The result that followed was as instantaneous as it was unexpected. No sooner had Toffee's voice split the air of the hallway than the guards froze where they were and stared at her in a transfix of horror. Toffee hadn't the faintest notion of what she had said but she was awfully glad to have said it. Experimentally she made a movement; the guards remained still. She stepped out of the circle, and one of the guards made a small movement of protest. "Helpovitch, you rat," Toffee said. "You heard me." The guard remained motionless. Toffee paused, selected the door at the end of the hall as her destination, and went rapidly toward it. As she drew abreast of it, it opened just a crack and an ear presented itself in the opening. Apparently someone had been disturbed by the noise in the hall. Toffee leaned forward and placed her mouth close to the ear. "Helpovitch," she whispered. There was a moment, then the ear shuddered delicately, after which it turned red and withdrew quickly from sight. Here, Toffee realized, was the sort of ear that responded to a firm hand. She shoved the door open, stepped inside, and closed it behind her. Then she turned about--and stopped short. * * * * * It wasn't so much the room which, large and marbled, was a gasping matter all in itself--but the room's occupant; the ear had been misleading for its owner was none other than You Know Who himself. Between the Great Leader and Toffee there wasn't much to choose for goggle-eyed surprise. Toffee, however, was the first to recover from the encounter. "Well," she said, "just the old villain I'm looking for!" The Great Leader, his eyes retreating back into their sockets, set his mustache atremble with a great sucking breath and launched into a series of resonant sounds. "Knock it off," Toffee commanded. "You're making a fog in here. Besides, I can't understand a word of that juicy jazz." "So!" the Leader exploded. "Who iss? How you got har, hah?" "Well," Toffee murmured relievedly, "at least you can speak English--using the language loosely, that is." "How come you har, hey?" the Leader insisted truculently. "Why not soldiers kill you forst?" "They had it in mind," Toffee said, "but I just said 'helpovitch' to them, and they dropped the whole thing." "Vooman!" the Leader gasped. "You say soch dorty vord it is only sooprise soldiers do not drop teeth along with thing!" He waved his hand. "Go vay, dorty gorl! Screm!" "For Pete's sake!" Toffee said. "What does the word mean?" "Don't ask!" the Leader gasped, throwing up his hands. "You make me drop whole thing, too! Go vay or I call soldiers and tall tham shoot you all over--oop!--down!" He started toward the door. "Tarrible gorl!" "Hold it, Cecil," Toffee said. "You touch that door and I'll pull off a shindig that'll make you sad all over."