with gently rocking bells hung at
their curled eaves, and over peaked rooftops of carved stone until,
reaching a place apparently identical with the cross on the map, he
dared to drop a little lower above a certain courtyard.

As he did so he saw that the guardhouses were set about on the top of
the wall, which measured about ten feet from side to side. All faced
outward away from the gardens they protected, hidden now in shadow.

Why--it's like a prison! Chris thought, except that the guards aren't
allowed to look down at her. The poor kid! Imagine living here all
your days! No wonder she was pleased at being in a procession
yesterday!

No fragrance, except that of cool water, came up from the courtyard to
Chris. Going higher into the air he hovered there on his eagle's back,
watching the guardhouses. He timed the guards, counting. After an
hour, he found there were two minutes between the time Guard Number
Six reached his post and Guard Number Seven went back to replace him.
Chris waited again, watching the guards and counting half aloud in
case he missed that two-minute interval.

"One--there he goes across to Two. Two. There Two goes back again.
Three--there Three marches along to Guardhouse Four. Four--there he
goes to Five--"

[Illustration]

Chris's breath came quickly and his heart began to pound in his ears.
"Five--Five starts out toward Six. Six--and now they change swords or
something, and here I go!"

Pressing on the back of the eagle the bird sank silently into the
black well of the courtyard, past the guardhouse and down, just as
Guard Number Seven emerged to walk back to replace Number Six.

The walls of the Princess's courtyard were indeed as high and
forbidding as those of a dungeon. A shimmer of water reflected the
night sky, and looking down, Chris saw a dark, glistening mass beneath
him. It seemed to be trees, but when his dangling legs touched them,
sharp edges cut his legs and he quickly veered away. At last, coming
down at the edge of the pool, his eyes became used to the gloom and he
could see about him.

The garden ground crunched under his feet and glowed in the night, and
bending to touch it, Chris's fingertip came away dusted with gold,
"Golly Moses!" he breathed, and looked about.

The edge of the long rectangular pool was of silver; the walk around
it of jasper and chalcedony, and as he lifted his eyes to look
farther, he saw that the entire garden was made up of trees with je