w that--"

He gripped her. "That girl from Earth--that Vivian--she was with
Franklin. What happened to her?"

"She went. He took her--"

"She went--voluntarily?"

"Yes. The people saw her running out with Franklin, and Groff and the
other men. Oh, Lee--what--what are you going to do?"

"I don't know." He stood for a moment dazed, confused--panting, his
fingers twitching. If only he could get a grip on Franklin's throat. And
so Vivian went too! That was a laugh--girl of the streets, pretty
worthless, on Earth. But here--she had seemed to sense what this realm
could mean.

"Aura, where would Groff be likely to go?"

"Go? Why--why I do remember, Groff often went up into the hills. He
never said why?"

"Would they have any weapons?"

"Weapons?" Her eyes widened as though for a second she did not
comprehend. "Weapons? You mean--instruments with which to kill people?
No--how could there be? But a knife can kill. A knife cut old Arkoh's
throat. We have knives--in the houses--and knives that are used for the
harvests--"

She had turned to gaze out toward the glowing hills.... "Oh,
Lee--look--"

Numbed, with their breath catching in their throats, they stared. Out by
the hills a man's figure rose up--monstrous, gigantic figure.

Franklin! He stood beside the little hill, with a hand on its top, his
huge bulk dwarfing it! Franklin, a titan, his head and shoulders looming
monstrously against the inky blackness of the sky!

CHAPTER V

_Combat of Titans_

"Aura, you think you know where Groff may have gone--those times he went
out into the hills?"

"Yes. I think so. Lee--that giant, I think now I understand what must
have happened."

The giant shape of Franklin, a mile or two from them, had stood for a
moment and then had receded, vanished momentarily as he moved backward
behind the hills. Lee and Aura, stunned, still stood beside the little
rocky path. Lee's mind was a turmoil of confusion, with only the
knowledge that he must do something now, quickly. There were no weapons
here in this peaceful little realm. Four or five of these madmen
villains--what need had they of weapons? The monstrous power of size.
The thought of it struck at Lee with a chill that seemed turning his
blood to ice. The monster that Franklin had become--with a size like
that he could scatter death with his naked hands.

* * * * *

"I remember now," Aura was gasping. "There was a time when your