scampering for the safety of the rock.
Jason howled in anger and ran at the nearest man who was still only
halfway out of his hiding place. The man took Jason's blow on his
upraised shield and was toppled back into the pit by the force of it.
Jason ran on but another was ahead of him, swinging his own war club
in readiness. There was no way around so Jason ran into him at full
speed with all of his pendant teeth and horns gnashing and clattering.
The man fell back under the attack and Jason split his shield with his
club, and would have done further damage except that the other men
arrived at that moment and he had to face them.

It was a brief and wicked battle, with Jason giving just a little more
than he received. Two of the attackers were down and a third holding
his cracked head when the weight of numbers carried Jason to the
ground. He called to his slaves for aid, then cursed them when they
only remained seated, while his arms were pinioned with rope and his
weapons stripped from his body. One of the victors waved to the slaves
who now stood and docilely marched into the desert. Jason was dragged,
snarling with rage, in the same direction.

* * * * *

There was a wide opening in the desert-facing side of the wall and
once through it Jason's anger instantly vanished. Here was one of the
_caroj_ that Ijale had told him about: there could be no doubt of it.
He could now understand how, to her uneducated eye, there could exist
an uncertainty as to whether the thing was an animal or not. The
vehicle was a good ten meters long, shaped roughly like a boat, and
bore on the front a large and obviously false animal head covered with
fur and resplendent with rows of carved teeth and glistening crystal
eyes. There were hide coverings and not-too realistic legs hanging
about the thing, surely not enough camouflage to fool a sophisticated
six-year old.

[Illustration]

This sort of disguise might be good enough to take in the ignorant
savages, but the same civilized child would recognize this as a
vehicle as soon as he saw the six large wheels below. They were cut
with deep treads and made from some resilient looking substance. No
motive power was visible, but Jason almost hooted with joy at the
prominent stink of burnt fuel. This crude looking contrivance had some
artificial source of power, which might be the product of a local
industrial revolution or have been purchased from off-world