ll
go to the court first, if you wish; Lylda should be through very
shortly."

The court of Arite stood about a mile away near the lake shore. As they
left the house and passed through the city streets the respect accorded
the Chemist became increasingly apparent. The three strangers with him
attracted considerable attention, for, although they wore the
conventional robes in which the more prominent citizens were generally
attired, their short hair and the pallid whiteness of their skins made
them objects of curiosity. No crowd gathered; those they passed stared a
little, raised their hands to their foreheads and went their way, yet
underneath these signs of respect there was with some an air of
sullenness, of hostility, that the visitors could not fail to notice.

The Oroid men, in street garb, were dressed generally in a short
metallic-looking tunic of drab, with a brighter-colored girdle. The
women, most of them, wore only a sort of skirt, reaching from waist to
knees; a few had circular discs covering their breasts. There were
hardly any children to be seen, except occasionally a little face
staring at them from a window, or peering down from a roof-top. Once or
twice they passed a woman with an infant slung across her back in a sort
of hammock.

The most common vehicle was the curious form of sleigh in which they had
ridden down through the tunnels. They saw also a few little two-wheeled
carts, with wheels that appeared to be a solid segment of tree-trunk.
All the vehicles were drawn by meek-looking little gray animals like a
small deer without horns.

The court-house of Arite, though a larger building, from the outside was
hardly different than most others in the city. It was distinct, however,
in having on either side of the broad doorway that served as its main
entrance, a large square stone column.

As they entered, passing a guard who saluted them respectfully, the
visitors turned from a hallway and ascended a flight of steps. At the
top they found themselves on a balcony overlooking the one large room
that occupied almost the entire building. The balcony ran around all
three sides (the room was triangular in shape) and was railed with a low
stone parapet. On it were perhaps fifty people, sitting quietly on stone
benches that lay close up behind the parapet. An attendant stood at each
of the corners of the balcony; the one nearest bowed low as the Chemist
and his companions entered silently and took thei