +only that, but at his own request, Croft held the reins above the four +gnuppas and guided them down the sloping roads. He felt for the first +time that at last he stood on the threshold of that success for which +he had planned. + +And thus he began that work on Palos which was to hold him for many +months. He presented Sinon and Mellia to Robur, and after an hour spent +in explanations, and ending with a promise to visit Ladhra after he had +his work in Himyra started, he left them divided between amazement and +pride in their son. + +"Once what I intend is completed, we will mount these splendid roads +without gnuppas, and at many times their speed," he said as Robur and +he re-entered the prince's car. + +Robur opened his eyes. "Say you so? Is it for that I am to aid you as +my father said?" + +"Aye." + +"Then let us begin at once. I would like to see the thing +accomplished," Robur urged. + +Croft nodded and briefly described what was required. + +"There is a place where the doors of metal and the bodies of the +chariots and carriage are molded," Robur said. "Metal is melted and +worked into shape, according to designs." + +Croft had felt assured that some such industry existed from the molded +doors and the type of the other metalwork he had seen. "Take me there, +O Robur of Aphur," he said. + +Robur laughed. He was an exceedingly companionable man. "Call me not +by so lengthy a title," he exclaimed. "I am drawn to you, Jasor. Let +us forget questions of caste or rank between ourselves. Speak to me as +Rob." + +"Gladly will I call you so," said Croft, his heart warming to this +proffered friendship of Aphur's heir. "And let us pledge ourselves now +to work for the welfare of our nation until it is assured." He thrust +out a hand. + +Robur's eyes lighted as they held Croft's palm. "This is a day of +wonder for all Tamarizia," he said, and turned the gnuppas southward +along the river road. + +In the end he brought them to a stand before an enormous building, +wherein Croft found the flares of fires, and men, well-nigh naked, at +work in their glare. Robur led him to the captain in charge of the +place, and made him acquainted with Croft's needs. Inside an hour Croft +was superintending the makings of certain wooden patterns, to be molded +and cast in tempered copper, while Robur looked on, all eyes. + +And his eyes were glinting as they left the Palosian foundry and drove +toward the royal depots of wines, after Croft had given certain of the +metal-workers the designs for a huge copper retort to be made at once. + +At the depots, where Croft found unlimited supplies of wine, stored +in skin bottles of tabur hide, Jason ordered the building of a brick +furnace for the retort when it was done, giving the dimensions and +plans of construction to masons hurriedly called. That task arranged +for, Robur drove him back to the palace, and led him straight to his +own private suite. + + * * * * * + +A woman rose as they entered. She was sweet-faced, with brown eyes and +hair. Robur presented Croft to her as his wife, a princess of Milidhur, +and proudly displayed two children, a boy and a girl. Croft found his +reception gracious in the extreme, and learned he was to be the guest +of Robur and Gaya while engaged in his work. He was to learn also that +Gaya was no uncommon name in Tamarizia, and that it fitted the wife of +Aphur's prince. She was a cheerful, bright, and sympathetic soul, who +listened to Robur's and Croft's description of their plans, and cried +out with delight at what they proposed. + +Thereafter the days passed quickly, and Croft checked off each as it +fled as bringing one day nearer the time set for the formal betrothal +of Naia to Kyphallos, whom, he learned, was also a guest of the palace, +through meeting him now and again, and questioning the prince, whom, +when alone, he now called Rob. + +And as the days passed, part after part of the new engine which was to +revolutionize transportation on Palos was drafted, molded, and made. +Robur's wonder grew, as it seemed, with the making of each new part, +and his impatience of the final result became intense. But many hands +made rapid work. Croft selected each man who showed any particular +aptitude and delegated him to that individual task. + +The huge retort was set up and was producing pure alcoholic spirit +every day. Inside ten days Croft himself began the assembling of the +already finished parts. At his own request, Robur was permitted to +assist. More than once Croft smiled to himself as he beheld the crown +prince of Aphur soiled, grimy, smudged, and enjoying himself immensely, +tugging away at a wrench or wielding a riveting-hammer on the growing +work of wonder which they built. + +To gain speed, Croft had introduced the unheard-of night-shift in +Himyra. Day and night now the work went on, and his first creation +advanced apace. Only on the winding of the magneto did he maintain +great secrecy. Over that he and Robur worked alone. It was the main, +essential part, he explained to the prince. Without it the whole thing +would be useless and dead. He even tried to make Robur understand the +electric nature of the device and, failing, told him it was the same as +the lightning in the clouds. + +"Zitu!" cried Robur with a glance of something akin to fright. "Jasor, +would you harness Zitu's fire?" + +"By Zitu's permission," Croft said. + +Aphur's prince studied that. "Aye," he said at length. "My friend, you +are a strange and wonderful man. Jadgor believes that Zitu himself had +endowed your mind, and Magur says as much in your favor, also." + +"Magur speaks the truth," Croft declared, once more sensing a possible +means of harmonizing the approaching need for his return to earth, +were he to keep the bond unbroken between Palos and his earthly body. +"Listen, Rob. Strange things occurred in this body of mine in Scira. +At times--when the need occurs--it shall fall asleep; and from each +sleep shall it return with new knowledge for the good of Tamarizia's +race, and the confounding of Zollaria's plans." + +"Zollaria! Hai!" Robur exclaimed. It was the first time Croft had +mentioned the northern nation to him. + +"To oppose which Jadgor designs to betroth your cousin to Kyphallos of +Cathur." Suddenly Croft grew bold. + +Robur frowned. + +"Rob," Croft went on, "I would ask favor if it may be granted." + +"Speak," Robur said. + +"I would be present at the betrothal-feast inside the next few days." + +"By Zitu, and you shall," Robur declared. + +"My caste--" Croft began. + +Robur laughed and tapped him on the breast with a wrench. "Rise, Hupor! +If this work succeeds, that will be arranged." + +Croft felt his pulses quicken. "You mean--" he began again, and once +more paused. + +Robur nodded. "That Jadgor, my father, will raise you to the first rank +beneath the throne." + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE NEW PRINCE, HUPOR JASOR + + +On the day before the betrothal-feast Croft finished his magneto, +tested it out before Robur's eyes, and obtained a good, fat spark. +Hastily connecting it with the now assembled motor, for which workmen +were building a chassis such as Palos had never seen, he filled a +testing-tank with spirit, primed the carburetor, that he had somewhat +changed for the use of the different fuel, and then laid hold of the +crank. + +It was a tense moment, and his voice showed his realization of the fact +as he spoke to Robur: "Watch now, Rob--watch!" + +He spun the crank around. For the first time on Palos there came a +motor's cough. Again Croft whirred the crank, spinning it to generate +the life-giving spark. He was answered by a hearty hum. The motor +quivered and shook. A staccato sound of steady explosions filled the +room in which it stood. Like gunfire its exhaust broke forth. The heavy +balance-wheel Croft had arranged for the trial to load it to safety +spun swiftly round and round. + +A commotion rose in the shop. Captains and subcaptains ran from their +work to view the success of that for which they had worked. They stood +staring at the throbbing, quivering engine. Croft straightened and +stood, pale of face but with blazing eyes, before them. He had won! +Won! Robur's face told him he had won! It was a face filled with a +mighty wonder and delight. + +And suddenly the crown prince spoke: "Back--back to your work. Work as +ye have never worked before. Complete the frame for this to ride upon, +the wheels. Make all ready, men of Aphur, and spare no effort to the +aim. A new day has dawned in Aphur--in Tamarizia. Inside the hour there +shall be a new prince. Salute him, _Hupor Jasor_, who thus has served +the state." + +They lifted their hands in salute, those captains, and turned away. +Croft looked into Robur's eyes. "Rob," he stammered, and put out his +hands--"Rob--" + +"Aye," Robur said. "Such is the order of Aphur's king did the test we +were to make today succeed. He will himself confirm it tomorrow night. +In the meantime I am told to bid Jasor to the betrothal-feast of Naia +of Aphur to Cathur's prince. What now of caste my friend?" + +Croft quivered. He shook in every limb. The gulf was bridged--that +gulf of rank between himself and the girl of gold at the shrine of +whose sweet presence his own spirit bowed. He opened his lips yet found +himself overwhelmed with emotion, unable to speak. + +Robur cast an arm about his shoulders as the two men stood. "Jasor, my +friend," he once more began. "Means this thing so much to you? Why? +What things have you in mind I know not of? + +"Speak. Know you not, Jasor, that I love you?" + +"Aye," said Croft. "Yet Rob, I may not speak of those things as yet." +Nor did he feel that he could at present confess the thing in his +heart. "Later you shall know all," he declared. "As for the rest--you +are my dearest friend." + +"Speak when you will," Robur replied. "Tomorrow at the house of Prince +Lakkon, Jadgor shall name you Hupor before the nobles of Aphur. So is +it planned. And when this motur of ours is completed, you shall drive +it to Ladhra and take with you the noble rank for Sinon, since he has +served his state in bringing about your birth." + +Tomorrow night at the house of Prince Lakkon! The words rang in Croft's +brain. Naia--his beloved should see him exalted, made a noble of +Aphur. What more auspicious meeting could he desire than this? It was +fate--fate. Suddenly Croft felt his face flush and his eyes took on a +flashing light. "Rob," he cried. "This is only the beginning. What we +shall do for Tamarizia Zitu only knows." + +"Would Zitu had sent you before this then," Robur growled. + +Croft noted his change of manner with amaze, and plainly Robur was not +unmindful of his regard. + +"I question not the wisdom of Jadgor, my father," he went on quickly. +"Yet like I not this sacrifice of a virgin maid to the lecherous son of +Cathur's king." + +"Rob!" Croft cried, as his friend and comrade paused and caught a +single lung-filling breath and went on. "Zitu himself must frown upon +such a thing." + +Robur eyed him with mounting interest, and suddenly Croft raced ahead +in eager question. "Rob--how long between the night of betrothal and +the marriage itself?" + +"Hai!" Robur narrowed his eyes. "A cycle, my friend. By royal custom +these things are never matters of haste." + +"A cycle!" Croft threw up his head and laughed. "Rob, could we make +Tamarizia strong beyond any dream of her wisest men inside that cycle, +what then?" + +Robur frowned. "A promise is a promise, my friend." + +"But," said Croft, "Much may happen in a cycle--and Zollaria plans." + +"What mean you?" Robur seized his arm in a grip like iron. "Jasor--you +are a strange man. Twice now have you spoken of Zollaria's plans. What +do you have in mind?" + +"To watch Cathur's prince," said Croft. "Hold, Rob--the priest, Abbu, +is my friend. He will help us in this. Magur, too, must give us aid. +Let us watch--and work." + + * * * * * + +Work--yes, work. With a Sirian year in which to work for such a prize +what could a man not do? Croft threw up his face and met Robur's +questioning gaze. "Aphur shall show the way to the nation," he cried. +"Zollaria's plans shall come to naught, my friend." + +"Zitu!" Robur gasped. "After tomorrow night we must speak of these +things to Aphur's king. Jasor, I am minded that Magur is right. Zitu +works through you to his ends." + +The motor coughed and died, having used up its fuel. Croft smiled, and +called Robur back to work. Through the day they toiled, and by night +the engine was bolted to the chassis, wheeled into the assembling-room +by the workmen that afternoon. There remained now no more than the +assembling of the clutch and the transmission before the body should be +affixed to complete the car. And the body was ready and waiting to be +bolted fast. + +Croft worked throughout the night. Robur offered to assist, but he +refused. He wanted to be alone--to think--think--plan the future steps +of those things he would do inside the coming year. He had sworn to +make Aphur strong. And as he assembled the final portions of this first +work of his genius, he considered that. + +The answer was plain. Aphur must arm--and Nodhur--and Milidhur from +whence came the gentle, sweetly sympathetic Gaya, Robur's wife. And +of arms he knew little, but--he could learn. Only he had to return +to earth. There, not many miles from his own town, was the home of a +man who before now had won fame as a maker of arms. Indeed, as Croft +knew he had designed weapons afterward adopted by the royal nations of +Europe and made by them on a patent lease from this man, Croft's friend. + +It would be easy, then, to learn what he desired; to bring back the +plans of those self-same weapons and make them here under the patronage +of Aphur's king. Then--well--let Zollaria plan and hold what bait she +would before Cathur's eyes. Croft chuckled to himself as he worked, and +the captain assisting him in Robur's place thought him pleased with +their progress and smiled. + +"This motur of thine will surely draw the car in lieu of gnuppas, my +lord?" he inquired. + +"Aye," said Croft with a nod. + +"By Zitu! Never was anything like it dreamed of in Tamarizia before thy +coming," the captain rumbled in his throat. + +Croft nodded again. "Tomorrow I shall bring you orders to start all men +working on those parts they have made for this, in untold numbers," +he returned. "And hark you, captain. Each man shall make but the one +part--which he makes the best. So shall we make many and build them +together at once and produce a vast number of cars, and other motors to +drive boats on the Na." + +"By Zitu! Then shall Aphur rule the seas indeed." + +"Tamarizia shall rule," said Croft with an assurance not to be denied. + +The captain gave him a glance. What he read carried conviction to his +mind. "My lord," he said. "My lord." + +"Lord." They called him that now. Croft chuckled again to himself and +went to work. Lord. And tomorrow night--no, the night of this day as it +would be on earth--they would call him "lord" before Naia herself. He +would meet her--speak to her, perhaps. He called upon the captain for +assistance and redoubled his rate of work. + +And as the first rays of Sirius began to gild the red walls of Himyra, +he finished filling the fuel tank with spirits, told the captain to +open wide the doors of the building wherein they had toiled through the +night, and seized hold upon the crank of the engine he had built. + +The motor roared out. Croft sprang to the driver's seat. He let in his +clutch. And slowly--very slowly the car moved toward the open doors. + +One glimpse Jason had of the captain's face--a thing wide-eyed, agape +with amazed belief, and then he was outside the massive walls of that +foundry womb in which the car had been formed. He was out in the +streets of Himyra, riding the thing he had made--the first of many +things as he had determined during the night. + +For a moment visions of marine motors, tractors, airplanes, filled his +brain; then as a night guard at the throat of the street caught sight +of him, and wavering between fear and duty, yielded swiftly to the +former and fled with a yell of terror, he came back to the matter in +hand. + +He gained the river road and opened the throttle notch by notch. +Swiftly and more swiftly the new car moved. The sweet air of morning +sang about his ears. The throb of the motor was a paean of praise--a +promise of what was to come. He reached the palace entrance and turned +in. Straight to the steps of the king's wing he drove and brought the +car to a stand. + +Like their fellow of the street, the guards shrank back in amazement +from this strangest of chariots they had ever seen, until Croft, rising +in his seat, ordered them to send word to Robur and Jadgor himself, +that he waited their inspection of the car. He himself was thrilling +with creative fire, divine. It was in his mind to demonstrate the +new creation in the vast court, deserted thus early in the day. He +throttled down and sat waiting while a guardsman hurried away. + +Then into the midst of his elation broke the voice of Aphur's prince. +"Hai, Jasor, my lord, this is a surprise. Now I see that which last +night you planned." + +Robur had hurried forth with Gaya by his side, and behind him now came +Jadgor, between a double row of guards. While Croft rose and gave a +hand to Robur and Gaya in turn, and bowed before the king, the latter +advanced quite to the side of the new, and to his experience, wonderful +machine. + + * * * * * + +"You came here in the motur itself?" Robur asked. + +"Yes," Croft replied. "And well-nigh frightened a night guard out +of his wits when he saw me bearing down on him, as well as carrying +consternation into the minds of even soldiers here." + +Robur laughed. "I can well believe that," he agreed. "Had I known not +of it I fear I should have been sadly disturbed myself." + +Jadgor smiled. "If it carried fear into the hearts of Aphur's guards, +might it not do likewise to an enemy's men as well?" he remarked. + +"O king, it is in my mind that it would do even that," Croft returned, +sensing the deeper meaning back of the mere words as applying to a +specific enemy. He gave Jadgor a meaning glance. "May I show you the +motur in action, O King of Aphur?" he asked. + +"Yes," Jadgor agreed. + +"Wait!" Robur cried, as Croft resumed his seat. "Wait, Jasor, I shall +go with you. Gaya will be the first woman of Aphur to ride in such a +chariot." + +Gaya smiled. Like most of the Tamarizian women, Croft had seen she +seemed devoid of any particular fear. She took Robur's hand and stepped +into the car. Robur followed with scant dignity in his eagerness to put +this new mode of travel to the test. + +Then Croft engaged his clutch and the car moved off, rolling without +apparent means of propulsion in circles about the great red court while +the guards and Jadgor watched. For some five minutes Croft kept up the +circling before he brought the machine to a stand before the king, and +once more rising, bowed. + +"Your words were true, O Jasor," spoke Jadgor then. "In this I see +great service to the state. Hail Hupor!" He caught a sword from the +nearest soldier, and advancing, struck Croft lightly upon the breast +with the flat of the blade. "More of this tonight," he said, stepping +back. "In the meantime arrange to build as many of these moturs as you +may--also for those which shall propel the boats." + +Turning, he withdrew with his guard, disappearing into the palace. +Gaya smiled at her husband and Croft. "I, too, shall withdraw now," +she began. "I can see you are eager to be alone with this new toy. My +thanks, Lord Jasor, for the ride. All my life long I shall remember +myself the first of Tamarizian women to mount your wonderful car." + +Robur helped her to get out, then sprang back to Croft's side. His face +was alight. "Now--go! Let us ride!" he exclaimed. "Let us leave the +city along the highway to the south and test the motur for speed." + +Nothing loth, Croft once more advanced gas and spark and let in the +clutch. Outside the palace entrance he turned south along the Na. +Robur, beside him, seemed strangely like a boy. "Approach the gate +slowly," he chuckled as they rode. "Let me see for myself what effect +we have on the guards." + +His wish was granted in a surprisingly short time. As they neared the +gate, not yet open to morning traffic, a guardsman appeared. Plainly he +was watching, yet he made no move. He seemed practically paralyzed at +the sight which met his eyes. In the end, however, he suddenly lifted +his spear as though expecting to meet a charge with its point. His face +was rigidly set. He appeared one determined to die in the path of duty +if die he must. + +"Open, fellow!" Robur shouted with a grin. + +His voice wrought a change in the man. He caught a deep breath, dropped +his spear and flung himself toward the levers which worked the gate. +"My lord," he said, as Croft drove past where he now stood at attention +with the gate swung wide. "My lord!" + +Robur flung him a bit of silver and a laugh. Then they were out of +the tunnel through the wall and rushing up the well-built road. "That +fellow thought us Zitemque himself, to judge by his expression," he +chuckled. "Jasor, my friend--go faster--let--" + +"Let her out!" Croft could not resist the expression of earth. + +"Aye," said Robur, staring. "Let--her--out. Where got you that form of +speech, my friend?" + +"I--it was used on the moment to express the idea intended," Croft +replied. "It is as though one released the reins and allowed the +gnuppas to run free." + +Robur nodded. "Yes, I sense it. Let--her--out." + +Croft complied. They sped south. Without a speedometer Croft could only +estimate their rate of progress, but he judged the new engine made +thirty miles an hour at least. + +Robur was amazed. So were others after a time. The speeding car met the +first of the early market throng and cleared the road of everything +it met. Men, women, and live stock bolted as the undreamed engine of +locomotion roared past. Their cries blended into an uproar which tore +laughter from Robur's throat. Croft himself gave way to more than one +smile. + +Swiftly they passed the area of cultivation and entered the desert road +where Croft had seen the sarpelca caravan on his first Palosian day. +On, on they roared along the level surface between dunes of yellow +sand and across golden arid flats. The exhilaration of motion was in +their veins. Head down above his wheel Croft sent the car ahead, until +dashing between two dunes they came to where a second road joined that +on which they ran. + +Robur cried out. Croft flung up his head. One swift glimpse he had +of a team of purple-plumed gnuppas reared on their haunches, their +forefeet pawing the air, their nostrils flaring, their eyes maddened +with fright, and of a burnished carriage behind them. Then he was past, +throttling the engine, seeking to bring the car to a stand. While from +behind the sound of a strong man shouting, came hoarsely to his ears. