smiled gravely at her understanding.

"Yes, I have. And your skill, and that of the others, with the rifles,
will always help us. Yet even so--"

Closer still she drew now, and there was sadness in her eyes.

"I think I see," she said in a voice which choked. "When do you think he
will make a move to start trouble?"

Kirby hesitated, then drew a long breath.

"To-day!"

"On--on the day of our union?" Naida echoed in dismay. "Can you tell
where or how he will strike at us?"

Kirby shook his head.

"There are a hundred things he could do. Naida, I--I--Well, somehow I am
afraid of the ceremony this afternoon--the wedding ceremony!"

* * * * *

He felt a little shiver go through her, and would have taken her in his
arms, save that a gay cry rang in the garden then.

"Naida, Naida!" It was her cousin, Nini, a bronze-haired youngster as
elfin and Pucklike as her name. "I thought we should never find you! Do
you realize this is your _wedding_ day, and that you're acting as if
there was nothing to be done?"

Nini darted a mocking glance at Kirby, who grinned.

"Do come, Naida!" cried another girl. "Your gown is ready, and we want
you to ourselves for awhile."

Other girls joined them, some singing and some carrying an obligato on
the sweet, flutelike instruments which Kirby had first heard as he hung
in the throat of the geyser. In front of them all, Kirby laughed and
kissed Naida on the forehead. But as he took leave of her thus, he
whispered:

"We must not let our guard relax for a second this afternoon. And I
think there is a more definite precaution which I will take, besides."

CHAPTER IX

Some hours later, Kirby smiled with tight-lipped satisfaction at thought
of that precaution which he had taken. What it was only he, Nini, Ivana,
and three other girls knew, which secrecy pleased him as much as the
precautionary measure itself.

Seated alone in a dimly-lighted, thick-walled cell of the ancient temple
in which the dual ceremony of wedding and coronation would take place,
he was waiting for the moment when the festivities would begin. Thus far
the Duca had done nothing. Yet Kirby's uneasiness would not leave him,
and he continued to be thankful that, if trouble should start, the Duca
might not find as many trumps in his hand as he expected.

A couple of hours after Kirby had left Naida and the other girls in the
garden, all had begun the two-mile journey from the ca