Duare, who had been watching my face intently, must have read the truth in the despair of my expression.

“You do not know where the sea lies?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Then we are lost?”

“I am afraid so. I am sorry, Duare; I was so sure that we would find the Sofal and that you would soon be out of danger. It is all my fault, the fault of my stupidity and ignorance.”

“Do not say that; no one could have known the direction he was going during the darkness of last night. Perhaps we shall find the sea yet.”

“Even if we could, I am afraid that it will be too late to insure your safety.”

“What do you mean—that the Sofal will be gone?” she asked.

“There is that danger, of course; but what I most fear is that we may be recaptured by the Thorists. They will certainly search along the coast for us in the locality where they found us yesterday. They are not so stupid as not to guess that we will try to reach the Sofal.”

“If we can find the ocean, we might hide from them,” she suggested, “until they tire of the search and return to Kapdor; then, if the Sofal is still there, we may yet be saved.”

“And if not, what?” I asked. “Do you know anything about Noobol? Is there not some likelihood that we may find a friendly people somewhere in this land who will aid us to reach Vepaja again?”

She shook her head. “I know little about Noobol,” she replied, “but what little I have heard is not good. It is a sparsely settled land reaching, it is supposed, far into Strabol, the hot country, where no man may live. It is filled with wild beasts and savage tribes. There are scattered settlements along the coast, but most of these have been captured or reduced by the Thorists; the others, of course, would be equally dangerous, for the inhabitants would consider all strangers as enemies.”

“The outlook is not bright,” I admitted, “but we will not give up; we will find a way.”

“If any man can, I am sure that it is you,” she said.

Praise from Duare was sweet. In all the time that I had known her she had said only one other kind thing to me, and later she had retracted that.

“I could work miracles if only you loved me, Duare.”

She straightened haughtily. “You will not speak of that,” she said.

“Why do you hate me, Duare, who have given you only love?” I demanded.