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + HOW NAIA FIRST SAW JASOR + + +The car slowed down and stood still. Robur sprang to his feet. Croft +turned to look back. The carriage was off the road and dashing across a +level stretch of sand. + +How it came that Prince Lakkon's carriage was here, neither man knew. +They were to only learn later that Naia, wearied of her preparations +for the coming feast of betrothal, had induced her father to take +her to her mountain home on the previous night, and that now she was +returning in time to avoid the later heat of the Sirian day. Yet both +men had recognized the purple-plumed gnuppas and the conveyance which +now swayed and rocked behind their fright-maddened flight. + +"Lakkon's!" Croft gasped. + +"Aye, by Zitu," Robur gave assent. "And should Chythron fail to hold +them soon, death lies in that direction at the bottom of the gorge." + +"Sit down. Hold fast!" Even as Robur spoke, Croft sensed his full +meaning and planned. Under his touch the engine roared. He let in his +clutch with a jerk which shot the car into motion with a leap. Death +lay ahead of the careening carriage behind the beasts he had frightened +out of their driver's control. Whether Chythron alone, or Lakkon or +the prince and his daughter rode in that rocking conveyance it was his +place to do what he could. Leaving the road with a lurch which nearly +unseated Robur and himself, he swung the car about and increased its +speed. + +He had told Jadgor he would build an engine to outrun the Tamarizian +gnuppa, and here at once was the test. True Croft thought not of that +in any such fashion as he drove. His only fear was lest he fail to +overhaul the flying beasts in time. His greatest fear was that Naia +herself might be in that frantic rush toward death, hurtling to an end +invoked at his hands. His soul sank in a sick wave of horror. Yet he +set his lips and clenched his jaws and drove. Faster and faster leaped +the roaring car behind the leaping things of flesh and blood he sought +to overtake. + +And he was overtaking them now. He crossed the second road with a +nerve-wracking swing and jolt. Unable to procure rubber for his wheels +he had faced them with heavy leather some two inches thick, which +lacked the resiliency of air. His arms ached from the wrench with +which he crossed the road. But that past he gathered speed with every +revolution of the wheels. + +"Faster! Zitu! Faster!" Robur urged at his side. "Faster, Jasor--the +gorge is just ahead!" + +Croft made no reply. He was almost abreast of the carriage now. But he +himself had seen the break in the surface of the flat across which he +drove. He set his teeth till the muscles in his strong jaws bunched and +drove toward it at top speed. His one hope was that the thing which had +set the gnuppas into flight might be able to turn them back. + +And he was past them now! Past them, with the gorge directly ahead. He +began to edge in upon them. He would stop them or turn them at any cost +to himself. And the margin was scant. Nearer and nearer to the lip of +the sheer descent he was forced to turn in order to hold his lead. + +"Jump! Save yourself!" His voice rose in a cry of warning to his +companion in the car. The gorge was very close. He turned to parallel +its course and found it angling off at a slant. And the gnuppas were +turning, too--edging away from the thing they feared--edging, edging +away. Croft edged with them, turning them more and more. Chythron was +sawing on his reins. Suddenly the beasts stopped in a series of ragged +lunges and stood quivering and panting. Croft stopped the car. + +"By Zitu! Jasor, you are a man!" + +He became conscious that Robur was still with him on the seat, and that +he himself was aquiver in every limb. + +Yet he forgot that as the purple curtains of the carriage were swept +back and Prince Lakkon leaped out, gave Robur and him a swift glance, +and assisted Naia to alight. + + * * * * * + +Robur and he leaped down. They advanced toward Lakkon and his daughter. +"My uncle and my cousin," Robur began; "we crave your pardon for +causing you this inconvenience through no intent of our own. Yet must +you give thanks to our brave Lord Jasor here for undoing our work so +quickly as he might, and turning back the gnuppas from their course. By +Zitu, I am assured, had he not succeeded he would have gone with you +into the gorge." + +Lakkon bowed. "My Lord Jasor," said he, "it appears that I owe you my +safety as well as that of my child. Accept my service at your need. I +have heard of you and yonder wonder-carriage you have wrought. After +tonight I go to my villa in the mountains. You must be our guest for a +time. Naia, my child, extend your thanks to the noble Jasor for your +life." + +Croft found himself looking into the purple eyes of the woman he loved. +He thrilled as she lifted her glance. Then, as her red lips parted, he +opened his own. "Nay, not your life, Princess Naia--some bruises had +you leaped from the carriage, perhaps." + +"My thanks for the service none the less, my lord," she made answer in +her own well-remembered voice. "I like not bruises truly, and at least +you did save me those." + +She extended a slender hand. + +Croft took her fingers in his and found his pulses leaping at the +contact. What more favorable meeting could have brought him before this +girl in the flesh? Prompted by a sudden impulse, he bent and set his +lips to the fingers he held, straightened and looked deep into the +wells of her eyes. + +A swift color mounted into the maiden's cheeks at the unwonted form of +homage and the fire in Croft's glance. She dropped her lids and seemed +confused for the first time during the course of the whole affair. + +Robur broke into the rather tense pause. "What say you, Lakkon; your +gnuppas are hardly fit to be trusted more today. Enter this car our +Hupor has built, and be the first Prince of Aphur to enter Himyra thus." + +Lakkon smiled. He spoke to Chythron, ordering him to drive the gnuppas +to the city as best he might. Then, with Croft acting as Naia's guide, +turned with Robur toward the car. + +Nor was he niggard in his praise as Croft started the engine, and +placing the girl beside him, drove back to the road and along it to the +city gates. He even laughed with enjoyment at the further consternation +their progress caused along the road, and when a team of draft gnuppas +bolting, scattered a mass of broken crates full of the strange +water-fowl Croft had found the first day, in a squawking confusion, he +scattered largess to the owner of team and load and bade Croft proceed. + +As for Croft, that ride with the girl of his ultimate desire at his +side was a delight such as he had never known. Coupled with the sense +that he had saved her from possible injury at least, if not from +actual death, and at the same time proved his own daring, was blended +the sheer enjoyment of her presence and the sound of her voice as she +questioned him concerning the, to her marvelous, conveyance he drove. +Those questions he answered freely, knowing her loyal to Tamarizia at +heart. + +So in the end they passed the city gates and made their way to Lakkon's +house, where Croft turned in toward the massive moulded doors. + +Naia showed some surprise. "My lord," she said, "you know our dwelling, +it would seem." + +"I have looked upon it with longing ere this," said Croft, growing bold +through the kindness of fate. For fate he felt it was which had brought +them together in a fashion such as this. + +And Naia gave him a glance and once more veiled her eyes while a tide +of responsive color dyed her face. Plainly she caught the meaning of +his words. + +"Your name is among those of our guests for tonight," she said. "Your +welcome will be doubly great after today, and--you will accept our +invitation to the mountains?" + +"If you add your invitation to your father's, so soon as I may arrange +the work on other moturs," Croft agreed. + +"Then you will come," she told him softly without lifting her eyes. And +Croft thrilled at her manner as much as at her words. He stopped the +car, reached up and rang the gong as Chythron had done the first day he +came to Aphur, leaped out and assisted Naia to alight. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + THE SLIP 'TWIXT CUP AND LIP + + +And that night all Himyra was _en fête_. Under the light of fire, oil +lamps, and flaring torches, whose glare lit up the sky above the walls, +the Red City of Aphur made holiday. Crowds swarmed the public squares +and clustered about the free entertainments, the free refreshment +booths erected by order of Jadgor, Aphur's king, to celebrate the +coming alliance between Cathur and the state. + +Processions of the people moved through the streets, laughing, singing, +shouting and making merry in honor of the event. Once before when Robur +brought a princess of Milidhur to Himyra the city had flared thus red +in the night. Now again Jadgor was making greater his prestige of power +and increasing Aphur's political might. + +Croft, returning to his quarters in the palace from a day spent in +starting intensive work on a hundred engines and a marine adoption of +the same, met a surprise. + +Upon his copper couch was a noble dress consisting of a golden cuirass +embossed in silver, a kilted skirt, gold and silver leg casings, and +sandals, a leathern belt, and a tempered copper sword. As he came in +a Mazzerian servant rose and bade him to one of the palace baths. +Returning from that, Croft donned a sleeveless shirt of silklike tissue +and the cuirass over that. Kneeling, the servant adjusted the sandals +and rose to buckle on the sword. These things he mentioned were a gift +from Jadgor himself, a mark of Croft's service to the state. + +Jason had been less than human had he not felt a glow of satisfaction +in this sign of royal esteem and friendship. But greater far than that +was the knowledge that this night in Lakkon's house he would meet Naia +herself as a friend already known, and be lifted to high rank before +her eyes. That tonight would see her pledged to Kyphallos, he chose to +overlook. A year must follow before she became the Cathurian's wife. +Much could happen in a year, as he had said to Robur days ago. + +Something he had read came into his mind. "Let him who wins her take +and keep Faustine." He thought that was the form of the quotation. At +least it was the sense. He nodded to himself. Let him who could win her +take and keep Naia of Aphur. He, Croft, had a year in which to win the +woman he desired. + +Robur came into the room. Gaya had gone to Lakkon's earlier in the day +to act as Naia's lady in the ceremonial preparations. He suggested that +Croft and he be off. Aphurian etiquette decreed that the principal +guest be the last to arrive, in order that the assembled company might +do him honor when he came. Jadgor and Kyphallos would follow, said the +prince. + +Croft assented at once. Lifting a circlet supporting a tuft of orange +feathers, he set it upon his head, and Robur and he set out, in the +prince's own car, drawn by four beautiful gnuppas, their bridles +trimmed with nodding scarlet plumes. + +Before Lakkon's house they found themselves in a press of other +carriages and chariots from which were descending the best of Aphur's +life. + +The huge doors of the court stood open, and the court itself blazed +with light. A double line of guards stood within the portals as the +guests streamed in, and a herald in gold and purple cried the name of +each new arrival aloud through a wide-mouthed trumpet held before his +lips. + +Inside, the tables were spread much as on the former occasion Croft +had witnessed, save that now a dais had been constructed at one end, +where were the places of Kyphallos and Naia, Jadgor and Lakkon, and as +Jason was to learn of Robur, Gaya and himself. Lakkon stood at the end +of the double row of guards and welcomed his guests. He gave Croft his +hand with a smile which lighted his eyes. "Welcome, Lord Jasor--to mine +house--to Himyra's happiness, to the honor of Aphur," he said, and bent +his knee to Robur as the two men passed. + +It was then Robur led Croft to the dais and mounted the steps as one +who knew beforehand his place assigned. Croft hung back, and his +companion laughed. "Up," he cried. "Tonight you are honored of Aphur +above most men." + + * * * * * + +Tingling at the knowledge, Croft mounted and seated himself at a wave +from Robur's hand. The prince gazed on the brilliant scene with a smile +of something like pride. "A goodly company," he said. + +Croft, too, gazed around before he replied. Surely Robur had spoken +aright he thought as he swept the body of the guests where colors +blended in endless harmony of shades, and the white arms and shoulders +of matron and maid gleamed in the play of the lights. + +Lights! He cast his eyes about the myriad of flaming lamps and suddenly +he smiled. "Yet would it be even more brilliant were the oil lamps +removed and in their place we were to put small globes of glass which +would emit a radiance not due to oil, but to a glowing filament shut +within them, so that they would need no filling, but would burn when a +small knob were turned." + +"Zitu!" Robur gave him a glance. "Are you at it again--with your +wonderful dreams?" + +"Yes." Once more Croft smiled and grew serious as it recurred to his +mind that before long he must again return to earth. "Call them dreams, +Rob," he said. "Dreams they may be--yet shall you see them come true. +And--listen, my loyal friend; it may be that before long I shall dream +again as I dreamed before--that my body shall lie as Jasor's body lay +in Scira--shall seem to die." + +"What mean you?" Robur cried. "This you have said before." + +Croft shook his head. "I may not tell you more; yet I would exact your +promise that when the time comes, as I know it will, you shall set a +guard about my body and forbid that it be disturbed until I shall again +awake with a full knowledge of what more shall be done for Aphur's +good." + +"You mean this--you do not jest?" Robur's voice had grown little better +than a whisper, and his eyes burned the question into Croft's brain. + +"Yes. Will you promise, Rob?" + +"I will promise, and what I promise I fulfill," said Robur. "Yet--you +arouse fancies within me, Jasor. One would think Zitu himself spoke to +you in that sleep." + +"No--yet what I do, I do by His grace," Croft replied. "And from +each sleep I am assured shall come good to the Tamarizian race." And +suddenly as trumpets announced the arrival of Kyphallos and the King, +he felt light, relieved, free. He had arranged for those periods of +unconsciousness for Jasor's body, and need not trouble more about it +with the promise he had won from Jadgor's son. + +He watched while Kyphallos came in with Jadgor now and approached the +dais. Then, attracted by other trumpets, he turned toward the stair. +As before, Naia stood there with Gaya by her side. Yet now she was not +the same. Then she had been radiant in gold and purple. Now she stood +simply clad in white. White was her robe, edged in silver; white were +her sandals and white the plumes which rose above her hair. + +Kyphallos and Jadgor waited while the guests took their seats. Lakkon +advanced to meet the two women on the stairs, gave his hand to his +daughter and turned to descend. + +Another figure appeared. It was Magur, the priest, robed in blue, +accompanied by two young boys, each bearing a silver goblet on a tray +of the same metal. He advanced and met Naia and Lakkon as they reached +the foot of the stairs. + +"Who comes?" his voice rang out. + +"A maid who would pledge herself and her life to a youth, O Prince of +Zitu," Lakkon replied. + +"The youth is present?" Magur went on with the ritualistic form. + +"Aye. He stands yonder with Aphur's king," Lakkon declared. + +"Who sponsors this woman at this time?" Magur spoke again. + +"I--King of Aphur--brother of her who gave her life," Jadgor's voice +boomed forth. + +"Come then," Magur said. + +The party advanced again across the crystal floor. They joined +Kyphallos and the king. They ascended the dais and stood before the +assembled guests, who rose. + +Magur spoke anew. "Naia of Aphur--thou woman--being woman sister of +Ga, and hence a priestess of that shrine of life which is eternal, and +guardian of the fire of life which is eternal, is it your intent to +pledge thyself to this man of Cathur who stands now at thy side?" + +While Croft watched, Naia's lips moved. "Aye," came her response into +the ensuing silence. "Myself I pledge to him." + +"And thou, Kyphallos of Cathur, do you accept this pledge and with it +the woman herself, to make her in the fulness of time thy bride to +cherish her and cause her to live as a glory to the name of woman to +whom all men may justly give respect?" + +"Aye. So I pledge, by Zitu, and Azil, Giver of Life," said Cathur's +prince. + +"Then take ye this, maid of Aphur." Magur drew from his robe a looped +silver cross and pressed it into her hands. "Hold it and guard it; +look upon is at the symbol of that life eternal which through you shall +be kept eternal, and which taken from the hands of Azil the Angel shall +be transmuted within thee into the life of men." + +Turning, he took two goblets and poured wine from one to the other and +back. One he extended to Naia and one to Cathur's prince. "Drink," he +said. "Let these symbolize thy two bodies, the life of which shall be +united from this time on in purpose. Drink, and may Zitu bless ye in +that union which comes by his intent." + +Cathur raised his goblet. "I drink of thee deeply," he spoke, +addressing Naia. + +"And of thee I drink," she made answer, and set the wine to her lips. + +As she did so her eyes leaped over the silver rim and met the eyes +of Croft. For a single instant his glance burned into hers, and she +faltered, her hand lowered the goblet quickly and she swayed. Yet even +so, she caught herself on the instant as a storm of applause broke from +the guests and sank to the divan, supported by Kyphallos's hand. + + * * * * * + +As for Croft, for him the light of the oil-lamps flickered and paled. +He sat momentarily lost in a mental tumult roused by that glance in +Naia's eyes. In that moment he felt he had spoken to her soul--had +reached to her inmost spirit, and made himself known. He had not meant +to do it. He had not realized while he leaned forward watching the +betrothal rite, that all his loathing of it, all his protest of spirit +against it, had kindled in his eyes. Not, indeed, until he had plumbed +the purple depths of _her_ eyes over the rim of the goblet had he +known--or dreamed that she could see and know--as now he felt she had +known. + +Now, however, he stole a second glance to where she sat and found her +deathly pale with set lips and a bosom heaving so strongly beneath the +pure white fabric of her robe, that it seemed to actually flutter above +her rounded breasts. Her hand stole out and lifted a goblet from the +table and she drank. It seemed to Croft that she sought so to steady +herself before she set the wine back, and forced herself to smile. + +Thereafter came the feast, the music, the dancers, a troupe of singers +and another of acrobats--the usual gamut of a Tamarizian state +entertainment, dragging out its length, before Jadgor rose at last in +his place and a hush fell over the court. + +Croft, who throughout it all had been strangely silent, roused to the +pressure of Robur's hand, and as the prince prompted, he rose. + +Thereafter he left his place and knelt before Jadgor while the king +drew his sword and struck him upon the breast and dubbed him so a +Prince of Aphur, and rising, bowed to the king, and to the guests who +rose to salute him in his new-found rank. + +But of them all to Croft it seemed that he saw only the fair young +girl beside the Cathurian prince. And now, as before, his eyes leaped +swiftly to her face. Only now, instead of an expression of something +like a startled knowledge, there leaped toward him a purple light of +pleasure, of approval, of congratulation, and she smiled, as one may +smile in recognition of an old and well-known friend. + +Then he found himself clasping hands with Robur, with Lakkon, with +Kyphallos, since the thing could not be avoided. Gaya, too, gave him +her hand and a word of congratulation, and--Naia was holding forth her +rounded, bare arm and the slender fingers which that morning he had +kissed. + +He took them now and held them in his own. He trembled, and knew it, +and even so dared again to meet her eyes. + +Once more he found them startled, puzzled, almost confused. A faint +color crept into her cheeks. "My lord," she said, "Aphur has given her +highest appreciation of your worth. That should mean much to you." + +"Aye," Croft found his tongue. "Since it accords me the privilege of a +further word with you." + +She drew her hand away. "Is a word with me of so great a value?" she +questioned with a somewhat unsteady laugh. + +"To speak with Naia of Aphur I would dare death itself." Croft did not +tell her how much he had already dared for that word indeed. + +"You are a bold man," she said, as he paused, and went on quickly. +"Yet, since you value it so highly, forget not our invitation of this +morning or that house in the mountains which is ours." + +"I shall not forget, Princess Naia," Croft replied. His brain was in +a whirl. She had repeated the invitation. Did she really wish him to +come? Had he read her glorious eyes aright? Had she sensed the truth as +he had sensed it the first time he had seen her? Did she feel it? Did +she know? Had the call of his spirit reached the spirit which was hers? +Croft hardly believed that it had. + +He scarcely believed that her knowledge of that call was a definite +thing as yet. Still--he was sure she felt something she herself could +not wholly fathom--that her invitation was sincere, dictated by the +call she as yet did not understand. Therefore he promised himself as +well as her, to accept. And he vowed that before that visit to her +mountain home was ended, she should recognize the truth. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + THE MAN'S DEMAND + + +Toward that end and what it should finally bring about, Croft now made +his plans. Kyphallos he learned would leave on the morrow for Scira, +and as he knew would very shortly thereafter make that promised journey +to Niera, where he would once more come under the attraction of the +Zollarian Magnet--that tawny Kalamita who had attended the feast on +Anthra before he started south. + +On the following day therefore, he asked audience of Jadgor, took Robur +with him when he appeared before the king and suggested the use of a +spy on Cathur's heir; telling so much as he felt he dared, to support +his plea. + +At first Jadgor was amazed. "How know you these things, Lord Jasor!" he +cried. + +"I have heard things in the north," Croft replied without naming the +location, letting Jadgor suppose it was during his days in Scira if he +would. + +And it seemed that Jadgor did that very thing, since after a time he +asked exactly what Jasor would propose. + +Croft suggested a consultation with Magur--and the sending of word +to Abbu in the name of both Jasor and the Chief Priest of Himyra to +see what Kyphallos did. That there was reason for his suggestion the +very next day brought proof. A sailor from a Cathurian galley was +found concealed in the shop where the new engines were being made. +This following hard on the heels of Kyphallos's departure, Croft held +suspicious indeed. + +He smiled in rather a grim way when Robur told him of the occurrence, +rushing into the room where he sat engaged in the drawing of some +further plans. But he took no steps save to have the sailor taken back +to his ship and his captain cautioned to keep him out of harm's way, +and to recommend that Robur place a guard about the shop. Indeed he +was not greatly worried as he knew of one way in which he could watch +Kyphallos and learn what he planned. + +On the sixth day, having seen the work on the engines well under way, +he took the car, filled its tanks with spirits and drove out the north +road toward that white palace in the mountains where he had been hidden +as a guest. + +He had sent no word of his coming, yet he felt assured that a welcome +would be his. There was a smile on his lips and a paean of joy in his +heart as he stormed up the mountain grades and out across those gorges +the road crossed on massive arches of stone. + +So at last he stopped before the steps leading up to the doors of the +white Aphurian mansion, and sprang down. He mounted the steps and found +once more the blue servant he had seen on another occasion, watching +in awed expectancy just inside. To him he gave his title and asked for +Naia herself. + +The blue man bowed. "She lies yonder, Lord," he replied. "I shall lead +you to her." + +Following the servant, Croft came about a cluster of flowering bushes +to find the hostess he sought. + +She lay upon a wine-red wood divan, while beside her sat the blue girl +Maia, her supple body swinging in easy rhythm as she waved a fan for +the comfort of the woman she served. + +By now, Croft was fully accustomed to the disregard of clothing +displayed by the Tamarizian servants and even the nobles themselves in +their more private life. + +Hence he was not disturbed by the fact that Maia's well-turned torso +swayed before him unclothed, or surprised that since she knew not of +his coming, no more than a tissue so sheer that the flesh beneath it +lent it color, draped Naia's perfect form as she rose, to stand before +him and stretch forth her hands. + +"My Lord, Jasor," she exclaimed. "Your coming is as unexpected as +welcome. Would you feel flattered were