“It’s hardly necessary,” Jud asserted, unruffled. “Don’t get so excited! If Att wants Arkilu, he certainly won’t drop things on the palace. And we can defend the palace against all the Roies in Vairkingi.”
“But not against magic slingshots,” replied the earth-man.
“Perhaps not,” the noble said with a crafty smile; “but we shall see. Now I go to prepare the defense. You are at liberty to come with us, if you will, or putter around your tubes if you had rather. Good-by.”
“Shift for yourselves then!” Myles shouted after him, and frantically resumed his work. His attempt to get the plane by stratagem had failed. Perhaps Jud did not know anything about the plane after all. It would be typical of him.
Myles had plenty of sets of grids, plates, and filaments all prepared. Also plenty of long tubes of pyrex glass. All that remained necessary was to coat the platinum elements with magnesium, fuse them into the tube, exhaust the air by the water method as before, seal the tube, and his radio set would be complete.
“Where is Quivven?” he wrote to Doggo. “She ought to be here helping with this.”
“On her way from the palace,” the ant-man replied. “I radio-phoned her there.”
Presently she entered, and jauntily inquired what all the excitement was about. Myles explained as briefly as possible.
Her only answer was to shrug her golden shoulders and remark, “Tipi is a little fool. He can have me if he can get me.”
Then she took her seat at the workbench.