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robes against the chill of night. As they spoke of the stranger they laughed at the
ease with which they had tricked him, and were still laughing as they threw
themselves upon their sleeping silks and furs to resume their broken slumber. It
was evident that they constituted a guard detailed for the gate beside which they
slept, and it was equally evident that the gates were guarded and the city watched
much more carefully than Turan had believed. Chagrined indeed had been the
Jed of Gathol had he dreamed that he was being so neatly tricked.
As Turan proceeded along the avenue he passed other sentries beside other doors
but now he gave them small heed, since they neither challenged nor otherwise
outwardly noted his passing; but while at nearly every turn of the erratic avenue
he passed one or more of these silent sentinels he could not guess that he had
passed one of them many times and that his every move was watched by silent,
clever stalkers. Scarce had he passed a certain one of these rigid guardsmen
before the fellow awoke to sudden life, bounded across the avenue, entered a
narrow opening in the outer wall where he swiftly followed a corridor built within
the wall itself until presently he emerged a little distance ahead of Turan, where
he assumed the stiff and silent attitude of a soldier upon guard. Nor did Turan
know that a second followed in the shadows of the buildings behind him, nor of
the third who hastened ahead of him upon some urgent mission.
And so the panthan moved through the silent streets of the strange city in search
of food and drink for the woman he loved. Men and women looked down upon
him from shadowy balconies, but spoke not; and sentinels saw him pass and did
not challenge. Presently from along the avenue before him came the familiar
sound of clanking accouterments, the herald of marching warriors, and almost
simultaneously he saw upon his right an open doorway dimly lighted from within.
It was the only available place where he might seek to hide from the approaching
company, and while he had passed several sentries unquestioned he could scarce
hope to escape scrutiny and questioning from a patrol, as he naturally assumed
this body of men to be.
Inside the doorway he discovered a passage turning abruptly to the right and
almost immediately thereafter to the left. There was none in sight within and so
he stepped cautiously around the second turn the more effectually to be hidden
from the street. Before him stretched a long corridor, dimly lighted like the
entrance. Waiting there he heard the party approach the building, he heard
someone at the entrance to his hiding place, and then he heard the door past
which he had come slam to. He laid his hand upon his sword, expecting
momentarily to hear footsteps approaching along the corridor; but none came. He
approached the turn and looked around it; the corridor was empty to the closed
door. Whoever had closed it had remained upon the outside.
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