After her first hazy reaction, Julie was, of course, terrified. Her body went utterly limp and she may have passed out. There was no way for her to tell. It was as dark when she was unconscious, if she was, as it was when she was awake. There was no seeing the stars from in the jungle. The branches and foliage and leaves were far too thick. Her captors moved with the stealth of big cats, and she couldn't even count them until suddenly they came upon a little clearing and a road she didn't recognize. Then as they bundled her into the oldest automobile she had ever seen in her life, she saw for the first time that there were four of them and that every last one of them was a member of her father's congregation!

"Dear God, please, oh please," she screamed at them when the one called Balloo took his hand from her mouth to shove her into the back seat of the car. Even in the dark, she could see Dawak peering stonelike through the opened door. He seemed to stare directly into her wide, terror stricken eyes for a long, long moment. His face was impassive and unchanged. And then, even as she struggled with the last of her waning strength, she watched in uncomprehending disbelief as the black face, still expressionless, slowly closed the door and switched off the flashlight.

Someone then grabbed Julie by the neck as they thrust her head first so that she fell face down across a lap. Then Balloo leaped on top of her, pulling the door closed behind him. Now everyone was inside and ail the doors were closed and the car roared off with a squeal of tires. Julie's eyes were wide with terror, and her mouth twisted with a soundless scream that was choked silent by fear somewhere deep in her throat.

"We got her! We got her!" a hot excited voice came from the driver's seat. It sounded like Kubby. He seemed to be shifting into another gear and roaring off on the bumpy dirt road.