could make up Nazu to perfection. Mingling with the barbarians
unsuspected, he might get possession of the ovoid.

* * * * *

The Titanese lad fell in with the idea at once and the two men started
work on him with water and the powdery stuff they had taken for red
sand. They stripped him of his silken garment and smeared him from head
to foot, Carr taking especial care to see that his upper body and face
were thoroughly covered. Then, after using his own clothing to swab off
the coating, they stepped back to view the result. He was exactly like
one of the red men in color now, and he stood there twisting his face in
a wicked grin to heighten the similarity.

"The little devil!" Mado chuckled. "He gets the idea perfectly. We'll
have to muss his hair now and fix him up with a kirtle like theirs."

Removing his suede jacket and turning it inside out, he draped it about
the slim hips of Nazu, then slapped his chest approvingly. "There you
are, lad," he told the grinning youngster. "A tough-looking kid we've
made of you, too."

The words were lost on the young Titanese, but his bright eyes showed
that he fully comprehended the humor as well as the gravity of the
situation. The improvised covering would pass without question as one of
the untanned hides the barbarians wore dangling from their waists. The
disguise was faultless.

Ora had been watching at the mouth of the cave. Now she called out in
low-voiced warning, "Hurry! One of them is coming."

Carr moved forward swiftly to face the opening, while Mado stood with
his great bulk hiding the now unrecognizable Nazu. The savage entered,
proceeding directly to where Carr was standing. He bent over the fruit
basket and then the Earth-man was upon him.

The wiry red man struggled furiously, but Carr had a grip on his
windpipe that stopped his attempts to cry out and quickly reduced him to
a state of flabby subjection. Then he bound and gagged his captive,
tearing strips of linen from his own shirt to provide the necessary
material. In a moment they had bundled the trussed-up dwarf into a dark
corner of the cavern, and Nazu stepped forth blithely to lift the basket
to his shoulder.

* * * * *

Everything seemed to happen at once after that. Nazu stalked boldly out
among the savages, who paid him no attention whatsoever. He passed out
of their field of vision for a moment, and then they saw him at the
circu