from the summit of the breast shot a tremendous trunk of cubes and
spinning globes. And like a trunk it nuzzled us, caught us up, swept
us to the crest. An instant I tottered dizzily; was held; stood beside
Norhala upon a little, level twinkling eyed platform; upon her other
side swayed Drake.

Now through the monster I felt a throbbing, an eager and impatient
pulse. I turned my head. Still like some huge and grotesque beast
the back of the clustered Things ran for half a mile at least behind,
tapering to a dragon tail that coiled and twisted another full mile
toward the Pit. And from this back uprose and fell immense spiked and
fan-shaped ruffs, thickets of spikes, whipping knouts of bristling
tentacles, fanged crests. They thrust and waved, whipped and fell
constantly; and constantly the great tail lashed and snapped, fantastic,
long and living.

"HAI!" shouted Norhala once more. From her lifted throat came again the
golden chanting--but now a relentless, ruthless song of slaughter.

Up reared the monstrous bulk. Into it ran the dragon tail. Into it
poured the fanged and bristling back.

Up, up we were thrust--three hundred feet, four hundred, five hundred.
Over the blue globe of Norhala's house bent a gigantic leg. Spiderlike
out from each side of the monster thrust half a score of others.

Overhead the dawn began to break. Through it with ever increasing speed
we moved, straight to the line of the cliffs behind which lay the city
of the armored men--and Ruth and Ventnor.

CHAPTER XXIV. RUSZARK

Smoothly moved the colossal shape; on it we rode as easily as though
cradled. It did not glide--it strode.

The columned legs raised themselves, bending from a thousand joints. The
pedestals of the feet, huge and massive as foundations for sixteen-inch
guns, fell with machinelike precision, stamping gigantically.

Under their tread the trees of the forest snapped, were crushed like
reeds beneath the pads of a mastodon. From far below came the sound of
their crashing. The thick forest checked the progress of the Shape less
than tall grass would that of a man.

Behind us our trail was marked by deep, black pits in the forest's
green, clean cut and great as the Mark upon the poppied valley. They
were the footprints of the Thing that carried us.

The wind streamed and whistled. A flock of the willow warblers arose,
sworled about us with manifold beating of little frightened wings.
Norhala's face softened, her