ross the narrow strip of cleared ground
toward the game trail into the jungle labyrinth, he was mentally
congratulating himself at the ease with which he had obtained a
desirable mate. Within little more than a sun from now he would be
exhibiting his prize to the envious eyes of the men and the jealous
stares of the shes.

Mog was moving down-wind, and so engrossed was he with
self-congratulations that he utterly failed to sense the presence of a
tawny shape hidden in the thick growth at the trail's mouth.

It was Sadu, the lion, crouching there, massive head flattened to the
ground, hindquarters beneath a taut frame, waiting for the approaching
prey to move within the radius of his spring.

On came the Neanderthal. Suddenly a terrible roar came from the ground
almost at his feet, and a huge body flashed from the cloaking verdure
and leaped at the hairy chest of the astonished man-thing.

Mog's reaction was instinctive. As Sadu's roar broke the silence, the
Hairy One tossed Alurna aside and swung up his massive club to beat off
the attack.

But in vain. Mog had been too well ambushed to stage an effective
defense. Full on his shoulders fell the awful weight of the great cat,
the club brushed aside as though it did not exist, and Mog went down as
though pole-axed.

With wide distended jaws Sadu lowered his head past the futilely
flailing arms. There was a sickening crunch of bone as giant fangs
closed on the face of the struggling figure, and Mog, the sullen, was no
more.

Alurna, prostrate where Mog had tossed her a few feet away, watched the
grisly drama with frightened eyes. During the brief interval in which
Sadu had made his kill, she might have risen and taken to her heels, but
a paralysis of fear kept her motionless.

Now Sadu rose to his feet, shook himself until the thick mane fairly
flew, then placed a heavily taloned paw on his prey and turned his
leonine head to look slowly about.

At last his round yellow eyes came to rest on the prone figure of the
girl. For an endless moment he regarded her with a fixed, unblinking
stare; then the wrinkled lips curled back, exposing blood-reddened
teeth, while from the cavernous chest came a low growl that coursed up
and down the girl's spine like icy fingers.

For what seemed ages to Alurna that stare never wavered. The long
graceful body with its tremendous sinews seemed to expand larger and
larger until it loomed great as that of an elephant. She could feel