"I estimate another hour or an hour and a half. I am driving slowly because of the wind. The gusts make steering unpredictable at high speeds. What is your opinion on this?"

"I believe that safety is important. It is better to arrive alive than dead."

"This is exactly my point," said Bant.

"I have explained this to Esmer: what is the value of thirty minutes, more or less, to a corpse? He is already late and no longer in a hurry. The time is more useful on this side of the veil, such is my belief."

"And mine as well," said Glawen.

"In regard to the telephone at Flicken, the time is late; will it be available for our use?"

"Without a doubt. Keelums will be in bed upstairs but the sound of a sol or two will bring him down quickly."

The conversation languished once again. Glawen could not wrench his thoughts away from the seminary. He wondered when his depai cure would be noticed. Certainly at dawn, and quite possibly earlier. Perhaps someone had already looked into his vacated chamber. Glawen grinned at the thought of the consternation which his absence would evoke, with the location of Zonk's Tomb no longer a secret. He had been pondering the situation since leaving Pogan's Point, and now he could not get to the telephone fast enough.

Far ahead appeared a cluster of dim lights. Bant pointed.

"Flicken."

"Why the lights? Is someone up and around?"

"I believe that it is a matter of civic pride."

"What time might we expect to arrive in Fexelburg?"

"If we take a bowl or two of soup to ward off the chill and perhaps

a slice of meat pie let us say, a total stop of half an hour, which will include our telephone calls we should arrive about dawn. At this time of year the nights are short."

At dawn Glawen's escape would be known, if not much sooner, and as if in response to the thought, Glawen felt a sudden eerie waft of emotion, seeming to come from the direction of Pogan's Point: a rage and hatred so intense as to seem a palpable projection. Rightly or wrongly, Glawen felt assured that at this moment his absence had been discovered.

The bus rolled into Flicken and halted in front of the general store. Bant alighted and went to the door, where he pulled on the bell cord.

"Keelums!" he called.

"Arouse yourself! Sleep some other time! Keelums! Are you awake?"

"Yes, I'm awake," croaked Keelums from an upstairs window.

"It's Bant, is it? What do you want?"

"Some hot soup and the use of your telephone. This gentleman will offer you a sol for the privilege, and if he doesn't I will. Of course, if you are proud, you need not accept."

"Oh, I am proud enough! Especially after I take the money.

Soup, is it?"

"And some meat pie, and a taste of the raisin pudding. Open up! The wind howls and bites at my poor shanks!"

"Be patient! Allow me to pull on my robe."

The door opened. Glawen entered the store, followed by Bant.

"Where is the telephone?" asked Glawen.

"Over on the desk, but first, before we forget, the sol."

Glawen paid over the money and went to the telephone. He called the IPCC office at Fexelburg, and was finally connected with the Adjudicant Partric Plock at his residence. To hear the cool calm voice brought Glawen such relief that he became almost limp.

"Yes?" asked Plock.

"Who is calling and what do you want?"

Glawen identified himself.

"I think you will remember me.

Two months ago I went out to Pogan's Point to make inquiries at the seminary."

"I remember you very well. I thought you had gone home to Cadwal long ago."

"I was betrayed by my colleague, who chose the join Floreste's Mummers in preference to notifying you that I had not returned. I have been held captive for two months in Zonk's Tomb, which is a cave in the Point. I have just escaped, and I am calling from Flicken. That is the gist of things, but there is more."

"Goon."

"The Fexelburg police know all there is to know about Zonk's Tomb. They suppress the knowledge and, in effect, allow the Mono- man tics at the seminary a free hand so long as they also keep the secret. I suspect that as soon as the Ordene Zaa discovers that I am gone, she will notify the Fexelburg authorities, who will then try to intercept me along the road."

"I am sure that you are right," said Plock.

"As a matter of fact, we have been waiting for some such unambiguous pretext for cleaning out the Fexelburg police force. Let me think a moment. You are at the Flicken general store?"

Yes."

"How did you get there?"

"I hired the omnibus."

"When do you expect that your escape will be known?"

"A few minutes ago I had a strange telepathic sensation; it was to the effect that my escape had been discovered. In any event, they'll know by dawn, at the latest."

"I will be flying out to Flicken at once, with a force of men. We will arrive in about half an hour. In case the Fexelburg police have preceded us, and are already on the way, send your driver on to Fexelburg, but you remain at Flicken. The police will be coming along the road and even if they are flying, they will be delayed if they notice the bus. Do you understand my thinking?"

"Perfectly."

"We will be there as soon as possible."

Bant now used the telephone to make his arrangements with Esmer. He then turned to Glawen.