, here I found Hooja and his
wicked men living in my village, and my father's people but slaves
among them.

"I was discovered and captured, but Hooja did not kill me. I am the
chief's son, and through me he hoped to win my father's warriors back
to the village to help him in a great war he says that he will soon
commence.

"Among his prisoners is Dian the Beautiful One, whose brother, Dacor
the Strong One, chief of Amoz, once saved my life when he came to
Thuria to steal a mate. I helped him capture her, and we are good
friends. So when I learned that Dian the Beautiful One was Hooja's
prisoner, I told him that I would not aid him if he harmed her.

"Recently one of Hooja's warriors overheard me talking with another
prisoner. We were planning to combine all the prisoners, seize
weapons, and when most of Hooja's warriors were away, slay the rest and
retake our hilltop. Had we done so we could have held it, for there
are only two entrances--the narrow tunnel at one end and the steep path
up the cliffs at the other.

"But when Hooja heard what we had planned he was very angry, and
ordered that I die. They bound me hand and foot and placed me in a
cave until all the warriors should return to witness my death; but
while they were away I heard someone calling me in a muffled voice
which seemed to come from the wall of the cave. When I replied the
voice, which was a woman's, told me that she had overheard all that had
passed between me and those who had brought me thither, and that she
was Dacor's sister and would find a way to help me.

"Presently a little hole appeared in the wall at the point from which
the voice had come. After a time I saw a woman's hand digging with a
bit of stone. Dacor's sister made a hole in the wall between the cave
where I lay bound and that in which she had been confined, and soon she
was by my side and had cut my bonds.

"We talked then, and I offered to make the attempt to take her away and
back to the land of Sari, where she told me she would be able to learn
the whereabouts of her mate. Just now I was going to the other end of
the island to see if a boat lay there, and if the way was clear for our
escape. Most of the boats are always away now, for a great many of
Hooja's men and nearly all the slaves are upon the Island of Trees,
where Hooja is having many boats built to carry his warriors across the
water to the mouth of a great river which he discovered while he was
return