abs went. I turned from the black vial of
Polter's enlarging drug, and with the huge pellet under my arm I ran
leaping over the rough ground and flung myself into a gully. I lay
prone, flattened against a rock. In the murky distance of a pseudo-sky
overhead, the monstrous head and shoulders of Polter were visible. I
could see down to just below his waist. The empty cage with its door
flapping open hung against his shirt-front. He had stooped to try and
recover Babs. And instinctively his hands went to his belt to seize
his enlarging drug.

They were fumbling there now. He hauled out an opalescent vial of the
diminishing element. But his black vial was gone. His frown spread
into fear as he searched for it in the other compartments of his belt.
I had thought that he had more than one black vial, but now it seemed
not. His huge face was swept with the panic of terror. He flung a wild
glance around him.

Through the open end of my gully I saw in the distance, miles away,
the enlarging figure of Alan rising up. Then it ducked back of a
distant rocky peak. Polter undoubtedly saw it. He was fumbling with
his opalescent vial, and with confused panic upon him he made the
mistake of taking the diminishing drug. And instantly seemed to regret
it. His curse rumbled above me. His glance went down to the rocks at
his feet, and there he saw lying his black vial with its stopper out.
His body already was beginning to dwindle. He stooped, seized the
vial, and took the enlarging drug. The shock of it made him stagger;
momentarily he disappeared from my line of vision but I could hear his
panting breath and the unsteady pound of his footsteps.

* * * * *

I still held that huge round ball of the drug. I seized a loose stone
and frantically knocked off a chunk--heaven knows how much, I do not.
I shoved it into my mouth, chewed and hastily swallowed it. And with
the lurching, swaying, shrinking gully closing in upon me, I ran to
get out of its distant open end.

I was heading toward where Alan and his father were lurking. I came
from the gully into the open, just as the walls closed behind me. The
whole scene was a dizzying blurred sway of contracting movement. I saw
that I was in a circular valley now some five miles in diameter, with
its jagged enclosing walls rising sheerly perpendicular out of sight
in the haze overhead.

Polter had staggered backward. I saw him a mile or so away. His back
at that