“You,” he said to Bntno. “Man with gun. You come with me as hostage.”
Bntno pointed to himself.
“Yes. Man with gun. Now. I pick up you gun. And you walk with me. We walk back to Dover. And you find me change, fifteen cent.”
“But I—”
“The gun speak louder than the talk!” screamed the vaultapult attendant. “I have walk three day to come here. Make good speed!”
Bntno slowly and sadly gathered up his sleeping bag and his backpack. The man kept the gun on him. The man told Jasper and Lily how to tie Bntno’s hands.
Then the man led Bntno away into the jungle, Bntno complaining, in Doverian, that the Ministry of Silence would be peeved.
Soon they were gone.
For a while, the three friends stood where they were, kind of shocked. So much had changed so quickly.
The birds tootled and sang.
“Great Scott,” said Jasper. “I think we just had two problems solved at once.”
“Yeah…,” said Katie. “I…guess.”
“So you know which mountain the monastery is on?”
“Sure,” said Katie. “That one.” She pointed at the mountain with the pine forest.
“Oh,” said Jasper. He clapped his hands together briskly. “Well,” he said, “it’s an excellent day for a walk, we have miles to go, and a friend awaits us at the end of the road. Have I mentioned that I feel like a redwood about to spread its limbs toward the sun?”
“And say to the morning, ‘Hello,’” said Lily.