undation walls of the building
creak at the onslaught of that tremendous weight.

If it would only break through! he thought savagely. But it wasn't
going to. In a short while it was cowed by the deadly tube, and
withdrew its head awkwardly from the chamber. The barred door slid
down into place: and the Rogan leader once more turned his attention
to his prisoner.

"You will be wheeled within reach of the creature as the last step of
your fate," Dex was informed. "Meanwhile, we shall start with
something less deadly...."

A cogged wheel beside him was turning a notch. Dex felt the sliding
bed of the rack crawl slightly under him. Intolerable tension was
suddenly placed on his arms and legs. The leader stared at a spring
dial; and moved the wheel another notch. The rack expanded again,
stretching Dex's body till his joints cracked.

"You will tell us what we want to know," said the Rogan, glaring
coldly down at him.

Dex compressed his lips stubbornly. He couldn't tell them if he wanted
to, and, by God, he wouldn't if he could.

Another notch, the wheel was turned; and in spite of himself a groan
escaped Dex's lips. One more notch, while the metal slide-rods beneath
him lengthened a fraction of an inch....

CHAPTER VI

_The Inquisition_

Blind, animal fear caught Dex and shook him in its grip. Then rage
filled his heart, driving out the fear as a gale dissipates fog. With
pain-dimmed eyes he glared at the gangling, hateful figure that gazed
down on him with icy eyes. If he could only blast that monstrous,
physically feeble but mentally ferocious thing to bits! Annihilate it!
Blow it to the four corners of Jupiter! And all the other Rogans with
it!

And with this thought he suddenly saw, through the red mists of rage,
the shock-tube that was dangling indifferently from the Rogan leader's
hand.

Instantly the red mists began to clear away. Another change took place
in the tortured lieutenant's mind. The blind hot rage faded into more
deadly, cold wrath. A plan began to bud into thought. It was a futile
plan, really. It could not possibly accomplish anything vital. But it
_might_ give him a chance for a little revenge before his life was
snuffed out--might give him a chance to strike a blow for the dead
Journeyman and the other gallant explorers who had perished here in
this chamber before him.

He closed his eyes to hide the hate and calculation in them. The tall
Rogan leaned lower over the rack.