LUNO AND BEYOND
With no a knife and rapier, the and earth-man set out along the twenty-stad road which to Lake Luno. All the of the he along, the towns, and taking a approached.
Night fell—the velvet, fragrant, tropic-scented night of Poros; yet, still he on, for he the road.
As he along he to picture to himself the of in Cupia. Back in Vairkingi, when at last he had succeeded in the Princess Lilla on the air, she had mentioned the bees, just Prince Yuri had cut her off.
These were called “whistling” of the with which they appeared to converse; but Myles had discovered, by means of the range and of his own radio speech-organs, that this was to the sending on two lengths, for purposes. When talking they used a length the range of Cupian speech!
Cabot had been able to his portable set to this length, and had talked with the bees. As a result of this an had been Cupia and the Hymernians—as the bee-people called themselves—which had Yuri and his from the continent. Thereafter the had at peace with the Cupians, a special of green being for their benefit.
What, Cabot, had the returned Yuri done to this of affairs? If Portheris, the king of the bees, still lived, Cabot not him with Yuri.
But, had happened, it was clear that the were at the of it. Time would tell very speedily.
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Traveling on at night on the Poros is necessarily slow and tedious, for the of the Porovian night is anything on earth. On earth the light of a would a man to a road and the and and bushes, but on Poros no are visible. Accordingly Myles had to his way with his feet, and off the road many times he his destination. Due to the of the country, most of these were painful, and some were positively dangerous.
Yet on he kept, and long the lights of Luno village ahead. Even here it would not do to himself in his present of appearance, so he the town and his way the path which to the of the lake.
If his had been disturbed, he to that his were gone from this landing place; but upon about in the dark he came across of them, up just where they ought to be. This him immensely.
But when he across toward the and saw no of any light there, his again. It was not the at Luno Castle to go through the night totally unillumined.
He would soon out what the trouble was. So into one of the he off, and toward the middle of the lake. Keeping his was difficult in the jet-black darkness, but he was by the sent by the little village.
Finally he against the and of the island, but his he had to nearly clear around the he came to the landing beach. This gained, he his ashore, and his way up the narrow path to the summit, across the lawns, which toward the center of the island, where a little with Luno Castle it.
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Myles ran into shrubs, got mixed up as to his directions, and into the pond. This gave him a new starting point from which to himself. Walking around its edge, with one in the water, he would from time to time, until at last his hand touched a of masonry. It was his castle! He was home! But what did that home hold? His with anticipation.
Feeling his way along the wall, he came to the steps, and up them to the great doorway. The door was closed, but not locked. Myles it open softly, and entered, it him. Then his eyes, he an electric switch, the with the light of many vapor-lamps.
Gradually opening his eyelids, he around him. Everywhere was the odor of unoccupancy. He had either his family or a and castle; he had neither.
It would not do for the to his return until he was ready; so he a flashlight, and then off the vapor-lamps again.
Flash-light in hand, he a of the castle. Everything was in perfect order. Lilla was a good housekeeper, and had been of time by Yuri to prepare for her departure. This spoke for her safety and that of the king.
Myles his own rooms undisturbed. This him greatly. He had not this much from Yuri. But then he that Yuri must have been sure that he would not return from the earth, and had wanted to do nothing to Lilla any more than necessary. This time Yuri had been playing the game of love-and-empire with a little more than usual.
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Myles, in his own room, on the light; this was safe, as its opened only onto the courtyard. Then he bathed, shaved, his hair, and a blue-bordered toga, in place of his leather Vairking tunic. On his he a radio of the which he had after his on Poros, to him to talk with the and Cupians and Formians.
Artificial from his forehead. His and ears were by of hair, his microphone—between his collar-bones—by a of his toga. Artificial to his through in his garment. Around his waist, his gown, was the which his batteries, tubes, and the sending and itself.
Thus equipped, he himself in the glass. Barring the of a on each hand and a toe on each foot, he looked a Cupian of the Cupians.
Then he to the radio room. The long radio-set was in perfect condition, but there was nothing on the air. One of the three-dialed Porovian the time to be 1025; that is, a hour after midnight, earth time. There was nothing he do morning; so he for a hours of much needed rest.
When he it was daylight, 310 o’clock. The pink of was just from the sky. Less than three parths—six hours—of sleep! And then he that he must have slept the clock around, and more. A day’s of this. It was now the of his third day in Cupia. He had been to Poros for fifteen parths.
So he shaved, bathed, and on some knobs—which was all he in the house. The garden was full of weeds. The which the and the were uncut. Everything an many ago.
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After a complete of the Myles to the radio room, and tuned-in the at Kuana. The result was the voice of the Yuri, calling the ant-station in New Formia, across the seas. From time to time there would be silence, which the was waiting for a reply; but none came. Otto the Bold had done his work of too well.
Myles chuckled. Yuri’s voice, in over the air, was a radio program much to Cabot’s liking. Even the best earth-station of Columbia, National or Mutual not it. The only thing he would would be his own sweet Lilla.
His of Otto the Bold him to wonder how the for Vairkingi had progressed. Roies and Vairkings on one against Roies and on the other. It was a toss-up.
It years since he had left the land of the ones—Otto, Grod, Att, Jud, Theoph, Crota, Arkilu. They all of a dream. The only that out in his memory was the radio set which he had fabricated.
