‘Let my brother alone,’ spoke up Cassandra sharply and flew at the mechanico. But he was gone, and the door shut behind him. Raphael, angry though he was, noticed that his sister’s eyes were brighter and that her cheeks were touched with pink. The boy, trembling with rage, put on the clothes the Sorcerer had given him. Just then a bell rang. ‘What is that?’ he asked. ‘Supper,’ said Cassandra. ‘I won’t go. I don’t want anything to eat,’ stormed the boy. ‘Come on, Raff, dear,’ urged Cassandra. ‘To please me.’ ‘Why should I please you? You weren’t glad to see me a bit,’ said Raphael bitterly. ‘Oh, Raff,’ wailed Cassandra, flinging her arms round Raphael’s neck. ‘I’m so sorry. I was glad to see you. But--but I feel as if I had just waked up.’ Ten minutes later they went down to the dining-room. Two places were set, one on either side of the table. ‘Children,’ said Mechanus, ‘you are ten minutes late.’ The children said nothing, but sat down. ‘I’ve had this porridge cooked especially for you,’ said the Sorcerer proudly. ‘We mechanicos use only one type of fuel.’ The Sorcerer sat down between them. While Raphael and Cassandra ate their supper out of silver porridge bowls, the Sorcerer was brought a large golden tankard. Throwing back his head he poured at least a gallon of brown fluid down his throat. ‘What is that?’ asked Raphael, forgetting his anger in his curiosity. ‘That, my boy,’ said the Sorcerer, ‘is mineral oil. It is all we mechanicos need in the way of food and quite easy to take.’ [Illustration] CHAPTER XI THE GARDEN OF THE SORCERER That night Raphael dropped into a dreamless sleep. When he woke in the morning, he thought he was in Uniontown at home. There was Cassandra’s bed, and Cassandra’s black head upon the pillow. But the nursery walls were different. They were yellow. Then he remembered everything. He lay half asleep looking across the room at the pictures in silhouette. Cassandra had told him the whole story of her capture. She had waked in the Sorcerer’s aeroplane and had been taken to a castle with no windows. From this she had been carried to a strange boat which also had no windows. Then they had driven over a long road in a racing automobile to the tower in the city. Cassandra was very vague about the details. She had been sleepy. She had only really waked when he, Raphael, had come. Well, there she was, Cassandra, his sister. ‘Cassie,’ he called softly to see if she were awake. ‘Yes,’ said Cassandra, opening her eyes. ‘Let’s get up. What time is it?’ ‘I don’t know.’ Raphael got out of bed. Running over he pulled the bedclothes off Cassandra with a jerk, shouting, ‘Ya, ya. Sleepy head. Going to stay all day in bed.’ Cassandra hit at him with a pillow. Then Raphael remembered the Sorcerer. As the Emissary of Gæa he should behave with more dignity. He walked over to the bathroom and slipped on his new clothes.