"Lylda will fail. Her venture to-day will make matters immeasurably worse."
"You're right," agreed the Big Business Man. "We should have realized."
"So you see we cannot make ourselves large and recapture Loto by force. They would anticipate us and kill him."
"Then what shall we do?" demanded the Doctor. "We must do something."
"That we must decide carefully, for we must make no more mistakes. But we can do nothing at this moment. The lives of all of us are threatened. We must not allow ourselves to become separated. We must wait here for Lylda. Reoh and Aura must stay with us. Then we can decide how to rescue Loto and what to do after that. But we must keep together."
"Jack ought to be here by now," said the Big Business Man. "I hope Reoh and Aura come with him."
For over an hour they waited, and still the Very Young Man did not come. They had just decided to send Oteo to see what had become of him and to bring down Reoh and his daughter, when Lylda unexpectedly returned. It was Eena, standing at one of the side windows, who first saw her mistress. A cry from the girl brought them all to the window. Far away beyond the city they could see the gigantic figure of Lylda, towering several hundred feet in the air.
As she came closer she seemed to stop, near the outskirts of the city, and then they saw her dwindling in size until she disappeared, hidden from their view by the houses near at hand.
In perhaps half an hour more she reappeared, picking her way carefully down the deserted street towards them. She was at this time about forty feet tall. At the corner, a hundred yards away from them a little group of people ran out, and, with shouts of anger, threw something at her as she passed.
She stooped down towards them, and immediately they scurried for safety out of her reach.