I to confess that I was thinking +of you before you appeared?" + +"Nay, not flattered, but filled with a delight beyond words and a fear +lest I deserve less than that!" Croft smiled, as he took her warm flesh +in his hands and gazing down into her eyes, found in their wide opened +purple depths no surprise or startled question, but only pleasure as it +seemed to him then. + +Hupor, the great houndlike beast who had been lying beside the two +women, rose, and lifting himself upon his massive haunches laid his +forepaws on Croft's shoulder and stared into his face. + +"Ah, Hupor gives you his favor, granted a few. Remove your cuirass and +rest," Naia said resuming her seat and signing the Mazzerian to assist +her guest. Then as he slipped out of the metal harness and stood in +the soft shirt beneath it, she invited him to a place at her side and +directed both servants to withdraw. + +"You are come for the promised visit?" she began when they sat alone. + +"If the time fits in with your convenience," Croft replied. + + * * * * * + +Naia looked down at her sandalless feet, high arched and pink of nail, +"I will be frank," she went on. "I have been piqued because you delayed +your coming." She glanced up with a little laugh. + +"And I that I could not come the sooner," Croft blended his laughter +with hers. + +"You came in your car?" + +"Yes." + +"Tell me," she said, and laid a hand on his arm. "My father declares +that Jadgor thinks you inspired of Zitu to make Tamarizia great. Tell +me, about these moturs and your work." + +Next to his love, these things were first in Croft's mind. For an hour +he talked to the girl at his side. And he talked well. Her presence +fired him, loosened his tongue. He painted for her a picture of +Aphurian transportation transformed, of motors filling the highways, +of motor-driven ships on river and sea, and swept on by his own +conceptions spoke of motors as possible things of the air. + +"Zitu!" she cried. "My lord would dare what none save the birds dare +now?" + +"Even so," said Croft. "So shall Aphur become strong--stronger than +any other State of Tamarizia--strong enough to guard the western gate +without another's aid." + +He had made the remark of deliberate purpose, and now he heard the +girl beside him catch her breath, and glancing toward her, found her +eyes wide and very, very dark, with a strange light in their depths. +"You--my Lord Jasor, you can do this thing?" + +"And will," he declared. + +He saw Naia of Aphur quiver. "One who did that might ask what he would, +and receive it of the State," she said slowly, and then once more her +fingers touched his arm and he found them icy cold. "My lord, does Zitu +answer prayers?" + +Croft's mind leaped swiftly from her words to a night when he had seen +her kneeling before the figure of Azil in this self-same house--when +he had heard her plea, lifted out of an anguished spirit--to the One +Eternal Source. "What mean you?" he asked. + +"If one--in sore trouble--one with a spirit which rebelled at a task to +which it was set should cry for aid, would Zitu give heed?" + +O girl of gold, sang the heart in Croft's breast--O wonder-woman of all +the universe of life! How well he knew her meaning. How well he sensed +that in his words of promise for a future strength in her nation which +would render needless her living immolation on the altar of patriotic +duty, she saw a possible answer to that prayer she had lifted to Zitu, +and Ga, and Azil the Giver of Life. And, how he longed to turn and +sweep her supple form into his arms, crush it against his breast and +speak to her soul the words which should assure her that he stood even +now between her and the coming fate she loathed. + +As it was he sought to reassure by his reply. "Yes, Naia of Aphur, I +think that indeed Zitu hears a troubled spirit's prayer. As for the +form his answer may take--what man knows?" + +Her lips parted. "Aye, who knows," she repeated. "How long a time shall +it require to bring these things to pass?" + +"They shall be Aphur's before a cycle has run out," said Croft. + +"Zitu! Then--then Aphur shall be strong beyond Jadgor's dreams ere--ere +so short a time is gone!" + +Again Croft's heart pounded in his breast. Almost she had said ere--she +was forced into hated wedlock with Kyphallos, he thought. He inclined +his head. + +"But why," Naia went on more calmly, "being of Nodhur, did you come +with these plans to Aphur, my lord?" + +"You have said it." Croft turned to face her fully. + +"I?" She drew herself a trifle back as in surprise. + +"Yes. Because I am _your_ lord." Croft did not hesitate now. + +And suddenly he saw once more that strange, startled look of half +recognition which had leaped at him over the rim of the silver goblet +the night of the betrothal-feast. "_My_ lord?" Naia began and faltered +and came to a pause. + +"Aye--yours." Croft bent toward her. "Because I knew of you--and so +knowing, knew you the one woman in all Tamarizia, or in all the worlds +Zitu has made, whom I wished to possess as wife. Because I love you, +Naia, Princess of Aphur. Because you are mine, and I yours, and have +been since Zitu himself sent our two souls to dwell in the flesh. +Because your flesh cries to mine, your soul calls to mine, your spirit +seeks to be one with mine, as mine with yours. Therefore forgetting +caste and all else, came I to Aphur and to you. Caste I have overridden +and risen above. Think you I shall let Cathur stand between me and the +heaven of your lips, the soft prison of your arms?" + + * * * * * + +For one wild instant while he spoke he thought her about to answer word +for word. For she smiled. The thing started in her eyes and spread +in a slow, divine wonder to her lips. Then, she sprang swiftly to +her feet and faced him tensely erect, both voice and figure vibrant +as she cried: "Stop! Jasor of Nodhur, you forget yourself. Think you +so lightly of my plighted word, that you dare to address me thus? To +Cathur I am pledged. To a maid of Tamarizia--or a woman of my house, +and to all the courts of our nation that promise is sacred, not to be +broken or put aside, save by an act of Zitu himself--save it be broken +by death." + +Croft had risen, too. "An act of Zitu," he said as she paused. "And +may not my coming to Aphur in itself be an answer to your prayer for +deliverance from the embraces of Cathur's unworthy heir?" + +"My prayer?" Some of the resentful tension left Naia's form. "What know +you--" + +"I know much," Croft cut her short. "Am I dull of comprehension not +to sense the name of her who prayed to Zitu in her travail? And what +should wring such prayers from your flower-sweet breast, save that +defilement it is planned to bring about, to add to Aphur's strength?" + +Once more she flamed before him. "Were I to speak your words to Lakkon +or to Jadgor, it would mean your death," she hissed. + +"Then speak them--if you wish, beloved." Croft smiled. + +As quickly as she had threatened, she drooped now at his words. +Something akin to fear came into her eyes. "Who are you--" she began in +the voice of a child. + +"One who loves you," said Croft. "Who has loved you always--who always +will. One whom you love--" + +"Hold!" Once more she checked him. + +But he shook his head. "What need of the sacrifice--when I shall give +Aphur and all Tamarizia that strength they would purchase now with +you?" + +"Yet for that strength your price would be the same." + +"Nay--" Croft denied, "unless it were paid gladly." + +"And if it were not?" + +"Still would I give Tamarizia strength." + +Suddenly Naia of Aphur smiled. To Croft it seemed that she was well +pleased with his answer. But barely had her lips parted as though for +some further reply, than the Mazzerian passed toward the outer doors of +the court. + +The princess's whole expression altered. "My father comes, I cannot +speak further concerning this matter now. Did he dream of our +discussion, there would be no bounds to his wrath. Did he know that I +could consider such things, Zitu himself might not quench his rage." + +"Yet will you consider them, my Naia. You will give me an answer." + +"Later," she told him quickly. "I--we may not discuss it further +now--my lord." + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE WOMAN'S ANSWER + + +Hours later Croft looked from the windows of his room. The evening had +been spent in a far more formal fashion than the late afternoon. Lakkon +had come in. He had welcomed his guest. Naia had gone to her rooms to +dress for the evening meal. They had dined. Over the meal Croft had +described again his plans, to the flattering attention of his host. +Naia had lingered with them for a time, now and then meeting Croft's +glance with a smile of her crimson lips before she had gone to her room. + +Now as he leaned from his window he found all the garden beneath him, +the mountain valley, the lake flooded in the light of the Palosian +moons. The night called to him, and his heart was too full, his brain +too busy with thought, to feel the spell of sleep. Drawing back he +left his apartment, passed down the balcony corridor to the small door +giving onto the garden stair and ran quickly down. + +The breath of flowering shrubs was about him. Light and shadow filled +the place with a quiet beauty. Choosing a path which ran off before him +he strolled along. So by degrees he approached the white walls of the +garden bath, doubly white now in the night. And having approached them +he paused. The sound of a gentle splashing came from within. + +Croft smiled. Another had felt the call of the outside world beside +himself, and surely he felt that he knew who that one was. "Princess," +he called softly, from beside the entrance screen. + +"Aye." The word came as soft as his own and was followed by a gentle +laugh. "Wait, Jasor of Nodhur." There came a louder sound of movement, +followed by a silence, and then: "And now my lord you may come." + +Croft passed the screen. The maiden stood before him. Her hair was +coiled about her head. Her shoulder and arms showed glistening in the +moonlight from the moisture of her skin. + +"Naia," said the man. + +"My lord." She smiled. + +"Nay--call me Jasor at least," he returned. + +"Jasor," said she. + +They were alone--a man and a maid. The white walls of the bath shut +them in from all prying eyes. The pool lay silvered by the moonlight +beneath them. + +And suddenly, Croft reached out toward her and swept her into his arms. +That bold spirit which was his brooked no longer delay. He drew her to +him. His arms sensed the lithe coolness of her figure as its dampness +struck through the single garment, hastily donned at his call. So he +held her and sensed all her maddening presence. "Mine!" he cried, +pressing her close in the circle of his arms. "Mine! Woman whom Zitu +himself has made for me." + +"Hush." Her hand fell over his lips, and he felt her tremble. "Jasor, +how knew you I was here?" + +"I knew not until the night called me into the garden and I heard the +sound of the water," he replied. "Then your presence told me of itself +and I spoke your name." + +There was a stone seat at one end of the pool. She led him there and +seated herself at his side. "You are bold," she said, speaking quickly. +"Jasor, I came here to think--as I have thought ever since we spoke +together today." + +"And having thought, will you give me my answer now?" + +She lifted her eyes, dark in the silver night. "Can you truly do those +things you spoke of?" she questioned him again as she had questioned +before. + +"Do you doubt it?" he questioned in reply. + +"Nay, I think not. You would do all you say--for me?" + +"All and more, for you, or to save you a sorrow," Croft said. + +"Think you," said she, "that Kyphallos of Aphur is aught to me?" + +"No," Croft laughed. "I know you hate him, Princess--name him the beast +he is." + +"You know much," she said in response and her voice was vibrant with +a tone he had never heard her use before. "Yet things there may be +you know not of. Listen, my lord. My lips touched not the wine in the +silver goblet the night of the betrothal-feast." + +"Naia!" Croft came to his feet. + +Naia of Aphur rose also. Her eyes were stars in the night. She stood +before him a slender, swaying shape. She put forth her hands. "My eyes +looked into yours above the goblet," she said softly, still in that +strange new tone. "They forbade my lips to drink. Hence, Jasor, this is +my answer--I am yours can you win me in time." + +And now she came into his arms of her own volition. Croft found her +upon his breast, clinging to him with her slender hands, looking up +into his face. Some way his face sank to meet hers. Some way his mouth +found her lips. + +Then she had torn her mouth away. "Zitu, what have I done?" she cried. +"No maid of Aphur may touch the lips of a man not of her blood, unless +she is his bride. But--but--this thing is stronger than I. Days span +the time since I have known you, yet Zitu knows it seems I have known +you always--have waited for you to come, and knew it not, until that +night when your glance met mine and told me I was yours. Jasor of +Nodhur, you _must_ save me--win me--now." + +"Aye, I shall win you." Once more Croft claimed her lips and she did +not resist. A mad exaltation filled him. He had won--Naia of Aphur. She +lay in his arms. She had given him more than a maid of her race had any +right to give according to convention's code. No question then but that +her heart which beat so wildly against his breast, beat with the pulse +of love. He had won--and he would win, not only this, but all that she +could give. + +"Swear it," she panted when once more her lips were free. "O Zitu, +swear I shall be wholly yours. Think you I could yield to Kyphallos +now? Nay--I had rather die." + +"I swear," said Croft. "And tomorrow I shall return to Himyra and my +work." + +"Tomorrow." Disappointment rang in her tones. "When I have counted each +day until you should come." + +"Himyra is not far in the car already made," Croft said ignoring her +ingenuous confession. "I shall come to you again--aye, again and +again." + +"Yet must we be discreet," Naia exclaimed. "You must come--I _must_ see +you--but we must keep this secret in our hearts. Did Lakkon dream that +Naia had dared to break her spoken pledge--" She paused. A tremor shook +her as she leaned against him with his arm about her waist. + + * * * * * + +"You must return to your room," he urged. "Fear not. Yet when you pray, +ask of Zitu that he give me speed and knowledge in my work. And should +you not see or hear from me for a time, be sure that all I do is for +you, that you are ever in my thoughts." + +"As you will be in mine." Once more she turned to face him. "Yet before +I go in now, my lord, give me again your lips." + +"Beloved!" Croft held her a final moment and saw her depart. + +Himself he lingered by the pool. His soul was on fire. He had won! +Naia of Aphur in her soul was his. The soft warmth of her lips still +lingered upon his own. Aye, he had won--her surrender to himself. That +final kiss showed how complete that surrender was. So complete was it, +that she had over-stepped all the code of her nation and caste in order +to give it expression, had placed herself where, should her act be +learned, she would stand before her people disgraced. + +Nor was his love less than hers. It was a great love, which had brought +him to this time--so great, so all compelling, he felt now that even in +his student days in India it had drawn him in a strange, subconscious +fashion not then understood--so great that for it he had dared the +unknown, to find the feminine complement of his spirit, whom tonight he +had held within his arms. + +No mere lure of the flesh was his divine passion, which had drawn him +and fired him now to a resolution to work, work for it and it alone, +until he had won not only Naia's love, but Naia as well. She had said +the thing was stronger than herself. Croft knew it was stronger than +himself as he sat beside the moonlit pool. It was one of those great +loves, which have made history before this and will again. Hence +tomorrow he would go back to Himyra, and there he would work and plan. + +And, thought Croft, he must spy upon Cathur's prince, in the way only +he could compass so far as he knew. Kyphallos must be in Scira now, +unless he had gone back to Anthra. Kyphallos must be watched. There was +that trip to Niera he had promised Kalamita to make. Would he tell her +what had occurred in Himyra? And if so, what would Zollaria's Magnet +of white flesh do? That she felt any emotion for Kyphallos other than +as a pawn to her hand, Croft did not believe. He knew her type, and +frankly he believed her an agent of her nation set to ensnare the heir +of Cathur and further Zollaria's plans. He nodded his head and rose. +He would find this Cathurian prince and see what he did, and where at +present he was. + +Quickly he went back to his own apartment and laid himself on the +couch. Naia he fancied was lying so even now in that room where Azil +lifted his carved white wings beside her mirror pool. He smiled. Some +day he promised his heart, his empty arms, they should not lie apart, +but together, on a moonlit Palosian night. + +Then he put all that out of his mind and fixed its full power on his +task. Swifty that conscious entity which was the real man flitted +across the Central Sea, and found itself in the palace of Scythys, +the Cathurian king. About it he prowled, invisible and unseen by the +nodding palace guards. And in it he found no sign of Scythys's son. + +Once more he flitted free. To Abbu he went and found the monk asleep +in a room of the Scira pyramid. And from there he flashed to Anthra, +and found the gilded galley of the fickle youth tied up in the harbor +basin, and Kyphallos lost in dalliance with a slender and beautiful +dancer. He turned away with disgust; yet not before he learned that +Kyphallos went to Niera tomorrow, as he had promised Kalamita he would +do more than a month before. + + * * * * * + +Back to his chamber and the body of Jasor of Nodhur went Croft. At +least now he was satisfied that he could watch Kyphallos and mark his +every move. Then let Kyphallos beware. He gave a final glance to the +moon-flooded night and slept. + +And in the morning he entered the motor and ran back to Himyra before +the heat of the day. Work--work. That was to be his motto for the +golden days to come. But first he must again return to earth. + +That day, therefore, he spent in coaching Robur toward keeping the +work moving on the engines. Also he requested that he have a great +shop erected beyond the one they were using to expedite the work, and +drew for him the plans for a sort of dock, wherein motors might be +installed in a number of ships. + +"Why give these to me?" Robur asked after Croft had explained. + +"Since, that tonight, Rob, I shall fall into the sleep of which I have +told you," Croft replied. + +"Zitu! You feel it upon you?" Robur half started back. + +"Yes." + +"And it will last for how long a time?" + +"I know not," said Croft. "It shall endure until I am possessed of the +next means for making Aphur strong. Do you remember your promise to +guard my body well?" + +"It shall be well guarded, my strange friend," Robur promised again. + +Yet that night a sudden panic seized upon Croft. What, he asked +himself, if some unknown peril should threaten Naia while he was +studying munition-making on earth? He considered that for a time, +before he saw a way around. And then he sought out Gaya, and finding +her alone as luck would have it, explained to her as he had explained +to Robur before the nature of his coming sleep. + +She heard him wide-eyed, and before she could break forth in comment +Croft went on. "But Gaya, wife of my friend, should any peril or danger +threaten Naia, daughter of Lakkon, the cousin of your lord, and I be +still asleep--come quickly to me and bend to whisper, 'Naia needs you' +and I promise I shall awake." + +Gaya gave him a wide-eyed, startled glance. "Her name will rouse you +from this sleep of deathlike seeming?" she exclaimed. + +"Aye," Croft smiled. Gaya's expression had told him in a flash that she +understood. "Wife of my friend, I think her name might wake me from +death itself." + +"Jasor!" Gaya cried. "My lord--can this thing be?" + +"That my heart lies at her pink-nailed feet?" Croft retorted. "Aye." + +"Yet is she pledged to Cathur." Gaya grew swiftly pale. "Jasor, my +good lord--and you love her, speak not concerning it to any other save +myself. I swear by Zitu to keep your words in my heart. Do you control +your tongue." + +Croft smiled into her troubled face again. "My tongue I may control," +he declared. "But my heart can I not curb in its mad passion for the +maid, nor make it less rebel against this plighted troth." + +"Robur approves not of it, nor I," Gaya told him softly. "Love brought +Milidhur and Aphur together. But--this--this is of--of other design." +And suddenly she knit her well-formed brows. "Jasor," said she speaking +very quickly; "you are strong--you have thoughts above other men, and +something tells me the maid would lie happy in your arms." + +Croft sprang to his feet. "You would approve it, Gaya, my sweet +friend?" he exclaimed with flashing eyes. + +"I am a woman," she replied in almost breathless fashion. "Naia loathes +this Cathurian prince." + +"And a cycle lies before us, ere he claims her for his own," Croft +smiled. + +"What mean you?" Gaya half rose. Her hand lifted to her breast. + +"Nay." Croft shook his head. "I cannot tell you. Yet, as you say, I +am strong, and I shall make Aphur and Tamarizia strong as myself and +stronger a thousand fold. Remember, therefore, the words I have told +you to speak, and say them close in my ear, in case any need should +arise." + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + THE TEUTONS IN THE SKY + + +Naia! Naia of Aphur would lie happy in his arms. And by Zitu! Some +day she should. This was for her. Croft laid himself on his couch and +fell into that deathlike sleep of the body, he had learned so well to +produce. + +But his spirit fled across the Central Sea to Niera, willing itself +into the presence of Cathur's heir wherever he might be. + +He found him in the room of a red stone palace overlooking the sea from +the terraced side of the shore on which it stood. He lay on a copper +couch, covered with silken cloth of a clear pure yellow, and he wore an +expression of sullen pique upon his face. + +For he was not alone. Nor was this his private apartment as Croft +understood in a glance. It was the suite of Kalamita herself. And the +tawny beauty was present in quite shameless fashion, plainly preparing +herself for some coming function as it appeared from the litter of +feminine articles of toilet which lay on the red wood table at which +she sat. + +"Nay--think you I have no other source of information beyond your own +rosy lips, good Kyphallos," she broke forth in an almost taunting +voice; "or that I know not men for what they are? This flower of +Aphur is pretty as I have heard, as Bzad who has disguised himself +and journeyed to Himyra as a common sailor and seen her, tells me of +his own knowledge. Also it comes to my ears that you drank too deeply +of the Aphurian wine. A drunkard and a pretty fleshly toy. Zitemque +himself never fashioned a stronger design for the making of trouble and +fools. Think you I cannot understand?" + +Kyphallos frowned. "One would think you Gayana," he grumbled as +Kalamita paused. + +She shrugged. "Nay, I am no priestess of Ga, nor a virgin as you know. +Nor do I ask that you look no less clay. What are your pastimes with +dancers and women of the people to me? Yet Kalamita gives not herself +to be cast aside for a woman of Aphur's choosing--or a woman of equal +rank." + +So that was it, thought Croft. Kyphallos was in this woman's power +indeed. And now Kyphallos quitted his couch and crossed to her side. +He caught her and raised her in his arms. "You are the fool!" he +cried. "Yet by Zitu, I delight to see you heated, by word of another +than yourself. Listen--and this time believe. I found myself in a +trap of Jadgor's devising, as I have said. Had I refused this rite +of betrothal, how think you he would have looked upon my act? Could +I allay all suspicion of those things which shall bring you queen to +Zitra's throne in better fashion than to