e finished speaking, his eyes came to rest upon the cave girl.

* * * * *

A breathless hush seemed to settle over the room. The moment had
come--and Tharn had so phrased his words that the daughter of Majok now
held the key to the hopes of two men ... and the choice was hers,
without pressure from either of those two.

Jotan's head came up and his eyes met the brown, sun-flecked gaze of the
cave girl. A deep, chest-swelling breath filled his lungs....

"I am not tired," Dylara said calmly. "I would like to start for your
caves at once, Tharn."

And with those words, and the lifting of her hand as she placed it on
the cave lord's bronzed forearm, Dylara made her choice.

Pain--the awful pain of unrequited love--rose like flames in Jotan's
heart. Rose until they shook him with agony ... swelled ... and broke to
settle back under the man's iron control.

He was conscious, then, that a soft hand had placed itself on one of his
as it lay palm down against the table. He looked down at it, not
understanding, then lifted his eyes slowly to meet the troubled eyes of
Alurna....

Jotan said, "I had hoped that you three would remain in Ammad for a few
suns as the guests of my father and me. But I can understand your
eagerness to return to your own people."

Dyta, the sun, stood two hours above the eastern horizon. On a small
hillock a few yards from the edge of dense jungle and forest not far
from Ammad's walls, stood a group of Jaltor's warriors flanking the king
and his guests.

Silence, broken only by the voices of diurnal jungle, held those on the
high bit of ground as they watched the three Cro-Magnons move lightly
toward that towering wall of verdure. They moved lightly, eagerly, as
though anxious to lose themselves among the riotous vegetation, a
familiar world to them.

Jotan, watching, felt a strange peace come into his heart. Only now did
realization come that at no time during the past moons since Dylara had
come into his life did he have the slightest chance to win her love. He
stole a quick glance at the girl beside him. Here was the perfect mate
for a nobleman--his own kind, fit to take up the duties of mate to one
of his own high station. Yes, he told himself, it was better this way.

His eyes went back to the three now almost within the jungle's reach.
The girl turned back and waved her hand in farewell, joined by the
lifted arms of Trakor and Tharn.

Abruptly a mist s