The wading giant had also gone that way. The messenger had said that
Reaf was deserted, that giants were there. Evidently Reaf was the place
at which these giants first appeared. Evidently it was the point of
entrance and departure for them into and out of this realm. Leela and
Frannie were being taken to Reaf. . . .
Martt's heart leaped. An idea was forming in his mind. A plan--a mad,
reckless plan. But it seemed possible of success. . . . He thought of
the vehicle. It would be of no use against these giants. It was too
unwieldy. Besides, shut up in it one could not attack. And when they
stopped it to disembark, the giants would overwhelm it. Or, if at the
moment it was too gigantic for them, then they would escape before
the occupants of the vehicle could get out to stop them. . . . And
besides, the vehicle was too precious--no chances like that should be
taken with it.
Martt told himself that he must get Brett to hide the vehicle. Guard it
somehow. . . .
A mad idea, this plan he was pondering. . . . They came to the
lagoon-mouth; and here, to crystallize Martt's plan, to make it seem
feasible--here lay a small sailboat, deserted by its owner. It lay,
half pulled up on the sand, around the bend of the lagoon.
"Zee! Stop! Wait! I want to talk to you."
Zee had been bounding ahead of him. She stopped, waited, faced him. He
was breathless.
"That sailboat," he said. "It's one of the fast kind, isn't it?"
"Yes." She regarded it. "Yes. Very fast."
It was no more than a shell. A flat, spoon-shaped affair, with a small
cockpit just large enough for two; and it had a very tall, flexible
mast, and an overlarge crescent sail. The sail was flapping. Out on the
lake the wind had risen. It was blowing directly toward Reaf.
"Zee, listen--could you sail that boat?"
"Oh, yes."
"You could handle it in that wind out there?"
"Yes. Of course."
"And it would go--how fast, Zee?"
"You mean--to Reaf?" She was as excited as he.
"Yes. To Reaf. We could get there. Go after them. Cautiously. We could
hide before we got there. I've a plan----"
"How long to Reaf?" She pondered. "Three--what you call hours. We go
fast in a wind like that."
"Yes. That's it. Fast. Three hours. Zee, listen. Reaf must be where
the giants go to leave for their own world. They're taking Frannie
and Leela there. You see? And if we can get there--get into Reaf"--he
gestured--"Zee, if they--those giants are very big, then we to them are
small. Tiny. And it's quite dark. It would be dark in the caverns near
Reaf--the houses there near the subterranean rivers. We would be so
small the giants might not see us."
He drew a long breath. "My plan, Zee, is to get in there, hide, and
find a giant from whom we can steal the drugs. With the drugs----"
She was trembling with excitement. No fear now. Reckless as only youth
can be. "Oh Martt, if we could get the drugs! Brett said the giants
must be using drugs. And make ourselves larger than the giants----"
"Yes. Then I can fight them. Rescue Leela and Frannie. We've got to do
it. Bring Leela and Frannie safely back. We'll say, 'Here they are,
Brett.' But if we wait, if we stop now it will be too late."
Before Martt's eyes was the vision of himself and Zee returning
victoriously with the rescued girls. And with the drugs in his
possession. There would be no danger then. The giants, knowing the
drugs were stolen, would not dare remain. . . . They would all escape
up into their own world. . . .
"Will you do it, Zee? Shall we go?"
"Yes."