"I have come to carry you away," she announced.
Peter Gross looked at her in silence.
"But first there are many things that we must talk about," she said.
Peter Gross rose to a sitting posture. "I am listening," he announced.
Koyala did not reply at once. She was gazing fixedly into his eyes, those frank, gray eyes that had so often looked clearly and honestly into hers as he enthusiastically spoke of their joint mission in Bulungan. A half-sob broke in her throat, but she restrained it fiercely.
"Do you remember, mynheer, when we first met?" she asked.
"It was at the mouth of the Abbas River, was it not? At Wolang's village?"
"Why did you laugh at me then?" she exclaimed fiercely.
Peter Gross looked at her in astonishment. "I laughed at you?" he exclaimed.
"Yes, on the beach. When I told you you must go. You laughed. Do not deny it, you laughed!" The fierce intensity of her tone betrayed her feeling.