ith a waste of
storm-lashed water far beneath us.

The Twilight Country shore was still below the horizon, and it was a
considerable time before we sighted it. Miela and I sat quiet, wrapped in
a blanket, which, wet as it was, offered some protection against the
biting wind. The girls seemed exhausted from their long struggle against
the storm, and I was glad for them when we finally landed.

This was the place, they said, where Mercer and Anina had set Tao's men
free, and where the two were standing when the girls had left with the
platform. I looked about, and saw on the beach the pieces of cut cord with
which the men had been bound.

Of Mercer and Anina there was no sign. We waited until well after the time
of the evening meal, and still Mercer and Anina did not arrive. We
concluded, of course, that they had followed Tao's men up the trail for
some reason, and we expected it would be Anina who would come back to tell
us where Mercer was.

"Let us go up a little distance," Miela suggested finally. "They cannot
tell what the hour is. They may be near here now, coming back."

The girls were rested and warmed now, and we started off again with the
platform. We flew low over the treetops, following the trail as best we
could, but in the semi-darkness we could see very little from above. After
a time we gave it up and returned to the shore.

Again we waited, now very much alarmed. And then finally we decided to
return to the Great City for the night. Anina might have missed us some
way, we thought, and flown directly home. She might be there waiting for
us when we arrived. If not, we would return again with several hundred
girls, and with them scour the country carefully back as near the Lone
City as we dared go.

With our hearts heavy with apprehension we started back across the
channel. Lua, Mercer and Anina were separated from us. All had been
captured, perhaps, by our enemies! Things were, indeed, in a very bad way.

Without unusual incident we sighted the Light Country shore. Three girls
were winging their way swiftly toward us.

"They wish to speak with us, Alan," said Miela. "From the Great City they
seem to come. Perhaps it is Anina."

Our hopes were soon dispelled, for Anina was not one of them; they were
three of the girls we had directed to patrol the seacoast.

When they neared us Miela flew off the platform and joined them. They
circled about for a time, flying close together, then Miela left them