ton
remembered at last through the red haze of his fury the weapon he
carried, but before either Randall or Lanier could reach their own
weapons a new wave of crocodilian forms had poured onto them that by
sheer pressing weight held them helpless, to be disarmed.

* * * * *

Hissing orders sounded, the arms and legs of the three were tightly
grasped by great taloned paws, and the masses of Martians about them
melted back from the dais. Held each by two great creatures, Milton
and Randall and Lanier faced again the triple-bodied Martian Master,
who in all that wild moment of struggle appeared not to have changed
his position. The big monster's black eyes stared unmovedly down at
them.

"You Earth-beings seem of lower intelligence even than we thought,"
his hissing voice informed them. "And those weapons--crude, very
crude."

Milton, his face set, spoke back: "It may be that you will find human
weapons of some power if your hordes reach earth," he said.

"But what compared with the power of ours?" the other asked coldly.
"And since our scientists even now devise new weapons to annihilate
the earth's races, I think they would be glad of three of those races
to experiment with now. The one use we can make of you, certainly."

The creature turned its bulging head a little towards the guards who
held the three men, and uttered a brief hissing order. Instantly the
six Martians, grasping the three tightly, marched them across the
great hall and through a different door than that by which they had
entered.

They were taken down a narrow corridor that turned sharply twice as
they went on. Randall saw that it was lit by squares inset in the
walls that glowed with crimson light. It came to him as they marched
on that night must be upon the Martian city without, since the sun had
been sinking when they had crossed it in the centipede-machine.

* * * * *

Through what seemed an ante-room they were taken, and then into a long
hall instantly recognizable as a laboratory. There were many glowing
squares illuminating it, and narrow windows high in the wall gave them
a glimpse of the city outside, a pattern of crimson lights. Long metal
tables and racks filled the big room's farther end, while along the
walls were ranged shining mechanisms of unfamiliar and grotesque
appearance. Fully a score of the crocodilian Martians were busy in the
room, some intent on their wo