half obscuring his face.

With a violent effort Martin straightened up. Walking upright seemed
unnatural, somehow, but it helped submerge Mammoth-Slayer's worst
instincts. Besides, with St. Cyr gone, stresses were slowly subsiding,
so that Mammoth-Slayer's dominant trait was receding from the active
foreground.

Martin tested his tongue cautiously, relieved to find he was still
capable of human speech.

"Uh," he said. "Arrgh ... ah. Watt."

Watt blinked at him anxiously through the lamp-shade.

"Urgh ... Ur--release," Martin said, with a violent effort. "Contract
release. Gimme."

Watt had courage. He crawled to his feet, removing the lamp-shade.

"Contract release!" he snapped. "You madman! Don't you realize what
you've done? DeeDee's walking out on me. DeeDee, don't go. We will bring
Raoul back--"

"Raoul told me to quit if he quit," DeeDee said stubbornly.

"You don't have to do what St. Cyr tells you," Erika said, hanging onto
the struggling star.

"Don't I?" DeeDee asked, astonished. "Yes, I do. I always have."

"DeeDee," Watt said frantically, "I'll give you the finest contract on
earth--a ten-year contract--look, here it is." He tore out a
well-creased document. "All you have to do is sign, and you can have
anything you want. Wouldn't you like that?"

"Oh, yes," DeeDee said. "But Raoul wouldn't like it." She broke free
from Erika.

"Martin!" Watt told the playwright frantically, "Get St. Cyr back.
Apologize to him. I don't care how, but get him back! If you don't,
I--I'll never give you your release."

Martin was observed to slump slightly--perhaps with hopelessness. Then,
again, perhaps not.

"I'm sorry," DeeDee said. "I liked working for you, Tolliver. But I have
to do what Raoul says, of course." And she moved toward the window.

Martin had slumped further down, till his knuckles quite brushed the
rug. His angry little eyes, glowing with baffled rage, were fixed on
DeeDee. Slowly his lips peeled back, exposing every tooth in his head.

"You," he said, in an ominous growl.

DeeDee paused, but only briefly.

* * * * *

Then the enraged roar of a wild beast reverberated through the room.
"_You come back!_" bellowed the infuriated Mammoth-Slayer, and with one
agile bound sprang to the window, seized DeeDee and slung her under one
arm. Wheeling, he glared jealously at the shrinking Watt and reached for
Erika. In a trice he had the struggling forms of both