Gathering the sticks in a compact bundle, he wedged his poniard hilt
between them at one end. Then with the vines he bound them together, and
when he had completed his task, he had a spear of no small strength,
with a sturdy shaft seven feet in length.

"What good will that do?" she demanded. "You told me that a blade
couldn't pierce his scales----"

"He hasn't got scales all over him," answered Conan. "There's more than
one way of skinning a panther."

Moving down to the edge of the leaves, he reached the spear up and
carefully thrust the blade through one of the Apples of Derketa, drawing
aside to avoid the darkly purple drops that dripped from the pierced
fruit. Presently he withdrew the blade and showed her the blue steel
stained a dull purplish crimson.

"I don't know whether it will do the job or not," quoth he. "There's
enough poison there to kill an elephant, but--well, we'll see."

* * * * *

Valeria was close behind him as he let himself down among the leaves.
Cautiously holding the poisoned pike away from him, he thrust his head
through the branches and addressed the monster.

"What are you waiting down there for, you misbegotten offspring of
questionable parents?" was one of his more printable queries. "Stick
your ugly head up here again, you long-necked brute--or do you want me
to come down there and kick you loose from your illegitimate spine?"

There was more of it--some of it couched in eloquence that made Valeria
stare, in spite of her profane education among the seafarers. And it had
its effect on the monster. Just as the incessant yapping of a dog
worries and enrages more constitutionally silent animals, so the
clamorous voice of a man rouses fear in some bestial bosoms and insane
rage in others. Suddenly and with appalling quickness, the mastodonic
brute reared up on its mighty hind legs and elongated its neck and body
in a furious effort to reach this vociferous pigmy whose clamor was
disturbing the primeval silence of its ancient realm.

But Conan had judged his distance with precision. Some five feet below
him the mighty head crashed terribly but futilely through the leaves.
And as the monstrous mouth gaped like that of a great snake, Conan drove
his spear into the red angle of the jaw-bone hinge. He struck downward
with all the strength of both arms, driving the long poniard blade to
the hilt in flesh, sinew and bone.

Instantly the jaws clashed convuls