And so we started toward the golden opening, squads of the frog-men following us soldierly and disappearing about the huge structure. Nor did we stop until we came to the handmaiden's boudoir. There we seated ourselves. "Now," said Larry, "two things I want to know. First--how many can Yolara muster against us; second, how many of these _Akka_ have we to meet them?" Rador gave our equivalent for eighty thousand men as the force Yolara could muster without stripping her city. Against this force, it appeared, we could count, roughly, upon two hundred thousand of the _Akka_. "And they're some fighters!" exclaimed Larry. "Hell, with odds like that what're you worrying about? It's over before it's begun." "But, _Larree_," objected Rador to this, "you forget that the nobles will have the _Keth_--and other things; also that the soldiers have fought against the _Akka_ before and will be shielded very well from their spears and clubs--and that their blades and javelins can bite through the scales of Nak's warriors. They have many things--" "Uncle," interjected O'Keefe, "one thing they have is your nerve. Why, we're more than two to one. And take it from me--" Without warning dropped the tragedy! CHAPTER XXXII "Your Love; Your Lives; Your Souls!" Lakla had taken no part in the talk since we had reached her bower. She had seated herself close to the O'Keefe. Glancing at her I had seen steal over her face that brooding, listening look that was hers whenever in that mysterious communion with the Three. It vanished; swiftly she arose; interrupted the Irishman without ceremony. "Larry darlin'," said the handmaiden. "The Silent Ones summon us!" "When do we go?" I asked; Larry's face grew bright with interest. "The time is now," she said--and hesitated. "Larry dear, put your arms about me," she faltered, "for there is something cold that catches at my heart--and I am afraid." At his exclamation she gathered herself together; gave a shaky little laugh. "It's because I love you so that fear has power to plague me," she told him. Without another word he bent and kissed her; in silence we passed on, his arm still about her girdled waist, golden head and black close together. Soon we stood before the crimson slab that was the door to the sanctuary of the Silent Ones. She poised uncertainly before it; then with a defiant arching of the proud little head that sent all the bronze-flecked curls flying, she pressed. It slipped aside and once more the opalescence gushed out, flooding all about us. Dazzled as before, I followed through the lambent cascades pouring from the high, carved walls; paused, and my eyes clearing, looked up--straight into the faces of the Three. The angled orbs centred upon the handmaiden; softened as I had seen them do when first we had faced them. She smiled up; seemed to listen. "Come closer," she commanded, "close to the feet of the Silent Ones."