"What do we do now?" Puffy asked in a tense whisper. "What I want to know first," Drake said wonderingly, "is who saved us from Lardner's mob?" "Whoever it was," Adams offered, "he'll never escape them alive." Soft footsteps came from behind them. "But you are wrong!" Drake pivoted, and faced the same man whom he had met in the apartment that night he lost the fur. The man who brought his last message from Sylvia Fanton. "You see," the man went on quietly, "I am not your enemy. I asked you to stay out of this, but I could not desert you." Drake's face was lighted in a relieved smile. His hand gripped the other's. "Now you have saved our life, why did you do it?" "Because," the man said simply, "you are human and you are good. Sylvia Fanton asked me to help you, and I am her brother." Puffy Adams sat down abruptly on the cave floor. "And I," he said unbelievingly, "am the keeper of Cinderella Drake, the sap who still looks for the silver slipper." "But Sylvia is no fox woman," Drake protested. "She's too warm, too human!" For a moment there was silence. Then a warm smile lighted the stranger's eyes. "We are all human," he said. "We are early settlers who came to this valley and sought its sanctuary. Only the curse of George Lardner has spoiled our paradise and driven us into animal form. Perhaps you will see...." * * * * * He looked hurriedly at the light that was growing dimmer above them. The rainbow had faded swiftly and darkness was coming down on the cavern. "I am Silvaris, King of the Fox People," he said swiftly. "On the Flaming Diamond depends our ability to exist. Night is almost upon us again, but unless the diamond can be restored to the paw of the bear, there will be no more night or day." "But you have it!" Drake protested. "Lardner came here to get it back again...." "Lardner came by mistake to this valley six months ago," Silvaris said brokenly. "We welcomed him as we welcome all people. He betrayed our trust and stole our life source. We took him to our hearts as Sylvia and I were taken many years ago." "Then you aren't really of the same race?" Drake's voice was filled with relief. Silvaris shook his head. "We are here by our own choice," he went on. "Sylvia and I, lost children, found our way here from a trapper's cabin when we were very young. We never tried to leave. When Lardner stole our precious gem, she and I alone knew the ways of civilization. It was our task to return the stone to its rightful place." "If that diamond is the solution of this mess," Puffy asked in a puzzled voice, "why don't we clean up the mystery right now?" "Wait!" Silvaris went slowly down the long steps to the fox pit. He climbed the steps to the side of the polar bear and his sister's lifeless body. From her armpit, he took a huge gem. As he came toward them, Drake knew it was the Lardner stone, flashing and alive in the semi-darkness. He pushed it into Drake's hands.