ed, turned off as if he had lost the
direction. He passed Chet by, passed where Walt and Diane were hiding
and stopped! And Chet saw the glazed eyes turn here and there about
their peaceful valley.

Unseeing they seemed, but again Chet knew better. Was he more
sensitively attuned than the others? Who could say? But again he caught
a message as plainly as if the words had been shouted inside his brain.

"Yes, the valley of the three sentinel peaks and the lake of blue; we
can find it again. Houses, shelters--how crudely they build, these
white-faced intruders!" Chet even sensed the contempt that accompanied
the thoughts. "That is enough; you have done well. You shall have their
raw hearts for your reward. Now bring them in--bring them in quickly!"

The instant action that followed this command was something Chet would
never have believed possible had his own eyes not seen the incredible
leap of the huge body. The ape-man's knotted muscles hurled him through
the air directly toward the spot where Walt and Diane were hidden. But,
had Chet been able to stand off and observe himself, he might have been
equally amazed at the sight of a man who leaped erect, who raised a long
bow, fitted an arrow, drew it to his shoulder, and did all in the
instant while the huge brute's body was in the air.

The great ape landed on all fours. When he straightened and stood
erect--his arms were extended, and in each of his gnarled hands he held
a figure that was helpless in that terrible grasp.

No chance to loose the arrow then, though the brute's back was half
turned. He had Harkness and Diane by their throats, and Chet knew by the
unresisting limpness of Harkness' body that the fearful fire in those
blazing eyes had them in a grip even more deadly than the hands of the
beast.

* * * * *

Thoughts were flashing wildly through Chet's brain. "Knocked 'em cold!
He'll do the same to me if I meet his eyes. But I can't shoot now;
Diane's in line. I must take him face about; get him before he gets
me--get him first time!"

And, confusedly, there were other thoughts mingled with his
own--thoughts he was picking up by means of a nervous system that was
like an aerial antenna:

"Good--good! No--do not kill them. Not now; bring them to us alive. The
pleasure will come later. And where are the other two? Find them!" It
was here that Chet let out a wordless, blood-curdling shriek from lungs
and throat that were t