HOME AGAINTheir descent from the plateau was near miraculous. Thanks only to the assistance of those wonderful mountain natives did the four companions make it off the plateau alive, although, not without consequence. Professor Grace, an already frail man, sported several broken ribs and an arm to match; he did not complain once. As for his daughter, she would feel the repercussions of the explosion in a substantial loss of hearing in her left ear. Sir Belvedere Wainthrop revelled in the whole experience, his own personal bumps and bruises serving only to reassure him of his return to a place he thought never to see again. As for Mortimer Headlock, he lost a toe to frostbite; he blamed it on the Germans.
Upon their arrival on Britannia’s shores, the four were hailed as heroes. Their heroi
