In those first moments of frenzy, I got to the balcony--joined Maida and Georg. Elza was gone! My heart went cold, but in those hurried, frantic moments, grave disaster as it was, I did not dwell upon it.
"We must get away--back to the palace!" Georg exclaimed as I joined them.
The Earth men on the main floor were holding the _slaans_ partially in check. Bodies were lying in a welter--I shall not describe it. Then abruptly, upon a table a huge _slaan_ leaped--his garments blood-stained from his victims, a blade of dripping steel in his hands. He shouted above the tumult--words not in the universal language, but in the dialect of the _slaans_. His command carried throughout the building. Other _slaans_ took it up; we could hear it echoed outside as others shouted it over the waters.
The bloodshed abruptly ceased. The _slaans_ leaped away from the Earth men, who were glad enough to let them go--rushed for the archways of the pavilion. Outside, we could hear the water splashing. Swimmers--and boats scurrying off. Then comparative silence. The scream of a _slaan_ woman in the grove nearby, still desiring vengeance; the groans of the dying at our feet; the hiss and splutter of weapons discarded, with circuits still connected. And over it all, the great whine of a danger whistle, which some distant official had plugged.... A lull. And around us lay strewn stark tragedy where a few moments before had been festive merry-making. A crimson scene, with the body of the Red Woman lying like a symbol in its midst....
Within an hour we were back at the palace. The whole city was seething. Boats and lights were everywhere. Control of everything seemed lost. Warning signals shrilled in crazy fashion. Public mirrors were dark, or turned to places and time wholly irrelevant.
In the palace itself we soon secured a semblance of order. Maida's girls were here, with wet veils and long dank tresses clinging to their sleek bodies. Lips painted alluring red. But eyes which now were solemn and grim. Their demeanor alert and business-like. Unconscious of themselves they moved about the palace, executing Maida's orders.
A dozen or so of Maida's personal retainers were here--and most of the Earth men. Keen-eyed young men of the Washington Headquarters Staff. One of them--Tomm Aften by name, a ruddy, blue-eyed fellow--was in command. He stayed close by Georg and me.