Yet now I saw a tiny ray of hope. If the absence of Vilor and Moosko from their cabin and Duare from hers were more than a coincidence, then it were safe to assume that they were together and ridiculous to believe that all three had leaped overboard. With these conflicting fears and hopes whirling through my brain, I came to the quarters of the Vepajan women, which I was about to enter when the sailor I had sent to question the lookout in the crow’s nest came running toward me in a state of evident excitement. “Well,” I demanded, as, breathless, he halted before me, “what did the lookout have to say?” “Nothing, my captain,” replied the man, his speech retarded by excitement and exertion. “Nothing! and why not?” I snapped. “The lookout is dead, my captain,” gasped the sailor. “Dead!” “Murdered.” “How?” I asked. “A sword had been run through his body—from behind, I think. He lay upon his face.” “Go at once and inform Kamlot; tell him to replace the lookout and investigate his death, then to report to me.” Shaken by this ominous news, I entered the quarters of the women. They were huddled together in one cabin, pale and frightened, but outwardly calm. “Have you found Duare?” one of them asked immediately. “No,” I replied, “but I have discovered another mystery—the ongyan, Moosko, is missing and with him the Vepajan, Vilor.” “Vepajan!” exclaimed Byea, the woman who had questioned me concerning Duare. “Vilor is no Vepajan.” “What do you mean?” I demanded. “If he is not a Vepajan, what is he?” “He is a Thoran spy,” she replied. “He was sent to Vepaja long ago to steal the secret of the longevity serum, and when we were captured the klangan took him, also, by mistake. We learned this, little by little, aboard the _Sovong_.” “But why was I not informed when he was brought aboard?” I demanded. “We supposed that everyone knew it,” explained Byea, “and thought that Vilor was transferred to the _Sofal_ as a prisoner.” Another link in the chain of accumulating evidence! Yet I was as far as ever from knowing where either end of the chain lay. XIV STORM After questioning the women, I went to the main deck, too impatient to await the reports of my lieutenants in the tower where I belonged. I found that they had searched the ship and were just coming to me with their report. None of those previously discovered missing had been found, but the search had revealed another astounding fact—the five klangan also were missing! Searching certain portions of the ship had been rather dangerous work, as she was rolling heavily, and the deck was still occasionally swept by the larger seas; but it had been accomplished without mishap, and the men were now congregated in a large room in the main deck house. Kamlot, Gamfor, Kiron, Zog, and I had also entered this same room, where we were discussing the whole mysterious affair. Honan was in the control room of the tower.