"There may yet be time to save ourselves and you," Leonidas continued. "If you can get rid of us for the present, you will have nothing to fear. You can deny your son's story and it will be attributed to a clumsy plot to overthrow you. Is there no way out of the palace that is not guarded?"
"None that I know," the king replied.
The chancellor uttered a clucking sound in his throat that seemed involuntary. Leonidas gripped him by the shoulder.
"Do you know a way?" he cried. "Speak quickly."
The chancellor went down on his knees and raised his hands in supplication.
"Mercy!" he wailed. "Mercy! I know—I have heard of a way!"
"Where does it lead?" Leonidas demanded fiercely.
"To the Temple of our Lord, Baal-Moloch," the old man whimpered.
King Azemilcus looked at his chancellor with his keen eyes and sarcastic smile.
"Now I understand many things," he remarked dryly.