Cloe said: "We intend to conquer Araminta Station and enslave all the men."

"Hush, Cloe!" exclaimed Jerdys.

"You're giving away cult secrets!"

"We can make up some more. Secrets are easy. I use up dozens every day."

"Ahem!" said Aries.

"Have you noticed our presence? Must we stand here like storks, or are we invited to sit at your table?"

Ticia shrugged.

"Do as you like. But please pay for your own ices."

"No fear. Aside from Glawen and Kiper, you are in the company of cultivated gentlemen."

The four older boys found chairs and managed to squeeze up to the table. Glawen and Kiper were pushed aside and forced to sit somewhat apart at another table: a situation which they accepted philosophically.

Lexy Laverty asked: "Well then, what have you 'cultivated gentle men' been up to?"

"Just wandering about, discussing our investments," said Uther.

Kiper called across the gap: "Aries is behind in his classwork, so we studied anthropology at the ferry slip."

Aries said with dignity: "More to the point, we looked over some space yachts. There's a new Purple Prince which I swear I will buy before ten years is out!"

Kiper, who knew no inhibition, called out: "I thought you were saving up for one of the Yip girls."

"Aha!" said Ticia.

"So that's where you've been! Drooling over the Yip girls like the precocious little lechers you are!"

"Not Aries!" said Uther.

"All he wanted to do was smell them."

Kiper said: "That may or may not be lechery--although it's definitely odd."

"I'm inclined to agree," said Uther.

"Ticia, what do you think?

Has anyone ever wanted to smell you?"

"I think that you are both lunatics! That's what I think." Aries said primly: "I know better than to fool with Yip girls. Do you think I want to be strangled and killed and burned alive and then stabbed just for a bit of naughty conduct?" Kiper said: "If your mother caught you at it, you'd fare even worse." Aries' face became a thundercloud.

"Let's leave my mother out of it, shall we? She has nothing to do with the case at hand!"

"What was the case at hand?" asked Kirdy, speaking for the first time.

"I've forgotten what we were talking about." Jerdys said plaintively: "Let's discuss something really wonderful and interesting, like the Medusa Cult."

"I'm willing," said Cloyd.

"Do you have a gentlemen's auxiliary?"

"Not now," said Jerdys.

"We used them all for sacrifices."

"Ha-hah!" Lexy cried out.

"Who is divulging secrets now?"

"Those secrets are well used and no good to anyone." Aries said: "Speaking of secrets, I have a splendid idea! Have you noticed that there are four Medusa-type girls here, and also four Bold Lions? Glawen and Kiper don't count; in fact, they were on the point of going home. I suggest that we join forces and go off to somewhere quiet where we can drink wine and sort out all our old secrets, and maybe work up some new ones."

"That's one of Aries' rare good ideas," said Cloyd.

"I'll vote yes."

"And I," said Kirdy, smiling self-consciously.

"There's two yes votes. Aries will probably vote yes also, which makes three.

Uther?" Uther pursed his lips.

"I think that I will reserve my vote until the ladies are heard from. I assume that they will all vote in the affirmative."

"Silence means assent," said Aries.

"So then--"

"To the contrary," said Lexy crisply.

"Silence in this case means shock and astonishment." Jerdys asked: "What do you take us for? This is the Medusa Cult:

a very select group!"

Cloe suggested: "Go try the Nixies or the Girls' Philosophy Club." Ticia rose to her feet.

"It's quite time that I was getting home."

"I wonder why we waited this long," said Jerdys with a sniff.

The girls departed. The Bold Lions looked after them nonplussed. Kiper broke the silence.

"How very odd! One mention of the Bold Lions and the girls dash away as if they were running a race."