“Then,” said Tony doggedly, “I’ll try to persuade her to marry me. It isn’t that I’m too damned moral, but I don’t think I’d like bought kisses, however legal the transaction might be in this country.”
“And—and if she would not marry you?” asked the Queen.
Tony looked at Ghail. Her face was crimson, and though there was no perceptible softening in her expression, her eyes showed distinct satisfaction.
“If she wouldn’t marry me,” said Tony shrewdly, “then—I guess I’d have to take an interest in music. After all, I understand that Esir and Esim have pretty good voices.”
The satisfaction vanished from Ghail’s expression. Fury came back.
“I thought,” she observed in detached scorn, “that you would not care for purchased kisses.”
“But I didn’t buy Esir and Esim,” said Tony. “They were gifts. That’s different!”
Then he ducked. A dark shadow flashed past overhead, so close that it seemed almost to touch the sun deck. It was the monstrous body of a roc, soaring swiftly downward from the sky. It touched ground almost directly before the leading elephant, shivered, and became a twelve-foot djinn in what was probably the djinnian air-force uniform. He raced toward the elephant litter.
“Majesty!” he bellowed. “Enemy djinns sighted twelve o’clock overhead! Closing fast!”
Tony reacted swiftly. He bellowed for Abdul and roared for a ladder. Instead, the gigantic trunk of the rear elephant swung around and held itself invitingly ready. Tony scrambled on board. Abdul bounced out of his litter in a wild leap, turned into something unusual on the way to the earth, and landed with a splashing of sand. He arose, himself again.