"Go away," he heard her call in an unsteady voice; "please go away and leave me alone."
"Tabak, listen," he said. "You didn't mean me? You weren't talking about me when you said—" His voice trailed off. Confound it, that didn't sound at all the way he wanted it to.
There was something suspiciously like a sob from beyond the door.
"No!" Tabak said in a muffled voice. "Of course not!"
Jupiter felt suddenly very foolish. Without another word, he turned on his heel, strode from the passage.
Two days later the web-birds came—tiny black specks wheeling around and around in the sky like vultures drawn by carrion. Jupiter stood in the control blister and scowled up at them.
He was worried about Reiloc and the cave girl who should have returned yesterday. Maybe he'd better not wait any longer. He was turning away to call Tabak, when a wild clamor broke loose from stem to stern of the Mizar as the alarm bell began to ring. Jupiter's head jerked up! The black specks were plummeting Yogol-wards, diving like kingfishers.
Then he saw Lete break from the encircling jungle, sprint for the ship. The cave girl was alone. There was no sign of Reiloc anywhere.
Jupiter yelled down the tube to Tabak: "Open the port! Quick!"