f the disguising
termite-paste on their bodies to fool the insects. It seemed impossible
that the ruling brain behind them had survived the cannibalistic rush
and taken command of the mound again? But--was anything impossible in
this world of terror?

Steadily the two were forced to retreat before the measured advance of
the guards. And now the tunnel they were in broadened--and abruptly
ended in another of the vast chambers that seemed to dot the mound city
at fairly regular intervals. But this one appeared to be humming with
activity, if the noise coming from within it was any indication.

The two passed at the threshold, dismayed at the evidence of
super-activity in the chamber ahead of them. But while they paused
there, the soldiers behind them rounded a corner. They could not go
back. There were no more of the opportune side entrances to dodge into.
All they could do was retreat still farther--into the vast room before
them.

They did so, reluctantly, moving step by step as the marching band
behind them crashed rhythmically along. But once inside the great
chamber, they shrank back against the wall with whispered imprecations
at the final, desperate trick fate had played on them.

Their path of retreat, leading around labyrinthine corners and
by-passages, had doubled back on them without their having been aware of
it. They were in the very place Dennis had wished so much to avoid--the
chamber of the Queen termite!

* * * * *

High overhead, almost lost in the dimness, was the arching roof. Around
the circular walls were innumerable tunnel entrances. At each of these
stood a termite guard--picked soldiers half again as large as the
ordinary soldiers, with mandibles so great and heavy that it was a
marvel the insects could support them.

Hurrying here and there were worker termites. And these were centering
their activities on an object as fearful as anything that ever haunted
the mind of a madman.

Up and back, this object loomed, half filling the enormous room like a
zeppelin in a hangar. And like a zeppelin--a blunt, bloated
zeppelin--the object was circular and tapered at both ends. But the
zeppelin was a living thing--a horrible travesty of life.

At the end facing the two men was a tiny dot of a head, almost lost in
the whitish mass of the enormous body. Around this a cluster of worker
termites pressed, giving nourishment to the insatiable mouth. At the
far end of the