"Here. Taste water as pure and delicious as may be found in all Zarovia."

Grandon put the end of the branch to his lips and drank greedily, while Vangal gathered several large spore-pods and split them open with his knife. After he had partaken of this nourishing food he felt greatly refreshed.

"I shall have to teach you the woodcraft of Zarovia before I leave you," said Vangal. "But come, we must go as far as possible from this vicinity at once, or the soldiers of the Torrogina--Princess Vernia--may find us."

"I am puzzled to know how it happened that you found me before the Reabonians," said Grandon.

"Because I followed your trail, while they merely ran about in the forest, guessing at what direction you had taken. The men of Reabon know nothing of following a trail, which is as an open book to my people of Olba. But here, I have brought you weapons and trappings." Vangal unrolled the long bundle which he had been carrying. "Fasten this belt about your waist and cross the straps over your shoulders, so. Now let us be off."

The two swung away through the forest glades, Grandon armed like his companion with tork, scarbo and knife. As they walked side by side, Vangal explained the use of the tork, and showed Grandon how to insert the extra clips of bullets and gas which were in his belt. In all, each man carried five thousand rounds of ammunition.

"What do you call those strange creatures that treed me last night, and why did you cut their throats after you had already dispatched them with bullets?" inquired Grandon.

"They are called hahoes, so named because of their peculiar cries, and are mostly eaters of carrion, although they will seek and bring down fresh meat when driven to do so by hunger," Vangal explained. "I cut their throats because the poison in the tork bullets which I used is effective only for a few hours. It paralyzes temporarily, but does not kill. I prefer to use this kind rather than those bullets which carry deadly poison, so that, if I desire to do so, I can overcome my enemies without killing them."

The sun was high in the heavens when they reached the bank of a small stream. Here the character of the vegetation changed considerably, for while large tree-ferns were still in evidence here and there, as well as the smaller varieties, there were huge fungus growths unlike anything Grandon had previously encountered. Colossal toadstools, some of which reared their heads for fifty feet in the air, grew all about in an endless variety of forms and colors.

"We are now more than twenty miles from the marble quarries and in an excellent place for a camp," said Vangal. "I will help you build a shelter and remain with you for a week to teach you Zarovian woodcraft, and patoa. At the end of that time I must journey to the other side of the planet, in order to assist your friend, Harry Thorne."

"What is patoa?" asked Grandon.

"It is the universal language of Zarovia," replied Vangal. "While every nation has its own language, we have, in addition, patoa, which is taught to the children of every country from infancy. When you have mastered this tongue, you will have the means of conversing with any intelligent being you may meet."

The rest of the day was spent in building Grandon's new abode. Vangal found four tree-ferns standing in a square about ten feet on each side, and they commenced operations by felling another tree-fern which stood near by and cutting it into twelve-foot lengths. By means of a rope made from the stem of a climbing fern, Vangal pulled these lengths up, one at a time, to a distance of thirty feet, and fastened them in notches he had made in the four tree trunks by wrapping them with the tough, fibrous roots of the bush-fern. They now had a square framework on which to lay their floor, which was made from poles cut from the trunks of smaller tree-ferns and tied in place at the ends.

When the floor was ready another square of fern logs was fastened about seven feet above it, and the walls were built of the stems of toadstools, piled one on another and tied in place. An opening for a door was left on one side and there were two holes about six inches in diameter on each side for ventilation.

This work completed, Vangal felled a huge toadstool, the cap of which was nearly thirteen feet in diameter. He cut the stem completely from it, and they dragged it to the base of one of the tree-ferns which formed a corner of their house. A fern rope was passed about it, and the two men climbed to the platform. It was quite heavy, and Grandon breathed a sigh of relief when they finally had it resting on the cross-pieces. They cut four grooves in it for the tree trunks and soon had this solid, rainproof roof in place.

After covering the floor with a layer of moss of the resilient kind used by the Zarovians for couches, and chinking the walls with handfuls of another, softer variety, they cut a toadstool with which to close the doorway at night, and the house was finished.