did not
have firearms, they certainly had other weapons.

"Surprise!" Craig thought. "We've got to take them by surprise, divert
them long enough to release our men. Then--" He cursed softly. Presuming
a sudden surprise attack enabled them to release the prisoners? What
would happen then?

"They'll hit us with planes!" Craig cursed. "They'll gas us and spray
acid on us, and even if we manage to get away from here, they will
follow us through the air." His eyes narrowed. "Which means that we have
got to blow up their hangar, destroy their planes, first of all. Then--"

A plan was maturing in his mind. He slipped out of the temple, watched
his chances and darted across the open space when no sentry was near,
rejoined Guru.

The dawn man was frantic with excitement. "See monster?" he questioned.

"There is no monster," Craig said grimly. "Guru, where cave where Ogrum
keep riding birds?"

To Guru, the planes were merely large birds that the Ogrum rode. Craig
was asking the dawn man where the hangar was located. Guru led him
around the temple, pointed to a projecting wing. "Birds kept there," he
said.

The hangar was open. In line with their ignorance of doors, the Ogrum
had never devised a method of closing the entrance of the building where
they kept--and no doubt built--their planes. An open space leading down
to the edge of the bay apparently was the runway where the planes
landed. Inside the hangar Craig could glimpse the strange airships of
the Ogrum. Except for the regular sentries that circled the whole
immense temple, the hangar was unguarded.

* * * * *

"Twenty men with grenades will hit the hangar first!" Craig thought.
"They'll smash the planes and then they will appear to retreat. The
Ogrum will follow. Meanwhile across the city, another twenty men will
suddenly appear and start firing the thatch huts. The Ogrum will be
confused. Before they can organize themselves, I'll take a hundred men
and hit the temple. By God, it will work!

"Then," Craig thought, "we'll die one at a time as we try to make our
getaway. The Ogrum, even without planes, will hunt us through the jungle
forever." He paused, seeking a solution to that difficulty. To free the
prisoners only to have everybody perish from the relentless attack of
the Ogrum would be no gain.

"The only way to keep the Ogrum from pursuing us is to destroy
them--utterly!" Craig thought grimly. He had no qualms about dest