Tom slowly winked.
"Even if someone did put a weirdway in a cell next door, they'd be sure to disguise it," continued Arthur. "Like maybe behind something on the wall. Or behind a trapdoor in the floor. Or the ceiling. Or disguised as something else -"
Tom nodded slowly at the last sentence.
"How would you disguise the entry to a weirdway, Suzy?" asked Arthur. "How are they normally disguised?"
"Could be anything," snorted Suzy. She glanced at Tom and said, "A cup of water is quite common. Or a teapot. Or a candlestick. Sometimes a book. Or a painting. A hook on the wall. I remember an old geezer had one you got in through a coin stuck to the floor. Then there's flowers. A loose brick. Mirrors is popular. Water closet, though that's disgustin' and not proper. A chest or drawer. Maybe a box of some kind. Wardrobes. Cigarette case. A pianoforte or harpsichordicle. Clocks -"
She stopped. Tom had winked at "clocks."
"So a clock in one of the neighboring cells is the entry to a weirdway. I wonder where it comes out? I guess it must still be inside the pyramid, since Grim Tuesday is so paranoid about keeping people out."
"I wonder if he left the door open?" mused Suzy.
"You said he lifted the west side of the pyramid to get in," said Arthur to Tom. "Can you talk about that?"
"The entire west face of the pyramid is hinged as a door," said Grim Tuesday. "It's no secret, for no one else is strong enough to lift it. Even I could not open that door. Not alone."
"And all my power's gone," said Arthur.
"Maybe he left it open," suggested Suzy. "He was in a hurry."
Arthur shook his head. "Leave open the door to all his treasures? I doubt it."
"Just being optimistic," said Suzy. "You should try it. It doesn't hurt. Least, it doesn't hurt me. Maybe it would give you a pain in the midsection."
Arthur ignored the comment. His mind was racing over the possibilities, trying to work out what to do.
"We'll have to get Grim Tuesday to open the pyramid for us," he said. "Or maybe Soot. It must have got-ten even bigger and stronger from eating the Grim's treasures -"
"Ah, the Nithling," interrupted Tom. "I fear that it will not be able to serve you. I am sure that Grim Tuesday will call upon me to slay it immediately. I am surprised he did not send a telegram to that effect. It is his preferred means of communication, fitting for one so mean with words."
"Oh, yeah, right," said Arthur. He slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the telegram there. He'd hoped it had become a sodden, unreadable mess, but the bright-coat had kept it dry, or had dried it out perfectly. "Sure. I guess you chasing around after Soot will distract Grim Tuesday anyway. That's better than nothing?"
Arthur's voice trailed off as a thought slowly rose to the front of his mind.
"Telegrams," he said.
"What?" asked Suzy.
"Telegrams!"
"What about telegrams?"
Arthur clutched Tom's sleeve. "If you can receive telegrams in your room, does that mean you can send them?"
"Aye, if I've the coins to pay. Grim Tuesday allows nothing on account."
"Have you got any coins?" asked Arthur feverishly. "I mean can you lend me some?"
"Only the coins in my ears, for paying Davy Jones in case of drowning," said Tom, pushing back his graying hair to show two large gold coins hanging from his ear-lobes. "Superstition, I know, but I've grown accustomed? Anyways, once we're ashore you can have the loan of one of them. I need to be keeping one, against unfortunate circumstance."
"Would it be enough?" asked Arthur, eyeing the coin. It looked pretty thick and heavy. The laurel-crowned head stamped into it looked pretty smug and selfsatisfied too about being on such a valuable coin. "To send a telegram and pay for a reply?"
"Aye, it should. Who would you send it to?"
"Dame Primus. Then she can send one back confirming that I'm the heir. I show that to this? to the sun bear. It sorts out Grim Tuesday. Everything'll be okay!"
Chapter Eighteen
"Telegram's not good enough," said the sun bear with-out opening its eyes. "When I say proper notification, I mean proper. Stamped and sealed."
"You're a proper pain, aren't you?" commented Suzy. But the Will didn't respond.
"I'll send the telegram anyway," said Arthur, with as much conviction as he could muster. His brilliant idea didn't seem so brilliant now. "Maybe Dame Primus can help us escape from the Tower and the pyramid. Or send the proper notification some other way? or something. I guess we'll just have to try to get out ourselves in the meantime. And make sure Grim Tuesday doesn't find us."
"Good idea," said Suzy. "Only we can't carry the bear. Not without the Captain."
"I thought I was the one who needed optimism," Arthur reminded her. He prodded the sun bear's rear with the toe of his Immaterial Boot. "It can walk. How about that, Will? You should come with us just in case I do turn out to be the Rightful Heir, which everybody tells me I am."
"I'm not going anywhere till I have adequately assessed the situation," said the sun bear, still without opening its eyes. "It would not be prudent to move until I have considered all possibilities, or must comply with appropriate authority."
"You're not staying on board the Helios," announced Tom. He turned from the wheel and stooped down to look at the sun bear. "Part Two of the Will, do you know who I am?"
"No," said the sun bear, squeezing its eyes even more shut. "Nor do I care to play twenty questions to discover your dubious identity."
Tom held out his hand. There was a rush of cold air, and his strangely dark and bright harpoon appeared in his hand. He tilted it down, till the point touched the deck a few inches from the sun bear's nose.
Arthur and Suzy retreated to the companionway and took a few steps down, almost falling over each other in their haste.
The sun bear reluctantly opened one eye. "Do you know me now?" growled Tom.
The sun bear opened its other eye, lifted its snout with obvious effort, and sniffed the air several times.
"The Old One's second son," it squeaked.
"The Architect's adopted son."
"Yes, yes," admitted the sun bear. "That is true enough."
"And I say Arthur is the Master of the Lower House and so must have been chosen as the Rightful Heir."
The sun bear rolled its eyes and gave an annoyed snort.
"Character witnesses are all very well, but I stand by my position. I will not act on behalf of anyone until I am in receipt of the correct notification from Dame Primus."
Tom scraped the point of the harpoon across the deck towards the sun bear's snout. It made a nerve-jangling, harmonic sound that filled the bridge and made Arthur and Suzy take several steps down the ladder.
But the sun bear did not retreat. It merely pulled back its head.
"Nor am I moved by threats!" it added.
"This is not a threat, you furry backslider," Tom roared. "But if you won't at least go along with Arthur, then I'll see if Mother's gift can spill some of Mother's words out of your gizzard."
The sun bear looked distastefully at Arthur and wrinkled its nose.
"I suppose that I have to go somewhere, since my pleasant retreat has been destroyed. Perhaps, ipso facto, pursuant to the circumstances, I may accompany this potential heir-designate until further information is forthcoming one way or another."
"Pleasant retreat!" said Arthur. "That was a prison - you? you were supposed to break out of it and do your duty. Let the Will be done, my foot!"
"I trusted that I would be released at the correct and proper moment to fulfill my obligations," said the Will stiffly. "Certainly not rousted out by such an unorthodox? ahem? party, with such peculiar -"