been wrecked on the rim of the mountains whenlanding, and how the Scaly Ones had captured all the crew.
"They have kept me alive because the signs pointed that way when theycast the omens before the Serpent Gods," Lansing said, "but all the restof the crew were used as bait for hunting the giant Dakta. They died.You and your companions will probably meet the same fate."
"Pleasant prospect!" Gerry said grimly. Lansing gripped his arm.
"There's a chance, Norton! Listen! I've been able to get these scalydevils to bring me a good many things from the wreck. I couldn't get aray-tube, they were too wise for that, but I did get a portable radio bytelling them it was my tribal god. I have it in my cell. We'll go overand you can phone your ship to come after us." He eyed Gerry eagerly.
"Let's go!"
They both crawled through the gap in the wall. It was like Gerry's own,but it was piled with an assortment of junk from the wrecked space-ship.In one corner stood a compact two-way radio telephone set with its tubesstill intact.
"Think you can tell them how to come?" Lansing whispered.
"I'm not sure. They marched us along the roads, and the route waswinding, and...."
"I'll draw you a map!" Lansing interrupted. "You hold the light."
While Gerry held the flash, the other man spread out a piece of crumpledpaper on the floor and began to draw on it with the stub of a graphitestylus. He talked as he wrote, in a shrilly, excited whisper. Gerry hadnever liked the man in the old days, considering him excitable andundependable, and it was evident that the long captivity had notimproved Walter Lansing's self-control. That did not matter. The mainthing was to get out of this place. And then Gerry saw something thatstiffened every muscle and made the short hair prickle all down the backof his neck. The ring finger of Lansing's left hand was missing at thesecond joint!
* * * * *
The suspicion that had come to Gerry Norton seemed impossible. WalterLansing ... the Lord Lansa. It couldn't be. And yet--he was sure he hadseen that same mutilated hand thrust out from the sleeve of a green robean hour before! Lansing was still talking as he bent over the improvisedmap.
"Here's the line of the Giri River. Tell them to cross by the bald grayhill, then bear west-six-north, using Venusian magnetic bearings. Afterthat...."
He suddenly stopped and looked up, catching Gerry's grim glance fixed onhis left hand. Hastily he jerked it aside into the shadows. He must haveread in Gerry's eyes that his move had been too late, for his own gauntface hardened.
"_You rat!_" Gerry hissed between his teeth. His right hand shot out,clutching for the other man's throat, but Lansing twisted aside andjerked a dark object from his pocket. An instant later a stinging cloudof the paralysis gas took Gerry in the face, and he fell limply to thefloor.
Lansing straightened up and tossed aside the flask that had held thegas. There was a savage gleam in his narrow eyes.
"All right, Norton," he said, "we'll do it the other way. Ho--guards!"
A gong sounded in the corridor, the pulsating green light immediatelyflooded the cell. Scaly-skinned guards swarmed in and saluted. Lansingripped off the torn uniform, revealing a tight-fitting green garmentbeneath it, and one of the guards helped him on with the cowled robe hehad worn before. He glanced down at Gerry for a moment.
"Bring him and the others up to me when he recovers the use of hismuscles," he said.
* * * * *
By the time Gerry Norton recovered from the effects of the gas he hadbeen securely bound again. Two guards led him to the end of a corridorand up a flight of stairs to the level above. This was also part of theprison zone of the castle, but built in an entirely different manner.Walls and floor were of a polished green metal. Super-charged electroniclocks fastened each door, holding death for anyone who attempted totamper with them. Metal globes gave a steady light. Mirrors above eachcell door gave the guards who lounged in the corridors a complete viewof the inside of every cell.
This, Gerry realized, was actually the prison used by the lords ofGiri-Vaaka. He had been placed in the old and abandoned dungeons beneathas part of the scheme to lure him into calling the _Viking_ to her doom.Glancing in the door-mirrors of the cells as he went by, Gerry saw thatmost of the occupants were men and women of the Green Race of Giri, witha fair number of Golden Amazons and a few reptile men who had beenguilty of some crime or infraction of discipline.
