“This plan will oblige us to pass the villages again,” objected Moit, “and that will mean a fight.”
“Not necessarily. The country is level there, and we can dash by at full speed, before they know we are coming.”
It really seemed the only practical thing to do; so we decided to get as near to the king’s village as possible without danger of being observed, and then wait until daylight to regain the river.
I kept watch through the telescope as we bowled along over the smooth meadows; and when, just at dusk, I sighted the distant enclosure, we came to a halt.
While Nux and Bry cooked us a good supper the rest of us got out of the car and strolled to the brook to stretch our limbs. I felt that “three was a crowd” and let Duncan and Ilalah walk by themselves. They wandered so far and were so deeply occupied by their own interesting conversation that when the meal was ready I jumped into the machine and ran it over to where they were sitting side by side on the bank of the brook.
It was easy enough to do, for I had watched Moit very carefully; but the inventor was not at all pleased with what he called my “infernal meddling,” and told me to keep my hands off his property thereafter.
When darkness came on and it was time to sleep I proposed rigging up a little room in the front of the car for Ilalah by suspending blankets from the dome to the floor. In this way the princess would have all the seclusion of a private apartment. But Duncan protested that he had no intention of sleeping while we were in so dangerous a position, and Ilalah very promptly decided to sit up with him and keep him company.
So there was no need for the rest of us to do more than lie down and go to sleep, an undertaking which we accomplished with much satisfaction.