* * * * *

They reached the temple unobserved.

It was a bigger building than had been apparent from the mountain above.
Unlike the huts, it was constructed of stone. Roughly circular in shape,
a line of columns circled the outer edge. The construction was crude.
The Ogrum either had not yet invented the arch or scorned to use it.
Numerous holes big enough for a man to enter standing erect, but not
much bigger, served as entrances. The holes were without doors, another
invention the Ogrum apparently had not yet made, and Craig was again
struck by the strangely warped development of this race that knew how to
build airplanes and to use poison gas but still did not know how to
build arches.

Unlike the city, the temple was guarded. Yellow-robed, shaven-headed
sentries paced around the building keeping inside the circles of the
columns.

"Friends of the bright beast that is always hungry," Guru called them.
Craig decided they were priests, temple guards. He saw they were armed
with spears and swords. In addition each guard carried a pouch of small,
round objects that looked like grenades.

"Are those things _grenades_?" Craig whispered. But Guru had never heard
of grenades. He did not understand. Nor could Craig make him understand.

Through the small dark holes that served as entrances to the temple
occasional flashes of light could be seen. The light was dull, like the
fitful glow from a campfire that has almost burned out.

"What is that?" Craig asked.

But Guru either did not know or, for some superstitious reason, refused
to talk.

"I'm going into that temple," Craig decided. "You stay here and wait for
me."

This time Guru did not insist on going along and Craig realized that the
dawn man was desperately afraid of something within the temple. Craig,
waiting until one of the pacing sentries had passed, darted into the
nearest opening.

He knew, as he slid into the building, that there was an excellent
chance he would never come out, but he had to go in. He had to know what
was in there, so he could plan how to defeat it. He had to know where
the men of the Idaho were held prisoner and how well they were guarded
and if it was possible to organize a way for them to escape. Finally, he
had to know the nature of the bright beast that was always hungry, the
god of the Ogrum.

What was the monster that was always hungry? Some black leering idol on
whose altar was daily sacr