d stayed on his feet. Instantly one of the
reptile guards drew his sword and held the blade horizontally behind the
Scot's knees.

"Kneel--or I cut the tendons!" he snapped.

"Come down, you stiff-necked idiot!" Gerry growled. With a muttered oath
Angus dropped to his knees, and the guard stepped back into line.

Then the door opened, and three men came slowly into the room. Two were
gray-scaled guards who carried their gas-guns cocked and ready. The
third was a tall man in a loose green robe. His head was hooded, so that
nothing of his face could be seen at all, his hands were tucked in the
sleeves of his robe. There was something deadly and almost grotesque
about that silent figure. Gerry knew that at last he was in the presence
of Lansa, Lord of the Scaly Ones and ruler of Giri-Vaaka, self-styled
Overlord of all Venus!

* * * * *

The seconds passed in silence. The guards were frozen motionless at
attention. At last Lansa spoke, his voice coming hollowly from the
shadows of his hood.

"Take them to the cells. Their doom shall be decided when the Serpent
Gods have spoken. I have ordered it!"

The tyrant of Venus gestured sharply, and the guards closed in about the
prisoners. For a fleeting instant Gerry had a glimpse of a thin green
hand, a hand where the finger was missing at the second joint. Then
Lansa went out and the door closed behind him. The deeply resonant gong
sounded again, and the pulsating green light instantly vanished so that
there was again no light except for the thin trickle of yellow radiance
that came in the single high window. The prisoners were pulled to their
feet.

There was no chance to speak to Angus or Closana again. Gerry's guards
led him down a narrow corridor, past the steel doors of cells. It was
very dim and silent. From some of the cells he heard a faint rattle of
chains, from others a low groaning. Otherwise there was no sound but
their own footfalls. At last the guards opened the door of a cell,
pushed Gerry inside, and cut the ropes that bound his arms. As they
slammed the heavy steel door behind them he heard the rasp of bolts.
Then the slapping tread of the guards' webbed feet died away and he was
left alone.

Dim as the light in the corridor had been, that in the cell was so much
less that Gerry had to wait half a minute before he could see at all.
Then he made out the outlines of a small, bare cell with a bunk made of
a light and flexib