"So high? Oh, it will be dangerous," she cried. "Please do not go up in it, Carson." "It will be very safe," I assured her, "much safer than incurring the dangers of the forests on foot. No savage beasts or men can harm the voyager in an airship." "But think of being 'way up above the trees!" she said with a little shudder. "I shall fly even higher than that," I told her. "I shall fly over the loftiest mountains." "But you will never fly over the great trees of Amtor; I know that." She referred to the gigantic trees that raise their tips five thousand feet above the surface of Amtor to drink the moisture from the inner cloud envelope. "Yes; possibly I shall fly even above those," I replied, "though I will admit that flying blind in that solid bank of clouds does not appeal to me." She shook her head. "I shall be afraid every time I know that you are up in the thing." "Oh, no you won't, not after you are familiar with it. Some day soon I am going to take you up with me." "Not me!" "We could fly to Andoo," I said. "I have been thinking of that ever since I started to build the ship." "To Andoo!" she exclaimed. "Home! Oh, Carson, if we only could!" "But we can--that is if we can find Andoo. This ship will take us anywhere. If we could carry enough food and water we could stay in the air for fifty years, and it certainly wouldn't take that long to find Andoo." "I love it here in Havatoo," she said, musingly, "but after all, home is home. I want to see my own people, but I would like to come back to Havatoo again. That is, if--" "If what?" I asked. "If you are going to be here." * * * * * I reached across the table and pressed her hand. "We _have_ been pretty good friends, haven't we, Nalte? I should miss you terribly if I thought that I were not to see you again." "I think that you are the best friend I ever had," she said, and then she looked up at me quickly and laughed. "Do you know," she continued; but stopped suddenly and looked down, as a slight flush suffused her cheeks. "Do I know what?" I asked. "Well, I might as well confess. There was a long time that I thought that I loved you." "That would have been a great honor, Nalte." "I tried to hide it because I knew that you loved Duare; and now recently Ero Shan has been coming to see me, and I know that I did not know before what love was." "You love Ero Shan?" "Yes." "I am glad. He is a splendid fellow. I know you will both be happy." "That might be true but for one thing," she said. "And what is that?" "Ero Shan does not love me." "How do you know that he doesn't? I don't see how he could help it. If I had never known Duare--" "If he loved me he would tell me," she interrupted. "Sometimes I think that he believes that I belong to you. We came here together, you know, and we have been much together since. But what's the good in speculating! If he loved me he would not be able to hide it."