When they neared us Miela flew off the platform and joined them. They circled about for a time, flying close together, then Miela left them and returned to me, while they hovered overhead. Her face was clouded with anxiety as she alighted beside me.
"They were near the Water City a short time ago. And they say the light‑ray is being used there. They saw it flashing up, and dared not go closer."
The light‑ray in the Water City! My heart sunk with dismay. The cylinder I held in my hand I had thought the only one in use in all the Light Country. With it I felt supreme. And now they had it also in the Water City!
One of the girls flung up her hand suddenly and called to Miela.
"See, Alan—a boat!"
I looked down to where Miela pointed. The sea was still rough from the storm, but no longer lashed into fury. Coming toward us, close inshore and from the direction of the Water City, I saw a boat speeding along over the spent waves. And as I looked, a narrow beam of light, green, shading into red, shot up from the boat and hung wavering in the air like a little search‑light striving to pierce the gray mist of the sky!
[ CHAPTER XXII.
THE THEFT OF THE LIGHT‑RAY.]
The touch of soft, cool hands on his face brought Mercer back to sudden consciousness. He opened his eyes; Anina was sitting beside him, regarding him gravely.
"Wake up, my friend Ollie. Time now to wake up."