"What I'll do," he said, "is to go down one of these ropes hand over hand. Then I'll hoist the basket up to your level. You and the doctor can climb in, and I'll lower you to the ground."
"Will the rope—hold the weight?" asked Isayin. "If it'll hold a couple of hundred kilos of bricks, it'll hold you two."
"Are you sure you can lower yourself so far?" said Alicia. "It must be twenty or thirty meters down. If your arms give out ..."
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Here goes!"
Mjipa climbed out and, gripping one of the ropes, backed off the top of the unfinished outer wall. Down he went, hand over hand.
Halfway down, his arms began to weaken with fatigue. A few more meters, he thought, and he would lose his hold and fall the rest of the way. He halted his descent, clamped his legs around the two legs of the rope, and rested his arms.
When he thought he was up to it, he resumed his descent. His strength began to leave him again before he reached the bottom. But now he had a mere four meters to go; so he released his hold and dropped, landing in a crouch.
Mjipa took a moment to recover his breath. The clash of arms and the shouts of the combatants, muffled by the thick brickwork, came to his ears. Then he unstayed the windlass and began cranking up the basket. The apparatus squeaked loudly, causing Mjipa to think dark thoughts about "these blasted natives," who did not properly maintain then-equipment.
When the basket reached the top, he called: "All aboard! Lively!"
Sounds from above and the quivering of the rope indicated that his passengers were boarding the basket. Alicia's voice came thinly down: "Okay, Percy!"
Mjipa turned the crank in the reverse direction. The crank wanted to run away with the weight of the passengers in the basket, but the gear ratio enabled Mjipa to control it.
In a few minutes, the basket touched ground. Alicia stepped out, saying: "I practically had to drag your professor aboard. He's afraid of heights."
"Aren't you?"
"Yes, but I know a lesser evil when I see it. Are they still fighting in the tower?"
"The noise seems to have died down. Let's go before they come out looking for us."
They started back towards the Tarvezid's pier, but they had not yet left the cleared area around the tower when sounds of pursuit brought them round. Turning, Mjipa saw a host of dark figures erupt from the tower. Some shouted and pointed at the fugitives.
"Run!" said Mjipa, hobbling along and using his scab-barded sword as a walking stick. They entered a narrow street. To throw off pursuers, they turned at the first crossing, and again at the next, and again at the next. Behind them the sounds of pursuit grew louder, albeit there was no way to tell which of the three contending parties was after them, or whether any two or all three had joined forces.
"Can't do this much longer," said Mjipa."My bloody leg ... Oh, look what we've got!"
One of Kalwm City's man-powered street cars was coming along its track towards them. "Here's our coach-and-four!" said Mjipa.
"But," said Alicia, "there's room inside for only two!"
"Never mind; watch me. Give me that cloak, Doctor!"
Mjipa slipped the cloak over his head and approached the vehicle. As he passed it, he spread his arms and the cloak with them. With a menacing grin, he roared: "Ah, carman, I am a demon come to drag you down to Hishkak! Ahhhgh!"
He lunged at the carman who, with a scream of terror, released his handlebar and bolted.
"Lish!" said Mjipa. "Get in and pull the curtains across. Doctor, you shall push us."
"But," quavered Isayin, "the car is headed back towards the tower and our pursuers!"
"So much the better, it's the last place they'll expect us."
Mjipa heaved himself into the car and put an arm around Alicia. He said: "Pretend we're a Krishnan couple out for a bit of a smooch. Don't worry; I shan't take advantage."
A few minutes later, a mob of pursuers appeared ahead, pouring down the street. Soldiers and gangsters mingled, they ran past the street car proceeding sedately along its track in the opposite direction, pushed by a small, elderly Kalwmian. They did not stop to investigate but raced past, their equipment clattering. They disappeared, shouting: "This way!"; "Nay, they must have gone that way ..."
Mjipa released his hold on Alicia, saying:"Can you direct the doctor back to the ship?"
"I think so. Doctor Isayin!"
"Aye, Mistress Dyckman?" came the reply from behind.
"Turn right at the next switch. That'll bring us to the waterfront, and there's a continuous track all the way to the ship."
"I hope you 're right," said Mjipa. "What happened after I left you on the Tarvezid?"
"I was eating my supper in the cabin when I heard a lot of tramping and shouting outside. Kuimaj and his men had come aboard and were demanding that Captain Farrá turn me over. He was telling them to go to Hishkak. Then some of them seized him by the arms and legs and held him while the others began a search of the ship.
"I slipped out of the cabin on the side of the deckhouse away from the pier. When they were all busy looking into the cabin or the hold, I went ashore and ran. But someone saw me, and soon they were all pounding after me.
"I was a pretty good runner in college, but I was all in by the time I reached the tower. I zigzagged through the streets to throw them off, but they followed me anyway by smell. We keep forgetting the marvelous sense of smell of these tropical Krishnans, like human beings with dogs' noses. Doctor Isayin! I think we turn right again here."
"I know how you felt," grumbled Mjipa. "I haven't been so whacked myself since the night I knocked out the Cambridge heavyweight, Rajendra Singh." He sighed and shook his head."We've got too damned civilized. In the old days, a Ngwato warrior could run fifty kilometers and fight a battle at the end of it."
"We 'll leave the car here," said Mjipa. "The carman can find it tomorrow."
The three walked out on the pier and aboard the Tarvezid. The sailor on watch said: "Ho! Who goes there?"
"Your passengers," said Mjipa. "How soon can we sail?"
"Not for a couple of hours yet, to catch the offshore dawn breeze."
"Wake the captain. I must speak with him."
"He'll not like it, sir."
"That can't be helped. Wake him up."
When Captain Farrá had been roused from his bunk, Mjipa said: "Captain, we must sail at once. Are all your people, aboard?"
Farrá shook his head groggily. "I ween so; all should have been on ship by midnight. But what's this folly of sailing forthwith? We sail when I say so, not at the whim of some landlubber."
"We may all have our throats cut if you don't. That gang that came aboard looking for Mistress Dyckman is on our trail."
"Oh, so that's it? Ye be a monstrous troublesome lot of passengers. Rather than be sucked into another such garboil, I'll give you back your passage money, put the lot of you ashore, and sail without."
"Captain," said Mjipa, "once we're clear of shore, I'm certain there'll be no more trouble. Is it worth a hundred karda of Majbur to advance your sailing by a couple of hours?"
"Hmm," said the captain. "Now ye talk sense. Make it two hundred and the deal's yours."
"I don't have that much; but I can manage a hundred and fifty."
"Done. Let's see your coin. Kutáhn!" He spoke to the sailor on watch. "Rouse me Master Ghanum and stand by to cast off. Pass the word, albeit quietly, all hands on deck."
Soon after, the Tarvezid, her cables coiled on deck, pushed off from the pier. Six stalwart Majburuma thrust out the sweeps through oar holes in the bulwark to work the ship out of the harbor. There had been no sign of Minyev.