Another Light-ray!

: The Fire People

The news that Mercer and Anina had been left in the Twilight Country

completely dumfounded Miela and me. "Something was wrong," Mercer had

said. And then they had insisted on staying there, and had sent the girls

back to tell me to come over.



We could make nothing of it, nor did the half hour of argument into which

we immediately plunged further enlighten us. That flaw in our plans which

had dawned on Mer er so suddenly and clearly certainly never occurred to

us, for all it was seemingly so obvious.



We were interrupted--having reached no conclusion whatever except that we

would go over that evening as Mercer had directed--by the arrival of the

police chief to see me. He was a little man, curiously thin and wizened

for a Mercutian, with wide pantaloons, a shirt, short jacket and little

triangular cocked hat. His face seemed pointed, like a ferret. His

movements were rapid, his roving glance peculiarly alert.



He bowed before me obsequiously. He would obey me to the letter, I could

see that at once from his manner; though, had I impressed him as being

like my predecessor, I did not doubt but that he would do as he pleased

upon occasion.



I toyed with the little light-ray cylinder in my hand quite casually

through the brief interview, and I saw he was thoroughly impressed, for he

seemed unable to take his eyes from it.



"Where are your men just now?" I asked.



He raised his hands deprecatingly and poured out a flood of words to Miela

when my question was translated to him.



"He himself was sleeping," she said to me when he had paused for breath.

"His third watch was on patrol about the city. Then from the castle came

the king's guards, fleeing in haste. Those of the police they met they

told that evil men were in the castle with the light-ray, and all who

represented the city's authority would be killed."



"That was a lie," I interrupted. "There was no light-ray here then."



Miela nodded. "It was what Baar's men had told them to say, I think."



"And then what happened to the police?"



"Then they left their posts about the city. Some fled; others went back

and reported what they had heard."



"And it never occurred to any of them to come up here and try to stop the

disturbance? Curious policemen, these!"



"It is too deadly--the light-ray," said Miela. "They were afraid. And then

the alarm bell began ringing. They sent for Ano, here, to ask him what

they should do. And then you sent for him. He has his men at the police

building, in waiting. And he comes to you at the risk of his life, and now

asks your commands."



Thus did my chief of police explain satisfactorily to himself, and with

great protestations of loyalty to his trust, how it came about that he and

his men did nothing while their king was being murdered and another put in

his place.



Recriminations seemed useless. He stood bowing and scraping before me,

eager only to obey my slightest wish.



"Tell him, Miela, how Baar's men captured Lua. Have the city, thoroughly

searched--Baar's house particularly. Tell him I killed Baar's wife. Have

that slave woman sent home to me.



"Tell him to capture Baar and any of his known associates. If he does,

have him report to me at once. Say to him that I must have word of Lua--or

I'll have a new chief of police by to-morrow. For the rest, have his men

patrol the city as usual."



I spoke as sternly as I could, and the little man received my words with

voluble protestations of extreme activity on his part.



When he had bowed himself out I smiled at Miela hopelessly.



"This has got to be a mighty different government before we can ever hope

to accomplish anything against Tao." Tao was not worrying me for the

moment. Lua must be found, and I had no idea of relying entirely upon this

little chief of police to find her. And Mercer needed me, too, this very

evening.



I stood up wearily and put my arm about Miela's shoulders. Her little body

drooped against mine, her head resting on my shoulder. There was little

about us then, as we stood there dispirited and physically tired out, that

would have commended respect from our subjects.



"We must get some sleep, Miela," I said. "Things will look very

different to us then."



It must have been mid-afternoon when we awoke. Ano was at hand to report

that Baar and his men, and all the king's guards, must have fled the city.

Of Lua he had, so far, found no trace. Baar's slave woman was in the

castle, waiting our commands. The girl who had brought us Mercer's message

was also waiting to ask us when we wanted her and the other girls for the

trip back to the Twilight Country.



"Right away," I exclaimed. "I'm not going to take any chances with Mercer.

We'll start at once."



The girl flew away to get her friends and the platform, which had been

left in the garden of Miela's home. I planned to start openly from the

castle roof; there was now no need of maintaining secrecy.



The disappearance of Lua was alarming. Equally so was the possible danger

into which Mercer might have blundered. In Lua's case there did not seem

much I could do personally at that moment. Before starting I arranged with

the aged councilors to call a meeting the following morning of all

government officials.



"Could we get Fuero to come, Miela?"



She shook her head positively. "His oath would forbid it."



"Well, tell the councilors to call also any of the city's prominent men.

