ore incongruous.

And that metal cap in the water with a man's face behind it? An Earth
man of my own race! What did it mean?

I was perturbed--frightened. But I did not demur when Tarrano led us to
his flower-bedecked barge. Of what use?

We were paired. Georg with Maida; Elza with Tarrano. And I? Tarrano told
me curtly--and with a smile of ironic amusement--that when we reached
the festival so handsome a man as I would have no trouble engaging the
attention of some Venus maiden.

On cushions in the barge we reclined while our _slaans_ poled us along
the streets. Tarrano was feeding sweets to Elza as though they were gay
young lovers. Poor little Elza! She was frightened. Her face was a
trifle pale, her lips set. But she, too, knew that we were wholly in
Tarrano's power, and she made the best of the situation. Sometimes she
would laugh gayly; but I could not miss the note of fear in it.

The progress of our barge was slow. Boats clustered around us, their
occupants pelting us with flowers. A deluge spray of perfume was turned
on us--a heavy, exotic scent, almost cloying. It lay redolent on our
garments for hours.

Presently Tarrano gave us masks. And long robes for Maida and Elza to
cover the gay holiday dresses they were wearing.

At the edge of the city a canal had been dug through the hillside. We
passed slowly through it, under archways of dangling colored lights,
around a sharp bend and came upon the Water Festival. And--with
impending tragedy for the moment forgotten--I gazed for this first time
at such a scene of pleasure and beauty as I had never even imagined.

CHAPTER XXI

_Love, Music--and a Warning_

The Water Festival! As our barge rounded a bend in the canal, under the
archways of dangling colored lights, the festival spread before us.
Involuntarily I stood up to gaze. The canal opened into an artificial
lake--a broad circular sheet of water some 800 _helans_[17] in diameter.
Sloping hillsides enclosed the lake--hillsides which I saw were terraced
with huge banks of seats in tiers one above the other.

[Footnote 17: About 4,000 feet.]

The seats were crowded with people. White ribbons of roads gave access
from the neighboring countryside for land-surface vehicles, and there
were stages for the accommodation of air-craft. The rural populace, and
people from the nearby smaller cities, had gathered to view this
national spectacle--a million or more of them probably, with their
individu