going to help us!"

Kirby turned to Naida, while a soothing sensation crept through him from
the draught he had taken.

"Pray tell me what it is that I am to be permitted to do for you. I
can promise you that the whole of my life and strength, and such
intelligence as I possess, is yours to command."

* * * * *

Excited small cries and a clapping of hands answered him. As for Naida,
her face lighted with glowing joy.

"Oh, one who could say that, _must_ be the friend and protector of whom
we have stood in such bitter need!"

"What," asked Kirby, "is this need which made one of you cut my rope, so
that I should come here?"

A momentary silence was broken only by the hum of insects in the
perfumed air, and by the golden thrilling of a bird back in the jungle.
Then Kirby beheld Naida bowing to him.

"So be it," she said in a voice low and flutelike. "I will speak now
since you request it. Already you have seen that you are here in our
world because we conspired amongst ourselves to bring you here. Our
reason--"

She paused, looked deep into his eyes.

"Amigo," she continued slowly, "we whom you see here are the People of
the Temple. For more centuries than even our sages can tell, our
progenitors have dwelt here, where you find us, knowing always of your
outer world, but remaining always unknown by it. But now the time has
come when those of us who are left amongst our race need the help of one
from the outer races we have shunned. Dangers of various orders confront
us who have waited here for your coming. When we first discovered you in
the Valley of the Geyser, the idea came to me that we must make you
understand our troubles, and ask of you--"

But then she stopped.

As Kirby stared at her, the gentleness of her expression was replaced by
a swift strength which made her majestic.

The next moment bedlam reigned upon the beach.

"_They are after us!_" gasped one of the girls in terror. "Quick, Naida!
Quick! Quick!"

* * * * *

Whatever it was that threatened, Naida did not need to be told that the
need for action was pressing. She shouted at her companions some order
which Kirby did not understand. From a pouch at her side, she snatched
out a greyish, spherical vegetable substance which looked almost like a
tennis ball. Then she braced herself as if to withstand an assault.

"Stand back!" she cried to Kirby.

He had long ago ceased to w