. Thus rendered entirely helpless, we were laid together
in a corner.

From the talk that followed Miela gathered that Baar and his men were
expecting the arrival of others. He roughly ordered his wife--a woman of
the Twilight Country, obviously--to clear away the remains of their last
meal and bring other food. She obeyed submissively.

This, the first of the Twilight Country People I had seen, was a thick-set
woman of perhaps thirty-five, although she might have been older, for her
black hair, which fell in an unkempt mass to her waist, was beginning to
gray. She wore a single garment, a pair of silken trousers, drab with
dirt. Her clipped wings were covered in the usual way.

I could see now why Miela had said these Twilight women could not fly, for
this woman's torso was fat and flabby. Her skin was curiously pale--a
dead, unpleasant white. Her face was broad, heavy and unintelligent. Her
eyes were large and protruded slightly.

Baar and his men ate breakfast, paying no further attention to Miela and
me. Suddenly Miela spoke in a frightened whisper. "They are going now in a
moment to the castle. The king they will kill!"

It was evidently a widespread plot we now overheard. Baar's followers had
for some time been talking quietly with the lower classes, and, finding
they could count on their support, planned now to murder the king. Then
with the queen and the little prince held as hostages, they expected that
the men of science, threatened also with a revolt of the peons, would
release the light-ray.

The light-ray once in his control, Baar could make himself king. It seemed
an absurd hope, but such was the plan they were now discussing. And what
was far worse, I could see no way by which I could prevent the attempt.

"They are going to the castle--now--to murder the king?" I whispered,
incredulous.

"Yes," Miela answered. "So they plan. Now--in a moment--before the time of
sleep is over."

"Isn't he guarded? Can they get in the castle without arousing others?"

"There are the guards--a few. But Baar has promised them great wealth, and
they will stand aside and let him pass. So it is arranged."

The arrival of several other men interrupted our whispered conversation.
Baar, his meal over, consulted with them hurriedly. He then instructed his
wife to watch us, and after a moment they all left the house.

The woman, who was now the only occupant of the room with us, shuffled
about, clearing away the meal. I