accept? + +"Think not all the wisdom of mankind lies wrapped in your beauteous +head. Kyphallos of Cathur, is no more a fool than another. Hence I +stand pledged to Naia, of Aphur, whom Bzad himself may have for a toy, +should he wish, so long as I keep Kalamita in my arms. Thus have I +gained the time of a cycle for the further perfecting of my plans." + +"This is the truth?" A flash of selfish satisfaction crept into the +woman's eyes. + +"Aye--as I tell you. Small need of your spies in Aphur to bring you +word. Myself, I left a spy to find out the secret of this new car which +runs itself, as I told you. Aye--Cathur, too, knows how to plan." + +Croft felt a thrill of humor at the words. He knew well what had +happened to Cathur's spy. He watched while Kalamita freed herself from +Kyphallos's embrace and began loading herself with jewels. + +"And how does Cathur plan when the cycle is run out?" she inquired at +length. "What of this pledge with Aphur, then?" + +"Zollaria will be ready--then," Kyphallos said. + +Zollaria would be ready. The thing was plotted then, arranged. There +was a full understanding between Kyphallos and the nation which had +used this beautiful vampire to bait its trap. + +"And if not?" she said. + +"The pledge can be forsworn--and Aphur can do what she likes." + +"Your father?" + +"Knows not his own mind from day to day, as you yourself know. Even now +he speaks of giving me the throne." + +Kalamita smiled. "Yet Bzad says Naia is very fair." She narrowed her +eyes. + +"Bzad speaks truth, yet have I not come straight to you as I said on my +return?" + +"Aye. Good then my lord. Tonight let us speak as one of this journey +to the south. Myself, I shall seem as one who knows and understands, +and am satisfied in all that has occurred. Do you maintain your action +solely to gain time and allay all suspicion in Aphur's mind. Tonight +shall you know Zollaria's final plans which shall bring you to Zitra's +throne." She rose and stood before him. "Do you love me indeed, my +lord?" + +"Yes, by Zitu!" Kyphallos's voice was thickened. He reached out eager +hands. + +But Kalamita laughed. "Not Kyphallos alone may pledge himself for +reasons of State," she taunted, drawing back. "I also have given my +troth to another since you left." + +"You!" For an instant the Cathurian seemed bereft of further power +of speech. He grew deadly pale. Then the red blood surged back into +his face. It grew dark, with a deadly passion. He sprang forward and +seized her by her jewel-banded arms, holding her in a grip she might +not resist. "What mean you? Say quickly your words are a jest, or, by +Zitu and Azil, you shall find no time before I crush in your unfaithful +breast!" + +It came over Croft that the Cathurian loved her--with such love as a +man of his type could give; that for her he was ready to sacrifice +honor and country and all a true man would hold sacred; that this +explained all he had so far heard. And it came into his mind that the +woman was in danger. + +But she smiled in mockery into the threatening face. "For reasons of +State, my lord," she said. + +"What?" Kyphallos caught a breath. + +Kalamita loosened his grip on her arms, carried his arms downward +beside her and drew them about her form. "Plans have gone forward since +you departed for the south. When all is ready you shall invite me to +Anthra--and once in your power you shall refuse to permit my return. +Zollaria, and he to whom I am pledged, shall demand it, and still +shall you refuse. Then shall Zollaria wage war on Cathur and Cathur +shall appeal to Tamarizia for aid. And since Cathur guards the gate to +the Central Sea and her loss would spell the downfall of a thousand +cycles of power that aid may not be refused." + +The rape of Helen--the siege of Troy. Woman--woman--the source of life +and the cause of so much death. Croft felt his senses swirl as he saw +the subtle way in which nothing less than a war of conquest had been +planned and practically assured. + + * * * * * + +Kyphallos spoke. "And Cathur's unprepared army, thanks to Tamhys's +thoughts of peace, and of others before him, shall scarcely stop the +armies Zollaria has trained and armed and taught for fifty years. Then +shall Kyphallos and Kalamita mount the throne of Zitra, and--" + +"Naia!" Once more the woman taunted with a smile. + +"Bzad can have her, if he takes her," Kyphallos cried. + +Bzad--the blue Mazzerian chief! Naia to a savage! Croft's spirit +quivered and shook with a righteous rage. The last vestige of any +compunction he might have held against leading the girl to declare her +passion for himself disappeared. + +"Not an impossible fate," he heard Kalamita speaking and noted a crafty +light creep into her yellow eyes. "Come, then. Let us descend. Play +your part strongly, my lord, and all, I think, shall be well." + +Croft followed them downstairs to the court where a table was spread. +Save Kalamita herself the guests were wholly men. He recognized +Bandhor, her brother, and the Mazzerian Bzad. The others, plainly +Zollarians and men of Mazzer by their appearance and speech, were as +yet unknown to him. + +The appearance of the Zollarian Magnet and her captive victim was a +signal for all to take their seats. Thereafter, as the meal progressed, +Croft learned the final details of the plan. + +It was mainly such as he had already conceived save that the Mazzerian +nation was to aid Zollaria in the war of annexation she planned. For +this Mazzeria was to be given a seaport on the Central Sea and free use +of a river leading from it through the state of Bithur, as well as the +eastern half of Bithur itself. War would be made by Mazzeria on the +eastern frontier, while Zollaria threw her main force against Cathur +and crushed her smaller army by sheer force of weight. + +"Thus," said one of the party, a man unknown to Croft, yet one, he +felt, could be no less than a representative of the Zollarian ruler +himself from the deference paid him by the others, "shall Zollaria make +good that freedom of the seas she has long desired, and prove her good +faith and her friendship for our Mazzerian allies to the east. Thus +shall Zollaria and Tamarizia become one nation, with Cathur to rule the +southern half. As for the fashion in which our good Prince Kyphallos +met Aphur's plans, it is well. For since war is to be the outcome of +all our planning, what matters one pledge broken more or less?" + +This was Zollarian statecraft, Croft thought. This was the weight +of Zollaria's word. This was the right of might. To take what she +wished, to trick, betray, seduce, that she might gain her ends thereby. +Nothing which mankind held sacred was sacred to her, it appeared. She +sent a royal woman of easy morals to lure Cathur into a snare. She +would make this tawny enchantress her final excuse for war. She was +callous, overbearing, greedy of power, gross save for a surface seeming +of culture she used as a mask--behind which lurked the true nature +which inspired her plans and acts. To her Kyphallos would sell his +birthright, his state, his nation, for the favor of the wanton beside +him and a place upon a secondary throne. + +And it was Kyphallos who spoke now. "And thus shall Kalamita be queen +at Zitra when all is done! A toast to Kalamita now!" + +"To Kalamita, queen of women now. Queen of Zitra later!" the unknown +noble cried and lifted a goblet brimming with wine. + +"To Kalamita!" the party drank. + +"And now," said the unknown, rising and lifting the goblet above his +head, "another toast, my friends. To those things we have planned and +their fruition. To--the day--whenever it shall be!" + +"To the day!" They drank it standing. + +Bandhor, in whose palace Croft judged the conference has occurred, +clapped his hands sharply and a band of dancers trooped in. + +Croft left. He had learned all he had hoped and more. He knew now what +Tamarizia faced--war. And he knew more. He knew that Naia, of Aphur, +was his! He knew that Cathur meant to forswear her--that there would be +no need on his part to win her other than by winning this war. His part +now to arm Aphur, Nodhur, Milidhur--so much of Tamarizia as he could +in the space of a year. His part to bring disaster to these carefully +laid plans of a greedy nation and a traitor prince. + +That was his work. It was best he should be about it. To do what he +must the time was painfully short. Turning his mind upon the first step +which should lead him to its completion, he focused his mind upon it +with all his power and left Palos for the earth. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + "ARMS AND THE MAN" + + +Two weeks went by before he once more opened the eyes of Jasor's body +and found himself in a guarded room in the palace of Aphur's king. + +He had spent them on earth in the study of firearms and munitions and +the various devices required for making the same. Now he returned with +a consciousness full of designs and an urgent desire to attempt their +carrying out. + +He sat up. "List, soldier, I would drink!" he announced. + +The guard inside the door of his chamber started, shot a quick glance +toward his bed, and approached none too swiftly, Croft thought. The man +actually seemed afraid. "Wine!" he snapped, seeking to overcome the +first shock induced by his words. + +"Aye, my lord." The guard turned to the door and set it open. "Wine!" +he bawled. "The Lord Jasor awakes!" + +"My clothes." Croft left his couch. + +Ten minutes later a rap fell on the door. Robur appeared. Word of +Croft's waking had spread. The prince himself came with a page bringing +wine. Croft drank: "I would see Jadgor at once," he declared. + +"He sleeps," Prince Robur began. + +"Then wake him. All Tamarizia totters to a fall unless we be ready in +less than a single cycle, Rob." + +"Zitu!" Robur stared. "Say you truly. How know you this, Jasor, my +friend?" + +Croft turned and pointed toward his couch. "I was told while my body +lay there," he said quickly. "You call on Zitu in vain unless you give +heed to my words!" + +"Nay, not so. Come," replied Aphur's prince. "I myself shall take you +to my father without delay." + +That was a strange night in Himyra of Aphur, pregnant with the +destinies of a nation--and nothing less. Jadgor, no king in seeming +now, but a stern-faced man in a simple garment sat upon his couch +while Croft revealed his knowledge of what Zollaria planned. + +"By Zitu!" he roared at the end, "would Cathur dare this thing?" + +"Aye--for the woman and Zitra's throne," said Croft. + +"To foreswear his pledge to Aphur?" + +"Aye." + +"To surrender his state?" + +"Aye--that too, Jadgor the king." + +And suddenly Jadgor was king indeed despite the disadvantage of +position and clothes. "Then let Zilla the Destroyer take me unless +we meet them, spear to spear and sword to sword! Jasor of Nodhur, I +understand you not--nor yet how your knowledge is obtained save Zitu +speaks through you as a mouthpiece for his own designs. Yet know I that +what you say falls out. Wherefore I shall once more heed your words. +This falls on Aphur, Nodhur, Milidhur, I think, with Tamhys, man of +peace on Zitra's throne. Yet shall Aphur, Nodhur, and Milidhur prepare. +Inside a cycle, should we work together, we shall have a very horde of +ready spears and swords." + +"Nay, scarcely that," said Croft. + +"What else?" Jadgor stared. + +"Stronger weapons than those, for which I bring the plans. If made in +time, a thousand men instructed in their use, can end this war almost +before it starts. Let Aphur, Milidhur, and Nodhur plan together, that +these weapons may be produced some in Himyra and some in Ladhra. The +work is vast. Yet shall the final end be sure if this is done before +Zollaria strikes. Robur and I shall undertake the carrying out of my +designs, if Jadgor gives the word." + +"Then Jadgor gives it," said the king. "On Nodhur will I call and +Milidhur. No man may say that Aphur failed to think of Tamarizia's +good. For though I see that should you do this thing your name will +stand above all others in the state--I love my nation more than I love +either fame or rank. Hence, Nodhur, make your weapons for this coming +trial of strength, and I shall give you moneys, metals, men--all things +you may require." + +Croft's heart swelled in his breast. Had he ever doubted Jadgor's +patriotic motives for a moment, those doubts died now as he heard him +lay aside those dreams of imperial rank he knew had once been his. +And in that moment there was born within his brain the plan he was +fated to carry out--a plan which would make Tamhys the last emperor of +Tamarizia, and after him no other ever again. "Then," he accepted the +king's assurance, "Robur and I shall plan that this work may start at +once. Aphur, I crave your pardon for having broken your sleep." + +That was the beginning of Croft's real work. Oddly enough, on a planet +where he had come upon seeming peace, his first task outside the +original motor was in preparing for war; and even the motor entered +largely into that. + + * * * * * + +At once he plunged into a very frenzy of action, almost appalled +himself by the amount to be done inside a year. That first night he +spent with Robur drafting to his attentive ears those things which they +must do--the finishing of the motors--their installation in ships. + +"The structure for that end is well-nigh completed," Robur said. + +"Good!" Croft cried, and went on swiftly to demand the construction or +appropriation of buildings for the making of arms. As to the nature +of the latter, he held back the details for the time, and spoke of +preparing a fleet of swift motor-driven galleys in which to transport +the troops they would raise across the Central Sea when the need should +arise. + +Robur's eyes sparkled at that. "We shall come upon them ere they dream +we can arrive. Jasor, my friend, your name shall be greatest among +Tamarizia's men." + +"No greater than that of Jadgor," Croft replied. "Rob, your father is a +man above other men. None save a man of noble spirit forgets himself to +assure his nation's good." + +In the month that followed Croft did many things. He began the training +of a number of men in assembling the motors, choosing only such as +seemed peculiarly adapted to the work. He installed a motor in a galley +and drove the craft through Himyra along the Na at a speed which had +never been seen in a ship in Palos before. In this, with Jadgor himself +and Lakkon, whom he persuaded to bring Naia along, he journeyed on up +the river to make his long-promised visit to Jasor's parents at Ladhra +and enlist Belzor, King of Nodhur, in their plans. + +Sinon and Mellia scarcely knew how to take him they thought their son. + +"By Zitu! You have done it!" Sinon cried as he rode the galley across +the Na's yellow flood. + +Later, loaded with honors, both by Jadgor and Belzor himself, he grew +abashed. "That my son should raise me to noble station," he faltered to +Mellia at his side. "Strange days are coming to Tamarizia, wife of my +heart, when he who was a dullard sits in the council of the kings." + +For Croft had appeared before Belzor inside the first day after Ladhra +was reached. And Belzor, startled by the fact of a galley which ran +up the turgid current of the mighty river without oars or sails, had +listened to him and Jadgor and joined his support to their plans. That +settled, he arranged with Sinon to send several galleys to Himyra to +be equipped with motors, and returning to that city for a few days, +dropped down stream, entered the Central Sea, and sailed to the capital +city of Milidhur. + +On this trip Gaya made one of their party, and though Croft perforce +acted as engineer, he managed more than one word with Naia during the +course of the voyage, and once the fleeting bliss of a stolen kiss. + +In Milidhur, Gaya's voice helped to turn the tide to Jadgor and Croft. +A princess of state, she brought all her influence to bear. And since +Milidhur was asked only to form a part of the army, to be equipped +before Zollaria struck, the matter was soon arranged. + +Back in Himyra at length, Croft found the work on the motors +progressing swiftly under Robur's direction and at once began the +actual construction of machines for the fashioning of arms. Now and +then he stole away for an evening and drove out to Lakkon's mountain +palace for a meal. Not only did he find pleasure in the going, but Naia +pleaded for the all too short hours they managed to spend together, and +to Croft it seemed that each time he brought back from her presence a +freshened and driving energy to his work. + +That work progressed. Of that progress he spoke to her from time to +time. And always she spurred him on with eyes and lips through the task +at the end of which she herself was the waiting and willing prize. + + * * * * * + +Day and night the fire of creation flared in Himyra, and so soon as +work was started, and he had shown Robur how to keep busy the many men +Jadgor had furnished for their needs, Croft put some of the new motors +into commission between Himyra and Ladhra and started other work there, +in a mighty building set apart by Belzor for his use. Those necessary +bits of machinery first installed in the Himyra shops he had made, like +the motor parts were now made, in numbers. + +Sinon's first galley up the Na carried as its cargo partly assembled +engines of queer design to a Palosian mind, which should when set up in +the shops at Ladhra fulfil their portion of Croft's plan. Thereafter +the fires of the new era flared in Ladhra, too, and Croft spent his +time between the two shops, motoring back and forth mainly at night, +regardless of the loss of sleep until he should have everything running +smoothly. + +Twenty of the hundred cars which were gradually taking shape he set +apart, however, after they were tested--and these he had equipped with +all-metal wheels carrying cross-bars on their tires like short, strong +teeth. He put workmen to the task of making metal walls to bolt upon +each chassis. And these walls were pierced with slots. Thus he arranged +for twenty armored cars and had them set aside. Likewise he speeded the +construction of numbers of flat-bottomed power-boats capable of speed, +yet having floor space enough to transport no small number of men. + +A month passed, two months, three. Always the fires in Ladhra and +Himyra flared. Men toiled day and night. Croft's plans were drawn for +each part of the arm he intended to make. Machines were assembled and +set up--motors were harnessed to them to Robur's amazement. Croft found +the Tamarizians apt of comprehension and willing to work. Each man +employed was sworn to fealty to the State. Each knew himself a member +in an army working for the safety of the nation. At the end of three +months he found himself the supreme captain of a picked corps. And at +the end of a month he was ready to begin the actual making of arms. + +Now and then Croft went back to his earthly body, not only to renew +its physical life, but to gain help in the work he was carrying on +by learning fresh details on each trip. He gave up any intention of +manufacturing machine guns, as a thing requiring too much time. On +an average he spent two days of every week on earth. His sleeps on +Palos had become too frequent to cause any further comment when they +occurred. Thus a fourth month passed. + +In it Croft accomplished several things. He did not stop motor +production with the first hundred. He continued their building and +began selling the output of the shops to private owners. The things +became a not too unusual sight on the Himyra streets, and the first +motor caravan was organized and crossed the inland desert to Milidhur +with success. + +One special car Croft had built. On it he lavished all his present +ability of refinement. And when it was done he drove it to Lakkon's +mountain mansion in the twilight of a busy day. It was for Naia, and +himself he gave it to her, and after the evening meal when the three +moons rose he placed her in it and taught her how to drive. + +Far down the mountain road and out upon the desert between the foot +of the hills and Himyra they went. They were alone in the soft light +which turned the dun plain to silver. Far off the red fires in Croft's +workshops flared over Himyra's walls. + +Croft stopped the car and pointed to that red reflection in the lesser +light. Suddenly it seemed to him that in all the world there were just +they two--that they were alone--that nothing else mattered. His heart +swelled. + +"For you!" he said, and drew Naia into his arms, and against his +breast. "For you!" He kissed her on eyes and lips. "To free you and +give you to me always. Those fires are burning away all need of your +sacrifice. In the end they shall make you mine." + +"Yours." Naia sighed in his arms as one content. "Here in the desert +you preserved my life. Why should it not belong to you? + +"Your work progresses well?" she went on after a time. + +"Beyond my hopes," Croft assured her. "Have no fear. All shall be +ready--in time." + +"My lord," she whispered. + +"Aye--_your_ lord, beloved," said Croft. + +"Beloved," she repeated. + +For a time Croft simply held her, and then he turned the car and drove +back up the mountain road. