human
Quiet, my children! Make speed, but no more noise.
gpt
The Mahatma,
human
Did you hear him? Dick questioned.
gpt
Did you hear English words?
human
Of course. At least I seemed to hear them.
gpt
But the black Kungoras obeyed. And so did the Taharans. And the Gorols, too! Yet none of those people understood English.
human
That's a fact. How do you account for that?
gpt
The Mahatma sent an order that each man understood in his own language. It was not in words, however. He just sent his thoughts to us all. We _imagined_ we heard the words, but what happened was that we got the idea by some sixth sense.
human
That's magic! The real thing!
gpt
Not magic. It's what I told you about; a kind of mental radio.
human
Well, if the Mahatma can send his thoughts like that, he must be a wise old bird, after all! Dan exclaimed.
gpt
Say, I was wrong to kid him so much and call him Old Whiskers.
human
That's what I think.
gpt
I hope he isn't sore at me.
human
Not likely. He probably does not consider it worth while to be insulted by a fresh youngster like you.
gpt
Jiminy, I hope you're right, Dick. We certainly need the Mahatma's help if we are going to get Ray out of there.
human
We do that. It will take all his scheming and all our fighting speed to set her free.
gpt
Do you think I'd better go back to his boat and apologize? he asked humbly.
human
Say, I'd feel like a dog if anything happened to Ray.
gpt
You can apologize later, counselled Dick.
human
What we have to do now is paddle for dear life and as soon as we reach the camp to put up the best fight there is in us.