eatures,
watching his fishy eyes the while.

It was several seconds before he realized what was happening; then he
began talking excitedly to the waiting nine. The words fairly burned
themselves in my consciousness, but of course were utterly
unintelligible to me. Before the creature had finished, a lash-like
tentacle shot out from the chief of the nine and removed the menore; a
moment later it reposed, at a rather rakish slant, on the shining dome
of its new possessor.

"Get anything, sir?" asked Correy in a low voice.

"Not yet. I'm trying to make him see how we came here, and that we're
friends. Then I'll see what I can get out of him; he'll have to get
the idea of coming back at me with pictures instead of words, and it
may take a long time to make him understand."

It did take a long time. I could feel the sweat trickling down my face
as I strove to make him understand. His eyes revealed wonderment and a
little fear, but an almost utter lack of understanding.

I pictured for him the heavens, and our ship sailing along through
space. Then I showed him the _Ertak_ coming to rest on the plateau,
and he made little impatient noises as though to convey that he knew
all about that.

* * * * *

After a long time he got the idea. Crudely, dimly, he pictured the
_Ertak_ leaving this strange world, and soaring off into vacant space.
Then his scene faded out, and he pictured the same thing again, as one
might repeat a question not understood. He wanted to know where we
would go if we left this world of his.

I pictured for him other worlds, peopled with men more or less like
myself. I showed him the great cities, and the fleets of ships like
the _Ertak_ that plied between them. Then, as best I could, I asked
him about himself and his people.

It came to me jerkily and poorly pictured, but I managed to piece out
the story. Whether I guess correctly on all points, I am not sure, nor
will I ever be sure. But this is the story as I got it.

These people at one time lived in the open, and all the people of this
world were like those in the cavern, possessed of opaque bodies and
great strength. There were none of the ghost-like creatures who had
captured us.

But after a long time, a ruling class arose. They tried to dominate
the masses, and the masses refused to be dominated. But the ruling
classes were wise, and versed in certain sciences; the masses were
ignorant. So the ruling class