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + A SUMMONS FROM ZITRA + + +At the end of the fourth month the first rifle was done. It was an +odd-appearing affair. Tempered copper took the place of earthly +steel in barrel and other metal parts. Copper formed the shell for +the ammunition, over which Croft had experienced more trouble than +in anything else. Lead was very scarce on Palos. But there were vast +quantities of gold. That explained the enormous use made of it in +draperies and the common trades as he had learned. + +Yet it was with some compunction due to the opposite conditions on +earth and their lifelong effect on his brain that he finally hit on +an alloy from which the bullets were made. Powder had troubled him, +too--though in the end he managed to make it. And for the fulminating +centers of his cartridge complete, he was compelled to spend several +days on earth. + +In the end, however, he held the first completed weapon in his hands, +and gloated over its finished lines. Taking Robur in a car, he drove +out along the south road to a place where he knew vast flocks of +water-fowl were wont to frequent the Na. + +As a boy he had been a good shot, until such time as he waked in his +soul a repugnance for killing the natural creatures the One Great +Source had made, save as necessity arose. + +He gestured to the wild fowl floating on the yellow water more than a +bow-shot away. "Now watch, Rob," he said, and took the rifle in his +hands. + +Vaguely by now Prince Robur understood the design of the new instrument +of destruction. Yet it was hard for him to comprehend fully a thing +such as he had never dreamed before Croft put it into his mind. He +smiled. "Had we not better draw a little closer, Jasor, my friend?" he +inquired. + +"No." On the word Croft fired. Nor did he fire blindly into the flock. +He chose a bird swimming to one side. And hard on the sound of his shot +that bird jerked in the spasmodic fashion of a sorely stricken thing, +struggled for an instant and floated away, half sunk in the yellow tide. + +The entire flock rose at the new strange sound on the silent air. They +swarmed across the sky. Pumping up a fresh cartridge, Croft lifted +his rifle swiftly, chanced another hit--and scored. One of the flying +creatures checked its rapid course, slanted drunkenly downward and then +spun dizzily over and over to fall not far from where the two men +stood in the car. + +"Zitu! Zitu!" Robur exclaimed, springing from the machine to retrieve +the fallen bird. Croft watched him run toward it in very unprincelike +haste. Then he was coming back with the dead thing in his hands, +staring wide-eyed at the drops of blood on its feathers, lifting his +face with a strange expression to Croft, as he climbed back to his seat. + +"Are you convinced, Rob?" Croft laid the rifle aside. + +"I am convinced Zitu himself but uses you as his agent. These things +never came from a mortal brain alone," the Prince of Aphur replied. + +"Man comes by Zitu's will, why should not Zitu use man for the things +it pleases him to do?" said Croft. + +"You do not deny it?" Robur spoke in almost startled fashion. + +"Nay. Have I not already said that all I did was by Zitu's grace?" +There were times when Croft found it hard to avoid a direct avowal of +the actual state which was his, times when he hungered to make some +human soul a confidant concerning all that had occurred. And he loved +the strong young man by his side. + +Now, however, Robur laughed in a somewhat unsteady way. "There are +times when you cause me to stand in awe of your power, Jasor, my +friend," he said. + +"Think you not Zollaria will stand in awe of our weapons when they are +in the hands of our men, on foot or mounted in the cars I have armored +and pierced with holes for the barrels of the rifles?" Croft asked. + +"Aye, by Zitu!" Robur shouted. "Turn around Jasor--and 'let her out.' +We must return to our work." + + * * * * * + +But that night Croft drove out to the mountains, taking his rifle +along. Others were being assembled now, and he had seen Jadgor himself +and arranged for the beginning of the army they must raise. The thing +would be started by a public demonstration, at which Croft should show +the power of the new weapon. The men of Aphur, and Nodhur, and Milidhur +would be invited to join. To each who did so a rifle would be given +wholly as his property for all time to come, and a certain wage would +be given also while they were being trained. + +Fired by the thought, Croft asked for a copy of the Tamarizian +alphabet, found it not unlike the ancient Maya inscriptions in Central +America and had taken it to the shop and set his pattern-makers +to forming molds for the making of type. He intended printing +proclamations of the coming call for volunteers and posting them about +the streets, where those who knew how to read might understand and +impart the knowledge to their fellows. + +Thus to his inventions he added the printing-press, crude, and for +large work only at first, but printing none the less. He had taken all +this up with Jadgor, and advised waiting another month, until many +rifles were finished or being made, since the civic and royal guards +would form the nucleus of the army and must be armed before a call for +volunteers. Jadgor had listened to all he said, gazing at the dead +water-fowl Robur had insisted on lugging into the palace. He examined +the wound made by the bullet and agreed to all his son and Croft had +asked. Now at the end of the day Croft was speeding forth to show +the woman he loved the thing which should win for them their heart's +desire, and wreck Zollaria's plans. + +Lakkon himself met him as he descended at the door. Despite his resolve +Croft's visits were growing more and more frequent and Lakkon was not a +fool. + +"My lord," he said, giving his hand, "what brings you again thus soon?" + +Croft drew himself up. "Success," he returned. "I came but to prove to +you the power of the first of the new weapons we have made. And having +done so I shall return to Himyra so soon as I may." + +"Nay." A trouble expression waked in Lakkon's eyes. "Take not my words +amiss." He seemed suddenly abashed. "The weapon does all you said?" + +"Aye. I shall show you and the princess, if I may." + +Lakkon's eyes flashed. The meaning of this wonder-worker's statement if +proved, which he did not doubt, swept all else out of his mind for the +time. "What do you require?" he asked in a tense tone. + +Croft glanced about. Below him near the lake in a mountain meadow were +some of the strange sheep-like cattle, knee deep in grass. He gestured +toward them with his hand. "Permission to slay one of those." + +"Granted, so be you can do it," Lakkon smiled. The distance was twice +the range of any bow. + +Croft reflected the smile as he made answer. "If the princess may be +summoned." He turned and took the rifle from the car. + +Lakkon eyed it with unconcealed interest. He called the Mazzerian from +within the door and directed that Naia be bidden to appear. + +While they waited, Croft opened the magazine and extracted a bullet. +He was explaining it to Lakkon when Naia hurried forth. "A powder +within the shell furnishes the power to propel the ball in the end," he +finished in time to greet her. "And now Prince Lakkon, to take you at +your word." He lifted the shining barrel. + +"What would you do?" Naia exclaimed. + +"Behold," said Croft and fired. + +Far below in the meadow one of the woolly creatures appeared to +stumble, to stagger a pace or two forward before it sank into the grass. + +"Zitu!" came Lakkon's voice. + +Croft smiled. + +Naia approached. Her face was devoid of color--as white as though the +bullet had pierced her heart instead of the body of the unknowing +sacrifice to developing science, now lying in swift dissolution beside +the lake. Slowly she put forth a finger and touched the shining thing +in Croft's hands. "This is the new weapon?" she said in a sibilant +whisper, and lifted her face to his. + +"Aye. And having shown Lakkon its power, I must return to Himyra." +Croft turned toward the car. He hoped she would understand his +abruptness, since after Lakkon's words he was afraid to meet the glance +of her eyes. + +"Return?" she cried protestingly. "Must you go so soon, my lord?" + +"The need presses," Lakkon cut in. "Lord Jasor came but to show us the +last fruits of his wonderful knowledge. I called you to witness the +test. You need not remain." + +"You see," he went on as Naia turned with a quivering lip and slowly +mounted the stairs. + +"What?" Croft met him eye to eye. + +"That my daughter is a woman, Jasor of Nodhur, and that your name is +a word on every tongue in Aphur, and that the princess is pledged to +Cathur." + +"Who will foreswear his pledge," Croft interrupted, knowing Jadgor must +have told the counselor what they had discussed. + +"If your words be true?" + +"You doubt them?" + +"Nay--yet Lakkon is a name of honor, and a pledge is a pledge until +broken indeed." + +"And should it be so broken?" Croft leaned a trifle toward him from the +hips. + +"Aphur would refuse you nothing," Prince Lakkon said. + +Croft laughed as he sprang into his seat. "Forget not those words, +Prince Lakkon," he flung back as he started the car. + + * * * * * + +He drove to Himyra in a rage. Before him floated a vision of Naia's +purple eyes gone black with hurt misunderstanding, of her quivering +crimson lips. But his rage was as much with himself as with Lakkon, to +tell the truth. He had been indiscreet after promising discretion. He +had gone to the mountains too often. He had let eye and voice speak too +plainly those things in his soul. Lakkon had been blind not to see what +was ripening under his nose. And Lakkon was a man of honor according to +his code. + +He drove to the palace, found Gaya, and told her the whole thing from +beginning to end. + +"You mean that the maiden loves you?" she cried. + +"Aye," Croft said. + +"You have told her of your love?" Gaya seemed a bit breathless as she +paused. + +"Aye." Croft inclined his head. + +"You are mad!" + +"Nay--I am in love. It comes to the same thing." Croft smiled. + +"Ga and Azil help you both," Gaya returned. "I can do nothing. And--you +must not imperil her honor, my lord. But--I shall make it my task to +see her and explain the manner of your return tonight, and," her color +deepened swiftly, "to assure her of your love." + +"Thank you, sweet Gaya." Croft rose. "You are a blessed hypocrite--and +a true woman." + +He bent and gripped her hand. + +And Gaya smiled upon him because he was a strong man and she was a +woman indeed. + +For the rest as the days and weeks dragged away, Croft sought to drown +himself in attention to his work. All day he toiled and oftentimes +far into the night. Jasor's splendid physique stood him in good stead +during the months of preparation. + +There were no labor troubles in Aphur. The state fixed the scale of +wages, and those who would not work were summarily sent to the mines to +dig the metals needed by their more energetic fellow citizens. Thus the +fifth month passed. + +Rifles were being turned forth in a glittering array at Himyra and +Ladhra and stored with their ammunition for the time of need. Croft +finished his printing-press and struck from it the first bulletins +which should appeal to the men of three states to come to their +country's need. + +"Citizens of Tamarizia," Croft wrote. "Shall Tamarizia weaken or grow +strong? Recall the heritage your forebears left. Yours is the Central +Sea. Yours is a government of the people, for the people, under liberal +heads of state, who express the people's will as set forth once in a +cycle by the state assemblies you by your votes elect. But a government +by the people is strong only as the people themselves shall make it. +Citizens make Tamarizia strong as never before. + +"Let each man step to the fore and agree to serve as a soldier for one +year. To each shall be given a weapon which he may keep. Ponder on +this. If each year each man of good health and a certain age shall for +one year win his weapon and learn concerning its use, how long before +Tamarizia shall be so strong in the strength of her men that she shall +be safe in the possession of the proud station those brave men your +forefathers left to you in trust? Ask of your civic captains concerning +this. Enroll yourself as citizens of Tamarizia under them." + +These bulletins were posted in Aphur, Nodhur and Milidhur, and in the +capital of each state a public demonstration of the new army weapon +was held by a picked squad of Jadgor's royal guards whom Croft had +taught to shoot. At each a herd of taburs was slaughtered, singly and +in groups. All southwest Tamarizia gasped. The word flew from mouth to +mouth. The stories fired men's hearts. They flocked to the captains of +the city guards. + +Croft began teaching the royal guard and the guard of Himyra, the +school of the company and squad, marksmanship and a simple manual of +arms. They learned quickly and inside a month he sent many of them as +special instructors to all Aphur and the other southern states. Thus +far things had progressed to the end of the ninth month, when the +imperial throne at Zitra interfered. A messenger arrived, commanding +Jadgor and all others responsible for the warlike activity in Aphur and +Nodhur to appear before Tamhys with the least possible delay. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + WHEN THE EMPEROR HEDGED + + +The thing was not unexpected to Croft. From the start he had feared +some such event. Hence, without offering explanation to Jadgor he had +taken steps to convince Magur of Himyra of the deathlike stupor in +which his body lay at such times as he was absent from it. + +He had gone on one occasion to the pyramid and deliberately left +Jasor's form sitting in a chair, while he projected himself to Scira +and found out Abbu, now for some months engaged in keeping watch on the +moves of Cathur's prince. Returning to find Magur standing above him +in something like awe, he had told exactly what Abbu was doing at the +time, and requested Magur to verify his words in any fashion he chose. + +Now faced by the imperial interference with all his plans, he called +Magur to his aid. He took him to Zitra, with Jadgor, Lakkon and +himself, making the journey quickly in a motor-driven craft and taking +the messenger along. + +Croft marveled at Zitra, despite all he had seen of Tamarizian +architecture before. It rose crystal and silver and white, save +that the temple of Zitu, surmounting a pyramid twice the size of +that at Himyra was of an azure-blue stone--the color of the highest +priesthood as he was to learn. The palace of Tamhys was a marvel to the +eye--vaster than Himyra's mighty white structure built wholly of white +and crystal and roofed with burnished silver, paved with alternate +squares of silver, and crystal, and gold. + +The thing was unbelievable, Croft felt. He moved as in a dream. This +was the central city of empire, impregnable to any weapon then known on +Palosian soil. Its walls rose sheer from the sea on the side which they +approached. The harbor was within them. Sea gates closed the entrance +with leaves of copper, covered by silver faces. The walls themselves +were white. Darting through the gates their galley entered the gulf of +a harbor smooth as glass wherein were mirrored the quays and structures +along the water's edge. The cool green of trees banked the terraces and +relieved the well-nigh blinding radiance created by the sun upon the +glistening white. He forgot everything in the beauty of the vision and +exclaimed aloud. + +Magur watched him, well pleased. His pleasure grew as Croft turned and +faced the monstrous pile of the pyramid and the pure blue temple on the +top. They landed, and while the wharfmen were unloading a motor which +Croft had brought as a present for Tamhys, and the messenger hurried to +the palace to announce their arrival, he led Croft to one side. + +"I would have you meet Zud, High Priest of all Tamarizia," he said. "We +who keep alive the love of Zitu in the hearts of the nation are not +devoid of all material power, my friend." + +Croft inclined his head. He had hoped for something of this sort; had +planned for it, indeed. "I also serve Zitu in my way," he declared. "I +should be honored to enter the presence of him he has seen fit to exalt +to so high a degree." + +An armed guard appeared, escorting a number of gnuppa-drawn chariots. +At the invitation of a noble in glistening cuirass and helmet, the +party from Himyra entered the cars and drove toward the palace through +the streets paved in broad, flat stones. Croft, however, insisted on +driving the motor he had brought, and with him went Magur, the priest. + +Tamhys would grant them audience that evening, it appeared. + +Magur smiled. He beckoned the noble to his side. "Then will Jasor of +Nodhur, who sits before me, visit first on Zud," he announced. "Say +this to Tamhys, when you reach the palace with Lakkon of Aphur and +Jadgor, Aphur's king." + +The man saluted and withdrew without question. Once more Magur smiled. +Croft started the engine and moved off in the wake of the gnuppas that +he might not frighten them out of their wits. "Turn here," said Magur +after a time. Inside ten minutes they stopped in front of the main +approach to the mighty pyramid. + +Magur told of what he had seen and of what he had heard. The High +Priest eyed him when he finished. "Magur believes these things?" he +inquired. + +"Aye, as in Zitu I believe." Magur inclined his head. + +"That these things are of Zitu, through Jasor of Nodhur's mind?" + +"Aye, Zud, servant of Zitu, so I believe." + +Zud turned his eyes from the priest to Croft and back. "First came he +to you, at Himyra, from Abbu the brother at Scira," he recited Magur's +words. + +"Aye." + +"As a servant of Zitu's undreamed designs to come." + +"Zud speaks the words present in my mind." + +"Before the audience my request to be present shall reach Tamhys," Zud +decided. "And now, Jasor of Nodhur, how come you by the knowledge of +things undreamed?" + +Croft told him so much as he dared. "My body lies as dead. In truth my +spirit leaves it. And, while absent, acquires the knowledge with which +it returns." + +"As a voice?" said Zud. + +"Nay, as something shown to me, together with the manner in which it +may be made." + +Zud rose and lifted his hands. "Who may understand Zitu?" he intoned in +a voice of amazement. Croft felt he was convinced. + +Hence when he stood that night before the white-haired Tamhys, he felt +a quiet assurance born of the belief that Magur and Zud, both present, +were his friends, and they were the friends of his cause. + + * * * * * + +"Jadgor of Aphur," Tamhys began. "I have now summoned you before me, +since for some time I have had you beneath my eye. You have married +your son to a princess of Milidhur, and within half a cycle you have +betrothed your sister's child to Cathur, and Belzor of Nodhur and +yourself are friends. Thus only Bithur seems not swayed in more or less +degree by those wishes which are yours, and you wax strong in power. +Why have you done these things?" + +"Tamhys of Tamarizia," Jadgor replied; "these things I do not deny. +Robur of Aphur wedded the Princess Gaya for love. Nodhur's interests +are one with Aphur, since both possess the Na within their lines. Naia +has plighted her troth to Kyphallos of Aphur at my wish to make strong +the guard of the western gate and assure to Tamarizia those things she +holds." He spoke boldly and faced the emperor of his nation with an +unflinching eye. + +But Tamhys frowned. "This is not all," he said. "It has come to my ear +that you have in Himyra a man--Jasor of Nodhur--who stands now before +me--a man who works new marvels undreamed of before--that some of them +are weapons, designed for the work of war--that Aphur and Nodhur and +Milidhur increase the men in their guards to an unwarranted degree. +What say you to this?" + +"That you have heard the truth, O Tamhys," Jadgor again replied. "These +things have been made. The guards have been increased. These things +also have I done to make Tamarizia strong." + +The lines of Tamhys's countenance contracted further. His features grew +dark and he clenched a hand. "You are a man of power, Jadgor of Aphur," +he cried. "Power is beneath your nostrils. Hence you dream of war. Yet +is war not of my creed, nor shall be. For fifty cycles has Tamarizia +known peace--" + +"Aye--and fifty cycles past lost she the State of Mazhur, because she +knew not the art of war--as she knows it now," Jadgor flared into +interruption. Strong man that he was and crafty, he knew not the +diplomatic speech. "Is she to lose Cathur now as well?" he rushed on +and paused. + +Tamhys smiled as one might at a child. "Jadgor of Aphur, the warning I +have received concerning your aims comes to me from the loyal house of +Cathur itself. Cathur thinks your eyes turn toward the throne. To me +that is of little consequence. Yet you hesitate to see one mount the +throne of Zitra to plunge our nation in war. You think, perhaps, to win +Mazhur back." + +"And if I should--should I make Tamarizia whole again!" Jadgor's voice +rose with a fervid fire of patriotic feeling. + +As for Croft, he felt assured he understood the situation better now. +Cathur's spies had carried word of what was forward as he had felt +assured they would. Cathur of Zollaria's prompting thus sought through +the peace-loving Tamhys to tie the hands of Tamarizia while she made +ready for the blow she expected to strike ere long. He said as much to +Magur, who repeated it to Zud. + +Tamhys smiled again. "Should you attempt it, you would send our sons +to death for a little ground. Let be, Jadgor. Hold we not the western +gate as always? Are the wails of dying men and the sobs of women things +grown sweet to your ears?" + +"Nay; but if Cathur falls--if Zollaria makes war and we cannot defend +what yet remains of our ground?" Jadgor's voice shook as he saw the end +of his dream of strength in view. + +"Would Zollaria have waited fifty years to make war had she it in +mind?" Tamhys asked. + +"Then what does Tamhys wish?" Jadgor inquired, with a sigh. He was no +traitor, and under the law he must heed the emperor's word. + +"That you cease those unwise undertakings--that you send the men from +the shops of their making back to their fathers' trades; that you cease +to dream of war and pursue the ways of peace in which we have prospered +in the past. That you turn Jasor of Nodhur's mind to other things than +the making of the instruments of destruction. I have heard he has +builded chariots which run seemingly of themselves, and galleys which +propel themselves up rivers and across the seas. Those things are well. +Jadgor, I command that you forsake--" + +"Hold, Tamhys!" It was Zud, the High Priest, who spoke. "Truth you have +been told, yet not all the truth as it appears. None know the plans of +Zitu save Zitu himself. A priest, I am as yourself, a man of peace. +Yet Zitu himself may send a war at times to, like a sorrow, purge the +soul of the nation and recall it to him, even as a grief may turn the +soul of a man to higher things. Jasor of Nodhur was a dullard till Zitu +opened his mind. He died as his physician declares, yet now he lives +again, and speaks with a mind inspired. + +"Himself he says these things are delivered unto him while his body +lies as dead. This I have from Magur of Himyra who has seen him in such +a sleep, and Magur has the account of his changing from Abbu of Scira +who administered to him the last rites of life, ere he seemingly died. +Hence Zitu's hand appears in this to the minds of Magur and myself. +Shall Tamhys seek to interfere when Zitu directs?" + + * * * * * + +For the first time the emperor wavered in his course. Man of peace +and believer in the State religion, the priest's words had a powerful +effect upon his mind. + +"If he comes as an agent of Zitu, why came he not first to Zitra?" he +questioned at length. + +Zud smiled. "Zitu acts many times through the means at hand. It were +easier to convince the mind of Jadgor perhaps than to persuade Tamhys," +he replied. + +The emperor winced, and turned to Jadgor again. "Swear to me by +Zitu that your acts were meant for Tamarizia's welfare and for no +advancement of self through an increase of your power," he required. + +Jadgor's face set into lines of a swift resentment. His color mounted, +but he controlled his voice. "I swear it, O Tamhys," he said. + +"These weapons are for Tamarizia's defense alone?" + +"As Zitu sees my heart." + +Tamhys chose a middle course. "Keep, then, what you have," he decreed; +"yet fashion not any more. Nor urge your men to look for war, when +peace is in their land. I have heard of strange writings posted on +walls, inviting men to join your guards." + +Jadgor's face was dark, but he bowed in submission to the emperor's +command. "What of the men who stand pledged at present?" he asked. "I +have promised them a stated wage for a cycle. It is understood. My word +has passed." + +"At the end of the cycle, let them be dismissed," said Tamhys after +some thought. + +Again Jadgor bowed. + +Yet Croft found himself not unduly cast down, and he thought he caught +a smile in Lakkon's eyes. Suspecting some such event as had just +transpired, he had instructed Robur to speed the assembling of all +rifles both at Himyra and at Ladhra, before leaving for Zitra himself. + +Tamhys's decision regarding such weapons as already existed he +determined to accept in its broadest sense of application, and as for +the dismissal of the guards now in process of training at the end of a +cycle, he knew full well that they would probably not be needed after +that time, or so hotly engaged that even Tamhys would rescind his +decree. + +Hence he felt that things had not turned out so badly as they might, +and he fancied Lakkon's view of the matter was practically the same. +In fact, his feeling was now as all along--a wonder that Tamhys had +not interfered before as he had oftentimes feared he would. That he +understood better now, having seen the man. He was old--wedded to a +theory, rather than of practical type. His very begging of the issue as +shown by his final ruling showed this. + +He carried his desire for peace even into this conference to which he +had called the men before him, and reached--a useless compromise which +while nominally affecting the end at which he aimed, yet literally made +small difference to Croft's plans, and, as he suddenly saw, would, when +reported to Cathur and by Cathur given to other ears, result in no more +than a determination on Zollaria's part to carry out her intent. This +since she would now in all likelinood believe she had tied Jadgor's +hands by stopping the manufacture of the weapon Croft had devised. + +He said as much to Jadgor and Lakkon once they were alone, and for the +first time Jadgor appeared pleased. + +"Nor," said Croft, "has Tamhys forbidden the construction of _other_ +weapons, my friends." + +"Hai!" Jadgor's tight lips relaxed. He gave Lakkon a glance. "By Zitu! +So he did not. Jasor--you have other things in mind." + +Croft nodded. It had occurred to him that, with powder and plenty of +metal, it would not be impossible to construct some very effective +forms of grenades. He explained, and Jadgor's eyes flashed fire. