Gryffons' cave
still clung to him, tickling his nose.

"Well, here he is at last," said Dad's voice. "Come on in, David."
Then, as David walked into the living room, "Good heavens, Son, what's
happened to you?"

"Your _back_, David!" Mother said in a horrified voice. "Your poor
back! What _happened_ to you?"

[Illustration]

David felt himself. The back of his shirt was ripped to tatters, and
there were three lines of caked blood across his shoulders. He
remembered now: it was the Gryffon that had tried to grab him as he
and the Phoenix made their escape. But he had promised the Phoenix to
keep its secret.

He stammered, "I--I had an accident."

"And dust all _over_ you!" Mother went on.

"Well," said David desperately, "it was a _dusty_ accident."

"It seems to have been very dusty indeed," said a third voice. There
was a loud sneeze.

David's father jumped up. "You gave me such a shock when you came in
that I almost forgot, David. We have a guest." And he introduced David
to a very tall, thin man with a bald head. His face and neck were
burnt red by the sun, and he had on a pair of thick glasses which made
his pale eyes look immense. For some reason David took an instant
dislike to him, but he shook hands politely and said, "How do you do?"

"David, eh?" said the man. "Well, well. Are you a good boy, David?"

Of all the stupid questions in the world, that was the one David hated
most. He clenched his teeth and looked the other way.

"David, dear," said Mother with an awkward laugh, "I think you'd
better go upstairs and wash and change."

When David came into the living room again, the guest was talking
excitedly. "... completely unknown to man," he was saying. "It's the
discovery of the age. My name will be famous if I succeed in my
plans."

"How fascinating!" Mother said. "And to think of it happening right
here!"

"And it's huge," the guest said, "simply huge. And brilliantly
colored. For a scientist like myself, it's more than fascinating."

David was listening now. Scientist? _Scientist!_ His heart missed a
beat, and he choked. Oh, no, it couldn't be _the_ Scientist. _Or could
it?_

"David here spends all his time up on the mountain," his father said.
"Maybe he's seen it."

The guest turned his big, pale, unpleasant eyes on David. "Well,
David," he said, "maybe you can help me. Now, have you seen anything
unusual on the mountain?"

"Unusual?" said David unsteadily. There was a pain in hi