This is a considerable sum. I felt reasonably certain I could find some tarnsman, perhaps from a neutral city, who might, by a suitably circuitous route, get me into the neighborhood of Lara.

Some tarns had apparently recently arrived from the west. Some of them had apparently been carrying refugees. I saw some wounded men. Here and there small groups of men huddled about, dismally. I saw no women in theses groups, even slaves.Some of these wore the white and gold of the merchansts. Some of them even wore masks.They crouched about fires.

"Who are these people," I asked one of the fellows near the cots. "Mostly merchants," said he. "There are the victims of the predations of river pirates in Lara."Some wear masks," I said. "Yet most are know to us," said the man. "Even masked. There, not masked if Splenius and Zarto. You know Zarto, the iron merchant? "No," I said. "He lost his wagons of igots," said the man. "Beside him, masked is Horemius. Eight stone of perfumes were taken from him. There, farther to the left, in the brown mask is Zadron, the dealer in silver. He lost almost everything. In the red mask is Publius, also of thesilver merchants, He retains only the belt of silver on his shoulder."

"I see no woman with them, no slaves," I said. "They were embattled," said the man. "For their lives they bartered their goods and slaves."

"They were all from Lara or her vicinity?" I asked. "Yes," said he. "They had not realized that the troops of Lara would be moving east or that hte brigands and pirates would move so boldly."

"Are these all of them?" I asked apprehensively. "No," said the fellow. "Some of them have gone to the food tents."Was one of them Oneander, a salt and leather merchant?" I asked. "Yes," said the fellow.

The girl sstirred uneasily. Her legs were drawn up. She wore the Ta-Teena, the slave rag and a collar. She lay in the corner of the main room of the inn. She lay on a slave mat. I had put here there.

I sat, cross-legged, behing one of the low tables in the room. I chewed on a crust of bread. The inn, now, was deserted. It had been evacuated early this morning.

"That is ten copper tarsks," had said the man last night placing before me a bowl of sul porrage. I had not argued. I had paid him.

"You cannot put me out!" a free woman had been crying to t e proprietor of the inn aat his counter to the side. "You did not pay me for your last night's lodging," hd toldher. "Pay me now for that, and for tonight, or you may not remain within the inn."

"A silver tarsk for a night's lodging!" she cried. "That is unheard of. It is outrageous. You hae no right to charge such prices!" Others, too, about the counter uttered such cries. The Inn was thta of Strobuis, in Lara, at the confluence of the Olniand Vosk. It was crowded with refugees from Bonda. Many hundreds had fled from Vonda and most had taken the river southward, paying highly for their fares on the varities of river craft, barges, skiffs, river galleys and even coracles, which had brought them to Lara.

"Those are my prices," said Strobuis. "Sleen!" cried more than one man. "Whatever the traffic will bear," had grinned a fellow near me at my table. "I am a free woman of Vonda!" the woman at the counter was crying.

I lifted the sul porrage to my lips. The mask I wore, like those of some of the others in the room,covered only the upper portions of my face.

There was a pounding at the inn door. Guards, sliding back a panel in the door looked through. Then they admitted another small group of refugees. There would be no rooms for them, as there were none for many of the guests, but they, too, albeit only for a space in a crridor, would be charged a full silver tarsk for their lodging. The inn of Strobius was not thught to be a good inn, but it was a large inn, and a stout one. Too, it was one of the few inns remaining open in Lara. Many o f the refugees, destitute, who had come to Lara had not been permitted to land at the quays, but had been driven further downriver. Too, here and there in the city, river pirates, with impunity, sought women and plundered.

Several of the men in the room, other than myself, wore masks. I lowered the sul porrage to the table. It ws not good, but it was hot.

"I am a free woman of Vonda!" the woman at the counter was crying. "You cannot put me out!"

Oneander of Ar, the salt and leather merchant, and some others, had worn masks at the loot camp outside the city of Vonda.He had been, perhaps, well advised to do so. He had intended to trade with Lara, a member of the Salerian Confederation.

This would not make him popular in Ar, or in the strongholds of Ar. Too, he had been, as I had ascertained, attacked by river pirates on the south bank of the Olni and, embattled, had bargained for his life and those of his men by delivering his goods and slaves to the assailants. It was little wonder that he had chosen to mask his features. he did not wish to encounter the wrath of those of Ar, and he wished, doubtless, to conceal his chagrin and shame over the embarassing termination of his business venture in the north.

I had waited outside the food tent in the loot camp. The sky to the west was lit with the flames of Vonda.

"Are you Oneander of Ar?" I asked the fellow who emerged from the tent. "No," he said. "I think you are Oneander of Ar," I said to him. "Do not speak so loudly," had said he, looking about, "you fool!"

I had then reached to his tunic and seized him, dragging him toward me. "Remove you mask," I told him. "Is no one to protect me?" he called. "What is going on here?" inquired a guardsman. "I think this is Oneander of Ar," I said. "I had heard he ws in the camp," said the guardsman, "Are you he?" Yes," said the man, hesitantly, angrily. "Remove the mask," I said, "Or I shall."

Angrily he drew away the mask. "It is Oneander," said the guardsman, not pleased. "Do not leave me here with him," called Oneander of Ar. But the guardsman had turned his back and left.

"Who are you?" asked Oneander of Ar, apprehensively. "I was once a silk slaves," I said. "You may recall me from the streets of Ar, some months ago, in the neighborhoood of the shop of Phileubs. You set two slaves upon me."Do not kill me," he whispered.

"I have heard," said I, "that you were embatted near lara and surrendered slaves and goods." "On the south bank of the Olni," he said, "yes, it is true." "You did well," I said, "to save the lives of your men and yourself." "I have lost much," he said."What do you conjecture," I asked, "to be the fate of your goods and slaves?" They are no longer mine," he said. "They are now the property of the river pirates, theirs by the right of sword and power." "That is true," I said. "But what do you conjecture is to be their fate?"

"It is not likely they could be sold in Lara, or northward," he said. "Usually the river pirates sell their goods and captures somewhere along the river in one of the numerous river towns.

"What towns?" I asked. "There are dozens," he said. "Perhaps Ven, Port Cos, Iskander, Tafa, who knows." "He who attacked you, the pirate chieftain," I was, "who was he?" There are many bands of river pirates," he said. "Who was he?" I asked. "Kliomenes, a lietenant to Policrates," he said. "In whta town does he sell his wares?" I asked. "It could be any one of a dozen towns," said Oneander. "I do not know."

I seized him by the tunic and shook him. "I do not know!" he said. "I do not know!" I held him. "Please do not kill me," he whispered. "Very well," I had said, and released him. I had then turned about and went toward the tarn cots of the loot camp, that I might arrane with some bold tarnsman to provid me with transporataion by a suitably circuitous route to the vicinity of Lara.