my face.

Might they not still open the way of freedom? If we acted in time,
might we not even yet escape before the general alarm was sounded?
We could at least try.

"What will the fellow do first, Thuvia?" I asked. "How long will
it be before they may return for us?"

"He will go directly to the Father of Therns, old Matai Shang. He
may have to wait for an audience, but since he is very high among
the lesser therns, in fact as a thorian among them, it will not be
long that Matai Shang will keep him waiting.

"Then if the Father of Therns puts credence in his story, another
hour will see the galleries and chambers, the courts and gardens,
filled with searchers."

"What we do then must be done within an hour. What is the best
way, Thuvia, the shortest way out of this celestial Hades?"

"Straight to the top of the cliffs, Prince," she replied, "and then
through the gardens to the inner courts. From there our way will
lie within the temples of the therns and across them to the outer
court. Then the ramparts--O Prince, it is hopeless. Ten thousand
warriors could not hew a way to liberty from out this awful place.

"Since the beginning of time, little by little, stone by stone, have
the therns been ever adding to the defences of their stronghold.
A continuous line of impregnable fortifications circles the outer