in
arranging terms of peace, then."

"I am here,"--suddenly the Duca's voice filled the room--"to do that
which my priests were unable to do. And the moment has come when the
Gods will no longer trifle with you. You dog! You thieving intruder!
You--"

Swiftly the Duca plunged one withered but still powerful hand into the
folds of his robe above the flaming girdle. Then his hand flashed out,
and in it he held--

* * * * *

But Kirby did not get to see.

A strangled cry of terror smote his ears. Naida leaped toward him from
one side, while Elana, the lovely youngest girl, sprang from another
direction, hurled Naida aside, and stopped in front of Kirby.

Through the glaring room flickered a tiny red serpentine creature which
the Duca hurled from a crystalline tube in his hand. As the minute snake
struck Elana's breast, she gave a choked cough, and then, as she half
turned to smile at both Naida and Kirby over her shoulder, her eyes went
blank, and she collapsed gently to the polished stones of the
floor--dead.

A second later came squirming out from under her the ghastly, glimmering
little snake which had struck.

Slowly, while every mortal in the room stood paralyzed, Kirby stepped
forward and set his heel upon the writhing thing. When he raised his
boot, the snake was only a blotch on the floor.

The Duca was standing as still as girls and caciques. The laughter with
which he had started to greet what he had thought would be Kirby's
extermination had faded to a look of wonder--and fear. He was an easy
mark.

Up to him Kirby rolled, and with all the force of soul and muscular
body, drove his fist into the Duca's face.

"By God," he roared, "you want war, and you shall have it!"

The Duca was simply out--not dead. Since Kirby did not want him dead, he
did not strike again, but swung back from the sprawled body, faced
Naida, and pointed to the tower door.

"Up there!" he snapped. "Seize the tower. I have a reason!"

At the Duca's crashing downfall, had come to the caciques a tension
which made Kirby know they would not be dummy figures much longer. His
eyes never left them.

"Quick, Naida!" he snapped again. "We must hold the tower!"

Naida, all of the girls, were staring dazedly at Elana, dead.

"The tower!" she choked. "But we cannot go there. It is the Duca's!"

"Because it is the Duca's," Kirby said firmly, "is exactly why we must
hold it. Come, Naida, please--"