uppose Tao should come over?" I suggested to Miela. "I don't believe he
will--but if he should, how could we stop him?"

"By water he would come," she answered. "In boats--small they are, I
think, those he has. We could not stop him, for the light-ray he would
bring. But our women, flying over the ocean, would see him coming, and
tell our king. More we could not do now."

"You mean this patrol would give the government the warning it won't
obtain for itself? There would be war then? The people would arm to resist
invasion?"

Miela smiled sadly.

"There would be war, Alan. But our government--our people--do not look for
it. They are like the peeta bird, that hides its head under its wing when
it is threatened."

The time of sleep was now nearly over, and we thought it best that the
girls should fly back at once, so that their arrival at the city would
cause as little comment as possible.

Mercer and I seated ourselves on the platform as before; the twenty girls
grasped its handles, raising it until they were all upon their feet; then,
at a signal, we left the ground. The trip back seemed shorter than coming
up. The girls all left the valley together, flying up helter-skelter, and
circling about us as we flew steadily onward.

Near the Great City the girls spread out, so as to approach it from
different directions and thus attract less attention, although the time of
sleep was not yet over and we knew that few would be stirring about the
city.

When we reached home we greeted Lua, and dismissed the girls, arranging
that they were to come back again that evening--fifty of them this
time--to carry the larger platform we were to build. We then had
breakfast, and after telling Lua the result of the meeting--at which she
was greatly pleased--we went immediately to bed, for we were worn out.

It was about noon, I suppose, when we awoke. Mercer and I spent the
afternoon building the platform on which to carry Tao's men--a framework
with fifty handles instead of twenty. Miela and Anina disappeared for the
whole afternoon. I did not know what they were doing at the time; later I
found out Anina was devoting it to learning English.

During the evening meal we planned it all. Tao's men were living in a
house near the edge of the city--the house Tao had occupied before he was
banished to the Twilight Country. It had no other occupants at this time.

We had learned where they kept their boats in one of the bayous near by,