n, it was newer and more beautiful than
anything she had ever heard.

The Princess's tiny feet made no sound on the gold gravel as she edged
nearer to the bush and the song. At last the nightingale flew away,
and the scent of the roses, drifting toward a princess who had only
been permitted flowers of stone, was overwhelming. She went up and
broke off a flower as red as a ruby and as red as her mouth. As red,
too, as her blood, for a thorn stabbed her and she nearly dropped the
rose with a soft cry. But the wonder of it was stronger than the pain,
and she buried her face in the freshness of the red rose, the first
flower she had ever seen.

Behind her, rising gently and quietly out of sight, was a smiling boy
and a tree of jewels she would never miss.

CHAPTER 31

Chris's thoughts were so taken up with the pleasure of the little
Chinese Princess at her first rose that he had miscalculated. As a
matter of fact he had forgotten about the guards in his excitement at
holding the Jewel Tree and at getting away, and just as the eagle rose
to the top of the wall, one of the guards saw him.

Had it been earlier, Chris could have risen quickly out of sight. But
the Jewel Tree was heavy in itself; the earth holding its roots was an
additional weight, so that the eagle only rose half as quickly as it
had before.

The guard gave a shout, and a spear whistled past Chris's ear.
Instantly the flames of bonfires spurted on all the walls, and to his
terror Chris found himself in a glare of light as powerful as modern
searchlights. He clutched the Jewel Tree, urging the magic bird up,
but there are limits even to magic and the bird was moving at the peak
of its ability. Black racing figures darted along the walls, the
flames of the watchfires leapt higher in the air, and now arrows were
singing their keening note of death about the boy lifting so slowly
into the night.

Chris, crouching behind the Jewel Tree, was rocked and nearly unseated
from the eagle when an arrow hit the earth around the Tree roots,
imbedding itself deeply and quivering there at an angle. The shouts
and confusion grew, but after a few terror-stricken moments Chris knew
he was high enough to be out of danger. He gave a deep shuddering sigh
of relief, and turned the head of the laboring eagle toward the city.
His thoughts were on escape, but first he had a duty that as an
honorable person he felt bound to perform.

He was naturally observant; he had