Milton could hardly believe it, but Rafi was right. Somehow the time had gotten away from them. Fig set about transferring some of her gear to Rafi’s and Gabe’s bags so that she could fit the new guide and the satchel in her pack, while Milton turned to Lord Snarlsy, who had remained on his perch throughout the treasure-related proceedings.
“Lord Snarlsy, are you ready?” Milton called up to him. “The time has come for us to go onward.”
With a big bucktoothed smile, the lemallaby pointed up to the sky, then waved his paw in an unmistakable gesture: Bye-bye.
“Not bye-bye,” Milton said, laughing at his (totally adorable) new companion. “We want you to come along.”
Lord Snarlsy cocked his head to one side. Then he pointed upward, more insistently this time, and waved his paw again: Bye-bye.
“My good Lord,” Milton tried again, “this guide and the samples are extraordinary, but so are you. You’re a whole new class of animal! Please do us the honor of accompanying us back to the beach. I’ll even let you ride on my shoulder for some of the time.”
Lord Snarlsy flung himself from the midnight-black branch and into one of the white-limbed trees nearby. He waved over his shoulder:
Bye-bye.
“Lord Snarlsy, wait!” Milton cried, racing along the ground after his much-longed-for fauna friend. “We need you! Dr. Paradis wanted you to help us.”
Lord Snarlsy paused when he heard Dr. Paradis’s name, then leaped onto Milton’s shoulder (which was heavenly … although a tad heavy). Chattering a few sentences in Lemallabese, the furry creature pointed up at the sky, then at the watch hanging from Milton’s utility belt, then spread his arms wide, like he was hugging a big crowd of friends. Milton nodded along—although he had no idea what was going on.
Then Lord Snarlsy pointed to his eyeballs, waved bye-bye one last time, and, before Milton could say, Nooooooo! leaped away and skittered back up the white tree to the rainbow-leafed dome above—where he disappeared from view.
“Nooooooo!” Milton cried, hand outstretched.
“Get him!” Rafi hollered. He started to shimmy up one of the pale trunks, but stopped after a few feet.
There were no noises above them. There was no sign of the teal-tushied lemallaby.
He was gone.
“We have to go back to the Enmity-Amity Trees!” Milton cried, whirling toward the secret waterfall passage. “We have to convince him to come with us!”
But Fig, shouldering her treasure-filled pack, shook her head.
“We don’t even know if that’s where he went,” she said, “and if he doesn’t want to come with us, we don’t have time to chase him down. The guide and the samples are more than enough. It’s time to go home.”