Her hand clutched my arm tightly as the man stepped forward again and waved at us. I crossed the rooftop, Miela following. At my sudden motion the man hesitated, then seemed about to run. I hardly know what thoughts impelled me, but suddenly I shouted: "Wait!" At the sound of my voice he whirled around, stopped dead an instant, and then, with an answering call, came running down the hillside. "The earth-man!" cried Miela. "The earth-man of Tao it must be." We hurried down through the house and arrived at its back entrance. Coming toward us at a run across the garden was the man--unmistakably one of my own world. My hurried glance showed me he was younger than I--a short, stocky, red-headed chap, dressed in dirty white duck trousers and a torn white linen shirt. He came on at full speed. "Hello!" I called. He stopped abruptly. For an instant we stared at each other; then he grinned broadly. "Well, I don't know who _you_ are," he ejaculated, "but I want to say it certainly does me good to see you." CHAPTER XIV. THE RULER OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY. However pleased the newcomer was to see me, I had no difficulty in assuring him with equal truth that my feelings matched his. The first surprise of the meeting over, we took him to the living room, where Lua greeted him with dignified courtesy, and we all gathered around to hear his story. He was, I saw now, not more than twenty years old, rather short--perhaps five feet six or seven inches--and powerfully built, with a shock of tousled red hair and a handsome, rough-hewn face essentially masculine. He seemed to be an extraordinarily good-humored chap, with the ready wit of an Irishman. I liked him at once--I think we all did. He began, characteristically, near the end rather than the beginning of the events I knew he must have to tell us. "I got away," he chuckled, grinning more broadly than ever. "But where I was going to, search me. And who the deuce are _you_, if you don't mind my asking? How did you ever get to this God-forsaken place?" I smiled. "You tell us about yourself first; then I'll tell you about myself. You are the earth-man we've been hearing about, aren't you--the man Tao captured in Wyoming and brought here with him?" "They caught me in Wyoming all right. Who's Tao?" "He's the leader of them all." "Oh. Well, they brought me here, as you say, and I guess they've had me about all over this little earth since. They stuck me in a boat, and Lord knows how far we went. We got here last night, and when my guard went to sleep I beat it." He scratched his head lugubriously. "Though what good I thought it was going to do me I don't know. That's about all, I guess. Who the deuce are you?" I laughed. "Wait a minute--don't go so fast. Start at the beginning. What's your name?" "Oliver Mercer." His face grew suddenly grave. "My brother was killed up there in Wyoming--that's how I happened to go there in the first place." "Mercer!" I exclaimed.