"He was to meet me here at this hour," I said. "I instructed him to be here." "You instructed Sov to be here!" The fellow laughed. "Who are you to give instructions to Sov?" "I am the ongyan, Moosko," I replied. * * * * * The man looked at me in astonishment. "I do not know where Sov is," he said, a little sullenly, I thought. "Well, never mind," I told him; "he will be here presently; and in the meantime, open up the gate, for we shall want to hurry on as soon as he arrives." "I cannot open the gate without orders from Sov," replied the sentry. "You refuse to obey an ongyan?" I demanded in the most ferocious tones I could command. "I have never seen you before," he parried. "How do I know you are an ongyan?" I held out my hand with the ring of Moosko on the index finger. "Do you know what that is?" I demanded. He examined it closely. "Yes, ongyan," he said fearfully, "I know." "Then open the gate, and be quick about it," I snapped. "Let us wait until Sov comes," he suggested. "There will be time enough then." "There is no time to be lost, fellow. Open up, as I command. The Vepajan prisoner has just escaped, and Sov and I are going out with a party of warriors to search for him." Still the obstinate fellow hesitated; and then we heard a great shouting from the direction from which we had come, and I guessed that the fellow who had passed us in the corridor had discovered the dead body of Moosko and given the alarm. We could hear men running. There was no more time to be lost. "Here comes Sov with the searching party," I cried. "Throw open the gates, you fool, or it will go ill with you." I drew my sword, intending to run him through if he did not obey. As finally, he turned to do my bidding, I heard the excited voices of the approaching men grow louder as they neared us. I could not see them yet for the rain, but as the gate swung open I glimpsed the oncoming figures through the murk. Taking Duare by the arm I started through the gate. The sentry was still suspicious and wanted to stop us, but he was not sure of himself. "Tell Sov to hurry," I said, and before the man could bolster his courage to do his duty, Duare and I hastened into the outer darkness and were lost to his view in the rain. It was my intention to reach the coast and follow along it until daylight, when, I hoped and prayed, we should sight the Sofal off shore and be able to contrive a means of signaling to her. We groped our way through the darkness and the rain during all that terrible night. No sound of pursuit reached our ears, nor did we come upon the ocean. The rain ceased about dawn, and when full daylight came we looked eagerly for the sea, but only low hills and rolling country dotted with trees and a distant forest where we had thought the sea to be rewarded our straining eyes. "Where is the sea?" asked Duare. "I do not know," I admitted.