Then his to Yat, the city of the Whoomangs, with its of creatures, Boomalayla, the dragon, and Queekle Mukki, the serpent. Cabot a tear for Doggo and little Quivven, and then came to the present with a jerk.
He was in Cupia, clean, clothed, shaved, equipped, fed, and rested. It was now up to him to the Princess Lilla from her cousin. First he must firearms. But of these the had been looted; for not a of a rifle, an automatic, or a single he find, though he high and low. So he on his Vairking and knife, and ran the path to the beach.
In the once more, he toward the shore. At the landing place, on one of the was a Cupian, but as this man to be unarmed, Cabot approached him without fear. As he came antennae-shot the man sang out: “Welcome to Cupia, Myles Cabot, of the faith!”
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Myles his from the of the sky. “Nan-nan!” he exclaimed; for the Cupian him was none other than the of the religion who had helped his radio head-set in the Caves of Kar the Second War of Liberation.
As the on the beach the earth-man out, and the two friends were soon each other’s cheek.
These over, Cabot asked: “What good you here?”
He it easy to again into the language of this continent.
“The Holy Leader two of us,” Nan-nan replied, “to watch Luno Castle, for you know he must be of everything, as he his for the promised day. Night last my saw lights for a night, so this I to reconnoiter.”
“Is Owva still Holy Leader?” Myles asked politely.
“Yes,” the replied. “The old man still lives.”
“The Builder be praised! But,” the subject, “how are my family?”
“Both well,” Nan-nan answered, “though for the past six or nine days the has not been permitted to with anyone.”
Myles smiled. “Why?” he asked.
“I know not,” the admitted.
Myles laughed. “I that the Holy Leader everything,” he said. “Well, as it happens, I can tell you. It is I with her a days ago and her that I was about to return. Has no news of this got out from the palace?”
“No,” Nan-nan replied, “but it why Yuri has a large of the all day long every day. How did you by them?”
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“Came over at night,” the earth-man answered. “But what about the bees?”
“I’ll tell you,” Nan-nan said. “Shortly after you left on your visit to your own Minos, Prince Yuri alone from his with the Formians the seas. This was the that we of Cupia had that any of them survived.
“Yuri his return a for some time, but got in touch with some old supporters of his. First he to cut off the of which are out to the for food. Then he up trouble among the of this.
“The Portheris, their king, and, under promise of an of food, the at Kuana, the air at Wautoosa, and Luno Castle. As you know, the air has been disbanded, there was nothing for it to fight. The of the had into other newer had archery. Most of the were at places, which the succeeded in seizing.
“Some of the hill still had arms, but they these under threat of Yuri to kill the Princess Lilla and the little king.
“All the arms are now in the at the under of Yuri’s most henchmen. A new was with the bees, them an in food. But so they are and are in check by of the anti-aircraft at Kuana.
“The of the is that you are dead. Yuri is strictly, and has the Popular Assembly. The are his personal appointees. These and the of to the Hymernians the people; but they are impotent. ‘Can a in the of a woofus?”
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“Lilla he well. If he had not done so, the would against him, or no bees. And he has promised the to little Kew, if Lilla will him. But your dot-dash message many ago stopped that, for it that you still and had returned to Poros, although not to this continent.
“That is all. Now tell me of your adventures.”
But with this request, the earth-man asked: “What has of the Prince Toron and my of staff, Hah Babbuh, and Poblath the Philosopher, and all my other friends and supporters?”
“Every one of them, so as I know, is safe,” the replied. “Most of than are in the hill towns. Yuri has not the of the by them, and in has notice that so long as they they will be let alone.”
Then Cabot related all that had to him from the time he himself through Poros to the present date.
When he he remarked: “That will be an antenna-full for the Holy Leader. But now to to work. On can I best in this vicinity?”
“On Emsul, the veterinary,” Nan-nan replied. “He in the village now. Return to the island, and I will him to you.”
Myles did so, and in a time the three were in in the castle. It to Myles that the thing to do was to his airplane, rifle, and from the of the pit, but Emsul demurred.
Said he: “Huge dark-green water-insects the pool. They are very like the red which to the of the anks, and which we for food, but they are much larger and the bite of their means death.”
The to which the had always to Cabot like earth-born lobsters. The of these new were of lobsters. He asked Emsul for a more description, and that this still with the prototype.
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This Myles of an which he had in the Harvard laboratory, and which he now to put to a practical use.
So he asked: “Have these a organ?”
“Yes,” the Cupian replied, “although it is ours. We Cupians, and I you Minorians, have the on each of the head, a group of three like the of a carpenter.
“The organ of the scissor-clawed is different, although the same end. On each of the of these there is a cavity, with a small opening to the outside. This opening is just large to admit a of at a time.
“The which lines the cavity, a liquid which into a little the of which enter. The is with nerve ends; and, as the always to the of the cavity, the is able to tell which direction is up, and which is down.”
Cabot his hands in glee. This was as in the case of earth-born lobsters.
“They won’t know which is up and which is when I through with them,” he cryptically.
It was that Nan-nan should go at once to the village near the pool, and a of Cupian men to cut a through the thick which in the pool. When this was completed, he was to send a messenger to Luno Castle to Cabot, who, meanwhile, would be in preparing apparatus. For the present, the earth-man’s return was a secret.
The plan to perfection. Only one day was in the path through the woods. On the second day after his meeting with Nan-nan and Emsul, Myles to the by the kerkool, with his and boats.
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