"We are nearing the harbor of the city of Adlaz," he said. "I do not know when I shall have opportunity to talk with you again. But if it be not soon, wait; and accept with patience, even though it shall try you sorely, all that shall happen. "Just now you asked me why I called you 'brother.' You saved me from the sea. On the ship yonder you and the old man Zenas, and another whom I grieve that I could not save, tended me when you thought that I was near to death. And after, when your sailors murmured, and they would have cast me into the sea, you guarded me from harm. All those things I know and shall not forget. That is why I call you brother. And back of all of those things there is still another reason, of which I hope to tell you soon. I learned from the slave O'Connell that the shake of the hands between men is a bond of friendship. Will you shake my hand, my brother?" Polaris took the proffered hand in a grip that made its owner wince. "It seems that despite the laws of Bel-Ar, the king, I have found a friend," he said. "I shall try to be patient, Oleric." "Hold your hand from anger," enjoined the red captain earnestly, "even though you be put to serve as a slave in the mines of Bel-Ar. And instruct your companions that they do likewise. Great days are coming upon Maeronica, and I promise you faithfully that you shall play a great part in them--" He broke his speech suddenly. Again the door swung open. Somewhere in the depths of the fademe a bell rang clearly. The noise of the mechanism ceased. The black-bearded man who had thrust his head into the cabin before, stood in the doorway and beckoned to Oleric. "Remember," warned the captain as he passed Polaris. "Patience and that strong heart of yours shall carry you far before your sun goes down." He went out and the door closed after him. "What does he mean, with his talk of slaves and the mines and all those strange names?" Rose Emer asked wonderingly. "Where are we?" Polaris told her all that he had learned from the captain. She heard him with wide eyes. "_You_--a slave!" she cried. "Ah, no, not that? Is it to be like this all our lives--to see happiness just ahead of us, but never reach it? Fate cannot be so cruel. Think what you have endured. And now to be a slave here in this terrible foreign land!" Perhaps Fate was listening then--Fate, who can be both cruel and kind, sordid and splendid, according to her whim. She had played many strange tricks on this man. But she now decreed that he should never serve the king Bel-Ar as a slave. * * * * * Soon after the departure of Oleric, the door of the cabin was opened again, and an armored man entered. It was he of the black beard, whom Polaris rightly guessed to be the captain of the fademe. With him came three other men, unarmored, who evidently were members of the crew of the craft.