told me that the Galus country was
still higher and considerably colder, which accounted for the scarcity
of reptiles. The change in form and kinds of the lower animals was
even more marked than the evolutionary stages of man. The diminutive
ecca, or small horse, became a rough-coated and sturdy little pony in
the Kro-lu country. I saw a greater number of small lions and tigers,
though many of the huge ones still persisted, while the woolly mammoth
was more in evidence, as were several varieties of the Labyrinthadonta.
These creatures, from which God save me, I should have expected to find
further south; but for some unaccountable reason they gain their
greatest bulk in the Kro-lu and Galu countries, though fortunately they
are rare. I rather imagine that they are a very early life which is
rapidly nearing extinction in Caspak, though wherever they are found,
they constitute a menace to all forms of life.

It was mid-afternoon when To-mar and So-al bade us good-bye. We were
not far from Kro-lu village; in fact, we had approached it much closer
than we had intended, and now Ajor and I were to make a detour toward
the sea while our companions went directly in search of the Kro-lu
chief.

Ajor and I had gone perhaps a mile or two and were just about to emerge
from a dense wood when I saw that ahead of us which caused me to draw
back into concealment, at the same time pushing Ajor behind me. What I
saw was a party of Band-lu warriors--large, fierce-appearing men. From
the direction of their march I saw that they were returning to their
caves, and that if we remained where we were, they would pass without
discovering us.

Presently Ajor nudged me. "They have a prisoner," she whispered. "He
is a Kro-lu."

And then I saw him, the first fully developed Krolu I had seen. He was
a fine-looking savage, tall and straight with a regal carriage. To-mar
was a handsome fellow; but this Kro-lu showed plainly in his every
physical attribute a higher plane of evolution. While To-mar was just
entering the Kro-lu sphere, this man, it seemed to me, must be close
indeed to the next stage of his development, which would see him an
envied Galu.

"They will kill him?" I whispered to Ajor.

"The dance of death," she replied, and I shuddered, so recently had I
escaped the same fate. It seemed cruel that one who must have passed
safely up through all the frightful stages of human evolution within
Caspak, should die at the very