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responsibilities. And you've been trying to turn Earth into another Gremla into Gremla all over again,
with the drawing of the Great Corkscrew and someone being king, and all that and now that it hasn't
worked, you're going to run away, back to Gremla and Hamrod the Heartless. Even Hamrod's better
than admitting you were wrong!"
Lugh's ears rotated slowly, twice.
"Do I hear what I think I hear?" he muttered. "A human, saying such tome ?"
"It's time somebody said it to you!" Rolf shouted. "None of the other gremlins want to go back to
Hamrod. They've come to love Earth and so have you, only you won't admit it! If you'd admit it to
yourself, you'd be willing to work with humans, even if none of them has a big enough soul to draw the
Great Corkscrew from its case without help, any more than there's any gremlin who can. Canyou pull the
Great Corkscrew loose by yourself? Of course not! So what makes you the one to decide whether all
the gremlins on Earth have to go back to Gremla?"
Lugh began to swell . . . his actual body began to enlarge until he seemed to be growing to twice his
normal size. As for his aura, that large impression that hovered over him at all times, it grew and grew
until it seemed as large as a mountain. He spoke and his voice was so deep that it seemed to come
from the bowels of the earth and shake the very Hollow around them like an earthquake.
"L I G H T N I N G!" said Lugh, in that awful voice.
Suddenly the sky was black with clouds over their heads. A roll of thunder rumbled, echoing the sound
of Lugh's voice and a jagged spear of lightning shot down from the clouds and was caught, still jagged
and so bright none of them could look at it, in Lugh's right hand.
He poised the shaft of lightning, aiming it toward Rolf.
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"B O Y!" he said. "A D M I T Y O U L I E!"
Wincing away from the blinding glare of the lightning shaft burning in Lugh's hand, Rolf shook his head
stubbornly.
"No!" he cried. "I'm right! You're the one who's wrong!"
For a moment there was a terrible hush in the Hollow. Lugh stood still. Then he lifted his arm.
Suddenly the lightning shaft flew from his hand back up to the clouds. The clouds themselves rolled up
and disappeared. Bright sunshine poured down again on them all; and a great sigh of relief went up from
thousands of gremlin throats.
"Ah, sure, your honor!" piped the voice of Baneen. "And wasn't it yourself said that if you could find a
human who cared more for another creature than himself, you'd give that human the Great Wish? And
haven't we here a lad who today risked everything, his own life included, for that of his faithful dog and
sure, if a dog's not a creature now, what is?"
Lugh stared fiercely at Baneen, and then at Rolf, and then off into the distance.
"Quick, lad!" whispered Baneen in Rolf's ear. "Make your wish now!"
"I wish," said Rolf, rapidly, "that gremlins would work with humans from now on to clean up the world
and keep it clean and safe!"
"There, Lugh, darling!" cried Baneen, dancing in front of the gremlin prince. "It was yourself heard his
wish. Do you grant it, now?"
Lugh glared at Baneen and turned to glare again at Rolf.
"Harrumph!" he growled, deep in his throat."Rahumpf! HAHR-rumphff . . . all right!"
He turned and stalked off. The gremlins in the Hollow burst into wild cheering.
Abruptly, the ground shook. The air vibrated as if some giant's breath were roaring across the world.
And off in the distance, as wave after wave of thunder rolled across the Hollow, they all saw the Mars
rocket lifting up, up, climbing straight into the cloudless blue sky on a tongue of sheer flame.
"A beautifur feat of engineering," Rolf heard O'Rigami say.
The Mars rocket climbed higher, the roar of its mighty engines diminished. It became a distant speck,
then a bright, fast-moving star shining in the morning sky. Then it got so far away that none of them could
see it any longer.
Rolf felt as if he wanted to cheer, but it was all too magnificent and overpowering for something as small
as one human voice. But it really did not matter. The gremlins were all cheering, for him. Rita was trying
to hug him. The gremlins nearby were trying to hug him. Mr. Sheperton was standing on his hind legs,
trying to lick Rolf's face. It was all sort of a wonderful mess.
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" . . . Crazy, the whole business," said Rolf's father, thoughtfully. "Absolutely crazy! On the other hand,
does it matter? The bird got off all right, with only that short two-minute hold at the last minute "
"What caused that?" asked Rolf's mother. "You didn't tell me."
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