Asgar meditated for a while. “Even if the story were true,” he said at last, “I don’t see how it would help us.”
“I was waiting for you to say that!” observed Krotox with a sardonic glance. “In the first place, she’s a woman; next, she has new magic; thirdly, she came unwillingly. The result is certain! But not so certain as that you are going to ask me how?”
“I question only persons capable of intelligent answers,” rejoined the other. “You spoke of the details of her coming as being unimportant; to my mind they are quite as important as her arrival itself. Whether she came alone; if not, who were her companions; whether she gained access to Saturn through Lamara’s help or independently; what object had she proposed to herself: points such as these might enable us to judge whether the situation warranted our concerning ourselves about the matter. But—”
At this juncture there was another interruption. Though by no means as outrageous and cataclysmic as the other, it produced a much more startling effect on the two troglodytes. They threw themselves flat on their stomachs and peered cautiously over the edge of the rocky shelf. The sound had come from below. The custom of social visiting had never been in vogue on the dark side of Tor, and any invasion of privacy was likely to suggest a hostile intent. “Where are the poison-stones?” whispered Asgar.
“I have three here,” replied Krotox, “but I won’t waste them on you—you couldn’t hit the earth from the top of a pock tree! I see nothing; it must have been a tiger.”
“It was more like a hyena—hark!”
A peculiar call again sounded from below. “Coo-ee!”
The men exchanged an uneasy look, but remained silent. The gorge was deep, and wreaths of smoke from the volcano, yellow and sluggish, were coiling through it.”
“Hello, you dubs!” presently came a shrill voice out of the abyss. “Ain’t yer got no elevator in dis joint? Does yer haul yer patrons up wid a rope? Well, I’s a comin’, anyway; so stick de ham-an’-eggs inter de saucepan an’ a go uv lager on de side! I’s bringin’ me hunger wid me!”
“I see it now!” whispered Asgar; “give me a stone—ah, you missed it! What is it—a goblin? It climbs like a beetle!”