place. And then Gerry saw something that
stiffened every muscle and made the short hair prickle all down the back
of his neck. The ring finger of Lansing's left hand was missing at the
second joint!

* * * * *

The suspicion that had come to Gerry Norton seemed impossible. Walter
Lansing ... the Lord Lansa. It couldn't be. And yet--he was sure he had
seen that same mutilated hand thrust out from the sleeve of a green robe
an hour before! Lansing was still talking as he bent over the improvised
map.

"Here's the line of the Giri River. Tell them to cross by the bald gray
hill, then bear west-six-north, using Venusian magnetic bearings. After
that...."

He suddenly stopped and looked up, catching Gerry's grim glance fixed on
his left hand. Hastily he jerked it aside into the shadows. He must have
read in Gerry's eyes that his move had been too late, for his own gaunt
face hardened.

"_You rat!_" Gerry hissed between his teeth. His right hand shot out,
clutching for the other man's throat, but Lansing twisted aside and
jerked a dark object from his pocket. An instant later a stinging cloud
of the paralysis gas took Gerry in the face, and he fell limply to the
floor.

Lansing straightened up and tossed aside the flask that had held the
gas. There was a savage gleam in his narrow eyes.

"All right, Norton," he said, "we'll do it the other way. Ho--guards!"

A gong sounded in the corridor, the pulsating green light immediately
flooded the cell. Scaly-skinned guards swarmed in and saluted. Lansing
ripped off the torn uniform, revealing a tight-fitting green garment
beneath it, and one of the guards helped him on with the cowled robe he
had worn before. He glanced down at Gerry for a moment.

"Bring him and the others up to me when he recovers the use of his
muscles," he said.

* * * * *

By the time Gerry Norton recovered from the effects of the gas he had
been securely bound again. Two guards led him to the end of a corridor
and up a flight of stairs to the level above. This was also part of the
prison zone of the castle, but built in an entirely different manner.
Walls and floor were of a polished green metal. Super-charged electronic
locks fastened each door, holding death for anyone who attempted to
tamper with them. Metal globes gave a steady light. Mirrors above each
cell door gave the guards who lounged in the corridors a complete view
of the