burrows against the
wall, into which he disappeared. For long had the brain been
contemplating these burrow entrances. They appealed to his kaldanean
tastes, and further, they pointed a hiding place for the key and a lair
for the only kind of food that the kaldane relished--flesh and blood.

Ghek had never seen an ulsio, since these great Martian rats had long
ago disappeared from Bantoom, their flesh and blood having been greatly
relished by the kaldanes; but Ghek had inherited, almost unimpaired,
every memory of every ancestor, and so he knew that ulsio inhabited
these lairs and that ulsio was good to eat, and he knew what ulsio
looked like and what his habits were, though he had never seen him nor
any picture of him. As we breed animals for the transmission of
physical attributes, so the Kaldanes breed themselves for the
transmission of attributes of the mind, including memory and the power
of recollection, and thus have they raised what we term instinct, above
the level of the threshold of the objective mind where it may be
commanded and utilized by recollection. Doubtless in our own subjective
minds lie many of the impressions and experiences of our forebears.
These may impinge upon our consciousness in dreams only, or in vague,
haunting suggestions that we have before experienced some transient
phase of our present existence. Ah, if we had but the power to recall
them! Before us would unfold the forgotten story of the lost eons that
have preceded us. We might even walk with God in the garden of His
stars while man was still but a budding idea within His mind.

Ghek descended into the burrow at a steep incline for some ten feet,
when he found himself in an elaborate and delightful network of
burrows! The kaldane was elated. This indeed was life! He moved rapidly
and fearlessly and he went as straight to his goal as you could to the
kitchen of your own home. This goal lay at a low level in a spheroidal
cavity about the size of a large barrel. Here, in a nest of torn bits
of silk and fur lay six baby ulsios.

When the mother returned there were but five babies and a great
spider-like creature, which she immediately sprang to attack only to be
met by powerful chelae which seized and held her so that she could not
move. Slowly they dragged her throat toward a hideous mouth and in a
little moment she was dead.

Ghek might have remained in the nest for a long time, since there was
ample food for many days; but he did