t only I fell, and then a loop of my tough, leathern harness
caught upon one of the cylindrical stone projections in the tower's
surface--and held. Even when I had ceased to fall I could not
believe the miracle that had preserved me from instant death, and
for a moment I hung there, cold sweat exuding from every pore of
my body.

But when at last I had worked myself back to a firm position
I hesitated to ascend, since I could not know that Thurid was not
still awaiting me above.

Presently, however, there came to my ears the whirring of the
propellers of a flier, and as each moment the sound grew fainter
I realized that the party had proceeded toward the south without
assuring themselves as to my fate.

Cautiously I retraced my way to the roof, and I must admit that
it was with no pleasant sensation that I raised my eyes once more
above its edge; but, to my relief, there was no one in sight, and
a moment later I stood safely upon its broad surface.

To reach the hangar and drag forth the only other flier which it
contained was the work of but an instant; and just as the two thern
warriors whom Matai Shang had left to prevent this very contingency
emerged upon the roof from the tower's interior, I rose above them
with a taunting laugh.

Then I dived rapidly to the inner court where I had last seen Woola,
and to my immense relief found the faithful beast still there.

The twelve great banths lay in the doorways of their lairs, eyeing
him and growling ominously, but they had not disobeyed Thuvia's
injunction; and I thanked the fate that had made her their keeper
within the Golden Cliffs, and endowed her with the kind and
sympathetic nature that had won the loyalty and affection of these
fierce beasts for her.

Woola leaped in frantic joy when he discovered me; and as the flier
touched the pavement of the court for a brief instant he bounded
to the deck beside me, and in the bearlike manifestation of his
exuberant happiness all but caused me to wreck the vessel against
the courtyard's rocky wall.

Amid the angry shouting of thern guardsmen we rose high above the
last fortress of the Holy Therns, and then raced straight toward
the northeast and Kaol, the destination which I had heard from the
lips of Matai Shang.

Far ahead, a tiny speck in the distance, I made out another flier
late in the afternoon. It could be none other than that which bore
my lost love and my enemies.

I had gained considerably on the c