"How do you know he is a thief?" I asked. "Did you try the indexograph
on him?"
"I'll do the talking, Mr. Munn," said the professor in our own tongue;
then added to the officer: "There must be some mistake, captain. This
gentleman has a very good reputation and would not commit a theft, such
as you describe."
"He bears the proof of it upon his person," answered the captain. "It
is the kirtle."
Now, a djin is a unit of measurement and corresponds to the inch of our
system; from which it follows that Meigs stood convicted of stealing
about eight feet of red kaka--enough to make kirtles for a score of the
Baigadds.
"What are you harping about?" asked Meigs.
"They say you are a thief, Mr. Meigs," said I.
"Thief!" he blustered, glaring at the captain over the professor's
shoulder. "I deny it, sir, I deny it!"
"He says you stole that kirtle you have on," I continued.
"A man has a right to clothe himself as well as he may," answered Meigs,
aggrieved. "I do not count that theft. The country should see that a
man is provided with a respectable covering."
This was too good an opportunity for the professor to let slip.
"Suffer your mind to drift back to your own planet, sir," said he. "It
is your opinion that our government owes every poor man a suit of
clothes?"
J. Archibald Meigs cringed under the blow. It was a thrust at his
clothing trust, and it found the weak point in his armor.
"Circumstances are different here," he mumbled.
"In some ways, yes; in other ways, no. King Gaddbai is the monopolist
of this planet. He controls the kaka output and charges for it
accordingly."
The captain of the royal guard was growing impatient.
"If you are here on an errand from the king of Baigol," said he, "we
shall be glad to escort you to the capital--but not until you have
surrendered the giant who stole the king's property."
"Take us to his majesty," returned the professor, "and we will explain
everything in a satisfactory manner."
But this the captain would not do, and he became so threatening that we
retreated behind a barrier of bowlders.
"Display the banner, Mr. Munn," said the professor, and I held up the
royal standard so that the captain could not help but see it. His one
eye gleamed insolently, and he came as near swearing as the seventh key
of his word-box would allow.
"Deliver up the thief," he ordered, "or I will command my men to
annihilate you with their zetbais."
It was certainly a critical situation. I had already had a slight
experience with the overpowering properties of zet and didn't care for
further acquaintance with it. Meigs was nothing to me. He would have
stripped the coat from a poor man's back, if he could have had his way
on Earth, and it afforded me secret pleasure to see him hoisted by his
own petard.
The trust magnate did not fail to take note of the war-like movements of
the soldiers.
"Can't you do anything to save me, professor?" he pleaded.
"We shall not give you up," answered Quinn firmly. "Can you think of
any way, Mr. Munn, whereby we can extricate ourselves from this
difficulty?"
I have a quick mind, if I do say it, and a happy thought presented
itself on the spur of the instant. Stooping, I picked up a stone; then,
raising myself, I let the missile fly straight at the captain.
His shoulder-arms still held the word-box above his head, and the stone
smashed against it and carried it away. It was rather neatly done, for
the captain himself was left untouched.
"Bravo!" cried the professor. "You drew the fangs of the enemy by that
trick, Mr. Munn. You have rendered the captain mute, and his men cannot
act without orders."
I had already figured this out in my mind, and it was presently proved
that I had not gone far from the mark. The captain recovered the
word-box and attempted to use it, but its mechanism was so disarranged
that the order to attack became a confused jumble that seemed to sound a
retreat.
The whole company whirled and fled, their leader following and
gesticulating wildly and helplessly with his arms. Meigs was saved for
the present, and he should have thanked me for it--but he did not.
Seating himself on a bowlder, he gazed pensively down at the red kirtle.
"This is what I call the irony of fate," said he in a morose tone. "And
then, on top of it all, to be called a thief!"
He leaned his bare elbows on his knees and dropped his face in his
hands.
"How did this happen, Mr. Meigs?" asked the professor gently.
"Happen!" cried Meigs, lifting his head with a jerk and glaring at
Quinn. "It would never have happened but for you!"
"Have you seen Gilhooly?" went on the professor, ignoring the reproach.
"Poor Gilhooly!" sighed Meigs. "He has become a power in the traction
interests of the country. The last I saw of him he was hauling trains
throughout the kingdom."
"We know that much already. How about Popham and Markham?"
"Alas!" groaned Meigs. "Popham is working like a galley-slave in a coal
mine; and Markham--well, these little fiends are slowly starving him to
death. All Markham does is to wander about the kingdom with a plate and
a paddle begging food enough to keep body and soul together. Think of
it! And the great Augustus Popham, owner of a controlling interest in
all the great anthracite and bituminous fields of Earth, delving in the
mines of this planet--no better than a two-dollar-a-day miner!"
"Coal fields!" I exclaimed. "What do they need of coal in these
underground kingdoms?"
"They use the coal in the kingdoms of Baijinkz and Baigossh, which are
situated at the poles," explained the professor. "During the long
nights in those countries a certain degree of cold must prevail.
But"--and here Quinn turned again to Meigs--"tell us what happened to
you and the other two gentlemen during the storm which separated us."
"We managed to regain the car," replied Meigs. "We could not get in, of
course, because you had the key, but we hung to the latticework at the
windows. I am a little hazy as to what happened after that, but I think
the car must have been picked up by a terrific gust and thrown to the
bottom of that crater in the volcano."
"Ah!" murmured the professor, looking at me. "You remember, Mr. Munn, I
told you I feared something of the kind would happen."