Neither of the four stirred.  To all appearances they were fast asleep.  The room was quite still; only the clock ticked dully on the wall.  Down-stairs, the doctor’s wife kept watch over the house.

The greatest marvel in creation, the human mind, was exploring the unknown.

II

ALMOST HUMAN

Of course, the four still had the ability to communicate with each other while in the trance state; they had developed this power to a fair degree while investigating Capellette.  However, each was so deeply interested in what he or she was seeing during the first hour of their Sanusian experiences that neither thought to discuss the matter until afterward.

When the doctor first made connection with the eyes of his agent, he instinctively concluded that he, at least, had got in touch with a being more or less like himself.  The whole thing was so natural; he was surveying a sunny, brush-covered landscape from eyes whose height from the ground, and other details, were decidedly those of a human.

For a moment there was comparative silence.  Then his unknown agent swiftly raised something—­a hand, presumably—­to a mouth, and gave out a piercing cry.  Whereupon the doctor learned something that jarred him a trifle.  His agent was—­a woman!

He had time to congratulate himself upon the fact that he was (1) a doctor, (2) a married man, (3) the father of a daughter or two, before his agent repeated her cry.  Almost immediately it was answered by another exactly like it, from an unseen point not far away.  The Sanusian plainly chuckled to herself with satisfaction.

A moment later there came, rather faintly, two more calls, each from a different direction in the dun-colored brush.  Still without moving from the spot, the doctor’s agent replied two or three times, meanwhile watching her surroundings very closely.  Within half a minute the first of her friends came in sight.

It was a young woman.  At a distance of about twenty yards she appeared to be about five feet tall and sturdily built.  She was dressed in a single garment, made of the skin of some yellow, short-haired animal.  It may have been a lion cub.  Around her waist was a strip of hide, which served as a belt, and held a small, stone-headed tomahawk.  One shoulder and both legs were left quite bare, revealing a complexion so deeply tanned that the doctor instantly thought:  “Spanish!”

In a way, the girl’s face gave the same impression.  Large, dark-brown eyes, full lips and a healthy glow beneath her tan, all made it possible for her to pass as a Spaniard.  However, there was nothing in the least coquettish about her; she had a remarkably independent manner, and a gaze as frank and direct as it was pure and untroubled.

In one hand she carried a branch from some large-leafed shrub.  The eyes which Kinney was using became fixed upon this branch; and even as the newcomer cried out in joyous response to the other’s greeting, her expression changed and she turned and fled, laughing, as the doctor’s agent darted toward her.  She did not get away, and immediately the two were struggling over the possession of the branch.