I've got to get some good men with me. I can't do it all alone."



Miela smiled at me quizzically as I said this: "You have forgotten our

women and their help, my husband?"



I had, in very truth, for the moment.



"We'll need them, too," I said. "Tell these girls who carry us to-night to

call all those who went with us to the mountains--a meeting to-morrow at

this time--here on the castle roof."



"To the Water City we must go," Miela said. "There Tao's men are very

strong, our girls report. And to-day there was a fight among the people,

and several were killed."



"But we must go armed, Miela, with more than one light-ray. I shall see

this Fuero to-morrow. After all, he's the key-note to the whole thing."



We started from the castle roof, Miela sitting with me this time on the

platform. Flying low, we passed over the maze of bayous, and in what

seemed an incredibly short time we were out over the sea. I had now no

idea what we might be called upon to do, or how long we would be gone, for

all my specific plans for the next day; so we started as well prepared as

possible.



The precious light-ray cylinder I held in my hand. We had a number of

blankets, enough food for us all for two days of careful rationing, a

knife or two, and a heavy, sharp-edged metal implement like an ax.



It seemed hardly more than half an hour before a great black cloud had

spread over the whole sky, and we ran into the worst storm I have ever

encountered. The wind came up suddenly, and we fought our way directly

into it. Lightning flashed about us, and then came the rain, slanting down

in great sheets.



We were still flying low. The mirror surface of the sea was now lashed

with waves, extraordinarily high, whose white tops blew away in long

streaks of scud. The girls fought sturdily against the wind and rain,

carrying us steadily up until after a while I could not see the water

below.



We were in the storm perhaps an hour altogether. Then we passed up and

beyond it; and emerged again into that gray vacancy, with a waste of

storm-lashed water far beneath us.



The Twilight Country shore was still below the horizon, and it was a

considerable time before we sighted it. Miela and I sat quiet, wrapped in

a blanket, which, wet as it was, offered some protection against the

biting wind. The girls seemed exhausted from their long struggle against

the storm, and I was glad for them when we finally landed.



This was the place, they said, where Mercer and Anina had set Tao's men

free, and where the two were standing when the girls had left with the

platform. I looked about, and saw on the beach the pieces of cut cord with

which the men had been bound.



Of Mercer and Anina there was no sign. We waited until well after the time

of the evening meal, and still Mercer and Anina did not arrive. We

concluded, of course, that they had followed Tao's men up the trail for

some reason, and we expected it would be Anina who would come back to tell

us where Mercer was.



"Let us go up a little distance," Miela suggested finally. "They cannot

tell what the hour is. They may be near here now, coming back."



The girls were rested and warmed now, and we started off again with the

platform. We flew low over the treetops, following the trail as best we

could, but in the semi-darkness we could see very little from above. After

a time we gave it up and returned to the shore.



Again we waited, now very much alarmed. And then finally we decided to

return to the Great City for the night. Anina might have missed us some

way, we thought, and flown directly home. She might be there waiting for

us when we arrived. If not, we would return again with several hundred

girls, and with them scour the country carefully back as near the Lone

City as we dared go.



With our hearts heavy with apprehension we started back across the

channel. Lua, Mercer and Anina were separated from us. All had been

captured, perhaps, by our enemies! Things were, indeed, in a very bad way.



Without unusual incident we sighted the Light Country shore. Three girls

were winging their way swiftly toward us.



"They wish to speak with us, Alan," said Miela. "From the Great City they

seem to come. Perhaps it is Anina."



Our hopes were soon dispelled, for Anina was not one of them; they were

three of the girls we had directed to patrol the seacoast.



When they neared us Miela flew off the platform and joined them. They

circled about for a time, flying close together, then Miela left them and

returned to me, while they hovered overhead. Her face was clouded with

anxiety as she alighted beside me.



"They were near the Water City a short time ago. And they say the

light-ray is being used there. They saw it flashing up, and dared not go

closer."



The light-ray in the Water City! My heart sunk with dismay. The cylinder I

held in my hand I had thought the only one in use in all the Light

Country. With it I felt supreme. And now they had it also in the Water

City!



One of the girls flung up her hand suddenly and called to Miela.



"See, Alan--a boat!"



I looked down to where Miela pointed. The sea was still rough from the

storm, but no longer lashed into fury. Coming toward us, close inshore and

from the direction of the Water City, I saw a boat speeding along over the

spent waves. And as I looked, a narrow beam of light, green, shading into

red, shot up from the boat and hung wavering in the air like a little

search-light striving to pierce the gray mist of the sky!