tween them, and far
below in the watermelon-shaped head, a mouth like a man's with lips the
color of rust on iron.

Panting, he gazed at it, then flung up one arm in a futile blow that
fell short by two feet. The thing was angering him. Let it watch out for
itself!

A hand, unnoticed, had crept round behind him and now took him by the
back of the shirt, belt, and trousers, and lifted him off the floor. He
regretted the useless punch. Now he would be dead.

The monster inspected him, prodding aside his bedraggled collar points
and digging gently at his belly with the rod, which did not sting him
this time. It made a sound from its mouth like the last weak bellow of a
dying _toro_--"Mmwaa gnaa!" then set him down once more with a thump
that jolted his teeth, nearly fractured his ankles.

_Maria y Jose_, but it moved as fast as a lizard's tongue! Escape was
beyond hope.

It backed away from him, stood by a huge box and gestured with the green
stick. It wanted him to come. He walked toward it. The box was enormous,
oblong, like a huge shoe box. Only when he had come to it did he realize
it was the room in which he had awakened earlier.

In this hall it was lost. Untouched by the monster, he looked at the
hall with seeing eyes for the first time. It had yellow walls and a gray
roof, like the box. He clapped a hand to his head. Like a theater
without seats! Over ten varas high, thirty broad and forty long: or he
should say, being a man of the States now for many years, roughly thirty
feet by seventy-five by a hundred. Scattered here and there in
staggering confusion were the machines, the gadgets, the unknown things.
All colors he had ever seen were there. It was gaudy as the amusement
park, but slicker and more fresh-looking.

The creature laid a hand on the box, and the wall began to slide open.
He looked up, and it gestured, telling him as plainly as words to go in.
He was to enter again. It seemed as happy a thing to him as the breaking
of a Christmas pinata.

He braced himself now. _He_ had emerged, while _they_ had cowered
behind, refusing him aid. Worms that they were, he would show them the
bearing of a hero, one who had braved mysterious dangers while all
others trembled. He sucked in his belly, threw forward his chest, placed
his fists carefully on his hips and strutted into the strawed room,
turning his head proudly from side to side. He heard the wall close
behind him.

The worms came crowding to him.