zed. From
somewhere behind him a set of talons snatched out and ripped through
the back of his shirt. He kicked blindly and felt his foot crunch into
something which shrieked. "Fly, Phoenix!" he sobbed. The Phoenix was
already in the air and needed no encouragement. They heard raucous
cries and the thunder of wings behind them. David looked back over his
shoulder. The Gryffons were rising from the ground in pursuit, their
legs drawn up under them and their wings beating. "Faster!" he
screamed.

[Illustration]

"You have seen nothing in the way of flying until now, my boy," the
Phoenix shouted back. "Watch this!" Its wings were two blurs slicing
through the air and roaring like kettledrums. The ground below
streamed backwards. David looked back again. The Gryffons were falling
into the distance. Their cries were getting fainter. Now they looked
like a flock of starlings ... now like a cluster of flies ... now
like gnats. And then they had faded out of sight, and David and the
Phoenix were streaking over the grassland alone.

Ten minutes later they reached a shore and landed. They flopped on the
sand, panting. And David, suddenly feeling very faint, closed his eyes
and put his head between his knees. After they had got their breath,
the Phoenix patted David on the shoulder and said huskily:

"I congratulate you, my boy. Your plan was magnificent--precisely what
_I_ should have done, had I thought of it first. Needless to say, we
shall not go on looking for the Gryffins. But now you know exactly
what they are like: midway in size between the Gryffens and Gryffons,
and reddish in color. Most amiable souls, willing to do anything for
anyone. It is hard to believe that they are all related. But enough,
my boy. Let us go home."

As soon as they reached the ledge, the Phoenix put David down and
prepared to take off again.

"Where are you going, Phoenix?" David asked.

"Some business to attend to, my boy."

Muttering under its breath something that sounded like "tail feathers,
indeed!" the Phoenix soared off. And David, stiff and sore and
thoroughly tired, started down the mountainside for home.

5: _In Which the Scientist Arrives in Pursuit of the Phoenix, and
There Are Alarums and Excursions by Night_

[Illustration]

The lights downstairs were all on when David got home, and as soon as
he opened the front door he could tell that they had company.

He shouted, "I'm home!" and sneezed. The dust from the