“First,” he remarked, “we must eat, and then sleep. Nature can go very little farther.”
They lunched from the supplies left in the gliders, and then stretched out beneath the undergrowth. Joan thought she would never sleep again because of the nervous strain but in this she was mistaken. She was, in fact, the first to close her eyes.
They were awakened by a loud chirping of crickets and a whizzing sound in the air. Moawha started to jump up excitedly but Epworth stopped her.
“No,” he commanded in a low voice, “lie still. We may be discovered.” Moawha burst out into tears.
“What is the matter?” Joan asked solicitously.
“The crickets are coming out of the caverns in swarms to attack my people.”
She pointed upward. When Joan looked up she saw a black cloud sweeping down from above and shooting far out over the land.
“They are all armed,” Epworth observed thoughtfully, “and to——”
“Get to my people we will have to pass through them, over them or around them,” Moawha finished, and then added naively: “May I not expect you two gallant soldiers to aid me in defending my people?”
“You can sure count on me,” Billy asserted quickly. “I am for you, Moawha, as long as there is life in my body.”