shapen monstrosity before her. The Viceroy forgot the momentary
satisfaction of his triumph in his rage at her attitude. With a growl of
anger he grasped at her. Lura avoided his rush and ran along the side of
the room, Glavour in pursuit. He cornered her at last and she stopped
with her back to the tapestry with which the room was hung. Glowering in
his triumph, Glavour approached and reached out his hand to seize her.
His huge paw descended, but before it touched her shoulder a hand with
fingers of steel reached through the hangings and grasped his wrist.

* * * * *

When Sonom had dragged Lura into the room, Damis inserted the point of
his dagger into the tapestry and started to cut a slit through which he
could enter the room. The keen-edged knife cut for a few inches readily
enough and then stopped. Damis withdrew the blade and examined the stuff
before him. An expression of dismay crossed his face, for the material
was crisscrossed with stellanium wires, set six inches apart. Each
juncture was braised together and the whole made a web through which he
could not force his way. Cautiously he exerted his strength. The keen
blade hewed through the first of the stellanium strands, but Damis held
his breath as the wire parted. It seemed impossible that the ting of
parting metal which sounded like a thunderclap in his ears would not be
heard by the Viceroy. He knew that there must be an entrance into the
room through the hangings and he made his way cautiously forward,
testing the draperies from time to time with his knife.

When Lura laid her dagger against her breast and threatened to end her
life, it took all of Damis' self-control to keep from crying out and
striving to force his way into the room by sheer strength. He knew the
toughness of stellanium well enough to realize the impossibility of even
his enormous strength tearing apart a webbing of it. The certainty that
Glavour would not push matters far enough to rob himself of his prey
aided him to restrain his ardor and to pursue his systematic search.

He came at last to a corner where his knife met with no resistance as it
made its way through the silken stuff on the walls. Swiftly he cut a
slit through which he could rush. As he parted the material, Lura rushed
past him and stood with her back to the wall to await the oncoming
Viceroy. Damis raised his hand and stood ready. As Glavour's huge paw
descended on Lura's s