"Ho ho," she said. "Do you want to hear the rest of this, or not?"
"Sorry," I said. "Go on."
"Well, there didn't seem to be anything else to do then, but to get out
of town, fast. I hadn't been spotted, yet. I guess my picture had only
just gotten onto the screen. So I hurried back to where that cave mouth
was, and the sugarfoot was still there, waiting for me."
"He does sound like an untipped bellboy at that," I remarked.
Snow ignored this, and continued. "Well, I went into the cave with
him. After all, getting eaten by a dragon has no worse end result than
getting hit with a collapser-bolt."
"The process is a bit more painful, though," I said.
"I took that chance," Snow said. "I had to. So I followed it for what
seemed miles of slippery tubular tunnels--knowing, and it scared me
stiff, that I'd never find my way out without a map--and it led me
here, where I met Clatclit."
"And where, by the way," I said, "are we?"
"Darned if I know," said Snow. "We're at present in a room off one of
those tunnels I mentioned. The sugarfeet have been wonderful, helping
you. Especially in bringing water for you; they're deathly scared of
the stuff."
"I would be, too, in their case," I said. "It'd be like toting around a
carboy of sulphuric acid."
"Well, anyhow, you're alive," she said, "and that's something. But as
for Ted--" her voice faltered.