d no animal but a man, a small, lean man whose lips
wrinkled back from his teeth in a snarl. His attendant priests fell
back, leaving the spaceman and the witch doctor alone.

"Lumbrilo's magic is great," Tau said evenly. "I hail Lumbrilo of
Khatka." His hand made the open-palmed salute of peace.

The snarl faded as the man brought his face under control. He stood
naked, but he was clothed in inherit dignity. And there was power with
that dignity, power and a pride before which even the more physically
impressive Chief Ranger might have to give place.

"You have magic also, outlander," he replied. "Where walks this
long-toothed shadow of yours now?"

"Where once the men of Khatka walked, Lumbrilo. For it was men of your
blood who long, long past hunted this shadow of mine and made its body
their prey."

"So that it now might have a blood debt to settle with us, outlander?"

"That you said, not I, man of power. You have shown us one beast, I have
shown another. Who can say which of them is stronger when it issues
forth from the shadows?"

Lumbrilo pattered forward, his bare feet making little sound on the
stones of the terrace. Now he was only an arm's-length away from the
medic.

"You have challenged me, off-world man." Was that a question or a
statement? Dane wondered.

"Why should I challenge you, Lumbrilo? To each race its own magic. I
come not to offer battle." His eyes held steady with the Khatkan's.

"You have challenged me." Lumbrilo turned away and then looked back over
his shoulder. "The strength you depend upon may become a broken staff,
off-worlder. Remember my words in the time when shadows become
substance, and substance the thinnest of shadows!"

III

"You are truly a man of power!"

Tau shook his head in answer to that outburst from Asaki.

"Not so, sir. Your Lumbrilo is a man of power. I drew upon his power and
you saw the results."

"Deny it not! What we saw never walked this world."

Tau slung the strap of a trail bag over his shoulder. "Sir, once men of
your blood, men who bred your race, hunted the elephant. They took his
tusks for their treasure, feasted upon his flesh--yes, and died beneath
the trampling of his feet when they were unlucky or unwary. So there is
that within you which can even now be awakened to remember _eldama_ in
his might when he was king of the herd and need fear nothing save the
spears and cunning of small, weak men. Lumbrilo had already awakened
yo