"Down on thy face, sirrah!" Outraged, the Emperor's voice rang like the peal of a brazen trumpet through the great pillared audience chamber. The nearest guardsmen held themselves ready, hand on sword hilt. "No." Nelson's shaggy black head went back as he found his tongue at last. "No, Your Majesty. In America we have our own way of showing respect for authority. I'm an American and, with all respect, I'll salute you as one." So saying, his hand flicked up in a sharp military salute to the visor of that Atlantean helmet which he still wore. "All damn foolishness," he silently told himself. "I feel like the lead in a ten, twenty, thirty melodrama. But I suppose it's got to be done." * * * * * The Emperor's teeth gleamed in a half snarl as he sprang with Jovian wrath to his feet. "Dog! How darest thou bandy words with us?" "Have mercy!" hoarsely pleaded Hero John as he lay on the floor. "Have mercy, oh Splendor! He is but an ignorant wanderer from the Ice World." It appeared that the young Hero was something of a favorite, for the masterful, thunder-browed Emperor checked himself and, still glowering, settled back on the diamond throne. "Ye have my permission to enter and approach." Whereupon, Hero Giles arose and, with many black looks at his guest, strode forward to briefly explain his presence. Nelson felt Altorius' blazing blue eyes search his face. "Then he whom the dog-born Jereboam captured was thy friend?" "Yes," replied Nelson with dignity, "my best friend. Alden and I have traveled and wandered all over the world together." "Over the world? The Ice World?" Altorius seemed interested, for he leaned forward, muscle corded arms very brown against the frosty brilliance of the stones studding his throne. He flipped back a scarlet cloak and bent a searching look on the straight, unafraid figure below. Impatient to reach a decision, Nelson forebore to amplify the Emperor's assumption that the outside world was all ice and snow. "Yes," he said, "from the land of America. I've spoken with Hero Giles, Your Majesty's Captain-General." "So, then, no doubt, he has told you of the law of our country?" Altorius' white teeth shown again in the depths of his short, curling beard. "Perhaps." Nelson was vague, wishing no further amplification. "The law of Atlans," pronounced the Emperor with a frown, "states that a stranger must prove his worth to the State, else he must be put to death. Thank thou thy gods that thou hast not fallen into the hands of the Lost Tribes, for assuredly thou would perish miserably, as must thy comrade." * * * * * "What is the law of Jarmuth?" inquired Nelson, his mind furiously at work.