He was back in Cupia, clean, clothed, shaved, equipped, fed, and rested. It was now up to him to rescue the Princess Lilla from her traitor cousin. First he must find firearms. But of these the castle had been looted; for not a trace of a rifle, an automatic, or even a single cartridge could he find, though he searched high and low. So reluctantly he strapped on merely his Vairking sword and knife, and ran down the path to the beach. In the boat once more, he paddled rapidly toward the shore. At the landing place, sitting on one of the boats was a Cupian, but as this man seemed to be unarmed, Cabot approached him without fear. As he came within antennae-shot the man sang out: “Welcome back to Cupia, Myles Cabot, defender of the faith!” Myles shaded his eyes from the silver glare of the sky. “Nan-nan!” he exclaimed; for the Cupian before him was none other than the young cleric of the lost religion who had helped rebuild his radio head-set in the Caves of Kar during the Second War of Liberation. As the boat grated on the beach the earth-man leaped out, and the two friends were soon warmly patting each other’s cheek. These greetings over, Cabot asked: “What good fortune brings you here?” He found it easy to slip back again into the language of this continent. “The Holy Leader detailed two of us,” Nan-nan replied, “to watch Luno Castle, for you know he must be kept informed of everything, as he waits within his caves for the promised day. Night before last my colleague saw lights for a night, so this morning I decided to reconnoiter.” “Is Owva still Holy Leader?” Myles asked politely. “Yes,” the cleric replied. “The grand old man still lives.” “The Builder be praised! But,” changing the subject, “how are my family?” “Both well,” Nan-nan answered, “though for the past six or nine days the princess has not been permitted to communicate with anyone.” Myles smiled. “Why?” he innocently asked. “I know not,” the young cleric admitted. Myles laughed. “I thought that the Holy Leader knew everything,” he said. “Well, as it happens, _I_ can tell _you_. It is because I communicated with her a few days ago and informed her that I was about to return. Has no news of this got out from the palace?” “No,” Nan-nan replied, “but it explains why Yuri has kept a large squadron of whistling bees patrolling the eastern coast all day long every day. How did you get by them?” “Came over at night,” the earth-man answered. “But what about the bees?” “I’ll tell you,” Nan-nan said. “Shortly after you left on your visit to your own planet Minos, Prince Yuri flew back alone from his exile with the Formians beyond the boiling seas. This was the first that we of Cupia had known that any of them survived. “Yuri kept his return a secret for some time, but got in touch with some old supporters of his. First he contrived to cut off the allowance of anks which are doled out to the bees for food. Then he stirred up trouble among the bees because of this.