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + MUCH MISCHIEF AFOOT + + +The morrow saw them on their return journey to Himyra, with Croft +pushing his engine top speed. He wanted to get back and to work on the +grenades at once, for two reasons. First, that they would offset in +part at least the embargo against the manufacture of more rifles, and +because it occurred to him that they would be of vast service should he +have to force entrance to some enemy town. + +For now Croft was planning his campaign. His knowledge gained through +his unsensed presence at the council at Niera months before made +him believe that Zollaria would throw her entire weight on Cathur's +northern frontier, while Mazzeria attacked Bithur and possibly eastern +Milidhur. + +From a second motor-shop established at Ladhra and equipped with men +trained in the Himyra plant he had already sent a motor-fleet to the +capital of Gaya's home state for the rapid transport of troops to the +frontier in case of need. He had organized a fleet of motor-driven +marine transports to take men from Aphur and Nodhur to Bithur's aid. +This expedition was to be led by Robur in person, and with him Croft +had outlined each step so far as he could. They would proceed up that +river promised Mazzeria for her aid in the war of conquest Zollaria +planned, and debarking near the frontier, carry the war straight to the +foe. + +As for himself, he planned with Jadgor to cross the Central Sea almost +due north, capture Niera, and penetrate the State of Mazhur, thereby +establishing a dangerous flank movement which, if successful, would +result in withdrawing the Zollarian army operating against Cathur's +frontier. Two of his armored motors would go with the Milidhurian +expedition and two with Robur against the blue men of Mazzer. The other +sixteen would accompany the expedition north. These things he now +explained to Jadgor, Lakkon, and Magur while they rushed back to the +capital of Aphur. They heard him and nodded agreement. + +Jadgor smiled and turned to the priest. "It appears Zitu has sent us +a general as well as a genius of design," he exclaimed. "If Zitu +inspires not his mind directly, then is he the most wonderful man +Tamarizia has seen." + +"Raised up for Tamarizia's hour of great need, O Jadgor," Magur +declared. "And who should raise him save Zitu, who knows the future +as we know the present and past? Zud says as much, and I believe it. +Praised be Zitu's name." He made the odd horizontal sign of the cross +Croft had first seen Abbu of Scira use. + +"Nay, I doubt it not," Jadgor replied. "Tamhys shall yet live to learn +the truth of this!" + +Yet Croft, despite the religious superstitions of these truly patriotic +minds, was human after all. He plunged into a frenzy of work on his +return. He explained all to Robur, saw him thoroughly versed in the +making of the grenades, leaped into his car and drove to Ladhra +to begin operations there. Two weeks elapsed while he was getting +everything to his satisfaction, and during those two weeks other things +happened, which he could not foresee. + +He returned to Himyra late one afternoon, drove to the shops, saw +everything running smoothly, listened to the reports of Robur, who was +enthusiastic over the progress being made, and drove on to the palace +to bathe and rest for an hour, since even the splendid physique of +Jasor's body was beginning to feel the strain of the months of scheming +and toiling. + +Fresh from his bath, he was suddenly minded to seek Gaya and learn +if there were any word from Naia, such as she frequently sent him by +Robur's wife. + +He found her awaiting Robur's return, and proffered his request. + +That Gaya was glad to see him there could be no doubt. His coming +seemed to afford her relief. "My lord, your coming lightens my heart," +she declared after Croft had greeted her by sinking on one knee. "The +maid sent you her farewell, and asked that I say this much more: 'Tell +him to forget not his promise.' She did not explain, yet I have felt +you would know the meaning of her words." + +"Her farewell? You say she sent me that?" exclaimed Croft, staring into +her face. "By Zitu, Gaya, my friend, what meant she by that?" + +"You know not of her absence from Aphur?" Gaya widened her eyes in +surprise. "You have not heard?" + +"I have heard nothing. I came to you for word," Croft began, and paused +with an odd grip taking hold of his heart. + +"Aye," Gaya wrinkled her brows. "Some days ago an escort came from +Cathur, asking that the maid and Lakkon, her father, visit Scira, in +order that Kyphallos might present his bride-to-be to his people before +he ascended the throne." + +"Kyphallos on the throne of Cathur!" Croft frowned. "Has Scythys, then, +laid down the scepter in favor of his son?" + +"Scythys has died," Gaya said. "Wherefore, despite the fact that the +cycle of betrothal has not run out, Kyphallos craves the privilege of +entertaining Naia and her father, and assuring his people that he has +chosen a worthy queen as his consort on the throne." + +"And--and she--and they--have gone?" Croft stammered as he spoke. + +"Aye." Gaya looked into his eyes. "Jasor, what of it? I--I am a woman, +and I have thoughts--fears, perhaps, or fancies. I like this journey +not. What does it portend?" + +"That I know not; yet shall I ascertain," Croft replied between set +teeth. "She told me to forget not my promise. By Zitu and Azil and Ga, +I shall not. Gaya, my sweet woman, how long have they been gone?" + +"This is the third day since they departed, my lord." + +"They went--how?" + +"In the ship which brought the escort--one Kyphallos sent." + +"The day after tomorrow they arrive. So then there is time." + + * * * * * + +Croft relaxed somewhat the physical tension which had held him, and his +voice grew less sharp. He sighed. + +"Time? Time for what, Jasor?" Gaya inquired. + +"Tonight I shall sleep," Croft told her frankly. "And while I sleep +I shall learn what is the true intent of this sudden desire on +Kyphallos's part to show Cathur their queen." + +Gaya's eyes grew wide. "You shall sleep--as you sleep to learn?" she +faltered. + +"Yes," Croft smiled. "And I shall learn, wife of my friend. Zitu made +Naia of Aphur a maid to madden men's blood, not for Cathur, but for +Jasor. Yes, I shall learn." + +But despite his confident tone he was more than a little disturbed as +he sought his own rooms that night and stretched himself on his couch. +What intent lurked in the mind of Cathur's prince he could not see. Nor +could he understand why, knowing what already he had told them, Jadgor +and Lakkon had decided to accede to the Cathurian's request, unless +they had followed the other man's course at the time of the betrothal +and acted in order to blind suspicion of their counter preparations so +far as they might, or at least to avoid an open rupture at this time. + +Hence it appeared doubly important that he should learn what was toward +in Cathur now. He focused his mind. His body relaxed. He projected his +intelligent ego toward Scira to discover what it might. + +At first he went to the cell of Abbu in the Scira pyramid to learn, if +he might, what Abbu was about. + +He found him speaking with a brother priest--was half-minded to leave, +yet lingered, held by the first remark of the unknown monk. + +"A nice time for Kyphallos to be at Niera, with his promised queen +approaching Scira on the sea." + +"He will return in time to greet her," Abbu said. + +"Yet I like not his frequent journeyings to Niera, nor his association +with the Zollarian nobles who make it their resort. Nor does Cathur +like it overly well." + +Abbu frowned. "Nor does Cathur like the stories which come back from +Anthra concerning the things which occur there in the palace. Adita, +they tell me, is more worshiped than Zitu. Ga, the true woman, or Azil, +her son, have small consideration. 'Tis Adita, woman of folly and +beauty, whose shrine is there." + +"I have heard said that, while a creature of beauty, this Aphurian +princess is not given to folly," his lay brother replied. "Mayhap she +shall win Kyphallos from his present course, and so prove a blessing to +Cathur in cycles to come." + +"If so be she mounts the throne at all." + +"You think she will not?" + +Abbu shrugged. "Who knows? Cathur mutters even now, as you know. +Scythys was a dotard. Kyphallos is a degenerate. Cathur is the +worst-governed state in all Tamarizia--the most beset with taxes, +with the least returns to show. But--Cathur is loyal to Tamarizia as +a people. Think you they will long brook a king who makes merry with +Zollarian nobles, while affairs of state go to pot?" + +"Come!" cried the other. "You have heard something, Abbu, it would +seem." + +Abbu nodded. "Perhaps I keep my eyes and ears about me when I leave the +pyramid." + +Croft left. At least, he thought, Abbu was attending to his duties as +Aphur's spy in so far as he might. And Cathur was muttering against +their soon-to-be king. Cathur, then, was loyal--what if Kyphallos found +her betrayal less easy than he expected? He smiled and willed himself +to Niera, since now it appeared the Cathurian profligate was once more +there. And if there, Croft thought he knew where to find him. He would +be, almost without doubt, in the presence of Kalamita of the tawny eyes +and hair. + +And it was with her and her brother and Bzad, the Mazzerian chief, he +found him, in a room of that palace overlooking the Central Sea. They +sat together in a low-toned conversation. Evidently something important +was forward, since they had closeted themselves thus, thought Croft. + + * * * * * + +Kalamita stretched her supple length like a cat about to yawn, and +turned a slow smile on the Cathurian prince. + +"So then," she said, "it is all thought out. You men, with your spears +and swords, are far stronger than subtle, my lords. Leave the subtlety +to a woman in your plans." + +"I see no chance of failure in this, I confess," Bzad spoke as she +paused. Croft noted a flash in his eyes. + +"Not unless you bungle." Kalamita laughed. + +"I?" Bzad growled. "By Adita, goddess of beautiful women, I shall make +no mistake. See, I shall repeat it step by step. On the fourth day +after the princess arrives, Kyphallos of Cathur invites her and her +father to visit Anthra, and they take the ship the next day. Meanwhile +I place my galley under the cover of Anthra and wait. At the same hour +they set sail I slip forth. Midway we meet and I sail close in passing. +A collision seeming imminent, in the confusion a wrong order is given +on board Kyphallos's galley. The prow of my galley strikes his ship +as it seeks to cross my bows through turning in the wrong direction. +Kyphallos and the maid are saved. Lakkon drowns, and any surviving +sailors on board the Cathurian ship are destroyed, so that none shall +survive to tell what happened really. + +"I sail to Scira and put Kyphallos ashore. We tell a story of disaster +in which all perished save only him. According to it, this Naia died +with her father. I sail away. She is mine--and once in Mazzeria, think +you I shall not enjoy her beauty. By Adita, I think I shall!" + +Kalamita nodded. "You have it, Bzad," she declared, "and soon you shall +have--her--to do with--as you please. They tell me she is very fair +indeed. She should bring you joy for some time." + +A blind rage--a fiery disgust and loathing filled Croft's soul as +he heard the wanton's words. This was the fate her soiled brain +had evolved for the pure, sweet jewel of womanhood for whom his +spirit cried. Yet since in his present state there was no chance for +expression of those things he felt, he controlled his horror at the +thought of Naia as the plaything of this cold-faced blue savage, and +learned all he could. + +"Thereafter," Bandhor spoke for the first time, with a thin-lipped +leer, "our good lord Kyphallos shall come to Anthra, after a period +of mourning, and invite our sister to visit him for a time. But upon +her desiring to leave he shall refuse. A man of her ship's crew shall +escape Anthra in a boat and bring tidings, whereupon him to whom she is +pledged shall lay the affair before the emperor himself. Our army shall +be ready. An expedition shall proceed to Anthra to rescue Kalamita. +In the meantime Kyphallos shall have taken her to Cathur, and have +concealed her--placing her in the sanctuary of Ga, where the vestals +will have her in charge. Then shall Zollaria attack, and Mazzer. +Tamarizia, finding herself assailed on all sides, shall break like the +crushed-in shell of an egg!" He contracted the fingers of a mighty hand +until they were flexed in his palm. "Thus it shall be." + +Thus it shall be. Would it? Man proposes but God disposes, Croft +thought to himself, Naia of Aphur the toy to a man of blue--a member +of the servants' caste nation--Cathur to Zollaria. Tamarizia crushed. +Kyphallos and his light o' love on the throne of Zitra where now the +pacific old Tamhys sat. A pretty plan. Bzad and Bandhor, Kyphallos and +Kalamita, in her scented and voluptuous beauty, seemed very sure it was +coming about in time. To Croft, as he left them at their scheming and +flitted back to his room in Aphur's palace, it seemed somewhat less +likely to occur. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + IN THE HABIT OF ZITU + + +Once in the flesh again, conscious of all he had seen and heard, he +sprang from his couch and dressed. He was going in the flesh to Scira. +That one thing was clear in his mind. He would go to the capital of +Cathur as quickly as his swiftest motor-galley might take him, and +get into touch with Abbu and through him with Naia. After that, things +must be met as they arose, only there was another thing on which he +was equally determined: the girl should never embark for Anthra on the +Prince of Cathur's craft. + +Leaving the palace, he entered his car, kept in the court now always +for any emergency, and drove straight to the dock on the Na, where the +fleet of motor craft were kept busy. Here he selected a galley--one of +the latest models he had prepared; sent runners to rout out the crew +and order them aboard, ready to sail at once. + +From the dock he drove to the shops, flaring with light as the +night-shift worked; called one of his most expert motor builders to +one side, and directed him to report aboard the galley as quickly as +he might. To him he gave authority to open a warehouse and provision +the boat for a voyage of some days, and instructions to bring it to the +quay below the palace so soon as ready to sail. + +Then he went back to the palace itself, and sent a nodding guard to +rouse Robur and ask him to come to Croft's rooms. He waited there in a +vast impatience until the door opened to admit Aphur's crown prince. + +That Robur was keyed to some expectancy he saw at a glance. The man's +eyes were wide, his whole expression eager. Croft suspected Gaya had +whispered wifely confidences into his ear earlier that night. He +plunged into his theme at once: + +"Rob--I've slept--one of my certain sleeps. Gaya told you, I suppose." + +Robur nodded. "Yes. And you have learned, Jasor--what?" + +Croft told him, and Robur swore a strong Aphurian oath. "They plan +that, do they? Naia to Bzad, a man of Mazzer. By Zitu, Jasor, I am with +you in whatever you mean to do." + +Croft shook his head. "Nay, Rob, my friend. Your duty is to Tamarizia +first. You know all we have planned. Your place is here--to general the +Bithurian expedition when it is time. Mine is the duty to the maid." + +"You love her." Robur made the statement direct. + +"Aye." Croft met it and looked him in the eye. + +Robur put forth a hand. "Azil be kind to you and her," he made answer. +"What have you planned?" + +Croft explained his intent in a very few words. "I await now the lights +of the galley at the quay below," he finished. "I desire to slip forth +unknown to any save the guards. Will you drive me down with what arms I +shall take?" + +"Aye," said Aphur's heir. "You can reach Scira how soon?" + +"In two days--the day after Naia and Lakkon arrive." + +Robur smiled thinly. "Should you save Lakkon's life as well as his +daughter's a second time, his gratitude should overcome much." + +Croft shook his head. "I plan not on gratitude, Rob. I myself shall +overcome much--Kyphallos, Zollaria, and Mazzer. So shall I reach to +the woman Zitu formed for me. I shall enter Scira at night, and go to +the pyramid, and--Hold! Drive now with me to Magur. He must lend me a +priestly robe." + +"Come!" Robur's eyes flashed. Once more he smiled. "A priest shall +reach Scira, my friend? He shall go to the pyramid. I understand." + +The two men left the palace, entered the car, and crossed the bridge, +swung into position on Robur's order. They stopped before the pyramid +and hammered on the door. A sleepy priest admitted them at last and +sent them up on the primitive lift to Magur's lofty apartments. Magur +himself appeared in the end, blinking sleepily with startled eyes when +he faced Croft and Robur himself. + +Croft explained. + +Magur balked. "Shall the garments of Zitu be used for deception?" he +exclaimed. + +"Shall not the garments of Zitu serve to guard a clean shrine of life +from pollution?" Croft snapped in return. "Can the cloth of the Source +of all Life be put to a better end?" + +Magur gave him a glance little short of admiration. "Ye speak, as +always, with the words of Zitu himself," he returned. "I am convinced. +Wait, and this matter shall be arranged." He turned away. In five +minutes he was back with a dark-brown robe and hood, not unlike a cowl, +also a pair of leather sandals and a cord with which to belt the robe +about the waist. These he placed in Croft's hands, and raised his own. +"Zitu go with ye, my son," he spoke in a formal blessing. "Should he +favor ye on this mission, what shall ye do with the maid? Her return to +Himyra would cause a clacking of tongues." + +"I have thought of that, O Magur," Croft replied. "The maid shall go +to Zitra so quickly as she may. There Zud himself shall see her in +sanctuary in the quarters of the virgins, until this thing has passed, +unless you have better to suggest. Thus it is Zollaria plans to hide +their unclean Kalamita in Scira. I am minded to turn their own trick +upon themselves." + +"Nay," Magur smiled. "Thy plan is worthy of one of your mind. Go, then, +and may Ga, the pure mother, use you to guard the maid." + +The galley lights glared red in the night at the quay as Croft and +Robur drove back across the bridge which opened behind them span by +span. All was ready now save the arms and ammunition. Working in haste +at the palace, the prince and Croft collected those and took them down +to the ship. + +"You shall win, my friend," said Robur as he clasped hands with Croft +at parting. + +Croft smiled somewhat grimly. "I shall win, Rob," he returned, "or you +need not look for me back." + +Then he was off, dropping down the Na, passing the high-reared barrier +of the walls, and once past those, opening the motor and speeding down +the mighty yellow flood to the sea. + +A day passed, two days, and night came down. Far to the front the +lights of Scira lifted above the waters. Croft called his crew and gave +them their instructions in detail. They were to stay by the ship, were +to be ready to start at once. Then, to their amaze, he slipped on the +priest's robe over his cuirass and sword, and appeared before them thus +as they approached the harbor gates. The standard of Aphur broke out at +the galley's stern. They passed inside unchallenged and moored at the +quay. To the harbor master--a huge Cathurian captain--Croft said merely +that he was a priest come on a mission from Magur to the pyramid, and +stepped ashore. + +And knowing Scira as he did, he set off in the right direction without +delay, arrived in due time and without incident at the pyramid portals +and rapped for admission, asking for Abbu as soon as he was inside. +Then--he was in Abbu's cell, fumbling with his robe and casting it from +him, to stand in gold and silver harness before the monk's staring eyes. + +"My lord--my lord!" faltered the priest. + +"Hold." Croft lifted his hand. "Strange things are forward in Scira. +What know you of them, Abbu, who have acted as Aphur's eyes?" + +"Yesterday the prince returned from Niera to greet the Aphurian maid +he is to wed," Abbu replied. "It was a holiday occasion. The streets +swarmed with people." + + * * * * * + +"Think you Kyphallos intends to lead Naia to the throne?" Croft snapped. + +"Zitu!" Abbu lifted his hands in the sign of the cross. "Is it not so +pledged, Jasor?" + +"Aye--by the lips, yet not by the heart," said Croft. Swiftly he told +the staring monk those things he had learned. + +"Zitu would not permit this," Abbu mumbled at the last. + +"Nay. Hence am I here. Listen, Abbu the priest. What I do, I do by +the grace of Zitu--and with His consent. I am come to overthrow this +most foul plot. You who have sworn to help me in Zitu's name must gain +access to this maid. Say to her what is to be. Say to her thus when you +have told her all else as a sign: 'Jasor has not forgotten.' Hearing +this, she will believe. Say to her then that on the night after you +have spoken to her she shall desire to speak with a priest from the +holy pyramid, to receive a blessing before she is presented to Cathur's +people. She shall prefer her request of Kyphallos himself, and insist +that it be granted. + +"She shall specify the priest Abbu, whom she knows. I shall then go +to her in the palace. Instruct her that her father shall be with her +when I arrive. Thereafter shall we contrive a way out of the palace +and to the boat I hold waiting for her escape. Say not to her that I +shall come in your place. That she will learn when I appear. Now give +me a place to sleep, and when you see her state these facts concerning +Kyphallos's plan as things of your own knowledge, confessing to her +that you have acted as Aphur's eyes for well-nigh a whole cycle past." + +Abbu bowed. "Indeed," he said, "I believe you speak truth, O Jasor, +and with Zitu's help I shall do all you say. Take my pallet for your +slumber. I shall pray through the night for your success to Zitu +himself." + +Throughout the next day Croft lay hid. Abbu brought him food in the +morning and disappeared. He was not disturbed during the day. What +Abbu was about he could not know. Only late in the day when the monk +returned was he to learn how he had managed his task. + +"My lord, there was a pageant in honor of her, of Aphur and her +father," he explained. "The civic guard and that of the palace marched +before them, while the people watched, and you know that it is a custom +for the lay brothers of the pyramid to solicit alms. So with my little +earthen jar I passed among the people, and after a time I approached +the raised station where Aphur's princess sat, and lifting my little +jar I cried to her as Cathur's queen-to-be that she give freely to +Cathur's temple. This I did for a purpose which fell out as I desired. +A guard about the noble party angrily bade me be off. + +"I lifted my voice in protest, crying again to that beautiful woman +for alms. She heard me, my lord. She has a gentle heart. 'Hold,' said +she to the guard. 'Let the priest approach.' Thus, my lord, I gained +her side, and she gave me pieces of silver enough to fill my jar, +compelling all her party to contribute freely. + +"And when that had been done she asked me of our temple, and I told her +concerning it, and called a blessing upon her, and contrived to whisper +that I had an important message, meant for her ears alone. + +"The maid, my lord, is quick of comprehension. She turned to the +prince himself. 'This priest finds favor with me,' she said. 'I would +speak with him further. It may be that I shall select him for my own +spiritual instructor once I am Cathur's queen.' + +"Kyphallos smiled, my lord. 'As you will, my princess,' he replied, and +I think he suspected nothing. + +"Then the maid turned back to me and set a time for me to come to her +at the palace on the morrow in the morning. Is it well, my lord." + +"It is well," said Croft, though the delay of another day did not +please his impatience to know Naia safe. "Yet there is more for you to +do. Provide me a second robe such as Magur gave me which I wore here, +and arrange for a carriage to be waiting tomorrow night on the street +from the palace to the harbor. Do this in time that I may know the +driver's name, when I shall come upon him, and so calling him identify +myself as the man for whom he is employed. Here--" He drew a pouch and +placed silver in Abbu's hand. "Pay the man well, and tell him to look +for as much beyond what you give him if he serves me without fail. Also +provide me a standard of Cathur's colors, such as are used on ships." + +The latter request was due to a sudden thought which had popped into +Croft's mind, and evoked a tight-lipped smile. He had conceived a way +to throw consternation into the camp of his foes. He set about planning +it out that same night and the succeeding day. