Lea and San understood what he was saying. They stood beside him, with faces white and solemn. He added: "But there seems little that we can do. There are no weapons here. We have no need in this age for any scientific weapons. I cannot travel in the tower--I am too old to stand the shock. San must always stay with it--to guard it. And so it all falls to Lea. She has passed through the different ages in the tower. There are weapons in the Past, of course. But I have not wanted Lea to stop. And Turber is very powerful, very elusive." Lea interrupted again. Powl said: "We know that Turber has a strong-hold in the year 2445 A.D." "Five hundred years in the future of my Time-world," said Alan. "Yes. Your city of New York is then about at its height. Turber is powerful there--impregnable. There is only one other Time in which Turber habitually stops. The year 1945. Lea went there. But it was foolish, we all realize now. As you know--she could accomplish nothing. And but for you, Turber would have had her!" Again Lea interrupted. Powl translated: "She wants me to say that now she will learn your Ancient English. There are so many dead languages--but she is very quick to learn--when interested." "Interested?" said Alan. His gaze went to Lea's eager face. A wave of color swept her; but her eyes remained level and she held out her hand. Its touch thrilled Alan. As though the clasp were sealing a compact; unspoken, but he could read her eyes and feel, surprisingly, the sudden answer in his own heart. San, too, held out his hand. Powl said: "My children find in you a friend--sorely needed." Again the old man's eyes flashed. "We have sworn that Turber will die. He has your sister, and your friend. Your own purpose--" "To get them back," said Alan. "But where is he? I don't think he will return to 1945. You say he is impregnable in 2445--" "Yes. But he is not there now. If he stops--in some earlier age, as we hope--then will be your opportunity." * * * * * A man came to the doorway of the room, spoke to Powl, and disappeared. Powl stood up. He said, with brisk energy: "The instruments are ready. Turber, we think, is still traveling in time. We will try, with your sister's cloak, to locate him as soon as he stops anywhere." They left the house, crossing the gardens toward an outbuilding in which was the instrument room. Alan's mind was tumultuous with his thoughts. This incredible catastrophe into which so unexpectedly he and those he loved had fallen! Alan had always been one to walk alone in life. He made few friends; his friendship for me, his love for Nanette--to these he could now add an emotion, as yet barely understood, his feeling for Lea.