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4. Mystery of the Voles
    They camped for the day in the thick of the jun- gle. Bink still seemed unconcerned about predators, and felt no need for a watch for the night. Grundy was glad not to have to stay awake, but felt obliged to grouch about it anyway. "What makes you so sure there's no danger?" he demanded. "We almost got stuck forever in that cave!"
    "No we didn't," Bink said. "We got out readily enough."
    "That was a lucky break! If Com-Pewter hadn't gotten confused about the female egret—"
    "There would have been something else. We would have gotten out one way or another, unharmed. Mean- while, we had an interesting experience and learned some- thing about another entity of Xanth. I think that was worthwhile."
    Grundy shook his head, bemused. Bink seemed to be living in a fool's paradise, trusting to coincidence to rescue him from his own folly. It was true that the man did seem to have phenomenal luck, but luck could turn at any time. It might be best not to associate with him longer than he
    had to, because eventually they were bound to find them- selves in a situation they could not escape.
    But he needed Bink and Chester to carry the bed. Grundy was not happy with the present arrangement, for several reasons, but he was unable to change it. He sighed, and slept.
    At night they ate and headed north. They had lost the path; perhaps it had not gone beyond the Com-Pewter's mountain anyway, as the machine had set it up to bring in entertaining people. They didn't want to retrace their steps; not only would that waste an extra day or more, it would take them through the stockyard of the Bulls and Bears and the haunt of the succubus and the invisible giant; they might even encounter EmJay and Ass again. Once was enough for all of those!
    So they plowed through the dense vegetation, going toward the Gap Chasm, which they were sure could not be far distant. The geography of Xanth seemed to change every time a person went out in it, like the Good Magi- cian's castle, but the Gap was eternal. It sliced across Xanth, separating it into northern and southern halves, and now that the remnants of the forget-spell on it had finally dissipated, many folk remembered where it was. Of course there were still pockets of forget here and there, and probably some of the mysteries associated with the Gap would never be unraveled, but certainly they would find the Gap if they just kept going north.
    ^Chester paused, listening. Now Grundy heard it—an ominous rattle, as of a poisonous snake or a ghost. Trou- ble?
    "Friend," Snortimer said in monster language.
    "You're sure?" Grundy asked.
    "I recognize the rattle. It's one of Ivy's friends."
    "Well, if you're sure—"
    Snortimer took off at a lope, his hands drawing him rapidly along through the brush. Grundy had to admit that in this terrain the Bed Monster was better than any con- ventional steed would have been, for Bink and Chester were quickly left behind.
    Soon they burst upon—a horse. A rather shaggy stal- lion, with several bands of chain around his barrel. These were what rattled. "That's Pook, the ghost horse," Snor- timer said.
    Naturally Snortimer could not speak the equine lan- guage, and the ghost horse did not understand Bed Monster language. That was Grundy's talent. It had been some time since he had seen Pook, so he might not have rec- ognized him without Snortimer's assistance. "Pook, I pre- sume?" he inquired of the horse.
    "Oh, I wanted to scare you!" Pook complained.
    "I can't be scared right now," Grundy explained. "I'm on a Quest."
    "A Quest! I haven't been on one of those for centuries! Not since Jordan the Barbarian tamed me."
    "Jordan! Is he here?"
    "No. It wasn't safe for Threnody to be too close to Castle Roogna, you know, because of the curse, so they moved away. But we stayed halfway near, because Puck likes to visit Ivy."
    Puck was the foal of Pook and Peek. They were a family of ghost horses, and the foal had remained young for centuries, because ghosts