"Maybe they'll be hostile."
The men edged forward. And at the moment they reached the edge of the pit, Hugo emerged from his fort. He saw the men with sudden fear. He tried to hide.
"Hey!" they said. He did not move, but he heard them scrambling slowly toward the spot where he lay.
"Dressed in civilized clothes," the first professor said in a loud voice as his eye located Hugo in the underbrush. "Hey!"
Hugo showed himself. "What?"
"Who are you?"
"Hugo Danner."
"Oh—old Danner's boy, eh?"
Hugo did not like the tone in which they referred to his father. He made no reply.
"Can you tell us anything about these ruins?"