We came out into the open sea finally--a broad, empty expanse, with a mirrorlike surface. The curvature of the planet was even more apparent now; it seemed almost as though the water should be sliding back downhill over the horizon. We turned to the left as we came out of the delta, and for the first time Miela put the boat to the limit of its speed. The best comparison I can make, I think, to this rapid, noiseless, smooth progress, is that of sailing on an iceboat. We sped along some five or ten miles, keeping close inland. I saw some of the small thatched shacks along here, though not many. For a while the shore remained that same palm-lined, half-inundated marshland. Then gradually it began to change, and we came upon a broad beach of white sand. We landed here, and found the girls with the platform waiting for us. Miela took Anina and one or two of the older girls aside, and gave them last instructions. "What do I do--just dump them on the other shore?" Mercer asked me. "That's about it. I don't know the lay of the land over there. Anina does. You do what she tells you." "You bet I will," he agreed enthusiastically. "Some kid--that little girl. We get along fine. She understands everything I say to her already. I'll have her talking English like a streak by the time you see her again." We had removed the cords from our prisoners' ankles. I motioned them to get out of the boat. We crowded Tao's men on the platform. They were surprised, and some of them alarmed, when they saw how we proposed to transport them over the water. Miela silenced their protests, and soon we had them all seated on the platform, with Mercer at the rear end facing them. The fifty girls grasped the platform handles. Another moment and they were in the air, with Mercer waving good-by to us vigorously. Miela and I, left alone, watched them silently as they dwindled to a speck in the haze of the sky. We were about to start back when we saw a girl coming toward us, flying low over the water. One of those we had directed to patrol the coast, Miela said when she came closer. She saw us, and came down on the beach. The two girls spoke together hurriedly. "Tao's men in the Water City have caused great disturbance, Alan," Miela said to me. "Where's the Water City?" "Near the Great City--across the marshlands. We must get back. And when Anina and our friend Ollie have returned we must go to the Water City. It is very bad there, she said." Our trip back to the Great City was without unusual incident. We followed the main route at the best speed we could make. "We shall tell our king, of course, about this disturbance," said Miela. "Perhaps he will think there is something he can do. But I fear greatly that unless he appeals directly to the people, and they are with him--" "He's an old man," I said, "and all his councilors are old. They're not fit to rule at such a time as this. Suppose he were to die--what would happen? Who would be king then?"