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + WHEN THE TABLES WERE TURNED + + +And when night came down once more on Scira he was ready. Once he had +ventured forth, gone to the harbor, in seeming a priest, and conferred +with the captain of his ship, telling him to be prepared to sail on the +word that night. + +Back in the pyramid he waited Abbu's coming with what patience he +could. The monk came about noon. "All things are ready, my lord, so far +as time permits," he made his report. + +"You saw the maid?" + +"Aye." + +"And what said she?" + +"At first she was amazed, bewildered, I think, as was her father whom +she summoned after I had told my tale, that I might relate it again +to his ears. That was after I said to her the words you told me to +repeat. Hearing them, she believed and called Prince Lakkon at once. +His anger was great. He was for carrying the thing to Kyphallos himself +and compelling him to admit or deny. But--both the maid and I prevailed +upon him to see that by so doing he would destroy not only himself but +her. In the end they agreed to summon me to the palace as soon as it +fell dark." + +"That is well," said Croft. "The rest is prepared." + +"The driver and the standard, aye. I shall give you the robe before you +depart." + +"You shall live to receive your reward," said Croft. "Now we have +naught to do save wait." + +And waiting proved the hardest part as the day dragged past. Of the +adventure of the evening he had no fear. In fact he chafed to be at +it as a restive horse frets at restraint. Never had the hours of a +single day seemed so long in their course. He marked mid-afternoon, +and watched the lowering sun. He welcomed evening and the creeping +twilight. Dusk was a boon to give thanks for, and yet he raged because +dusk having fallen, Naia did not send for Abbu the monk. + +Yet in the end Abbu appeared before him and whispered that the time +was come--that a chariot from the palace waited without the pyramid. +He carried a tightly rolled package in his hands and gave it to Croft. +"The robe, my lord," he declared. "Zitu aid you in its use." + +"Zitu reward you, as I shall see you rewarded in a time to come," Croft +told him, donning his own robe and thrusting the other beneath it. +"Farewell for the present, Abbu. Your service is done." + +Leaving the pyramid he entered the chariot sent to fetch him and rode +swiftly to the palace. Once as he noted his driver he smiled as he +imagined the man's consternation could he dream who his passenger was +despite his priestly seeming and the final results of this drive. But +he spoke no word while they threaded the streets or when the chariot +pausing, he descended, passed inside the palace, and was led by a page +to the Princess Naia's door. + +That door he entered, and for the first time in months found himself in +the presence of the woman he loved. + +She rose and stood before him. "I have done as I promised my father, +what more must I do?" he heard her sweet-toned voice. + +"Aye, what more have you to tell us, Abbu, you could not tell us +before?" asked Lakkon, rising from a couch placed farther back from the +door. + +Croft threw off his enveloping cowl and robe. He stood before them, his +cuirass with the sun of Aphur shining on its metal breast, sending a +sparkle of light through the room. "Not Abbu this time, Prince Lakkon," +he said. + +"Jasor!" Naia's eyes went wide. She started back a pace while her color +faded swiftly, and she lifted her hand to her breast. + +"Jasor of Nodhur, by Zitu!" Lakkon cried. "Come, my lord, what means +this priestly disguise?" + +"Life--for yourself--life and honor for your daughter, as I hope, since +I know she would not live without the latter," Croft returned. "Hark +you, Lakkon of Aphur. You are a man with a sword at your belt. Tell me +is your daughter's serving-maid, Maia, of your party here?" + +"Aye," Lakkon returned, visibly impressed by Croft's presence and +bearing. "Yet--" + +"Enough," Croft cut him short. "Here is an extra robe of a priest. Let +the princess and Maia don them and pass out of the palace doors. You +and I shall walk forth together. To any who seek to stay us, I am your +friend. I wear Aphur's arms. Let them stop two nobles of Aphur at their +peril. Without the palace, the princess and the maid will turn to the +right and walk down the street toward the harbor which is by happy +chance toward the Scira pyramid. We shall overtake them. We shall enter +a carriage and drive to the harbor and leave this nest of treason. Abbu +has told before this what is planned." + +"Aye--but--" Lakkon stammered. + +"I shall prove his words true," Croft flashed. "Summon Maia quickly +lest something intervenes." + +"Father--do as my lord advises." Naia laid a hand on Lakkon's arm. + +"By Zitu--I like it not, yet--if it be for your safety. Were it +not--were it for myself alone--summon your maid." Jadgor's counselor +yielded to her plea. + +The thing was so simple, indeed, that it made Croft smile. Inside five +minutes the two women were prepared. Naia's wealth of hair was lost +beneath the cowl. Croft opened the door and they sallied forth. + +"Be of good heart," he found means to whisper into Naia's ear. "You see +I did not forget, O maid of gold." + +His reward was a quiet smile and a deep glance out of her eyes. Then +she was gone, a monk seeming, with Maia at her side. Croft felt sure of +their escape. Priests were no unusual sight about the palaces of the +Tamarizian states. He doubted they would be questioned, even though two +went out where one had come in. + +Hence he waited with the frowning Lakkon until some five minutes had +passed. Then opening the door he strode forth and turned down toward +the palace doors. Beside him Lakkon stalked in silence. "Talk to +me--seem to converse for the sake of your daughter at least," Croft +urged. + +Lakkon complied. In seemingly friendly converse they progressed. They +reached the portals giving on the entrance court and passed the guards +the more easily, perhaps, since none there as yet suspected what +Kyphallos really planned, and so were not on guard against any act of +the father of Cathur's queen-to-be, or some Aphurian friend of his, who +wore the sun of Aphur in silver shining on his breast. + +Thus what might have proved difficult, proved easy. They left the +court, overtook the women, led them to the carriage and drove swiftly +to Croft's ship. There he paid and dismissed the driver and took his +passengers aboard. Only when his sailors cast off the moorings did +comment arise at his acts. Then a harbor guard appeared and questioned +the proceeding. And by then Croft was once more a priest, while Maia +had resumed her natural part. And the priest explained he must return +to Himyra quickly. The guard saluted and withdrew with the monk's +commendation of his attention to duty. The ship left the quay. It +passed the harbor gates and floated free. Croft heaved a sigh of +relief. + + * * * * * + +"On the fifth day you and your daughter would have journeyed to +Anthra," he turned to Lakkon to say. "Midway you would have been met by +Bzad of Mazzer and your vessel rammed. Death for yourself and dishonor +for your child would have swiftly followed. Lakkon of Aphur, I told you +I would prove my words true, and I will. We shall meet this galley of +the Mazzerian's midway to Anthra on the fifth day." + +Lakkon beat the planks of the deck with his foot. "Jasor of Nodhur, you +are a bold man," he said. "You seem to have faith in your words. Yet +should you fail to prove them, I think I shall have your head." + +"Then take mine with it, father," Naia who had approached unseen by +either man burst forth. "Once before has Jasor saved our lives. Now +saves he our lives and that which I prize higher still. You are hard to +persuade, if you call him not son in the end." + +"Ah--fall it so!" Lakkon turned upon her. "To your quarters, girl. Is +it seemly for her who values honor so highly, to offer herself to a +man?" + +"To the one man, yes," she retorted, turning to go below. "Between him +and her is no question of honor, nor of aught, save love. To that man +she belongs, nor will yield to any other while Zitu gives her breath." + +"Azil, Giver of Life, and Ga, the Virgin!" Lakkon swore. + +"Peace!" Croft's hand fell on his arm. His heart was singing in his +breast at Naia's words. "Hold, Lakkon. Let me prove my words true." + +And now Croft carried out the change he had made in his plans. All +the succeeding day he sailed in circles, drawing nearer and nearer to +Anthra rather than to Zitra. He lay to at night, keeping no more than +headway on the ship. + +Just what Kyphallos might think when he found his affianced princess +flown he did not know, but he smiled more than once as he fancied +a pretty to-do in Scira, and a somewhat confused rage in the young +reprobate's mind. For indeed as he saw it Kyphallos must sense himself +in a rather precarious plight. His hostage to Bzad was gone. As yet +there was no war. He might hardly send word to Aphur, that their +princess and Lakkon were gone he knew not where. He must find it an +embarrassing thing to explain the incident to Zollaria as well--a hard +thing to make them swallow. A thing which might very well shake their +confidence in himself. + +Indeed, as Croft saw it, Kyphallos would put off the explanation so +long as he might, hoping to find some trace of the Aphurians themselves +and thereby obviate any necessity of explaining anything at all. +Yes, Croft chuckled to himself, Kyphallos was in something of a fix. +Probably, though, failing to find his escaped guests the first day, he +would go in person to meet Bzad. That must be foreseen. Hence it were +best for Croft to be ready with his arms. He got them out and saw them +loaded--and since he had chosen a war galley for his trip north, he +had men aboard he had already trained in their use. He distributed the +weapons to a selected number and was ready for what might occur. + +Lakkon saw the rifles in the hands of the men and questioned concerning +it at once. Croft, nothing loath, explained the entire situation as +he viewed it. "You have asked proof, and proof I intend to give you, +Prince Lakkon," he declared. + +Lakkon's face grew grave. "Indeed, I think you believe all you say, my +lord," he replied. "What do you intend?" + +"To meet Bzad close to Aphur," Croft explained. "To hang forth the +standard of Cathur. To lure him close, and give you proof of what I +have said from the man's own mouth." + +For so he had planned and was bent on carrying out. The morning of the +fifth day found him therefore close to Anthra--yet not too close. + +Before its shores were more than a faint blur on the horizon the +lookout reported a galley heading west. + +Croft called Lakkon and bade him stand beside him on the deck. He +directed the standard of Cathur hung from the stern and ordered the +speed of the engines increased. The galley surged toward the meeting at +top speed. And the other galley came on. + +"She will sail very close," said Croft. + +Lakkon frowned. + +"At the last I am supposed to give a wrong order," Croft spoke again. +"My helmsman knows his duty. We shall crush her near bank of oars." + + * * * * * + +The two ships drew nearer still. Croft fancied Bzad would be surprised +at their speed, but--Cathur's standard rippled in the breeze. He would +think everything well. + +Closer and closer. Croft raised his hand. Two sailors sprang to the +rail in the waist. They carried grappling hooks attached to ropes. +Closer still-- + +Croft dropped his hand. The bow of his galley veered. + +Crash! The near bank of oars snapped like straws. The vessels ground +together. The men in the waist cast their hooks and lashed all fast. + +Bzad appeared on the after-deck. His face was dark, yet he seemed not +yet to comprehend the full bearing of what had occurred. Lakkon was +in full sight of the Cathurian galley, and Lakkon he knew was to be +aboard. Kyphallos was not visible, but another man in armor was by +Lakkon's side. + +Bzad lifted his voice. "What means this?" he cried. + +"There has been a change of plan," Croft returned. + +"A change of plan!" the Mazzerian repeated. "Yes, a change of plan +indeed it would seem, when you crash into my side and destroy my oars +instead of crossing my bows as 'twas arranged. Still, small matter. I +have others. Where is the maid?" + +"Below," said Croft, sensing Lakkon stiffen at his side. "Do you wish +her still?" + +"Do I wish her? Adita, goddess of beauty, was she not promised me for +myself as a part of the price?" Bzad roared. + +Again Croft lifted an arm. Men appeared with rifles in their hands. +"Then if so be you wish her, come and take her, aid of Zollaria and man +of an unclean tribe. If you wish her, come and take her from a ship of +Aphur, Bzad." + +And now the Mazzerian understood at last. He started back and raised +his voice: "Aboard them--strike, slay! We are betrayed. Let none live +save the maid of the yellow hair!" + +His men were no cowards. They rallied to his cry. Seizing weapons they +hurled themselves toward the close lashed rails. + +"Fire," said Croft, as an arrow whistled between himself and Lakkon. + +His men responded with a will. This was the first trial of the new +weapon in actual war. They fired and loaded and fired again. On board +Bzad's vessel men fell. They slumped to the deck or toppled back from +the rail which they had reached. + +Bzad appeared among them. He was beside himself with rage. He sprang +on the rail. A sailor fired pointblank in his face and missed him. He +reached the deck and charged with drawn sword toward Lakkon and Croft. + +With a strange tingle running through his entire body, Croft drew his +own sword and set himself before Aphur's prince. And then, before they +could come together, Bzad staggered and fell. The sailor had not missed +his second shot. + +Bzad struggled for a moment. He forced himself halfway up and sank +back. His limbs twitched oddly for a moment, and he died. + +Beyond him the deck of his own craft was a shambles. Men lay on Croft's +deck as well, some of them his, more of them Bzad's, of whom no more +than six survived out of a possible score. Of Croft's none had been +killed and the whole affair had taken no more than five minutes from +beginning to end. + +Croft's voice boomed forth. "Overboard with the dead. Bind the +remaining men and take them with us. Board the galley and sink it. We +shall leave no trace of this." + +Then as his men sprang laughing to do his bidding he turned to where +Lakkon stood by the body of Bzad. "Will you go below and reassure your +daughter, Prince Lakkon?" he said. + +"Come--we will go together," Jadgor's brother-in-law replied. + +Croft complied. The two men went below. They entered the quarters where +Naia sought to look from a tiny port, and Maia crouched in a corner as +far from the opening as she might. + +"Come, my child," said Aphur's prince; and as she advanced slowly +toward himself and Croft, stretched out his hand for hers. + +"Behold your lord," he went on and laid her hand in Croft's. "To him +shall you be given by Magur himself, when this thing is ended. In the +mean time shall you lie with the Virgins at Zitra, even as he has +decreed." + +Naia flushed. A soft color dyed her face and perfect throat. She +lowered her eyes, and suddenly throwing all reticence aside, she lifted +her arms and laid them about Croft's neck and raised her lips to his. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Lakkon somewhat aghast. "Naught can keep you from her +now with honor, Jasor of Nodhur--my son." + +"Nothing shall keep me from her save death," Croft told him and held +her very close. + +And lying against him, Naia turned her head. Her eyes were glowing +with the light of a sacred fire. But she laughed. "My father--you have +called him son," she reminded. "Recall that I said you should." + +"I ask no better privilege, my son and daughter," Lakkon yielded with a +smile. "Zitu himself knows I liked not the other arrangement. He knows +this pleases me well." + +The captain tapped on the door. He reported the Mazzerian's galley +sinking, and the decks as cleared. + +Two minutes later, Croft's vessel was headed for Zitra south by east. +Behind was an empty sea. If Kyphallos had started a galley to inform +Bzad of what had occurred at Scira, it was apt to search long and +vainly for him it was meant to meet. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + + THE DOGS OF WAR + + +War! War between Zollaria and Tamarizia! War planned for fifty years +and now set into motion! It had come as Croft had predicted, as Jadgor +of Aphur had feared. As though malignly determined to be avenged even +in death, the bullet-pierced body of Bzad had washed ashore, and been +discovered. No other pretext was needed by the Empire to the north. + +All other plans they threw by the board. Bzad of Mazzer--a guest of +their nation had been slain on the Central Sea. They made demands for +redress, and they asked Cathur as the price of what had just occurred. + +Tamhys of Zitra with a pained, almost puzzled expression in his aged +eyes, heard the demands of the envoys and answered them finally not as +a man of peace but as a patriot of his country, unwilling to see his +land dismembered to appease an enemy's greed. + +The Na was alive with motor-driven vessels, gathering at Himyra, +filling its yellow flood with a ready fleet. Aboard them marched men or +rolled armored motors, soon to have their test on a bloody field. Into +them were loaded those things Croft had fashioned against this time, +rifles and ammunition and grenades. + +Ladhra and Himyra swarmed with marching men. Milidhur's two armored +cars were rushing overland to join her assembling forces. Robur in his +glory was loading his expedition for the relief of Bithur, where Mazzer +was to strike. The gentle Gaya wept, while her war lord girded on his +armor and boasted of the fate he would carry among the blue men with +his death-dealing tools. + +Naia of Aphur was with the Vestals of Zitra, where Croft had left her a +month before. He had taken her to Zud, and explained what he desired. +Zud had listened and given assent. Their parting had been brief +since Croft knew he must hasten back to Himyra and begin the final +preparations for what was soon to come, Zud knowing her pledged by +Lakkon to Croft, had left them alone at the last, before he took her to +the apartments of the Virgins, close to the top of the monster pyramid, +where a white flame leaped from oils never allowed to diminish in front +of a figure of Ga--the Eternal Woman--brooding over the sacred fire of +life. + +Croft stretched forth his arms. + +Naia of Aphur gave him the look of the woman, and laid herself on his +breast. + +"Mine," said the man. + +"Yours," said the maid, in a voice like the sighing of a harp. "Promise +me you shall come again to claim me, Jasor, my lord, whom I love." + +"I shall come to claim you, my Naia, and make you my own," he said. + +"And should you not, no other shall claim me ever," she whispered and +raised her lips. + +"Naught save death shall keep me," Croft vowed with his lips on hers. + +"I know. If you come not, I stay here forever," she told him, clinging +to him. + +"Nay." He held her from him to look down into her face. "You shall tend +the fire for me, rather than Ga." + +"Azil permitting, beloved." And because of the meaning of her own words +to her soul she colored beneath his eyes. + +Then came Zud and led her to the Vestals, and Croft, full of the divine +fire of that parting, went back to Himyra to prepare for those things +which must come to pass ere he might return to her. + +He plunged into the task with the full cooperation of Jadgor, Lakkon, +and Robur. A swift boat was sent to Zitra to wait any news at that +point. Word was sent to Milidhur and Ladhra to mobilize their forces +and be ready to move on the word. At Himyra activities of every nature +were pushed. Never had the Red City seen such ceaseless preparation as +now went on to meet and check Zollaria's plans. + +Of those plans Croft kept track, leaving his body at times in the +night and hovering over Cathur and the northern nation. He knew when +the envoys left for Zitra to demand Cathur, of Tamhys, as the price +of peace. He witnessed the massing of her army along Cathur's north +frontier. He saw Kyphallos at the head of the hastily gathered levies +of Cathur, men untrained, unready, herded into hasty companies, poorly +equipped--beings to be led to the slaughter in a sham of resistance as +he knew, before Kyphallos did his part and surrendered to what would +seem overwhelming forces equipped and trained for this moment through +a span of fifty years. + +Yet Croft smiled. In all that vast army set aside for this one task +by the empire which had raised it, there was nothing to compare with +the weapons he possessed, naught to resemble them in the least. Spears +there were and bows, crossbows even, and swords. Chariots there were, +and men in glistening armor, who drove them. Scythelike blades armed +their wheels to cut and rend asunder all who stood in their course. But +what were they to his chariots which would move themselves across the +field of carnage and vomit the fire of death into Zollaria's ranks? + + * * * * * + +Then came the swift boat from Zitra, reporting Tamhys's answer and the +return of the envoys north. Tamhys had refused. Croft laughed into +Jadgor's eyes. Tamhys had asked--_asked_ that Aphur and Nodhur and +Milidhur use their full power and their new weapons to make Tamarizia +strong. + +"Think you he would have been so bold had he not known of them?" Jadgor +growled, with a teeth-baring grin. "Nay by Zitu! If so I do not agree. +'Twas because he knew these things were in our hands, and Tamarizia in +our hearts he refused." + +"Go!" he cried to the messenger who had but returned. "Say to Tamhys +that we stand ready--that we say at once--that ere Zollaria's men shall +return with his word, we shall be nearing the northern coast! How say +you, Jasor, my lord?" + +"Even as Jadgor has said, O King," Croft replied, since this was what +he had planned. + +That night all Himyra flared with fire. That night the sound of +marching feet, the rumble of motors filled the Red City's streets. The +firelight struck on the motors' metal bodies, glinted on the slanting +barrels of the rifles carried by Aphur's sons. A swift car had flown +to Ladhra carrying the word. In Ladhra, too, the night was filled with +embarkation of the forces which were to join with Aphur in the north. + +At break of day Croft, Jadgor and Lakkon sailed. That afternoon +Ladhra's first contingent arrived. Then Robur sent part on the heels +of the former fleet, and took part in his own party, to Bithur's aid. +Belzor himself led the section which hurried after Croft. He reported +the motor transports as already whirling the bulk of the troops for +Milidhur's aid toward the east. + +In three days Croft made landfall on the coast of Mazhur not far from +Niera and coasted toward the town, after landing a party under Lakkon +some miles above it with instructions to advance down the coast, and +entrench themselves on the landward side of the city, at once. He +appeared before the city with his fleet about mid-morning and demanded +its surrender at once. + +His answer was defiance, of course. + +Croft set to work. His own galley ran close in toward the gates of the +harbor. The enemy manned the walls. They began a rain of arrows and +spears and the casting down of fireballs, hoping to set the galley on +fire. + +Croft had expected this. He had prepared some metal shields which could +be used to cover the decks against arrows and spears from above. They +were impregnable save for some square-cut holes. Through these he began +a bombardment of the gates themselves with grenades. Heavy as they +were, they had not been built to resist