PLANS FOR ESCAPE
“We can make the in a days in my laboratory,” Cabot wrote, “but it will not do for us to too precipitately, our plans be and blocked. The Vairkings like sleight-of-hand, and wish to keep me with them as their magician. Let us our time until they to you, so that they will not question your me on an expedition. Then, away to the plane, and off to Cupia!”
The ant-man assented. It logical. And yet I wonder if this logic would not have done to Jud the Excuse-Maker. I wonder if Cabot was not by a scientific to complete his radio set in this land of people who used only and flint. I wonder.
At all events, the work proceeded.
He had planned to use the from the copper as the “ore” for his iron, but the more he about it, the more he that its high would any which he produced. Fortunately, however, he ran across a deposit of magnetic iron near Vairkingi.
This he ground and in his with charcoal, and they in the around them. The he off with copper—later iron—ladles. The melting had to be many times in order to the iron sufficiently, and in order to secure just the right for cast-iron, steel, or wrought-iron, according to which he needed for any particular purpose. This the proper was a of cut-and-try.
With iron and available, he now pots, retorts, hammers, anvils, drills, wire-drawing dies, and a Bessemer converter.
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Copper for glass-blowing, and copper wire were drawn. A was for around the wires. This thread, by the way, was the only Vairkingian product which the earth-man to his hand.
As soon as the iron were available, the joint of and was started, as already by Doggo.
In iron pots, Cabot melted together ground white sand, with lime, soda, and potash, and the resulting into bottles, retorts, test tubes, and other laboratory apparatus; also for his electric batteries. He used and potash, as this would the more than if with either alone.
Lead was melted from in small for solder. Thus was to Doggo, the manufacture, on the side, of bullets, gunpowder, and cartridges, for the which Myles had in his quarters, and for the one which in the airplane.
Tales of the copper-smelting had spread among the populace, who such great that had to be and about the laboratory inclosure. And every returning with it of minerals.
Meanwhile, Cabot a regular of Vairkingi to Doggo. Every day, Doggo would the high-walled streets, with Quivven the Golden Flame upon his back. The ten-foot great and fear.
She her thoroughly, not only for the of the thing, but also her seat on his six-foot-high her above the level of the palings, and thus her to survey the private yards of everyone.
Tipi had not been or from.
Arkilu the Beautiful up with the earth-man, and that her love for him had been a mistake. Plans for her wedding with Jud rapidly. When this marriage was publicly announced, Att the Terrible sent in a Roy with the message that he didn’t in the least care.
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Quivven now in the palace, so as to be near her father, but came to work each day. Theoph the Grim no to this, and, in fact, his to the laboratory. He loved to around the bottles and retorts, and much of the when in this meddlesomeness.
So every one was happy Tipi the Steadfast and Att the Terrible.
Jud the operation of the brickyard, though Cabot had no more need of bricks, for Jud planned to himself a which would the of King Theoph.
Melting the for the presented a problem, until Myles of some ordinary water into its and oxygen, and then these two materials together in a blow-pipe, much like that used in welding.
But to do this he had to make batteries. To this end he already had and jars. He needed and zinc. For he pressed into blocks. To from the he long of clay, with a long pipe for a vent. The ore, after being in the copper-roasting to remove all sulphur, was ground, mixed with its weight of charcoal, and then into the retorts, where it was baked. The result was to the pure zinc, which on the of the tubes.
Cabot now at last had all the for his batteries, and so was able, by about seventy in multiple, to the two volts, three hundred fifty amperes, necessary to the and for melting his platinum.
The proved to be free of iridium, and so was easily into wires.
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Needless to state, the of in large quantities, for the laboratory burners, but actually for Doggo’s airplane, was as soon as they had their retorts.
Myles was going strong!
One day, in the of all this progress, as Myles was through one of the of Vairkingi on some or other, and the and on the high which the way, his attention was by the design over one of the gateways.
It was a a triangle, the of the of the religion of Cupia, the who had him in their of the Caves of Kar, when he was a the dark days of his second against the ant-men.
Could it be that the religion was also upon this continent? Myles had religion with Arkilu, or Jud, or Quivven, or Crota, or any of his Vairking friends. Somehow the had come up. Full of curiosity, Cabot in the door.
Immediately a small opened and a voice from “Whence come you?”
For reply, the earth-man gave one of the of the Cupian religion. To his surprise, the gate open, and he was into the presence of a long-robed priest, like his friends of the Caves of Kar.
“What do you wish?” asked the of the gate.
Having his way so far, Myles to continue, on the of the religion of his own continent. Accordingly, he replied, “I wish to speak with the Holy Leader.”
“Very well,” said the guard; and the gate and it, he Myles through many passages, to a door on which he three times.
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The was from within, the door opened, and Myles entered to upon a familiar scene. The room was and colored. On three the of the Vairkings. Around the sat a score or more of long-robed priests, some on the level and some on platforms. On the of all, directly opposite the point where Cabot had entered, sat the only in the chamber, the leader of the faith.
Him the earth-man approached, and low.
Whereat, there came the words: “Welcome to Vairkingi, Myles Cabot.”
Then the descended, took the visitor by the hand, and him to a seat at his own left. A minutes later, the had been suspended, and Myles and his were together like old friends.
Myles told the the complete history of all his on of the Poros, not to with detail upon the of the religion of Cupia. This the greatly, and he asked questions in that connection.
“Strange! Strange!” he ruminated. “It is the same religion as ours. So there must at some time have been some the two continents.”
“Yes, there must have been,” the earth-man assented, “for the language of Cupia and Vairkingi is the same. Yet the totally different and of the two this history.”
“Where did the Cupians originate, if you know?” the inquired.
