A rush of madness swept me as I saw that tiny mound. A kick of the toe of my shoe would crush it. Kill Togaro and all his men in there. But the madness passed. For all I knew, father might be in there. And the rock certainly was down in there. If I stamped, that tiny grain of rock would be forever lost. And a hundred thousand Mitan refugees were in it, waiting for Drake to return to them with help! Other walls closed in around us. The giants were obviously outside of them. A floor became apparent--a floor of earth and sand, and near by there was a vast spread of uneven wood. As we grew, it shrank to planking. A void of darkness was beyond it. No, not darkness! A patch of silver sheen. Water, off there. Water, with moonlight on it; water, lapping gently under this planking on which we were now standing. Dawning recognition was coming to us. The rough boards; walls; this ceiling close over us, with timbered beams; this archway, with shining water beyond it--it was the interior of our own boathouse on the shore of King's Cove! It was night--a calm, placid night of moonlight on the water. The boathouse was empty, save for ourselves as at last, in a normal size to earth, we stood in a corner. Our dory was gone. The slip of water here was vacant. Outside the boathouse we heard the throng of Togarites tramping about the cove! CHAPTER XXIX _The Theft of the Rock_ It was the night of May 14 when Alt had come from the rock with his white flag of truce, and had taken me back into the atom with him. Togaro had been lurking outside; he had got into our guarded room. He had ridden me into smallness. Alt and I had not been aware of him. Father and Foley, watching us dwindle upon our journey, had not seen him. But he was there; and he had leaped off me--small as an insect--and escaped. I have recounted the incident. It was in the caldron valley, not far below the upper surface of the rock fragment. I have described how we met a Togaro giant, who apparently was on his way out. It seems obvious to me now that Togaro, when he was hidden upon me during that hour or so while Alt and I made the first stage of our inward journey, had been able to overhear our conversation. I recall that I told Alt then how I had arranged with father that, coming back, we would use a black and white flag as a signal. As a matter of fact, Togaro also was probably within our guarded room when father, Foley and I had discussed it. He knew, then, about the flag. He escaped from Alt and me, in the caldron. He had seen and recognized his follower--had been clinging to me when we encountered and fought the giant. That fellow was on his way out, looking for Togaro, very probably, to see why the master was delayed all those months. There must have been near by other Togarites with him upon the journey, and Togaro escaped from us in order to join them.