"The Bow!" rasped Ramey. "Rudra's weapon! It was here last night. Now I can't find it anywhere. And--" His eyes suddenly widened--"Ravana left Chitrakuta! Damnation! If he--Come on!" With the now equally alarmed Red at his heels, Ramey dashed from the chamber. He hadn't far to go. He found the others--Dr. Aiken, both O'Briens, Sheng-ti, Sugriva--in the central court on which his room abutted. They were gathered in a tight knot; as one man they turned at his cry. "Sugriva!" he called, "Order out the troops! There's trouble afoot. Red says Ravana left last night--and the Bow of Rudra is gone with him! Well, don't just stand there like that, staring at me! _Do_ something!" But it was Dr. Aiken who answered. There were white lines about the old man's lips that Ramey had never seen there before. His eyes were hard and worried. "The Bow!" he cried. "The Bow, too, Ramey? You hear that, Sugriva--?" Despair seemed to settle like a black cloud over the Gaanelian's eyes; his shoulders sagged, and his voice was ominous. "I hear, indeed! And now is our plight truly perilous. For if they have the Bow, too--" "What's this all about?" roared Ramey. "What do you mean, 'the Bow, _too_'? What else is missing?" Syd O'Brien stared at him morbidly. "We don't know how they did it, Ramey," he said, "or why. But when Ravana and his gang pulled out of here before dawn, they not only took with them the Bow of Rudra. They also--kidnapped Sheila!" [Illustration: The two factions met on the causeway in furious combat.] CHAPTER XI The Isle of Slaves "Sheila!" cried Ramey Winters. "Sheila--kidnapped! But Ravana wouldn't dare! And why should he--?" He stopped suddenly, the full and terrible import of Syd's words dawning upon him. Again he seemed to hear the soft voice of the Lady Rakshasi purring in his ears. "'_Thou and I, my Lord ... sweeping all others before us. Nor shall we stand alone. For, lo--there is even my brother Ravana, whose heart hungers after the goddess Sheilacita._...'" And Ramey saw, now, the full price he was paying for one careless slip of the tongue last night. So long as he and his companions were considered gods by the superstitious Videlians, none would have dared lay a hand on any of them. But he had dispelled that illusion, and the bold Ravana, aware at last that it was only men with whom he had to deal, had moved toward the accomplishment of his ambitions. Ramey's fists knotted at his sides. He cried harshly, "Well, what are we waiting for? After them! Sugriva--surely you know which way they went?" "Without a doubt," admitted the blue lord of Chitrakuta, "to Ravana's island stronghold of Lanka. And--Kohrisan _was_ organizing a company to pursue them. But now he cannot." "Cannot? Why not?" "The Bow! Did you not say the Bow had been stolen?" "Yes, but--"