I was fast approaching despair and was even debating whether it would not be better to renew the war than to risk a revolution, when a series of unprecedented events put an end to all my plans.
Early one "wake" shortly after rising from a sleepless bed, I picked up a copy of the Screamer and was greeted by news that, I fear, made my eyes fairly bulge out of my head:
REBELLION IN ZU!
Rah the Righteous Overthrown!
Country in Turmoil!
"A counter-revolution broke out yesterday in Zu, owing to charges of military authorities that Dictator Rah the Righteous was betraying his people into a disgraceful peace. Substantiating their accusations of treason against the people's interests, they produced the testimony of two sworn witnesses who asserted that one wake, shortly after Rah's accession to power, they followed him as he made his way in disguise into a remote gallery at the border line of Nullnull. There he held an illicit conversation with one whom, they say, is high in the circles of the Government of Wu; in fact, they claim to have identified the second man as no less a personage than our own Dictator.
"This tale, which can only be held to be a gross libel so far as Luma the Illustrious is concerned, has been accepted without question by the people of Zu. As a result, they have stormed the royal palace, demanding resumption of the war and threatening the life of Rah the Righteous, who is now known as Rah the Treasonous. Rah himself is believed to have escaped, although there are reports that he was lynched by an infuriated mob. The former Dictator, Oono Yuno, is said to be on his way back to resume power."
It is impossible to describe with what emotion I read this account. That the throne of Zu had cracked; that the Dictatorial power had been split asunder; that the renewal of war was likely—all this appeared as nothing; my one great, my overwhelming concern was with Clay. Where was he now? Had he escaped the maddened multitude? Or was he already a martyr to their bloodthirsty frenzy?
With excited haste, I rushed to my secretary and gave orders that scouts be sent out, and that if any one answering to the description of the former Dictator of Zu was found, he was to be offered a sanctuary in Wu. There seemed, it is true, small chance that he would be found; but, in my terror for my friend's safety, I wished to leave no stone unturned.