Though I knew it was deception, it shot a pang through me nevertheless; and it must have struck at Togaro with a surge of emotion. Whatever alertness to his surroundings he had had was gone. He put out a hand and seized her by the shoulder. "Hate me? Why--" She swayed toward him and was in his arms. But she struggled a little. "Togaro, how dare you! Don't you dare--" There is no man who can yield up a woman when she struggles like that. I thought that over his shoulder she had shot me another glance. I darted forward. Dianne was fighting with Togaro. Playfully--but she saw me coming, and she changed. Gripped him by the face, with one of her small hands over his mouth. Then she lunged, flung herself upon him. The attack knocked him sidewise. He fell upon one arm. For an instant she held her hand over his mouth against all his surprised effort to tear it away. In that instant I was upon them. I did not dare fling the rock. Togaro saw me coming. With a lunge he cast off Dianne, and half rose to meet me. We went down together. He was far stronger than I; and though I landed on top of him, he rolled me over. I was aware of Dianne plucking at us, striving to impede Togaro as we fought. The rock was still in my hand, but Togaro had my arm pinned. He fought silently, then he let out a bellow. The camp took it up, and the uproar surged toward us. I was underneath him, and his hands went to my throat. But that released my arm. I struck upward with the chunk of rock. It must have hit him a glancing blow on the head. He relaxed; slumped, a dead weight upon me. I squirmed out from under him. "Frank, this way!" Dianne seized me. The alarm was spreading over all this section of the camp. Men were running toward us. We dashed away into the trees. "Wait--here, take this, Dianne." We took the drug; ran on through the underbrush, dodging the firelight. The scene expanded. The shouting in the camp faded into a dim muffled roar overhead, and then was gone. CHAPTER XXVI _The Black and White Flags_ "It Seems so strange, Dianne, our being alone together." "Strange, Frank?" Her laugh was like the pealing of little fairy bells. "Strange? Why, when we were children we were together nearly all the time." Six years now since I had been alone with Dianne. She had been my sister. We were alone now in the abyss--I was very conscious of how alone we were. We sat by a rock, resting. We had found a pool of water. This was our first stopping since we had escaped from Togaro. We had no food, but we felt that we could get out of the rock fragment to father before the need of it would be serious. We had encountered no Togarites. This vast abyss--these endless mountains, cañons and caverns of rock--seemed able to hold friends and enemies innumerable, and yet never force them together.