But if I got off with my life, there would be work for me to do in the Armageddon which I saw approaching.

Should I escape, I wondered.

What would hinder Laputa from setting his men to follow me, and seize me before I could get into safety?
My only chance was that Arcoll might have been busy this day, and the countryside too full of his men to let Laputa's Kaffirs through.

But if this was so, Laputa and I should be stopped, and then Laputa would certainly kill me.

I wished--and yet I did not wish--that Arcoll should hold all approaches.