on't he have something to say about that?"

"I don't know," replied the Kofedix doubtfully. "It depends upon whether
his fear of you or his anger is the greater. He should pay his call of
state here in your apartment in a short time, as it is the inviolable
rule of Osnome, that any visitor shall receive a call of state from one
of his own rank before leaving his apartment for the first time. His
actions may give you some idea as to his feelings, though he is an
accomplished diplomat and may conceal his real feelings entirely. But
let me caution you not to be modest or soft-spoken. He will mistake
softness for fear."

"All right," grinned Seaton. "In that case I won't wait to try to find
out what he thinks. If he shows any signs of hostility at all, I'll open
up on him."

"Well," remarked Crane, calmly, "if we have some time to spare, we may
as well wait comfortably instead of standing in the middle of the room.
I, for one, have a lot of questions to ask about this new world."

Acting upon this suggestion, the party seated themselves upon
comfortable divans, and Dunark rapidly dismantled the machine he had
constructed. The captives remained standing, always behind the visitors
until Seaton remonstrated.

"Please sit down, everybody. There's no need of keeping up this farce of
your being slaves as long as we're alone, is there, Dunark?"

"No, but at the first sound of the gong announcing a visitor we must be
in our places. Now that we are all comfortable and waiting, I will
introduce my party to yours.

"Fellow Kondalians, greet the Karfedo Seaton and Crane," he began, his
tongue fumbling over the strange names, "of a distant world, the Earth,
and the two noble ladies, Miss Vaneman and Miss Spencer, soon to be
their Karfediro.

"Guests from Earth, allow me to present to you the Kofedir Sitar, the
only one of my wives who accompanied me upon our ill-fated hunting
expedition."

Then, still ignoring DuQuesne as a captive, he introduced the other
Kondolians in turn as his brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, and
nephews--all members of the great ruling house of Kondal.

"Now," he concluded, "after I have a word with you in private, Doctor
Seaton, I will be glad to give the others all the information in my
power."

He led Seaton out of earshot of the others and said in a low voice:

"It is no part of Nalboon's plan to kill the two women. They are so
beautiful, so different from our Osnomian women, that he intends