ugh, for I could catch glimpses, now and then
of moving things. But what they might be, even the searching eye of
the television disc could not determine.

* * * * *

One of our searchlight beams, waving through the darkness like the
curious antenna of some monstrous insect, came to rest upon a spot far
ahead. I followed the beam with the disc, and bent closer, to make
sure my eyes did not deceive me.

I was looking at a vast cleared place in the pulpy jungle--a cleared
space in the center of which there was a city.

A city built of black, sweating stone, each house exactly like every
other house: tall, thin slices of stone, without windows, chimneys or
ornamentation of any kind. The only break in the walls was the
slit-like door of each house. Instead of being arranged along streets
crossing each other at right angles, these houses were built in
concentric circles broken only by four narrow streets then ran from
the open space in the center of the city to the four points of the
compass. Around the entire city was an exceedingly high wall built of
and buttressed with the black, sweating stone of which the houses were
constructed.

That it was a densely populated city there was ample evidence.
People--they were creatures like the messenger; that the Chisee are a
people, despite their terrible shape, is hardly debatable--were
running up and down the four radial streets, and around the curved
connecting streets, in the wildest confusion, their double-elbowed
arms flung across their eyes. But even as I watched, the crowd thinned
and melted swiftly away, until the streets of the queer, circular city
were utterly deserted.

* * * * *

"The city ahead is not the one we are seeking, sir?" asked Croy, who
had evidently been observing the scene through one of the smaller
television discs. "I take it that governing city will be farther in
the interior."

"According to my rather sketchy information, yes." I replied.
"However, keep all the searchlight operators busy, going over very bit
of the country within the reach of their beams. You have men on all
the auxiliary television discs?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Any findings of interest should be reported to me instantly.
And--Mr. Croy!"

"Yes, sir?"

"You might order, if you will, that rations be served all men at their
posts." Over such country as this, I felt it would be wise to have
every man ready for an