The servant bowed and retired, and a few minutes later the beautiful Hez girl appeared.
“What is it, O queen?” she asked. “Can I now be permitted to see my future lord and master?”
“You can; but you must first seek him out. He is lost, having fallen into the stream that flows through the Devil’s Kingdom. You are at liberty to go where you please in the Land of Hez.”
An expression of gratefulness, intermingled with fear, came over the girl’s face, and then, without noticing Dick in the least, she bowed and retired.
The brave girl plodded on her way until she came to the point where the four passages met, and here she came to a pause.
“He went down the stream that flows through the Devil’s Kingdom,” she murmured, “and so must I, if I would find him. If he perished, then so shall I! I have said it, and my word shall not be broken!”
Then with an expression of determination upon her face, she started down the passage.
She only stopped for a moment to view the scene that had seemed such a wonder to our friends, and then started off at right angles, with an idea of picking her way to the shores of the stream below, beyond the smoke and fire.
That Azurma knew what she was doing was plainly evident, for after a tedious descent of probably a mile, she came to the point she desired to reach.
The roaring of the flames was behind her, and the swiftly rushing tide was within a few feet of her on the right.