d the challenge
aside.

"I'm not here to fight. I say, you're needed. Things have gone wrong,
awfully. The others got to feeling that there was no reason to obey a
woman chief, even though Miss Pemberton has many good impulses--"

"I agree to that," nodded Parr, remembering the girl's many strange
behaviors. "I daresay she wasn't much of a leader."

Sadau did not argue the point. "Shanklin, as the previous newest man,
grabbed back the chieftaincy," he plunged ahead. "Those other fools
backed him. When I tried to defend Miss Pemberton, they drove me out. I
stumbled among the others--that crowd you used to capture the
patroller--and got a line on where you were. I came for help."

One phase had stuck in Parr's mind. "You tried to defend that girl. They
were going to kill her?"

"No. Shanklin, as chief and king, figures he needs a queen. She's not
bad looking. He's going to marry her, unless--"

Parr snorted, and Sadau's voice grew angry. "Curse it, man, I'm not
casting you for a knight of the Table Round, or the valiant space-hero
who arrives in the nick of time at the television drama! Simplify it,
Parr. You're the only man who ever had the enterprise to do anything
actual here. You ought to be chief still, running things justly. And it
isn't justice for a girl to be married unofficially to someone she
doesn't like. Miss Pemberton despises Shanklin. Now, do you get my
point, or are you afraid?"

It was Ling who made answer: "My boss isn't afraid of anything. He'll
straighten that mess out."

Parr glanced at the big fellow. "Thanks for making up my mind for me,
Ling. Well, you two have talked me into something. Sadau, shake Ling's
big paw. And," he now had time to view the stranger at close hand,
"who's this with you?"

The man with the black curls looked genially surprised. "You know me,
boss. I'm Frank Rupert."

Parr stared. "Never heard of you."

"You're joking. Why, I almost got that Martian patroller into space,
when Miss Pemberton--"

Parr sprang at him and caught him by his shoulders. "You were
Ruba--Rupert! It's only that you didn't talk plain before. What's
happened to you, man?"

Sadau hastily answered: "The degeneration force is obviated. Reversed.
All those who were beast-men are coming back, some of the later arrivals
completely normal again. Haven't you noticed a change in this big husk?"

Parr turned and looked at Ling. So that was it! Day by day, the change
had not been enough to impress