d him the woman
left off her whimpering.

The man was darting glances out of the corners of his eyes, seeking the
source from which his sudden deliverance had come. Slowly he turned his
head. He saw the sailors on the lip of the ravine across from him.

A look of almost stupefying fear crossed his face. He had faced the
dragon with no show of cowardice. Now, seeing his benefactors for the
first time, he looked terrified. In the cave behind him the woman had
also located the humans. Without moving a muscle, she crouched against
the rock wall. Craig had seen wild animals, frightened by the sudden
appearance of a beast of prey, act like this. A rabbit, aware of the
swoop of a hawk, would be too terrified to move. A lamb, knowing the
wolf was near, would crouch trembling waiting for the final snarling
leap.

"He's scared of us," Craig whispered. "Don't make any sudden moves."

The man looked up at them.

"Ogrum!" he whispered. "Ogrum--"

* * * * *

Very slowly he laid the club on the ground beside him. Then he stretched
himself face downward beside it in a gesture of obeisance older than
human history. Subject races welcomed their conqueror in a manner such
as this, slaves knelt before their master in this manner--in the days
before men ceased being slaves.

"He must think we're gods," Craig whispered. It was a logical
explanation of the man's actions yet it did not completely satisfy him.

"He thinks we are something else," Michaelson said. "He is acting like a
person who recognizes a strong enemy. He is mistaking us for somebody
else. Come on. I'm going down there."

The scientist was already scrambling down the side of the ravine. Craig
followed him. He recognized the correctness of Michaelson's deductions.
The man had whispered "Ogrum." Then he had knelt. There could only be
one explanation: he thought they were somebody else. The thought raised
a question in Craig's mind: What could inspire such terrifying fear in
this man? What horror walked through these jungles that a man would fear
more than he feared a dragon?

Craig looked up at his squad on the bank of the ravine. "Be on your
guard," he said.

"Aye, aye, sir," the answer came floating down. It was an order the
sailors would not be likely to need. They would be on the alert.

Michaelson was so eager to reach the man that he dashed ahead. When
Craig reached him, he was bending over the man. The scientist was wildly
e