"Something is happening up there," he replied. "I wonder what will happen next."
"They will be down here in a moment, very hot and bothered," I prophesied.
My prophesy was correct. A dozen armed men were presently at the door of our cell. It was unlocked and thrown open, and a torch was stuck in. Three warriors followed the torch inside and the others crowded in the doorway. When their eyes fell on me, surprise was written large on their faces.
"What were you doing in Morgas's sleeping chamber?" one of them demanded.
"Doesn't Morgas know?" I countered.
"How did you get there? How did you get out of this cell? How did you get back into it?" The questions might have been shot from a tommy gun.
"Morgas, being a wizard also, should know that, too,"
I told them.
They looked at me fearfully; they were worried and frightened as they talked among themselves: "The door is heavily padlocked," said one, "and the padlock has not been tampered with."
"It is incredible," said another.
"Perhaps he does not realize that he is now a zaldar," suggested a third.
"Could it be," suggested a fourth in a whisper, "that the vootogan drank too much wine this evening?"
"That does not account for it," said the first warrior;
"because the woman who was in the vootogan's sleeping chamber saw what he saw, and she had not been drinking at all."
So! I had wrought better than I knew, or else the woman had lied. However, the result was the same.
"Do not leave your cell again," ordered one of the warriors. "There will be armed men at every door, and if you come they will kill you;" then they went away, but before they closed the door I saw the ugly face of the jailer peering over their shoulders.
"Tell Morgas," I shouted, "that if he will release me and my companion and the girl, Vanaia, I will bother him no more."
They did not answer.
"Do you think he will?" asked Ero Shan.
"I think he will," I replied, "but he will not know it."
"What do you mean?"
"Wait and see."
Chapter Nine
"You ARE REALLY a most remarkable fellow," said Ero Shah, "but I am commencing to be a little bit afraid of you," he added, laughing.
"You needn't be," I assured him, "for Chand Kabi did not teach me how to harm people physically with these occult powers. He, himself, knew how: he could have caused people at the farthest ends of the Earth to die had he chosen to do so, but he never did. Dear old Chand Kabi never harmed anyone."
"Were I you I should experiment," said Ero Sham "It might prove useful sometimes to be able to kill one's enemies at a distance. Why, you could win a whole war all by yourself."
"I am content with what I am already able to accomplish," I assured him; "and now if you will devote yourself to meditation for a while, I shall go to work on our fine-feathered friend again."
I did. Presently we heard a great commotion overhead.
Thinly, a voice reached us, screaming for help; and we distinctly heard the words, "He is chasing me! He is chasing me!" There was a lot of running, and we could hear other sounds as of furniture being overturned; then, as I relaxed, things quieted down. I heard Ero Shah chuckle.
Once more the warriors came. They peeked in fearfully.
"You are here?" one demanded.
"Do you not see me?"
"But I just saw you up above chasing the vootogan.
Why did you chase him?"
"Just for fun," I said. "It becomes very tiresome sitting here in this little cell."
"You had better put your mind on other things," snapped the warrior, for tomorrow you die. Morgas has had enough of you."
"Well," remarked Ero Shah after they had left, "it was fun while it lasted; but you seem to have been blown up by your own bomb. What are you going to put your mind on now?"
"On Vanaja and the jailer. This may not be so successful as the other experiment, but I can only try. In the mean time, you may devote yourself to silent prayer."
Ero Shan lapsed into silence, and I went to work on Vanaja and the jailer. I find it more conducive to success to have an accurate picture of my subject's face in my mind while I work on him. Nebulously hopeful, I had fixed the unattractive features of the jailer in my memory.
They were easy to recall, but Vanaja's were easier and much more pleasant.
An hour had elapsed since I had had my last fun with Morgas, and the castle had quieted down again. It was so quiet that I could hear the approach of sandalled feet along the corridor outside our cell.
"He comes!" I said to Ero Shan.
Chapter Ten
"You are a most remarkable fellow," said Ero Shan, "but I am commencing to be a little bit afraid of you," he added, laughing.
"You needn't be," I assured him, "for Chand Kabi did not teach me how to harm people physically with these occult powers. He, himself, knew how: he could have caused people at the farthest ends of the Earth to die had he chosen to do so, but he never did. Dear old Chand Kabi never harmed anyone."
"Were I you I should experiment," said Ero Shan. "It might prove useful sometimes to be able to kill one's enemies at a distance. Why, you could win a whole war all by yourself."
"I am content with what I am already able to accom-plish,''
I assured him; "and now if you will devote your-self to meditation for a while, I shall go to work on our fine-feathered friend again."
I did. Presently we heard a great commotion oxerhead.
Thinly, a voice reached us, screaming for help; and we distinctly heard the words, "He is chasing me! He is chasing me!" There was a lot of running, and we could hear other sounds as of funiture being overturned; then, as I relaxed, things quieted down. I heard Ero Shan chuckle.
Once more the warriors came. They peeked in fearfully.
"You are here?" one demanded.
"Do you not see me?"
"But I just saw you up above chasing the vootogan.
Why did you chase him?"
"Just for fun," I said. "It becomes very tiresome sitting here in this little cell."
"You had better put your mind on other things," snapped the warrior, for tomorrow you die. Morgas has had enough of you."
"Well," remarked Ero Shah after they had left, "it was fun while it lasted; but you seem to have been blown up by your own bomb. What are you going to put your mind on now?"
"On Vanaja and the jailer. This may not be so successful as the other experiment, but I can only try. In the mean time, you may devote yourself to silent prayer,"
Ero Shan lapsed into silence, and I went to work on Vanaja and the jailer. I find it more conducive to success to have an accurate picture of my subject's face in my mind while I work on him. Nebulously hopeful, I had fixed the unattractive features of the jailer in my memory.
They were easy to recall, but Vanaja's were easier and much more pleasant.
An hour had elapsed since I had had my last fun with Morgas, and the castle had quieted down again. It was so quiet that I could hear the approach of sandalled feet along the corridor outside our cell.
"He comes? I said to Ero Shan.
"Who?" he asked.
"The jailer with the face of a Gila monster."
The key turned in the lock and the door swung in.
The underdone face of the jailer was poked in. He held a torch above his head. am still here, I said. "If anyone has been chasing Morgas again, it was not I."
"No one has been chasing Morgas again," said the jailer, "but I think he has gone crazy."
"How so.
"He has given orders that you are to be set free. If I were Morgas, I would have your head lopped off. You are a very dangerous person."
"You are not Morgas," I reminded him. "What else did the vootogan order?" I knew, as I had given the orders myself; but I wanted to make certain that the fellow remembered them correctly.