“Haven’t you any such feeling, Polecrab?”
“No. A woman is a noble and sensitive creature, and there are attractions in nature too subtle for males. Take her with you, since she is set on it. Maybe she’s right. Perhaps Earthrid’s music will answer your questions, and hers too.”
“What are your questions, Gleameil?”
The woman shed a strange smile. “You may be sure that a question which requires music for an answer can’t be put into words.”
“If you are not back by the morning,” remarked her husband, “I will know you are dead.”
The meal was finished in a constrained silence. Polecrab wiped his mouth, and produced a seashell from a kind of pocket.
“Will you say goodbye to the boys? Shall I call them?” She considered a moment.
“Yes—yes, I must see them.”
He put the shell to his mouth, and blew; a loud, mournful noise passed through the air.
A few minutes later there was a sound of scurrying footsteps, and the boys were seen emerging from the forest. Maskull looked with curiosity at the first children he had seen on Tormance. The oldest boy was carrying the youngest on his back, while the third trotted some distance behind. The child was let down, and all the three formed a semicircle in front of Maskull, standing staring up at him with wide-open eyes. Polecrab looked on stolidly, but Gleameil glanced away from them, with proudly raised head and a baffling expression.