tion of the main gate came
the hallooing of men and the answering calls and queries of the guard.
We listened. Returning hunters, no doubt. We heard them enter the
village amidst the barking dogs. I have forgotten to mention the dogs
of Kro-lu. The village swarmed with them, gaunt, wolflike creatures
that guarded the herd by day when it grazed without the palisade, ten
dogs to a cow. By night the cows were herded in an outer inclosure
roofed against the onslaughts of the carnivorous cats; and the dogs,
with the exception of a few, were brought into the village; these few
well-tested brutes remained with the herd. During the day they fed
plentifully upon the beasts of prey which they killed in protection of
the herd, so that their keep amounted to nothing at all.

Shortly after the commotion at the gate had subsided, Ajor and I arose
to enter the hut, and at the same time a warrior appeared from one of
the twisted alleys which, lying between the irregularly placed huts and
groups of huts, form the streets of the Kro-lu village. The fellow
halted before us and addressed me, saying that Al-tan desired my
presence at his hut. The wording of the invitation and the manner of
the messenger threw me entirely off my guard, so cordial was the one
and respectful the other, and the result was that I went willingly,
telling Ajor that I would return presently. I had laid my arms and
ammunition aside as soon as we had taken over the hut, and I left them
with Ajor now, as I had noticed that aside from their hunting-knives
the men of Kro-lu bore no weapons about the village streets. There was
an atmosphere of peace and security within that village that I had not
hoped to experience within Caspak, and after what I had passed through,
it must have cast a numbing spell over my faculties of judgment and
reason. I had eaten of the lotus-flower of safety; dangers no longer
threatened for they had ceased to be.

The messenger led me through the labyrinthine alleys to an open plaza
near the center of the village. At one end of this plaza was a long
hut, much the largest that I had yet seen, before the door of which
were many warriors. I could see that the interior was lighted and that
a great number of men were gathered within. The dogs about the plaza
were as thick as fleas, and those I approached closely evinced a strong
desire to devour me, their noses evidently apprising them of the fact
that I was of an alien race, since the