As if in blank darkness, fumbling, he started. It was difficult for so many of us to keep together, so we went in pairs, Arturo and Nereid went ahead. Tad and I momentarily lost them. We came to the bridge and stopped. “Where are they, Tad?” They had agreed to wait here for us. We had passed no Gians as yet; there were none in sight here. Tad spoke softly: “Arturo?” Arturo’s voice answered: “Yes--here--” Nereid lifted the robe a trifle at her neck; a vague sheen of light was here now; I saw the patch of her skin, hovering in mid-air above the bridge rail ten feet away. We joined them. I recalled that Rhana had closed every Castle door and window. In the silence under the bridge the running water sounded. I whispered: “Could we get down there, Tad? Get out this way?” “No.” Nereid’s voice: “Only the dead, killed by Rhana, have gone down there.” We decided to try to locate an upper window that might be open. Nereid thought she could leap with safety that far; she was not sure. We were soon among the Gians. The Castle was in a turmoil over my escape. And presently from the lower passages we heard shouts; Arturo’s escape had been discovered. We passed through many rooms. All the windows were barred. With all our strength we could not move them. A dozen times we were nearly discovered. The Castle was being ransacked for Arturo and me. We were passing through a small room. A Gian man came running from behind us. We did not hear him in time, and he ran solidly into us, and fell, shouting an alarm. Tad leaped on him. I heard the gruesome splintering crack as Tad wrenched at his neck. The cries were silenced; Tad was shuddering as he rose. Other Gians came running, but we avoided them easily. We came to the front main doorway, but found it closed. Gian women were on both sides of it, excitedly talking through the bars. We were trapped. There was no way out. I told them how Rhana had stood at her table, closing the windows and doors. We decided to go there. We got into the room. A dozen women were there; Rhana sat by the table. Nereid’s voice said, at my ear: “If we could get to the roof, Jeff, a ladder at the farther end leads to the ground.” But how could we get to the roof? From where we crouched I could see the steps leading upward--a seven-foot flight of stairs, but there was a grating, barring the top. The stairs were empty at the moment. And the roof up there seemed empty. * * * * * Freedom, beyond that grating. But how get past it? Rhana sat like a cool gray statue at the table; her hand rested beside the mechanism. Occasionally she would speak to one of the women, or issue some command. Tad’s voice came: “We’ll creep over there, get up to her, make her open it. By Tophet, I’ll make her!” But if she did not do it at once, her cries would bring the whole Castle upon us. And even with momentary control of the mechanism, we did not know how to operate it for ourselves.