them!" Dandtan cried, as he regained his feet. He
was right; the morgels howled below, but Kepta and his men had vanished.

"Thrala!" Garin exclaimed.

Dandtan nodded. "They have taken her back to the cells. They believe her
safe there."

"Then they think wrong." Garin stooped to pick up the green rod. His
companion laughed.

"We'd best start before they get prepared for us."

Garin picked up the Ana. "Which way?"

Dandtan showed him a passage leading from behind the other door. Then he
dodged into a side chamber to return with two of the wing cloaks and
cloth hoods, so that they might pass as Black Ones.

They went by the mouths of three side tunnels, all deserted. None
disputed their going. All the Black Ones had withdrawn from this part of
the Caves.

Dandtan sniffed uneasily. "All is not well. I fear a trap."

"While we can pass, let us."

The passage curved to the right and they came into an oval room. Again
Dandtan shook his head but ventured no protest. Instead he flung open a
door and hurried down a short hall.

It seemed to Garin that there were strange rustlings and squeakings in
the dark corners. Then Dandtan stopped so short that the flyer ran into
him.

"Here is the guard room--and it is empty!"

Garin looked over his shoulder into a large room. Racks of strange
weapons hung on the walls and the sleeping pallets of the guards were
stacked evenly, but the men were nowhere to be seen.

They crossed the room and passed beneath an archway.

"Even the bars are not down," observed Dandtan. He pointed overhead.
There hung a portcullis of stone. Garin studied it apprehensively. But
Dandtan drew him on into a narrow corridor where were barred doors.

"The cells," he explained, and withdrew a bar across one door. The
portal swung back and they pushed within.

_CHAPTER SEVEN_

_Kepta's Trap_

Thrala arose to face them. Forgetting the disguise he wore, Garin drew
back, chilled by her icy demeanor. But Dandtan sprang forward and caught
her in his arms. She struggled madly until she saw the face beneath her
captor's hood, and then she gave a cry of delight and her arms were
about his neck.

"Dandtan!"

He smiled. "Even so. But it is the outlander's doing."

She came to the American, studying his face. "Outlander? So cold a name
is not for you, when you have served us so." She offered him her hands
and he raised them to his lips.

"And how are you named?"

Dandtan laughed. "Thus th