lar door of the ovoid. In a flash he was inside and the thing
soared speedily into the air and out of sight. The red men broke forth
in a babel of excited jabbering and then they were crowding into the
cave, hundreds of them it seemed, shrieking their rage as they attacked
the hapless prisoners.

Carr went down fighting madly but to no avail. He hadn't counted on
this; he should have known better. A crushing weight of them was upon
him, clawing and beating at him as he struggled to rise. They were
suffocating him with their rank animal odors.

And then he was dragged into the open air. Battered and dazed, he saw
they had found their fellow, the one he had bound and gagged. Ora was
considerably mussed up, but unharmed, he observed with relief; but Mado
lay there inert. This was the first time Carr had ever seen him take the
count at the hands of man.

When they had untied the one whose place had been taken by Nazu, he came
straight for the Earth-man and would have brained him with a huge stone
had not his fellows interfered. He objected strenuously, his eyes red
with hate and a torrent of harsh gutturals pouring from his lips. But
the others held him off; this strange white giant from the machine of
the skies was to be saved for the embrace of the fire-god.

* * * * *

With the entire blame for Nazu's escape thus placed upon the
Terrestrial, Ora and Mado were returned to the cavern and left
unmolested. But Carr was prodded into moving over against a boulder and
was surrounded by a semi-circle of the dwarfs who squatted calmly to
watch him, blow-guns in their hands and stone hatchets on the ground
within easy reach. They were taking no more chances with this one.

The long day of Titan dragged interminably but the watchful eyes of his
guards never strayed from their prisoner. At any moment the fire-god
might make an appearance and the rite of sacrifice take place. Carr
supposed that the thing made more or less regular appearances, like a
geyser of Earth. And, next time, there would be no escape.

Night fell, and still those eyes watched intently in the light reflected
against the low-flung clouds from the seething crater nearby. Nothing
had been seen of Nazu or any of the ovoids. Probably it was useless to
expect them; they could not bring themselves to do battle against these
savage kin of theirs. Anyway, he was glad the little fellow had gotten
away; he hoped he was safely in bed--i