quickly back to avoid the menacing jaws, something seemed to
jerk suddenly upon his right ankle, and as he drew his left foot back
to regain his equilibrium his heel caught upon a taut chain and he fell
heavily backward to the floor just as the rat leaped upon his breast
and sought his throat.

The Martian rat is a fierce and unlovely thing. It is many-legged and
hairless, its hide resembling that of a newborn mouse in repulsiveness.
In size and weight it is comparable to a large Airedale terrier. Its
eyes are small and close-set, and almost hidden in deep, fleshy
apertures. But its most ferocious and repulsive feature is its jaws,
the entire bony structure of which protrudes several inches beyond the
flesh, revealing five sharp, spadelike teeth in the upper jaw and the
same number of similar teeth in the lower, the whole suggesting the
appearance of a rotting face from which much of the flesh has sloughed
away.

It was such a thing that leaped upon the breast of the panthan to tear
at his jugular. Twice Turan struck it away as he sought to regain his
feet, but both times it returned with increased ferocity to renew the
attack. Its only weapons are its jaws since its broad, splay feet are
armed with blunt talons. With its protruding jaws it excavates its
winding burrows and with its broad feet it pushes the dirt behind it.
To keep the jaws from his flesh then was Turan's only concern and this
he succeeded in doing until chance gave him a hold upon the creature's
throat. After that the end was but a matter of moments. Rising at last
he flung the lifeless thing from him with a shudder of disgust.

Now he turned his attention to a hurried inventory of the new
conditions which surrounded him since the moment of his incarceration.
He realized vaguely what had happened. He had been anaesthetized and
stripped of his weapons, and as he rose to his feet he saw that one
ankle was fettered to a chain in the wall. He looked about the room.
All the doors swung wide open! His captors would render his
imprisonment the more cruel by leaving ever before him tempting
glimpses of open aisles to the freedom he could not attain. Upon the
end of the table and within easy reach was food and drink. This at
least was attainable and at sight of it his starved stomach seemed
almost to cry aloud for sustenance. It was with difficulty that he ate
and drank in moderation.

As he devoured the food his eyes wandered about the confines of his
pri