ing us out before; I'll
bet he pumped his vocabulary dry on them this time."

CHAPTER XVII

_Hunted Down_

Work on the house was resumed. "And when it is done," said Diane with a
gay laugh, "Walter and I shall have our wedding day. Now you see why you
were wanted so badly, Chet; it was not that we worried for you, but only
that we feared the loss of the one person on the Dark Moon who could
perform a marriage ceremony."

"And I thought all along it was my clever carpenter work that had
captivated you," responded Chet, and tried to fit the splintered end of
a timber into a forked branch that made an upright post.

And each day the house took form, while the sun shone down with tropical
warmth where the work was going on.

Only Harkness and Chet were the builders. Diane's strength was not equal
to the task of cutting tough wood with a crude stone ax, and Herr
Kreiss, though willing enough to help when asked, was usually in his own
cave, busied with mysterious experiments of which he would tell nothing.

Towahg, their only remaining Helper, could not be held. Too wild for
restraint of any kind, he would vanish into the jungle at break of day
to reappear now and then as silently as a black shadow. But he kept them
all supplied with game and fruit and succulent roots which his wilder
brethren of the forest must have shown him were fit for food.

And then came an interruption that checked the work on the house, that
drained the brilliant sunshine of its warmth and light, and turned all
thoughts to the question of defense.

The two had been working on the roof, while Diane had returned to the
jungle for another of the big leaves. She carried her bow on such trips,
although the weeks had brought them a sense of security. But for Chet
this feeling of safety vanished in the instant that he heard Harkness'
half-uttered exclamation and saw him drop quickly to the ground.

* * * * *

Beyond him, coming through the green smother of grass that was now as
high as her waist, was Diane. Even at a distance Chet could see the
unnatural paleness of her face; she was running fast, coming along the
trail they had all helped to make.

Chet hit the ground on all fours and reached for the long bow with which
he had become so expert; then followed Harkness who was racing to meet
the girl.

"An ape!" she was saying between choking breaths when Chet reached them.
"An ape-man!" She was clinging