"How could I do it?" he murmured.
"What? You speak wrong talk, Gut'rie," panted Polf. "Like you talk to the good one before they start celebration. What you say to fool him?"
"What does he say?" whispered Karen anxiously.
"Wants to know what I said to Trent," he answered, tugging the frayed cuff of his trousers away from his leg. He seemed to be mud to the knees.
"When you came along as he was getting ready for the ceremony? You told him to dump the fancy costume and run for it."
"I did?" mused Guthrie. "Yes, I forgot. Well, he wouldn't listen, would he?"
"No, and he wanted me to go with him. You got mad because he thought they were taking him into the tribe."
"He's being taken, all right," muttered Guthrie. "There's no moon up yet."
He crawled to his feet and groped through the dark to the ladder.
"What are you doing?" asked Karen.