ened chiefs, at the command of the
Plutonian, push aside some of the blazing blocks of fungus on the
stone, to make room for his body. At last he raised his hand.

"Frogfolk!" he cried, "if ye do this thing, the Lords of the Green
Star will come. They will come with fires hotter than the sun; they
will blast your rivers with a power greater than the thunder of the
ringstorms; they will fill your caves with a purple smoke that turns
your bones to water--"

Shrill cries of fear almost drowned out his words. All the Mercurians
had seen evidences of the dreadful power of the Earthmen. They began
milling around, then stood rooted by the roar of the Plutonian's
voice.

"Lies! Lies!" he bellowed. "See, they are weak as egglets!" He stepped
down, picked Morones up by one shoulder, and held him, dangling, high
over the heads of all. Morones clawed and tore at the brawny arm. He
made a ludicrous picture. Soon the simple natives made a sniffling
sound of mirth, and the Plutonian, satisfied at last, set him down
again.

"He tells truth!" The Old Wise One had climbed to the top of the stone
block. "The Lords of the Green Star have their power not in their
bodies, but it is great. It is greater far than the frogfolk. It is
greater than the Lords of the Outer Orbit. They will come even as the
surly one has said, and great shall be our sorrow. It is not yet too
late. Release him, and deliver to him the white sap. Seize this evil
one--"

The feeble, fickle minds were being swayed again. In a gust of
impatience, the Plutonian stepped down, seized the aged chief's skinny
body in his great black hands, and snapped him in two. There was a
tearing of tough cords and tissue, and the two halves fell into the
fire.

For an instant the Mercurians were stunned. Then some of them vented
hissing sounds of rage, while others prostrated themselves on the
floor. The black giant watched them narrowly for a moment, then turned
his attention to Morones. He seized him by the arm and drew him slowly
and irresistibly to him.

* * * * *

The murder of the Old Wise One had been done so quickly that Olear was
unable to prevent it. Had he been able to use his ray weapon he could
have burned the Plutonian down, but it had been bent at one of the
narrow turns of the crevice he had come down. The need for extreme
lightness in weapons was rather overdone in those early times, and a
little rough handling made them useless.