第43章

"And those three who were judged?"--this from Larry.

"They were of the mayia ladala," he replied, "like those two I gave you.But they grow restless.They do not like to dance with the Shining One--the blasphemers!" He raised his voice in a sudden great shout of mocking laughter.

In his words I caught a fleeting picture of the race--an ancient, luxurious, close-bred oligarchy clustered about some mysterious deity; a soldier class that supported them; and underneath all the toiling, oppressed hordes.

"And is that all?" asked Larry.

"No," he answered."There is the Sea of Crimson where--"Without warning the globe beside us sent out a vicious note, Rador turned toward it, his face paling.Its surface crawled with whisperings--angry, peremptory!

"I hear!" he croaked, gripping the table."I obey!"He turned to us a face devoid for once of its malice.

"Ask me no more questions, strangers," he said."And now, if you are done, I will show you where you may sleep and bathe."He arose abruptly.We followed him through the hang-ings, passed through a corridor and into another smaller chamber, roofless, the sides walled with screens of dark grey.

Two cushioned couches were there and a curtained door leading into an open, outer enclosure in which a fountain played within a wide pool.

"Your bath," said Rador.He dropped the curtain and came back into the room.He touched a carved flower at one side.There was a tiny sighing from overhead and instantly across the top spread a veil of blackness, impenetrable to light but certainly not to air, for through it pulsed little breaths of the garden fragrances.The room filled with a cool twilight, refreshing, sleep-inducing.The green dwarf pointed to the couches.

"Sleep!" he said."Sleep and fear nothing.My men are on guard outside." He came closer to us, the old mocking gaiety sparkling in his eyes.

"But I spoke too quickly," he whispered."Whether it is because the Afyo Maie fears their tongues--or--" he laughed at Larry."The maids are NOT yours!" Still laughing he vanished through the curtains of the room of the foun-tain before I could ask him the meaning of his curious gift, its withdrawal, and his most enigmatic closing remarks.

"Back in the great old days of Ireland," thus Larry break-ing into my thoughts raptly, the brogue thick, "there was Cairill mac Cairill--Cairill Swiftspear.An' Cairill wronged Keevan of Emhain Abhlach, of the blood of Angus of the great people when he was sleeping in the likeness of a pale reed.Then Keevan put this penance on Cairill--that for a year Cairill should wear his body in Emhain Abhlach, which is the Land of Faery and for that year Keevan should wear the body of Cairill.And it was done.

"In that year Cairill met Emar of the Birds that are one white, one red, and one black--and they loved, and from that love sprang Ailill their son.And when Ailill was born he took a reed flute and first he played slumber on Cairill, and then he played old age so that Cairill grew white and with-ered; then Ailill played again and Cairill became a shadow--then a shadow of a shadow--then a breath; and the breath went out upon the wind!" He shivered."Like the old gnome," he whispered, "that they called Songar of the Lower Waters!"He shook his head as though he cast a dream from him.

Then, all alert--

"But that was in Iceland ages agone.And there's nothing like that here, Doc!" He laughed."It doesn't scare me one little bit, old boy.The pretty devil lady's got the wrong slant.

When you've had a pal standingbesideyouonemoment--full of life, and joy, and power, and potentialities, telling what he's going to do to make the world hum when he gets through the slaughter, just running over with zip and pep of life, Doc--and the next instant, right in the middle of a laugh--a piece of damned shell takes off half his head and with it joy and power and all the rest of it"--his face twitched--"well, old man, in the face of THAT mystery a disappearing act such as the devil lady treated us to doesn't make much of a dent.Not on me.But by the brogans of Brian Boru--if we could have had some of that stuff to turn on during the war--oh, boy!"He was silent, evidently contemplating the idea with vast pleasure.And as for me, at that moment my last doubt of Larry O'Keefe vanished, I saw that he did believe, really believed, in his banshees, his leprechauns and all the old dreams of the Gael--but only within the limits of Ireland.

In one drawer of his mind was packed all his superstition, his mysticism, and what of weakness it might carry.But face him with any peril or problem and the drawer closed in-stantaneously leaving a mind that was utterly fearless, in-credulous, and ingenious; swept clean of all cobwebs by as fine a skeptic broom as ever brushed a brain.