“We do not know,” Myles replied, “but there are two legends. One is that the of the came from across the seas. The other is that they sprang, formed, from the soil. There is also a that like me the seas; and this legend, at least, to be out by the of your Vairkings.”
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“Strange! Still more strange!” the declared. “For we have but one of our origin. The of Vairkings from another world above the skies. Who but that we, like you, came from that place which you call the planet—Minos, I think, you said?”
After some conversation, the was called to order again, and Myles took this as the for his departure. He was a warm to return.
Truly, a new of had been opened up to him by his meeting with the Holy Leader. Myles to return again at the opportunity. But, from this time on, events moved with such that again did he enter the precincts.
First, he was by his radio tubes. How was he to make a vacuum-pump which would the air?
The solution, when it to him, was simple; he pressure.
He a thirty long, and sealed his grid, his plates and his lead-wires into one end, that end off hermetically. Then he a of cloth so as to fit into the closed end, almost these and yet free to move away from them without them. Then he the with water, and it. But the water did not away to a of about twenty-eight feet, as it would have done on Earth.
Of not, for this was Venus—Venus of an pressure equal to that of earth, the water up; and yet with a much less than that of Earth, to pull, the water down!
But, by the pipe sufficiently, Cabot got the proper balance, the was down, and a vacuum, free of water-vapor had been created. He then sealed off the upper of the with his blow-torch, and had his radio triad.
For these radio tubes, the was according to a special formula. Of this same glass, Cabot for the which he and Doggo planned to wear on their home across the seas.
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One of the of this special is lead monoxide, as litharge. This gave the Radio Man some concern, until Doggo melting lead in a iron with ribs. By cold air in one end of this drum, of were out through the other, where they in a container.
About this time the king and Jud for results, so Cabot a electric lights with filaments. And from his two it was well that he did this, for the out of these lights him that he had a new problem to face, namely: the of all of in his tubes. He got of by in a magnetic while exhausting, but this was not enough.
It looked as though his would have to end at this point; for with an quantity of completed, and with for their goggles, was all set for the to Doggo’s plane and across the to Cupia.
The Vairkings were by now used to the ant-man and to his in Cabot’s scientific experiments, so that no would be to his the radio man on one of the latter’s in search of which he be in the country.
Two carts, with tents, food and bedding, were taken along, and these he the and goggles. There was no need to them, for none of the Vairkings, Quivven, had any very knowledge of what he was about, and to her he that the was for the purpose of materials from the solid rocks, and that the were to protect his and Doggo’s from the fumes.
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A of soldiers the carts. Doggo had at this, that the soldiers be left behind, and to them himself, but Myles pointed out how easily he the Vairkings when the time came, by them with his “magic sling-shot” (i. e., rifle).
Early in the they set forth, just as the sun to the sky with purple. When the time came to say to Quivven Myles to his that his voice was positively with emotion.
“Good-by, Golden Flame,” he said. “Please wish me a safe journey.”
“Of I do,” she said, “But why so sad? You as though you to see me again.”
“One can tell,” he replied.
“Your food has with you,” she bantered. “I that you will return. For have you not often to me: ‘They cannot kill a Minorian?’ Run along now, and come safely.”
Thus he left her, a on her and a tear in his eye. He to Quivven, who had been a good little pal, in of her occasional flare-ups of temper. He looked and to her where she like a upon the city wall; it would be his last of a true friend. Then he set his to the eastward.
Not only did he a at Quivven, but he more of a at his radio-set finished. The scientist always in his makeup; and besides, like the good that he was, he an job.
But he that his radio project had been only a means to an end—the end being to in touch with his friends and family in Cupia—and that this end was about to be more directly. Just think, to-morrow night he would be home, to do for his loved ones against the Yuri! The him, and all passed away.
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Lilla! He was to see his Lilla once more; and his son, Kew, ruler of Cupia! He that, once with them again, he would more them. Lilla had been right; his return to Earth had been a venture; results had proved it. As Poblath, the Cupian philosopher, used to say, “The test of a plan is how it out.”
Cabot was eager, impatient, to see the ant-plane which was to him home. He was over with questions to ask his ant-man companion; the condition of the plane, its exact location, how well it had been concealed, and so forth. But his only means of with Doggo was in writing, and it would do to the for the purpose of in a conversation. So he and fumed, and the Vairking of the to speed.
But along toward a settled over him, a calm. He was going home, going home! The sang in his ears. He was going to Cupia, to Kew, and Princess Lilla. A through his being, and at his fingertips. He the to overcome any which might him. He was going home!
Just the party on the of a small of trees, which Doggo as the hiding-place of his plane and other supplies. It had already been that they should not the machine for they did not wish to give the slow of Vairking soldiers a to out their purpose, and to a to Vairkingi with a to Theoph and Jud.
So Myles was to his in patience, and the dawn. To keep his mind off his he sat with the about their fire, and told them of Cupia and the Earth.
Never before, in their experience, had this leader of theirs been so or so sociable. It was an which they would long remember.
Finally they all in for the night. The earth-man slept fitfully, and of in which, with his to the wall, he with a alone against Prince Yuri, and ant-men, and Vairkings, and Cupians, and bees, in defense of Lilla and her son.
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Yet such is the of that sometimes Lilla’s to be with fur.
With the red of Cabot and Doggo themselves, and their that they to do a of breakfast. Then they set out into the of the wood, the ant-man leading the way. At last they came to a small and it a thicket, which Doggo with one as being the spot which they sought. There was to be the plane!
Parting the foliage, they looked inside. But the was empty!
On the the had been down, and there a wide of cut trees clear out of the woods. It was only too that the plane had been stolen!
