immediately surrounded Edmund and we were unable to see exactly what went
on, a fact that rendered Jack so much the more impatient. But it turned
out that there was no cause for alarm. In about ten minutes the crowd
opened and Edmund appeared. Uninterfered with, he came to the edge of the
deck, close by us, and said:

"It is all arranged. The car will be towed by one of the air ships. I am
to stay here and you will remain where you are until we reach our
destination."

"Have you had a talk with her?" asked Jack.

"Not in any language that you understand," Edmund responded, smiling.
"But I have made good use of what I learned in the caverns. These people
are intellectually vastly superior to the others, and, as I guessed, they
possess a more perfect command of the sort of telepathy that I told you
about. I have not found much difficulty in making my wish understood, and
your amazon is a very obliging person. It is only necessary to be
discreet and we shall have no trouble."

"But why are you to be separated from us?" asked Jack anxiously. "That
looks bad, for it is exactly what they would do if they meant to kill us
one at a time."

"Why should they kill us?" retorted Edmund.

"And why should we be separated?" persisted Jack. "I tell you, Edmund, I
don't like it."

"Very well, then," Edmund said, after a moment's thought; "if that's the