hole in
the cliff. Perhaps Alan sensed a movement off there. As I turned to
gaze, from the opening came a great hairy human arm! Then a shoulder!
A head!

The giant figure of a man came squeezing through the hole on his
hands and knees! He gathered himself, and as he stood erect, I saw
that he was growing in size! Already he was twenty feet tall compared
to us--a thick-set fellow, dressed in leather garments, his legs and
bare arms heavily matted with black hair. He stood swaying, gazing
around him. I stared up at his round bullet head, his villainous face.

He saw us! Stupid amazement struck him, then comprehension.

He let out a roar and came at us!

CHAPTER V

_The Message from Polter_

Glora shouted, "Into the tunnel! This way!" She held her wits and
darted to one side, with Alan and me after her. We ran through a
narrow passage between two fifty-foot boulders which lay close
together. Momentarily the giant was out of sight, but we could hear
his heavy tread and his panting breath. We emerged; had passed him. He
was taller now. He seemed confused at our sudden scampering activity.
He checked his forward rush, and ran around the twin boulders. But we
had squeezed into a narrow ravine. He could not follow. He threw a
rock: to us it was a boulder. It crashed behind us. To him, we were
like scampering insects; he could not tell which way we were about to
dart.

Alan panted, "Glora, this--does this lead out?"

The little ravine seemed to open fifty feet ahead of us. Alan stopped,
seized a chunk of rock, flung it up. I saw the giant's face above us.
He was kneeling, trying to reach in. The rock hit him in the
forehead--a pebble, but it stung him. His face rose away.

Again we emerged. The tunnel-mouth was near us. We reached it and
flung ourselves into its ten-foot width just as the giant came lunging
up. He was far larger than before. Looking back, I could see only the
lower part of his legs blocked against the outer light.

"Glora! Alan, where are you?"

For a moment I did not see them. It was darker in this tunnel; broken
rocky walls, a jagged arching roof ten feet high. Then I heard Alan's
voice.

"George! Here!"

They came running to me. For a moment we stood, undecided what to do.
My eyes were growing accustomed to the darkness; it was illumined by a
dim phosphorescence from the rocks. I saw Alan fumbling for his vials,
but Glora stopped him.

"No! We are the right size."

* *