amongst the ape-men. He also hopes his act will win favor
from his Gods, and make them help him when he is ready to launch a new
attempt to capture _all_ the girls."

* * * * *

Ivana and Nini looked at each other, then at Kirby, and horror was
etched deeper into their faces.

"I think," gulped Ivana, "that you--are right. I--begin to understand."

Nini leaned close to them.

"Tell us, then, _how_ this sacrifice is to be made."

Silent at that, Kirby presently made a heavy gesture toward the
maelstrom of howling, leaping animals below them.

"I couldn't guess at first. Now I think I can. They have placed her in
that cage and swung it high above the black hole you were afraid of.
What can that mean except that she is to be offered to--to--"

It was a monstrous theory which had stunned his hope and courage, and to
voice the thing in words was too gruesome.

His bare suggestion, however, made Ivana pass a hand limply over her
forehead and look at him with blank, stricken eyes. Nini tottered so
uncertainly that Gori, who had remained motionless and silent
throughout, had to steady her with muscular arms. If it was impossible
for Kirby to utter his fears aloud, he had no need to speak to make them
understood.

"And--and we can do nothing?" Nini choked at last.

"You can see for yourself how she is surrounded. If we had been able to
get here sooner, we might have done something. Now--"

Kirby's voice trailed off, and he gave an agonized look at his rifle.

* * * * *

The terrific dance in the clearing was going forward with madness which
increased second by second. It had been a general debauch at first, with
the whole thousand of the apes bellowing and squirming. Now a change was
becoming apparent. Red eyes which had caught the glare of ultimate
madness, focused upon the caciques, the Duca, and the great king, all of
whom were swaying together on the central stage. As they looked, the
horde of ape-men broke loose with a heightened frenzy of noise and
movement too overwhelming for Kirby to follow. He leaned forward, making
an effort to see what actions of Duca and king could be so influencing
the congregation. And then he saw.

Both of those central figures, the one with hair-covered giant's body
and evilly grimacing face, the other with white robes and whipping
silver hair, were definitely emulating the motions of a serpent!

It was as if the an