touched their foreheads to the ground, and as the fourth gesture
was completed something moved swiftly behind the lips of the image, as
though a plate had lifted for a moment and dropped again.

There was a sharp, murmuring sound, as of a harp-string softly plucked.
A scarlet haze of light shot forth from the mouth of the black god, and
the old man stepped back sharply as though struck by some invisible
agent. He would have fallen, but as he crumpled, his body seemed to
soften and shatter into a scintillating cloud. An instant later there
was no trace of him anywhere.

"Hm-m! The great reward for some notable service rendered, I imagine,"
whispered Vic. "Those priests are wiser than the rest of this crew. They
deal death sparingly, and that makes them great. They love life like a
man of our earth; perhaps because they've found out how to enjoy it."

"But what does the work; what killed him?" I asked breathlessly.

"Can't say, Pete. You can't name things here in terms of our own world.
Some natural force they've corraled, I imagine. They control it with
that shutter behind the lips of the image. Did you notice it?"

"Yes. I suppose one of the priests operates it from some hidden room.
Whatever it is, it certainly does the work. And what do you suppose they
want us to do now?"

* * * * *

The three priests were coming toward us, smiling. I didn't like their
smiles; they were meant to be benign, but there was a cruel and
vindictive twist to their lips which chilled me through and through.

"Keep your hand on your gun," said Vic swiftly. "I don't like the looks
of these chaps."

The priests stopped before us and their leader began a long harangue in
a screechy voice which set my nerves on edge. When he had finished he
held out his hands toward me, and motioned toward the waiting idol.

Ee-pay spoke up in sharp protest, and thrust himself between me and the
priest. For a moment, due to this obviously unexpected interruption,
everything was in confusion.

"Pete!" Vic was whispering excitedly in my ear. "Listen, Pete, I think I
see through this. These priests have heard about us and our
death-dealing ability. They're jealous; they want a corner on that. Old
Ee-pay figures maybe we could do him a favor in that line, and that's
why he's arguing. The priests want to honor us for the good we've
done--by giving us the reward we've just seen. So--"

Before he could finish, Ee-pay was thrus