Lying there watching them, Rolf believed the newcomer wholeheartedly. There was something about this gremlin named Lugh that was extremely convincing, although at the same time it was puzzling. Because in an odd way, Lugh seemed to be many times larger and more threatening than he actually was. Rolf squinted at him, wondering if the fall from his bike hadn’t done something to his head, after all.

Plainly to view, Lugh was another gremlin like Baneen. Well, not exactly like Baneen. Lugh was half again as tall, wide-shouldered and burly. But it wasn’t this alone that made him so impressive—and he was impressive indeed.

Somehow, although Rolf’s eyes insisted that Lugh was no more than a foot and a half tall, some inner sense saw it differently. Lugh somehow gave the impression of being the size of a professional football player, massive, heavy-jawed, hard-fisted and more than a match for anything on two legs or four.

“Did you hear me, little man?” roared Lugh now, waving a fist under Baneen’s nose. “Speak up, or it’s down with you to the toads and mushrooms for five thousand years!”

“Whush now,” said Baneen, with a slight quaver in his voice. “It’s a terrible temper you have, indeed it is. And me only trying to do a bit of good for man, gremlin and beast alike. Ah, the hard misunderstandings that have been the lot of my life! The misunderstandings of those for whom I wished to do the poor best that I could…”

“Talk!” said Lugh fiercely.

“And aren’t I, after doing that very thing, this moment?” Baneen said quickly. “As my tongue was just now saying, here was I in talk with Mr. Sheperton…”

“Mr. Sheperton?” Lugh blinked, then turned to look at the dog. “Oh yes—Sheperton.”