ll stay here with Diane," he told Harkness. And Harkness accepted
the order as he would from one who was in command.

"It's up to you now," he told Chet. "I'll stay here and hold the fort.
You're running the job from now on."

But the pilot only nodded. Herr Kreiss was sputtering a barrage of how's
and why's; he demanded to know why his success in so hazardous a trip
should have this result.

But Chet Bullard did not answer. He walked slowly away, his eyes on the
ground, as one who is trying to plan; driving his thoughts in an effort
to find some escape from a danger that seemed to hover threateningly.

CHAPTER XV

_Terrors of the Jungle_

Towahg had learned the names of these white-skinned ones who came down
from whatever heaven was pictured in his rudimentary mind. His
pronunciation of them was peculiar: it had not been helped any by reason
of Diane's having been his teacher. Her French accent was delightful to
hear, but not helpful to a Dark Moon ape-man who was grappling with
English.

But he knew them by name, using always the French "Monsieur," and when
Chet repeated: "Monsieur Kreiss--he go," pointing through the jungle,
and followed this with the command: "Towahg go! Me go!" the ape-man's
unlovely face drew into its hideous grin and he nodded his head
violently to show that he understood.

Chet gripped a hand each if Harkness and Diane and clung to them for a
moment. Below their knoll the white morning mist drifted eerily toward
the lake; the knoll was an island and they three the only living
creatures in a living world. It was the first division of their little
force, the first parting where any such farewell might be the last. The
silence hung heavily about them.

"Au 'voir," Diane said softly; "and take no chances. Come back here and
we'll win or lose together."

"Blue skies," was Walt Harkness' good-by in the language of the flyer;
"blue skies and happy landings!"

And Chet, before the shrouding mist swallowed him up, replied in kind.

"Lifting off!" he announced as if his ship were rising beneath him, "and
the air is cleared. I'll drop back in four days if I'm lucky."

Towahg was waiting, curled up for warmth in the hollow of a great tree's
roots. Like all the ape-men he was sullen and taciturn in the chill of
the morning. Not until the sun warmed him would he become his customary
self. But he grunted when Chet repeated his instructions, "Monsieur
Kreiss, he go! Now Towahg go too--go