From her thick hair I saw her draw a tiny cylinder, wave it in the man's face. And, with another laugh, she flung her arms around his neck and fell with him into the water. I watched the splash and the ripples where they went down. In a moment, the girl came up--_but the man did not_. In all the confusion of the crowded pool, it was not very obvious. A dozen, perhaps, of such incidents, which now, that I was alert to understand, were apparent. The mirrors might have shown some of them--but the mirrors always went dark just in time. Tarrano's guards were disappearing. And now I saw a _slaan_ skulking in the shadows of the shrubbery nearby. And I noticed, too, that this pool at my feet had a stream flowing outward from it--a waterway connecting it with the main lake. And I remembered the Earth man in sub-sea garb whom I had seen. Were there many Earth men down here in the water? _"When Tarrano dances with the Red Woman, you drop to the floor."_ I remembered Alda's words and her admonition, "Be inside the pavilion." And presently I caught her glance as she was poised for a dive--and it seemed directing me to leave. Wrapped in my drab cloak, I went back inside. The merry-making had increased; the place was more crowded than ever. I had been there but a moment when a gong sounded. The music stopped. In the hush Tarrano, on the balcony, rose to his feet. "The tri-night hour[21] is here." He removed his mask; his face was grave, but a slight smile curved his thin lips. "Let us see ourselves now as we really are." [Footnote 21: Half-way between midnight and dawn.] He slipped his robe from his shoulders and stood in his festive costume. For so slight a man, I was surprised at the strength of him. Bands of gold-metal encircled his naked torso; a broad girdle of purple cloth hung from his waist. His bare limbs were lean and straight; sandals of red were on his feet. And a band about his forehead with a single feather in it. Yet, for it all, he was no male _nada_, but every inch a man. Gravely smiling, as, with a gesture, he bade them all discard their masks and robes. From overhead the colored lights turned white. And in the glare, the robes and masks were dropped. Costumes grotesque, some of them; others symbolic; others merely beautiful. Vivid colors. Dancers daringly garbed, with whom the girls from the pool now mingled. A moment of breathless silence; then ripples of applause from the spectators. And then the music and the dancing went on. Barbaric costumes? Some frankly imitated the bygone ages of Venus, Mars and Earth. But the spirit that prompted them was decadence--nothing more.