y got hold of the _Elephant's Child_, they might do it. He
couldn't let them succeed ... but then the crew was going to blow up the
ship in two hours.

Two hours!

Pinkham's mind beat wildly at the prison of lethargy and dimmed
consciousness. How long had he lain here? Where _was_ he lying? Did the
giants, the djinn, have him? And Circe?

Circe. Making the most intense and painful effort of his life, Pink
dragged his eyes open and tried to sit up. He had to find Circe.

He saw nothing, and there was a weight on him that held him flat on his
back. Either his lamp was broken, or he was blind.

Sensibly, though it cost him untold hell to be sensible, Pink lay
quietly until he felt all his faculties under control. Then he made an
abrupt and violent attempt to sit up. Whatever it was that was holding
him down rolled off. He managed to get to his knees, one hand on the
rock beneath him, and then arms were thrown around him and a body
pressed against his.

The horror of absolute blackness and the unknown predicament he was in
proved just a little too much for him. Captain Pinkham gave a loud, long
scream of fear.

CHAPTER XX

"What is it?" asked Circe, her voice wild with fright. "Pink, darling,
what is it? Are you hurt?"

It was Circe who was holding him. Sobbing with relief, he said into the
radio, "No, no, baby, I'm fine, I'm wonderful."

Her answering cry was a tiny sound of joy and affection. "I wish I could
kiss you," she said, "but there are two spacesuits in the way."

He found her hand and squeezed it hard. "I wish I could see you,
Smitty," he said, "but either I'm blind or--"

"Oh, I should have told you at once. I turned off our chest-lamps."

"But where are we?"

"Not far from where you fell." Her hand was a comfort in his, as much so
as a squad of Space Marines marching down to greet them would have been.
"You flew past me like a kicked football, Pink, and I veered off to see
if you were okay. When you fell and didn't move, the first thing I did
was snap off the lamps. About a second afterwards, the giants went past.
They have a weird kind of glow in the dark. I think they could have seen
us--certainly they don't exist blind in this ink-pool--but there's a
ridge of rock and we were pretty well hidden behind it. I dragged you
about forty feet and found this hole and we've been lying here ever
since."

"The others," he said, remembering.

"I've been in touch with Daley all the time. He a