the assault of powder. Inside +twenty minutes, while the air filled with shouts and missiles of the +defenders, one was blown from its hinges and fell with a mighty splash. +The other followed shortly after. Croft's galley sailed in, followed by +that of Jadgor and several others of the fleet. + +And now he had the defenders of the walls in the rear. His galley +paused. The others followed suit. Their decks swarmed with men who +knelt and opened fire from the rifles Croft had made. A smell of +powder filled the air. Smoke clouds floated in the air. The shouts +of the defenders changed to cries of alarm as they found themselves +stricken by this new and unknown force. Other galleys forced passage +and speeding beyond the engaged vessels opened a galling fire along the +waterfront. Under cover of this landing parties were flung ashore. They +marched into the town, engaging the Zollarian guards wherever found, +yet always at an advantage of weapons and range. In an hour it was done. + +The Zollarian commander surrendered. Croft shut his men in their +barracks and posted a guard. Bulletins printed in advance, promising +freedom from harm to all non-combatants who kept their houses and +caused no trouble, were affixed at the houses at the corners of the +streets. The remainder of the fleet entered the harbor and debarked +their men and the armored motors. Inside two hours more Croft marched +out of the landward gate and joined Lakkon and his men where they had +labored on their trenches. That night Jadgor's tent stood in the midst +of an armed camp on Mazhurian soil. Tamarizia had struck swiftly and +with an overwhelming force, for which Zollaria had been unprepared. + + * * * * * + +The next day the men of Ladhra arrived. Croft left them to garrison +Niera until a later body from the interior parts of Aphur should +arrive, then follow on. In fact he left orders that as each new +contingent appeared they should take over Niera, releasing the garrison +they found to advance through the state in support of his main force. +Himself he broke camp and moved inland along the splendid roads which +Tamarizia had built generations unnumbered before, when Mazhur was one +of her states. + +For Palos, the sight was odd as the well-drilled ranks moved ahead +in steady cadence, with here and there a huge ungainly battle motor +rumbling along, its monster body filled with men. Here and there in +some minor town some slight resistance was met. The motors took care of +that. Rolling irresistibly forward into a slithering flight of arrows +and spears, they spat fire at the defenders until they fell or fled. + +On and on crept the column with scarcely a pause save for rest or food. +That word of it went before it Croft did not doubt. He even smiled +grimly as he suggested to Jadgor what that word would be--a garbled +version of monsters which breathed fire and slew with their breath, of +troops which shot not arrows but more of the monsters' fire. + +And Jadgor smiled in return as he gazed down the sturdily swinging +ranks that crept along the road the lumbering motors had cleared. + +Luckily there were few streams, for the Zollarians seemed to understand +dimly by what they were attacked. They destroyed what bridges lay in +the line of their retreat. Some of them had to be repaired, thereby +losing time. Thus, as he advanced, Croft found the countryside cleared +and sensed that the retreating forces were trusting to the main body, +when they reached it, to check his victorious course. + +He had some swift motors in which he himself and Jadgor and Lakkon +rode. Taking one of these, he sent it far ahead to feel out the road. +In it he placed a picked squad of his very best marksmen and ordered +them to return at all costs should they contact the enemy in force. + +But the enemy in force was attacking the frontier of Cathur. That was +as Croft had planned it. That was Zollaria's second mistake, even as +her first was in not knowing the full weight of the power she faced. + +Thus days passed and the Tamarizian army had actually reached the +northern bounds of Mazhur itself, as Jadgor declared, before any news +of the main enemy body was received. + +Then the scout motor came back and reported heavy forces hurrying to +intercept their present line of march. + +Croft ordered a halt and took stock of the situation. Before him was +a defile in the hills, through which ran the road to reach a farther +plain. And that was enough. He ordered an advance. Deploying his army +right and left, he set them to digging trenches along the hillside so +as to enfilade the plain from both sides of the central pass. In these +he posted the riflemen and one of his trained grenade corps every fifty +feet. + +Across the road he built a barricade, some way back on the frontline +trench. High on each side of the pass he posted other riflemen behind +shelters of stone in such a position that they could fire into the road +or cast down grenades. In front of the barricade itself he parked his +battle-motors, unseen from the plain, but ready to emerge upon it when +the time should come. + +He was hard at it in the midst of these arrangements when a band of +Zollarians mounted on gnuppas appeared above a gentle swell in the +road, perhaps a mile away, sat watching the work along the hillside for +some moments, turned and disappeared in the direction from whence they +had come. + + + + + CHAPTER XXV + + WHEN HELMOR'S SUN SET + + +"They come, O Jadgor of Aphur!" Lakkon said. + +"Let them," Croft flung out from a wonderful confidence. "You shall see +their slaughter, O king." + +The hosts of Zollaria appeared. From the top of the hill above the +road Croft and the other two watched. Foot and chariots, the men of +the northern nation began to top the rolling hill before them. It was +mid-afternoon. The sunlight sparkled upon spear point and chariot, on +cuirass and plume-tufted helm. + +It was a wonderful sight as the soldiers of the empire prepared to hurl +themselves against the smaller force which held the pass and the hills +to either side. They deployed right and left, spearmen, bowmen, with +a chariot filled with some noble and his driver here and there along +the far-flung front. And, having deployed, they began a slow advance, +moving like a mighty living ocean toward the shoreline of the hills. +Prisoners were to tell Croft later they were sorely puzzled by the +scant sight of the enemy they obtained. + +The trenches, wherein lurked the waiting death they faced, baffled +their understanding, were new in their knowledge of war. Their captains +knew not exactly what they led them against. Yet they were proud in +their might and the training of fifty years for this moment. + +Men had lived and been trained and had died and handed down the +tradition of this day to their sons who were being trained to take +their father's places in the ranks when the day should come. Now they +advanced without hesitation to write the history of the day itself upon +their nation's page. + +Croft turned to Jadgor and Lakkon. "You command the wings," he said. "I +shall lead the motors. The next hour shall make us freemen or slaves. +Say as much to your men." He began the descent of the hill, reached the +motors, each with its load of tensely waiting soldiers, and entered his +own--the first and leading car. + +He gave the command. The motors roared. A faint cheer broke from the +lips of the men behind the barricade. The armored cars gained speed. +They left the defile of the pass. Suddenly they broke upon the sight of +the Zollarian host. + +For a moment it seemed to falter all along the line as the motors left +the road and deployed now in their turn to right and left. Then, with +a shout, a flashing chariot dashed from their ranks and headed with +plunging gnuppas at Croft's own machine. Crash! Crash! Two of the +gnuppas were down. The chariot was overturned in a smother of dust and +flying hoofs as the stricken creatures dragged their teammates with +them in their fall. Croft's motor advanced. The whole line of unwieldy +shapes rolled forward. They began to spit acrid smoke and flame. + +Crash, crash! The trenches opened fire, shooting above the moving +motors toward the Zollarians' ranks. + +Men went down in a swift dissolution. Some one sounded the charge. +Zollaria's manhood answered the summon to their manhood. They surged +ahead in a roaring human flood. The motors were engulfed, but still +they spat fire. Men gathered about them and sought to overturn them. +They died. The press of the charge passed toward the hill. The motors +lumbered about and fired into the rear of the storming forces. They +squatted on the plain and sent a stream of death into the backs of +their foes. + +And in the faces of those foes a stream of death was pouring. Rifles +blazed and grenades began exploding along the sides of the hills. Still +they stormed up. This was Zollaria's day--_the day_--the thing they +dreamed of, planned for, through fifty years. + +Only by degrees could the thought of certain success begin to waver in +the minds of the men in that charge. Some of them died on the hillside. +Some of them reached to the lip of the trenches themselves and died. +Some of them entered the defile and found the barricade and died before +it under the blast of its rifles and the grenades hurled down upon them +from its edge. And all the while the glistening motors squatted on the +plain or ambled slowly toward the hillsides, spitting flame, while +other men died. + +So in the end Zollaria's men began at first to doubt and then to fear. +In front was death, and death was at their backs. Turn where they would +that fiery, unknown, roaring death spat at them. The air was full of +it. The very ground seemed to leap into flame at their feet and carry +death. They wavered. They turned. They fled. Bowmen, spearmen, chariot, +and plume-tossing gnuppa, they streamed down the hillside and out on +the plain. And after them came death--and death met them again from the +metal-covered motors, which fired and fired into their mass as they +retreated in fear. + + * * * * * + +Croft saw them vanish over the rolling hill which had veiled their +recent advance. He opened the door of his motor and called through +a trumpet to two of the cars by number. They were under command of +trusted men. He ordered them to take each two others and follow the +beaten army, giving it neither respite nor ease while daylight should +last. Himself he returned to the defile. It was a great hour, the +greatest hour he had ever known in his life--the hour in which all he +had promised was proven, all he had worked for was won. He climbed down +and mounted the hill to where Jadgor stood. + +"O king," he said. "To you for Tamarizia, I give back Mazhur, the lost +state. Another meeting such as this and, I think, Zollaria will surely +sue for peace." + +Jadgor reached out and embraced him--to Croft's surprise. "Jasor of +Nodhur--man of wonder!" he exclaimed. "Did I ever doubt Zitu had sent +you to Tamarizia's salvation I do not doubt it now." + +That night Croft camped where he was. The next day Belzor, with his +Nodhurians, having made a forced march from Niera, came up. Gazing on +the body-strewn hillside and plain he wept with disappointment not to +have been present to witness what took place. + +Croft grinned. "Patience. The emperor himself leads the army against +Cathur, some of the captives tell me. Today we advance." + +Toward midnight his motors had come back to report the enemy still in +flight and the road a mass of wounded who had fallen from exhaustion +on the way. Croft's heart wept out to the poor devils, who were, after +all, but the victims of their ruler's lust for power. Yet he could do +little for them because of the lack of time and the fact that he passed +through openly hostile territory now. + +It had been somewhat different in Mazhur, where many of the inhabitants +were Tamarizian still at heart. But here, should he leave men behind +to attend the wounded, he knew, that if discovered, they would perish +without any doubt. Hence beyond collecting them in one place, supplying +them with provisions, and leaving the lesser wounded to wait upon the +others, he could do nothing before he advanced on the main body of the +enemy. + +That advance lasted for a week. Twice, during it, Croft left his body, +satisfied himself the state of things was safe, returned to earth, and +chatted with Mrs. Goss and went back. At the end of the week he found +himself once more facing a foe. + +His first victory had produced a wonderful effect. Zollaria, driving +Cathur before her like chaff, under Kyphallos's treacherous leadership, +had made progress already when word of Croft's landing and advance from +Niera had caused the Emperor Helmor to detach a portion of his army +under his son to crush the flank attack. Instead, his son's command +was crushed and recoiled in a sorry rout. Helmor faced about. Raging +at this check to his plans, he rushed north and east to finish the +Tamarizian army himself. + +And now Croft found the positions reversed. Helmor chose his own +ground. He set himself to withstand the shock of battle along a line of +gently rolling hills, up which his foe must advance to the attack. Thus +his bowmen had a tremendous advantage, according to all his knowledge +of war, and his spearmen, at close quarters, could give a most +magnificent account of themselves, while the chariots, in the rear of +the line, could take care of any small bands of the enemy which might +chance to break through. + + * * * * * + +In this case Croft put his motors in the front. Deploying his men, he +instructed them to advance by rushes, keeping well in the rear of the +sixteen machines, yet close enough to take advantage of any breaks they +made in Helmor's line. + +"This day will be the last," he said to Jadgor as he prepared to lead +in his own machine. + +"Zitu grant it, and victory with it!" Jadgor replied. "Should you carry +defeat to Helmor, Tamarizia is yours, to do with as you please. Once +before I would remind you, Jasor, I said well-nigh as much." + +"There is but one thing in Tamarizia I desire." Croft looked at Lakkon +as he spoke and smiled. + +"It is yours, my son," said Aphur's prince, and spoke softly to Jadgor. +"What think you, O king? Our Jasor desires a maid." + +And Jadgor nodded. "Aye, Lakkon, I am not a fool! You are willing she +should go to him?" + +"I have pledged her to him," said Lakkon as he bowed his head. + +"And I go to win her now," said Croft as he entered his car. + +Naia of Aphur. That was the cry of his heart he carried into the fight. +Naia of Aphur. This fight should make her his. He gave the signal for +the advance with a smile upon his lips. + +Like huge metal turtles the motors began crawling toward the hill where +Helmor waited. Slowly, steadily, as implacable as fate, they rumbled +ahead. And, after a time, their breath rose on the air of the cloudless +morning in acrid whiffs of smoke. Flights of arrows and crossbow bolts +rattled on their sides and fell harmless. They reached the foot of the +hill and began to climb--up and up. They were half lost now in the +smoke of their own fierce discharges and the clouds of flying shafts. + +Back of them the infantry advanced as Croft directed, dashing forward +a hundred yards, and dropping down to fire in crashing volleys which +covered their comrades' sprinting rush, rising again and swarming ahead +while the other end of their companies covered them in turn. On the +hill confusion began to develop after a time. Men fell in heaps with a +chance to strike back. + +Nearer and nearer, without pause, the odd metal turtles crept up the +hill. Nothing stopped them. Nothing, neither valor nor marksmanship, +silenced the deadly spitting of their fire. Arrows broke upon them, +cross-bolts slithered off their invulnerable hides. Nearer and nearer +crept the menace of their ugly snouts. + +On the right flank two reached the Zollarian line and crashed against +it. Men fell and were ground into bloody pulp beneath metal wheels. +The Zollarians tried. They flung themselves in waves upon the +monsters. They sought to climb upon them. They gripped at the spitting +rifle-barrels. But still the motors plowed on in a bloody foam. They +turned and began crawling through the sea of men. Flesh and bone +could stand no more. The right flank wavered and fled just before the +infantry swarming up the slope in a final rush drove its own charge +home. They fell back in a disorganized mob, flinging bows and spears +from them as they ran. + +They left the center unsupported, attacked from both front and side. +It wavered, bent, sought to turn itself to meet the double-attack, +broke in the process, and split asunder. Behind it, in his gorgeous +chariot, Helmor raged to no avail. Through the mêlée a monster thing of +metal bore down upon him. From it there came a brazen voice as of one +speaking through a trumpet: + +"Yield, Helmor of Zollaria, and put a stop to slaughter! Yield, Helmor, +or perish with your men!" + +This was the end. This was the fruition in blood and despair of +that day prepared against through the span of fifty years. Thus was +Zollaria's ambition sinking to destruction, smothered beneath the +swirling dust of a panic-stricken ruck. Helmor swept the lost field +with his eyes and knew the truth. + +He gave the sign of surrender, spoke to his frightened aids, and sent +them galloping on gnuppas right and left to carry the word of defeat. +A standard shot up from the top of Croft's car. The sounds of battle +ceased by degrees and died as car after car raised a similar signal +across the battle-front. + +Croft opened the door of his car and stepped down. "You will enter, +Helmor of Zollaria," he said shortly, and gestured to the door. + +The Emperor Helmor bowed. He bent his haughty crest and disappeared +from sight. The door closed behind him, shutting him safe beyond all +dreams of conquest for all time to come. The great car turned and +lumbered back down the hill toward the camp where Jadgor of Aphur had +waited and watched. The sun was at its zenith above a field of dead and +wounded. But Helmor's sun of ambition had set. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI + + THE CONSUMMATION + + +These are the things Croft told me. It was three o'clock in the morning +when he was done. "That was a month ago, Dr. Murray," he said, and +sighed. + +"But what became of Kyphallos?" I asked. + +Croft smiled. "Kyphallos was placed under arrest and tried with speed," +he replied. "He was sentenced to exile in that Zollaria he had tried +to aid in her plans. He went forth in a rather boastful fashion and +appeared at the capital, Berla, itself. But neither Helmor nor the +tawny Kalamita would have aught to do with him since he could be of no +further use to them. Only then I think did Kyphallos realize his true +position, because then he drew himself up before Kalamita and asked +her, for all time, to say he was nothing to her." + +She replied with a sneering laugh. + +Kyphallos gave her one look, drew his sword, held it before his breast, +and fell upon it and died. + +"And the maid?" I asked. "Pardon me, Croft, but I'm human! And like all +human beings I recognize love as the main-spring of existence." + +He laughed. "As it is--love, Murray, is life--the cause of all being. +The maid is mine, or shall be so, soon as I return." + +"You're going back?" I said. + +He gave me a glance. "Of course. I ask nothing better. God, man, don't +you understand that she waits for me--there? Oh, yes, I've seen her +since Zollaria was beaten! I've held her in my arms--felt her lips. The +wedding-day is set. It is to be in Himyra, with Magur as the priest. +Man, can't you understand?" + +"What?" I inquired. + +His laugh came again. But it was nervous. "You rather force me to blow +my own horn. Murray, I'm Tamarizia today. When we returned to Zitra +victors and learned that Robur had driven the Mazzerians like chaff +before the wind, and that Milidhur, outside of a skirmish or two, had +found nothing to do, Tamhys gave me new rank. He named me Prince of +Zitra, a title never known in Tamarizia before, but next in importance +to the imperial throne. Man, I could have been emperor had I wished +since Tamhys's term expired one week after we got back." + +"Could have been?" I said. + +"Yes." He smiled. "But--I didn't take it. Do you know what I did?" + +"Hardly." I shook my head. + +"You might deduce it," he returned. "Murray, Tamarizia is a republic +now. She was ready for it. She had come nearly to it before I arrived. +There was no reason why she should not set up a true democracy. When +they offered me the crown I replied with a request. I called for a +council of the states. I put the thing squarely before them. They +hailed the suggestion with acclaim. My word was law, Murray--law. + +"Last night when you called me back and I returned, do you know what +was being done? Certainly not. But--we were completing the draft of the +republican constitution. Nothing less. When I returned I found them +clustered about me--those nobles of the nation. They thought me in a +faint, all save Jadgor and Lakkon and Robur, of course. I caught their +eyes and knew they understood. But I said nothing, and we finished the +draft last night. + +"Now Jasor's body, which I have used, lies in Zud's own room in the +Zitra pyramid. It is guarded by a priest. Above it, between it and the +Temple of Zitu, Murray, between it and God, Naia of Aphur is waiting, +a virgin guarded by Virgins for my return, in that room where Ga, the +eternal woman, broods above the sacred fire. Think you I shall not go +back?" + +"No--I think I would go myself if I could," I replied. + +His eyes filled with a far-away look. "Earth is beautiful," he said. "I +love it, its mountains and valleys, its streams and lakes, its fields +of grass and flowers, but, Murray--there is something, someone now in +my life I love beyond anything else. Man, I have found my mate. Like +the moose of the great woods, I must answer her call. + +"I shall go back. I shall make Naia of Aphur my wife. There will be an +election to select a president of the new republic. I have been asked +to put up my name. I think--no, Murray, I am sure, that Naia shall be +the first lady of all Tamarizia at Zitra itself before long." + +"And your body here? What will you do? Shall you tell her the truth?" + +"Yes, I think so," he declared. "Truth is a wonderful thing. It should +be kept sacred between a man and his mate. Were that done more commonly +by man and his consort half the marital trouble of the world would +disappear. But--what need have I of an earthly body any more? + +"My life calls me to Palos. Henceforth I am through with earth. Hence, +Murray, my friend, when I return from this final excursion, I shall do +what I have never done before. I shall snap the invisible bond between +this body and my spirit, which, until now, I have held intact. I shall +remain here a very few days to perform some necessary tasks. I must +provide for Mrs. Goss, and I desire my estate to be given to some +foundation for the welfare of my race. Then--then, Murray--I shall go +to the woman I love--Naia--my God-given mate!" + + * * * * * + +This is the story he told me that afternoon and night. Was he sane? I +think so. Was the story true? I cannot say. And yet somewhere I feel +that Jason Croft is living today--that he is happy, that he has won his +great adventure, and that Naia of Aphur, that maid of the golden hair +and purple eyes, is truly now his wife. + +One thing I can set down with positive knowledge at the end. A week +from the first time she called me, Mrs. Goss came to me again. I went +with her to the great couch in Croft's study and--I found him dead! +His body lay there lifeless, rigid and cold beyond any power of mine +to help. It came over me that the man had kept his word and broken the +subtle thread between it and his spirit, just as he had said he would. +I straightened and told Mrs. Goss there was nothing I could do. + +She wiped her dark, old eyes. "I knowed it," she said, "I knowed it! +Somethin' told me I was goin' to lose him this time! I've knowed him +from a baby, Dr. Murray. He was always a very strange man." + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALOS OF THE DOG STAR +PACK *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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