Threepio fought his way up through the sand to stand beside Luke. "That Artoo unit has always caused nothing but trouble," he groaned. "Astromech ’droids are becoming too iconoclastic even for me to understand, sometimes." The binoculars finally came down, and Luke commented matter-of-factly, "Well, he’s nowhere in sight." He kicked furiously at the ground. "Damn it—how could I have been so stupid, letting it trick me into removing that restrainer! Uncle Owen’s going to kill me." "Begging your pardon, sir," ventured a hopeful Threepio, visions of jawas dancing in his head, "but can’t we go after him?" Luke turned. Studiously he examined the wall of black advancing toward them "Not at night. It’s too dangerous with all the raiders around. I’m not too concerned about the jawas, but sandpeople…no, not in the dark. We’ll have to wait until morning to try to track him" A shout rose from the homestead below. "Luke—Luke, are you finished with those ’droids yet? I’m turning down the power for the night." "All right!" Luke responded, sidestepping the question. "I’ll be down in a few minutes, Uncle Owen!" Turning, he took one last look at the vanished horizon.
"Boy, am I in for it!" he muttered. "That little ’droid’s going to get me in a lot of trouble." "Oh, he excells at that, sir." Threepio confirmed with mock cheerfulness. Luke threw him a sour look, and together they turned and descended into the garage.
"Luke…Luke!" Still rubbing the morning sleep from his eyes, Owen glanced from side to side, loosening his neck muscles. "Where could that boy be loafing now?" he wondered aloud at the lack of response. There was no sign of movement in the homestead, and he had already checked above.
"Luke!" he yelled again. Luke, luke, luke…the name echoed teasing back at him from the homestead walls. Turning angrily, he stalked back into the kitchen, where Beru was preparing breakfast.
"Have you seen Luke this morning?" he asked as softly as he could manage.
She glance briefly at him, then returned to her cooking. "Yes. He said he had some things to do before he started out to the south ridge this morning, so he left early."
责任编辑：mman
