fawned upon Tode and
pressed his hand to his hairy face. He continued to crouch and looked
up at his master with doglike eyes.

* * * * *

Repulsive, and yet man, not ape. Distinctly human, perhaps a little
lower than the Australian aborigine, the Neanderthal showed by his
reverence that the human faculty of worship existed in him.

"Meet Cain, one of my Drilgoes," said Tode, with a grin. "A faithful
servant. I left him here to wait for me on the return journey. Cain's
just my pet name for him because he subsists on the fruits of the
earth, don't you, Cain?"

The Drilgo grunted, and pressed Tode's hand to his repulsive lips,
which were fringed with a reddish beard. Suddenly Tode began to laugh
uproariously. "Feel anything wrong with your head, Dent?" he asked.

Dent put up his hand and pulled away a quantity of charred hair. His
forehead began to itch, and, rubbing his finger across it, he realized
that his eyebrows were gone. Tode laughed still louder.

"You've kept your teeth by about two seconds' grace, Dent, but I
shouldn't be surprised if you needed dental attention shortly," he
said. "What a pity dentists won't be invented for another forty or
fifty thousand years."

"You're a devil!" cried Jim.

"You see, the human body is very resistant to the Ray," Tode went on.
"It almost seems as if there is an organizing principle within it.
Even the animal tissues are resistant, though not to the same extent
as the human ones. It takes about twenty seconds for the organized
human form to be disintegrated. But hair and beaks and claws, being
superficial matter, vanish almost as soon as the Ray is turned on
them. Ten seconds more, and you'd have been obliterated, Dent, just as
your plane was.

"Yes, rub your head. Your hair will probably grow again--if I decide
to let you live. It rather depends upon what impression you make upon
Lucille as a bald-headed hero. After all, I didn't invite you to
accompany us. It's your own lookout."

* * * * *

Jim could find nothing to say to that. He was discovering more and
more that they were all helpless in Tode's hands.

"Sit back!" snarled Tode suddenly. He gave the Drilgo a push that sent
him sprawling into the bottom of the boat. "Dent, your life depends
upon your absolute acquiescence to my proposals. I didn't like you
particularly in the old days, any more than you liked me. I thought
you were a fool. On t