ON THE KAOLIAN ROAD
If there be a fate that is sometimes cruel to me, there surely is
a kind and merciful Providence which watches over me.
As I toppled from the tower into the horrid abyss below I counted
myself already dead; and Thurid must have done likewise, for he
evidently did not even trouble himself to look after me, but must
have turned and mounted the waiting flier at once.
Ten feet only I fell, and then a loop of my tough, leathern harness
caught upon one of the cylindrical stone projections in the tower's
surface--and held. Even when I had ceased to fall I could not
believe the miracle that had preserved me from instant death, and
for a moment I hung there, cold sweat exuding from every pore of
my body.
But when at last I had worked myself back to a firm position
I hesitated to ascend, since I could not know that Thurid was not
still awaiting me above.
Presently, however, there came to my ears the whirring of the
propellers of a flier, and as each moment the sound grew fainter
I realized that the party had proceeded toward the south without
assuring themselves as to my fate.
Cautiously I retraced my way to the roof, and I must admit that
it was with no pleasant sensation that I raised my eyes once more
above its edge; but, to my relief, there was no one in sight, and
a moment later I stood safely upon its broad surface.
To reach the hangar and drag forth the only other flier which it
contained was the work of but an instant; and just as the two thern
warriors whom Matai Shang had left to prevent this very contingency
emerged upon the roof from the tower's interior, I rose above them
with a taunting laugh.
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