n the ground! His
man--the one who had not yet descended with the others--was running
stumblingly forward. He was wounded, and the blood was streaming from
his back. Chet saw the two monsters hovering above Harkness' head; he
saw their thick-lidded eyes--and he saw those eyes as they detected an
easier prey.

The fleeing man was half-stooped in a shambling run. The winged reptile
Chet had beaten off joined the other two and they were upon the wounded
man in a flurry of red.

Chet saw him go down and took one involuntary step forward to give him
aid--then stopped, transfixed by what he beheld.

The man was down crouching in terror. Above him the three monstrous
things beat each other with their wings; then their long beaks stabbed
downward. The man's body was hidden, but through those transparent beaks
there mounted swiftly a red stream. Plainly visible, Chet saw that vital
current--the living life-blood of a living man--drawn into those beastly
bodies; he saw it spread through a network of canals! And he was held
rigid with horror until a harsh scream from Harkness reached his brain.

"The trees!" Harkness was shouting. "The trees! Down, Chet, for God's
sake! You can't save him!"

* * * * *

Walt was half carrying Diane. Even then Chet was vaguely thankful that
their bodies were between the girl and this gruesome sight. And Walt was
leaping madly down the lava slope.

Beyond him, already on the lower level, was the racing figure of
Schwartzmann. A whirring flash of red pursued him. Another made a
crimson streak through the air toward Walt's back. Chet came with
startling abruptness from the frozen rigidity that held him, and he
crashed his empty pistol in well-directed aim through the body of the
beast. Then he, too, threw himself in great leaps down the slope.

Kreiss was firing from below; Chet knew dimly that this was checking the
attack of the swarm. He saw Walt stagger; saw blood flowing from a slash
on the back of his head, and knew that Kreiss had got the monster just
in time. He sprang toward the stumbling man and got his arms under the
unconscious figure of the girl to help carry the load.

And now it was Kreiss who was shouting. "The trees! We'll be safe in the
trees!" He saw Kreiss drop his pistol and dash headlong for the white
trunks of ghostly trees.

His arm was pierced by a stinging pain; cold eyes, with thick, leathery
lids, were staring into Chet's as he cast