As Flick started to say, you told us about him. What I mean is that you’ve been thinking about him right along and we’re able to tune our minds to yours without much trouble. It’s something on the order of what you’d call telepathic power, I believe. But it’s simply an exchange of thought messages, which we’ve taken great pride in doing for a long, long while.” He chuckled, then added, “However we don’t overdo it, Steve, for fear we’ll lose the use of our voices. Now let’s talk about Flame. While we were watching you ride him this morning we …”

“Y—you mean you know about Flame too? You were in the valley this morning?”

“Yes to both questions, Steve,” Jay replied. “As Flick mentioned a few minutes ago, we were concerned about your having seen us. Naturally, we thought it best to check up on you.” He straightened his black string tie and smiled, hoping to relieve Steve’s anxiety. “Of course everything is all right, perfectly all right now. It’s just that we didn’t know what to expect.”

Flick nodded his cropped head in full agreement, and Jay went on, “But let’s talk about the horses, Steve. Flame is a very beautiful animal and you sit him well.”

“Can’t you get your mind off horses, Jay?” Flick asked in a bored tone. “That’s all I’ve heard from you since we arrived.”

“I’m sorry but that’s the way I feel about the subject,” Jay answered brusquely. “My interest in horses is nothing new, as you very well know.”

“I know. I know,” Flick said resignedly. “You certainly have a well-balanced mind, ninety percent horse, I’d say. I should have known better than …” He stopped abruptly, and raised the lantern to Jay’s face. Then he went on, “It’s just occurred to me, Jay, that you might have known there were horses on this island when you picked our landing site. After all you were at the controls at the time.”

“Oh, no, Flick,” Jay said, hurt. “This is just as much of a surprise to me as it is to you.”

“How did you get in here?” Steve interrupted the argument.

Jay smiled. “Oh, we have means of leaving the ship,” he replied casually. “You’ve seen us.”

Steve thought of the cruisers they’d mentioned. Even now one of those slender objects must be somewhere within the barrier walls of Azul Island … probably in the smaller valley near the sea entrance.

Flick came around Jay to join in the discussion. “And then of course we followed you into the tunnels, when you went to look at our ship again. We stopped to rest when we came to this chamber, knowing you’d return presently.”

“That was your idea,” Jay said bitterly. “I wanted to go ahead and surprise Steve.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Steve spoke up.

Flick said, “We’d better be getting back now, Jay. I’m sure it must be very late.”

“Julian is there. He’ll take care of things.”

“But it’s our job,” Flick insisted. “The others won’t like it.”

“We’re late now, so they’re angry already,” Jay answered. “A few minutes more won’t change things.” He turned to Steve. “I’d like a cup of tea, Steve.