"He ordered me to see that you and your companion and the woman, Vanaia, were put out of the castle immediately. The woman is waiting for you by the garden gate."
"But suppose we don't wish to go?" I asked He looked at me in surprise, and so did Ero Shan. I was not trying to be funny. I just wished to fix his determination to get us out of there. I knew his type of mind: a small mind which a little authority inflated.
Nothing now could prevail upon him to let us remain.
"I have my orders," he said, "I know what to do. If you do not go peaceably, you will be thrown out."
"In that case we will go peaceably," I said.
The jailer threw the door wide and stepped back. "Come," he ordered.
We followed him up and out into the ballium. Vanaja was waiting at the garden gate. "You are going home,"
I said to her.
"Yes," she replied; "I know. Morgas came and told me." That would have surprised Morgas.
We followed the jailer to the main gates, which he unbolted and threw open. There were no guards there, as I had guessed there would not be, for there had been none the morning that we had arrived at the stronghold.
Morgas was very sure of his power.
"Now get out," snapped the jailer, "and I hope that I never see your face again."
"I have the same feeling about yours," I assured him.
We three stepped out into the night and the gates closed behind us. We were free!
"It doesn't seem possible," said Vanaja. "I cannot yet understand why Morgas liberated us."
"He will regret it in the morning," I said, "and we shall be pursued." Knowing that Morgas knew nothing of all this, I knew that in the morning he would be furious when he discovered the trick that had been played on him.
"I should not like to be in that jailer's boots tomorrow morning," said Ero Shan.
"Why?" asked Vanaia. "He was only carrying out Morgas' orders."
Ero Shan did not reply, and I thought it better not to explain. Had I, Vanaja would doubtless have immediately jumped to the conclusion that I was a wizard; and I had good reason to suspect that wizards might not be overly popular with the Pandar family.
As we proceeded down the valley in the direction of until darkness came again and we could continue our flight.
For safety's sake, Ero Shan and I took turns keeping watch toward the mouth of the canyon. From the location of our cave, we could see up the valley a short distance in the direction of Morgas' stronghold; and toward the middle of the morning Ero Shan announced that a party of mounted men was approaching.
Vanaia and I joined him, keeping ourselves well hidden behind a large boulder. Coming down the valley were some twenty-five or thirty warriors mounted on zorats, those amazing creatures that serve as horses upon Venus.
"There's Morgas!" exclaimed Vanaia. "See? He's riding at their head."
It was indeed Morgas. I smiled to think of the fool's errand he had embarked upon and how chagringed he would be could he ever know how close he had been to those he sought.
I smiled too soon. Just opposite the mouth of our canyon, just when I thought that they would ride by, Morgas turned his mount directly toward us; arid the whole party rode straight in our direction.
Chapter Eleven
I AM ever certain that I shall obtain results from the exercise of that strange power which Chand Kabi taught me. Sometimes it fails. This may be due partially to the fact that I use it so seldom and partially to my own lack of confidence in myself. Chand Kabi used to say to me, "You must know, my son, for knowledge is power." He meant that I must know that I should succeed whenever I brought into play the mysterious mental force that he had taught me to develop.
As I saw Morgas and his followers approaching our hiding place, I cautioned Ero Shan and Vanaia to crouch down out of sight and remain very quiet; then I mobilized all of my mental resources and directed them upon Morgas. I seemed to know that they were speeding across the lessening distance that separated me from the object of my attack, concentrating into a pin point of irresistable suggestive force which bred into the ganglia of his brain that motivated his ocular perceptions and his power of volition.
I did not question that I should succeed in influencing him. I knew! But Morgas continued to ride toward us.
He was so close now that I could see his eyes. I was certain that he could not see me, as I had adopted an age-old camouflage of the Indians of that far Southwest of my native land. Only my head from my eyes up were above the boulder which hid the rest of my body, and this was hidden from Morgas by the leafy branch of a shrub which I held before it.
Had I permitted myself to doubt, I should have been quite certain by this time that I had failed and that, unarmed and helpless as we were, we should soon be recaptured. And just then Morgas turned his head and looked back. Instantly he drew rein (a figure of speech, as zorats are ridden without bridles, being guided and controlled by pulling upon their long, pendulous ears).
"There he goes!" shouted Morgas, pointing down the valley.
Wheeling his mount, he dashed away, followed by his entire band. I had won! The reaction left me a trifle limp, for it had been a close call.
"They have gone," I said to Ero Shah and Vanaia, "but I think that we should go farther into the hills, as they may return." I did not know how much longer I could lure Morgas upon that wild goose chase in which he thought that he saw me racing fleetly ahead of him.
I grinned as I thought of his consternation as he contemplated my speed, which was swifter than that of his fastest zorat.
"What did he mean when he said, 'There he goes!'" asked Vanaia.
"He must have seen something," I said. "Perhaps he thought that he saw me." Ero Shan smiled.
We went far up the canyon and climbed to the summit of a wooded hill from which we had a good view of the valley from perfect concealment. We could see Morgas and his men racing madly in pursuit of a figment.
"What are they chasing?" demanded Vanaja. "I see nothing."
I shook my head. "Perhaps not," I said, "but Morgas sees something." Then I thought that I would have a little fun at the expense of the great wizard. I causecl the figment to zig-zag. Morgas and his men chased wildly this way and that. I led them up a rocky hill, from the summit of which the figment leaped over a cliff to the floor of the valley. The pursuers wheeled and dashed down again the way they had come. They found the figment sitting on a rock, waiting for them. I wish that I might have heard Morgas' remarks, but he was too far away.
As the party galloped toward the figment, it leaped to its feet and started across the valley, straight toward the river. I could see Morgas waving his arms and I knew that he was shouting commands to his men, for they suddenly spread out fan-wise in a pincer movement that would have the figment surrounded when it reached the river, which was, at this point, a couple of hundred feet wide and both deep and swift.
They were closing in on the figment when it leaped nimbly across the river! I guess that was too much for Morgas. He sat there with his men for a few minutes, staring at the quarry which had seated itself upon another rock across the river from them; then he turned and rode slowly back up the valley toward his stronghold.
We watched them as they passed below our hill, puzzled and dejected.
"I don't understand it," said Vanaia.
"Neither does Morgas," said Ero Shan.
Although our recent pursuers no longer were a men-ace, we could not continue on toward the castle of Tovar, as Morgas' herdsmen were grazing their zaldars slowly down the valley. It would be necessary now to wait until night had fallen.