Larry had no desire to dispute the assumption, nor had Diane. They stood there as people might in the imminence of the supernatural, awaiting they knew not what.
Swiftly the water receded.
Now it was scarcely up to their waists, now plashing about their ankles, and now the room was empty.
The next moment, there sounded a rush of feet—and down the gallery came a swarm of the strangest beings any of them had ever seen.
They were short, thin, almost emaciated, with pale, pinched faces and pasty, half-naked bodies. But they shimmered with ornaments of gold and jade, like some strange princes from the realm of Neptune—or rather, like Aztec chieftains of the days of Cortes, thought Larry.
Blinking in the glare of the searchlights, they clamored around their captives, touching their pressure-suits half in awe and chattering among themselves.
Then one of them, larger and more regally clad than the rest, stepped up and gestured toward the balcony.
“They obviously desire us to accompany them above,” said the professor, “and quite as obviously we have little choice in the matter, so I suggest we do so.”
“Check!” said Larry.