VII

THE GOING

’Tis several years since last I faced this machine, many and many a day since I said that my story was done, and placed the record on the shelf of my anteroom, my heart full of satisfaction.  And today I must needs add another record, perhaps two, to the pile.

When I set out for the highlands on the morn following what I last related I took with me but two or three men; not that I had any need for guards, but because it looketh not well for the emperor to travel without retainers, however few.  Practically, I was alone.

I reached the locality as the sun went down.  The sky was a brilliant color; I remember it well.  Darkness would come soon, though not as quickly as farther south.  Commonly, I think not upon such trifles; but I were nearing my love, and tender things came easily to my mind.

My chariot kept to the road which lay alongside the irrigating flume, a stone trough which runs from the snow-covered hills to the dry country below.  I had already noted this flume where it emptied into the basin in the valley below; for it had had a new kind of a spillway affixed to it, a broad, smooth platform with a slightly upward curve, over which the water was shooting.  I saw no sense in the arrangement, and made up my mind to ask Maka about it; for the empire prized this trough most highly.  It ran straight and true, over expensive bridges where needed, with scarce a bend to hold back the flow.

When I stopped my car outside the house I was surprised that none should come out to greet me.  Maka had sent word of my coming; all should have been in readiness.  But I was forced to use my whistle.  There was no stir.  I became angry; I told my bullies to stay where they were, and myself burst in the door.

The house was a sturdy stone affair of one floor, set against the side of the mountain, a short distance above the flume.  I looked about the interior in surprise; for not a soul was in sight in any of the compartments.  There were signs that people had been there but a few moments before.  I called it strange, for I had seen no one leave the house as I approached.

At last, as I was inspecting the eating place, I noted a small door let into the outer wall.  It was open; and by squeezing I managed to get through.  I found that it let into a long, dark passage.

I followed this, going steadily down a flight of stairs, and all of a sudden bumped into an iron grating.  At the same moment I saw that the passageway made a turn just beyond; and by craning my neck and straining my eyes I could see a faintly lighted chamber just a few feet away.

And before my eyes could scarce make out the figures of some people in the middle of the place, a voice came to my ear.

“Hail, Strokor!” it said; and great was my astonishment as I recognized the tones of Edam, the young dreamer whom Maka had brought to my house.