"This Mouthpiece of Zitu?" Jadgor turned his eyes. "By Zitemku, Lakkon, where are thy wits? Must Zitu, even through his Mouthpiece, teach us our lessons twice? Have we not the weapons that carried death into Helmor's ranks by the thousands of souls? Know we not how to use them? Know we not that a thousand men so armed are the match for five, yes, for ten thousand equipped with sword and shield? And a thousand of such men I have asked from Robur, with a number of the moturs which ground Helmor's guard in the last battle beneath their crushing wheels. Enough! In four suns I myself shall go to Bithra, with our noble Parthys, to confer with Medai. When the Aphurian galleys arrive I myself shall take the field. Thou, as my agent, shall stay here till I return. Small need to question Zitu's Mouthpiece in a matter such as this."
Parthys nodded. "Your words strengthen the heart, O Jadgor," he resumed. "In four suns we shall depart? That is well. As yet it appears that only Bithur is attacked. Were it not wise to send word into Milidhur, lest along her borders these blue men forget the barter of hides and dried meats and cheese, and turn to war?"
"Aye." Jadgor nodded. "He who is warned is best prepared. Lakkon in the morn see to it. Let Milidhur be watchful for the slightest hostile sign along her borders. Then shall we teach this spawn of Zitemku to pluck Zollaria's vengeance for her; and should we capture some of these seeming men of Mazzer who have dyed themselves to play a part, I swear they shall wear their false tintings ever."
At least it was clear that Jadgor realized the nature of the trouble along the eastern border. How completely he would be able to meet it was a question which time alone would show. On the face of things, he was acting promptly and in a calmly thought out way. Had there been one single thing in his whole course open to objection, it would have been his over-confidence of the final issue which Croft would have criticised. But as he flitted back to Himyra he was fully aware that Jadgor was one of the few men in all Tamarizia versed in the art of war—was a good general in so far as Palosian methods of warfare went. And it appeared that, with Bithur's man-power organized and augmented by the thousand rifles, the six armored moturs from Himyra, Jadgor, even as he himself had declared, was very apt to make short work of Mazzer's naked horde.
Hence, as much because he wished to so believe as for any other reason, it was with the feeling that the affair along the Bithur borders was no more than a tempest in a teapot that he opened the eyes of his body and turned himself on his couch. Let Jadgor handle it in his own fashion, since he felt fully able, as no doubt he was, with the aid he had asked from Aphur, even now going rapidly into the galleys where Himyra's fire-urns flared along the quays, and the little cars trundled down the merchandise tunnels, bearing cartridges and rifles. As for himself, Croft smiled. He had plenty to do in Himyra, and—Naia of Aphur had gleamed like a blade of silver that morning as she cut her slender way through the waters of the pool. Only he had called her a little silver fish, and she had cried out and dived. He rose and lighted an oil sconce, and found the silver medallion, with its embossed figure of Azil and its circle of blood-red stones. Placing it in his palm, he sat staring at this amulet that had once proclaimed her his.
CHAPTER XVI
BETWEEN HIMYRA AND THE SUN
In the weeks that followed, many things transpired. The line of poles stretched its length from the power station to Himyra, and men were stringing wires. Croft made coke, ground it into powder, mixed it with a cohesive substance, and molded it into carbon cores, to serve his growing arcs. Also, he began experimenting in the construction of batteries, both moist and dry cells. He succeeded with the former from the first. And for these experiments he demanded of Robur, and obtained, the use of an unused room in the palace, where he often worked at nights.
Chemistry, as an exact science, was unknown on Palos, but through consultations with the local caste of physicians Croft managed to collect a certain number of crudely refined salts which they commonly used as drugs. The room where Croft delved into the simpler mysteries of nature became an apartment of wonder to Robur, who came to it first himself, and later brought Gaya and Naia.