Then he saw Closana! The girl was tightly spread-eagled against one ofthe polished metal walls of her cell, her outstretched wrists and anklesheld by steel cuffs. Gerry's jaw jutted stubbornly forward, and for amoment he twisted helplessly against the cords that held his arms behindhim.
The guards halted before a door deep in the interior of the palace,where a pair of scaly warriors stood on guard with gas-guns cocked andready. The opening itself was not closed by any door, but by what lookedlike a tightly stretched curtain of some transparent green material. Oncloser inspection he saw that it glowed with a steady pulsation, whileoccasional specks of green fire ran through it. When one of the guardsmoved incautiously back so that the tip of his scabbard touched thegreen glow filling the door, there was a crackling hiss. The tip of thescabbard simply vanished. It was as though it had been cleanly cut offby a very sharp knife.
A challenge came from within, and one of Gerry's guards shouted a reply.The green glow suddenly vanished from the doorway. Whatever elementalforce it was that blocked the passage had been withdrawn, and theywalked freely in through the opening.
* * * * *
The wide room before them was walled with slabs of polished blackmarble. The figures of writhing snakes and rearing reptiles were inlaidinto the black walls with some iridescent green stone. Their eyes wereinlaid jewels. Thin trails of pungent smoke drifted upward from theirnostrils. A low and throbbing music, full of the thunder of muted drums,came from unseen source. At regular intervals around the walls stoodtall golden standards with glowing globes atop them.
This was the throne room of Lansa, Lord of Giri-Vaaka, who had once beenan officer in the flying forces of Earth. The man himself sat on a blackmarble throne with a dozen of the higher officers of his scaly warriorsgrouped around him. These Inner Guards wore breast-plates and helmets ofa bright green metal, and their pointed ears protruded upward throughtwin openings in the sides of the helmets.
Lansa's swarthy face was gloatingly triumphant. It had always been GerryNorton's private opinion that Walter Lansing was slightly mad. Brilliantin many ways, but definitely unstable. At last he appeared to haveslipped over that shadowy border that divides the rational from theinsane.
"It is unfortunate that my little scheme to have you summon yourspace-ship here did not work," Lansa said in English. "But we will findsome other way of persuading you to do it."
"You think you're quite the little tin god, don't you?" Gerry sneered.
"I _am_ a god--to these people," Lansa replied quietly. "Though the_Stardust_ was damaged too badly to return to earth, little of herequipment was harmed except for the rocket tubes themselves. Within sixmonths after landing I had made myself master of these primitive butobedient people. The submarine that brought you from the city of Larrshows what can be done with them. In the meantime I had communicatedwith friends on Earth by means of a secret radio frequency, and waitedfor the sending of the next space-ship...."
He broke off as a door behind the throne opened and a woman came intothe room. It was Olga Stark, now wearing a long gown of shimmeringgreen. Metal strands of the same color were braided into her dark hair,which was crowned by a circlet bearing the design of a rearing serpent.All the officers and courtiers lifted their arms in salute. The womanwalked over and stood beside Lansa's throne, looking down at Gerry witha cold and impersonal scorn. It had not taken Olga Stark very long tofit herself into the role of the queen of Giri-Vaaka!
* * * * *
A number of things were clear to Gerry Norton now
! It had been OlgaStark with whom Lansing had secretly communicated after he made himselfmaster of the Scaly Ones, and that explained her insistent requests tojoin the expedition. Again, it had been Olga who had beensurreptitiously using the radio to talk to Lansing that day when Gerryhad stepped into the radio room on hearing the hum of the generator.They had been arranging the details of his abduction. Only--who wasOlga's confederate who had knocked him over the head when he had walkedin on them that time? There was still some traitor on board the_Viking_.
"I have now developed the resources of this country to the point wherethe final campaign is ready," Lansa boasted, "all these reptile menneeded was a man of sufficient brains and initiative to lead them. Weare making ray-tubes, modeled on those aboard the _Stardust_, and willsoon be able to blast