ace
was not up, there were no signs of life anywhere about the grounds, nor
did man-made light gleam through any of the windows on this side of the
building. Yet uppermost in Tharn's mind was that sense of caution when
caution was possible, and he decided to wait for a while before entering
the palace itself.

With a quick soundless rush he crossed the stretch of greensward between
him and the nearest tree. A single agile leap took him among its
branches and, finding a comfortable fork, he settled himself to wait.

Unexpectedly, it proved a wise move. Hardly was he at rest when a group
of six guards, their spear-points and white tunics sharp and clear in
the light of Uda, the moon, rounded a far corner of the building.

At first Tharn thought some one had sighted him entering the grounds and
given an alarm. He abandoned the idea immediately, however, for the
actions and general attitude of the six indicated this was no more than
a routine patrol. Evidently Ammad's nobleman had many enemies....

In a way Tharn's choice of a point to break into this palace was an
unfortunate one. He would have preferred to enter on the side where
Uda's rays did not reach. But four guards instead of one were stationed
at that gate and an attempt to pass them would have been foolhardy at
best.

Now, indeed, he must wait--wait until he could learn how much time would
elapse between appearances of those six guards. He settled himself
firmly into the branch's fork, using this period of enforced idleness by
attempting to locate some means of ingress in that section of palace
wall visible to him.

All windows of the first two floors appeared to be guarded by slender
columns of stone. He had seen such forms of protection on some of
Sephar's structures and he knew that even his own great strength would
be unable to force them.

The windows of the top two floors were shielded only by drapes of soft
material, with here and there a balcony dotting the white stone surface.
Could he but reach one of the former, entry would be simple. But nowhere
on the smooth sheer surface could he make out hand- and foot-holds for
that purpose.

Half an hour dragged by. Nobody passed by, no light showed at any of the
windows, no sound broke the tomb-like silence. He wondered at the
failure of the six-man patrol to appear a second time.

Well, he could not remain in this leafy retreat forever. With a slight
shrug of his giant shoulders, Tharn descended to th