und close to hear
my replies, and there were many expressions of incredulity as I spoke
of what was to them another world, of the yacht which had brought me
over vast waters, and of the plane that had borne me Jo-oo-like over
the summit of the barrier-cliffs. It was the mention of the
hydroaeroplane which precipitated the first outspoken skepticism, and
then Ajor came to my defense.

"I saw it with my own eyes!" she exclaimed. "I saw him flying through
the air in battle with a Jo-oo. The Alus were chasing me, and they saw
and ran away."

"Whose is this she?" demanded Al-tan suddenly, his eyes fixed fiercely
upon Ajor.

For a moment there was silence. Ajor looked up at me, a hurt and
questioning expression on her face. "Whose she is this?" repeated
Al-tan.

"She is mine," I replied, though what force it was that impelled me to
say it I could not have told; but an instant later I was glad that I
had spoken the words, for the reward of Ajor's proud and happy face was
reward indeed.

Al-tan eyed her for several minutes and then turned to me. "Can you
keep her?" he asked, just the tinge of a sneer upon his face.

I laid my palm upon the grip of my pistol and answered that I could.
He saw the move, glanced at the butt of the automatic where it
protruded from its holster, and smiled. Then he turned and raising his
great bow, fitted an arrow and drew the shaft far back. His warriors,
supercilious smiles upon their faces, stood silently watching him. His
bow was the longest and the heaviest among them all. A mighty man
indeed must he be to bend it; yet Al-tan drew the shaft back until the
stone point touched his left forefinger, and he did it with consummate
ease. Then he raised the shaft to the level of his right eye, held it
there for an instant and released it. When the arrow stopped, half its
length protruded from the opposite side of a six-inch tree fifty feet
away. Al-tan and his warriors turned toward me with expressions of
immense satisfaction upon their faces, and then, apparently for Ajor's
benefit, the chieftain swaggered to and fro a couple of times, swinging
his great arms and his bulky shoulders for all the world like a drunken
prize-fighter at a beach dancehall.

I saw that some reply was necessary, and so in a single motion, I drew
my gun, dropped it on the still quivering arrow and pulled the trigger.
At the sound of the report, the Kro-lu leaped back and raised their
weapons; but as I was