“That you might be of help to me,” he finished. “Well, perhaps you will. I hope so. You will do what you can to help, willingly or otherwise; that I know.” His voice was grimly menacing. And he laughed sardonically. “You are no fools, as you say. And Jane—” His glance went to her. “Perhaps, before we are through with this, you may even like me, Jane.”
Whatever was in his mind, it seemed to amuse him.
“Perhaps,” said Jane.
We three had had only a moment to talk together. There had been no possibility of escape. It was obvious to us that Tako was the leader of these invaders; and, whatever they were planning, our best chance to frustrate it was to appear docile. Safety for us—the possibility of later escaping—all of that seemed to lie in a course of docility. We would pretend friendliness; willingness to help.
Tako was not deceived. We knew that. Don, in those two or three hours we were with Tako before starting upon the transition, had said:
“But suppose we do help you in your scheme, whatever it is? There might be some reward for us, eh? If you plan a conquest, riches perhaps—”
Tako had laughed with genuine amusement. “So? You bargain? We are to be real friends—fellow conquerors? And you expect me to believe that?”
YET now he seemed half to like us. And there was Jane’s safety for which we were scheming. Tako had been interested in Jane. We knew that. Yet she was at first little more to him than one of the girl captives. He might have left her with those others. But she was with us now, to stay with us upon this journey, and it was far preferable.
“This way,” said Tako. “We will walk. It is not far to my encampment where they are preparing for the trip.”
It seemed that a vast open country was around us. A rocky, almost barren waste; a mountainous region of steep gray defiles, gorges and broken tumbled ravines. A void of darkness hung overhead. There were no stars, no moon, no light from above. Yet I seemed presently to see a great distance through the glowing deep twilight. The glow was inherent to the rocks themselves; and to the spare, stunted, gray-blue vegetation. It was a queerly penetrating, diffused, yet vague light everywhere. One could see a considerable distance by it. Dim colors were apparent.