"Guthrie! Do you really mean we can see it?"

"Sure. I did it a bit roughly, but I'm hoping for under two thousand miles and two or three periods a night. Even when it isn't catching any sunlight, that beacon ought to show. Dimmer than Yiv, maybe, but moving and easy to spot."

With the flashlight, making their way through the woods took less time. They were half-way across a grassy plain when Polf exclaimed and pointed to the sky. Guthrie whooped.

"There's a moon for tonight!" he yelled. "And every night, for quite some time, until the pulls of the real ones spoil its orbit."

He felt so good that he threw an arm about Karen's waist. It must have felt good to her, too, for instead of pulling away, she leaned closer.

"They'll wait now, won't they?" she asked. "I mean, unless there's no moon.... Wait till George finds out what you've done for him!"

"I don't know why I'm so good to him when I like the Skirkhi better," said Guthrie. "Of course, we can't explain until I think up a suitably rotten excuse, or it would ruin my reputation with them!"

They stood motionless for a few minutes, watching the bright light creep perceptibly along its path in the heavens.

"Is it Yiv?" asked Kror, puzzled. "It should not be, now."

"Gah!" exclaimed Polf. "You mud-head! Of course, it is not Yiv. Our Gut'rie has made a new moon. Be grateful to Polf for bringing you, for we shall be big in the village after this!"

He looked proudly at Guthrie. The latter turned off the flashlight to see if the sky were actually beginning to show a pre-dawn lightening.

"We will be very big," Polf repeated. "Are we not friends of the evilest spirit of them all?" 

 Prev. P 18/18