They travelled all that way by night, lying in the shelter of the rocks by day, and three times a flier passed over them like a wheeling hawk, searching. Carey thought more than once that he had lost the way, though he never said so, and he was pleasantly surprised when they found the sea-bottom again just where it should be on the other side of the range, with the ford he remembered across the canal. They crossed it by moonlight, stopping only to fill up their water-bags. At dawn they were on a ridge above Barrakesh. They looked down, and Derech said, "I think we can forget our southbound caravan." Trade was for times of peace, and now the men of Kesh and Shun were gathering for war, even as Derech had said, without need of any Dr. Carey to stir them to it. They filled the streets. They filled the _serais_. They camped in masses by the gates and along the banks of the canal and around the swampy lake that was its terminus. The vast herds of animals broke down the dikes, trampled the irrigation ditches and devoured the fields. And across the desert more riders were coming, long files of them with pennons waving and lances glinting in the morning light. Wild and far away, Carey heard the skirling of the desert pipes. "The minute we go down there," he said, "we are part of the army. Any man that turns his back on Barrakesh now will get a spear through it for cowardice." * * * * * His face became hard and cruel with a great rage. Presently this horde would roll northward, sweeping up more men from the Low-Canal towns as it passed, joining ultimately with other hordes pouring in through the easterly gates of the Drylands. The people of the City-States would fall like butchered sheep, and perhaps even the dome of Kahora would come shattering down. But sooner or later the guns would be brought up, and then the Drylanders would do the falling, all because of good men like Woodthorpe who only wanted to help. Carey said, "I am going to Sinharat. But you know how much chance a small party has, away from the caravan track and the wells." "I know," said Derech. "You know how much chance we have of evading Wales, without the protection of a caravan." "You tell me how I can go quietly home, and I'll do it." "You can wait for your barge and go back to Valkis." "I couldn't do that," Derech said seriously. "My men would laugh at me. I suggest we stop wasting time. Here in the desert, time is water." "Speaking of water," Arrin said, "how about when we get there? And how about getting back?" Derech said, "Dr. Carey has heard that there is a splendid well at Sinharat." "He's heard," said Arrin, "but he doesn't know. Same as the records." She gave Carey a look, only half scornful.