position, and once he plants a victorious foot in Galu, he will not
withdraw it without a struggle."

I asked them what batu meant, as I had not before heard the word.
Literally translated, it is equivalent to through, finished, done-for,
as applied to an individual's evolutionary progress in Caspak, and with
this information was developed the interesting fact that not every
individual is capable of rising through every stage to that of Galu.
Some never progress beyond the Alu stage; others stop as Bo-lu, as
Sto-lu, as Bandlu or as Kro-lu. The Ho-lu of the first generation may
rise to become Alus; the Alus of the second generation may become
Bo-lu, while it requires three generations of Bo-lu to become Band-lu,
and so on until Kro-lu's parent on one side must be of the sixth
generation.

It was not entirely plain to me even with this explanation, since I
couldn't understand how there could be different generations of peoples
who apparently had no offspring. Yet I was commencing to get a slight
glimmer of the strange laws which govern propagation and evolution in
this weird land. Already I knew that the warm pools which always lie
close to every tribal abiding-place were closely linked with the
Caspakian scheme of evolution, and that the daily immersion of the
females in the greenish slimy water was in response to some natural
law, since neither pleasure nor cleanliness could be derived from what
seemed almost a religious rite. Yet I was still at sea; nor,
seemingly, could Ajor enlighten me, since she was compelled to use
words which I could not understand and which it was impossible for her
to explain the meanings of.

As we stood talking, we were suddenly startled by a commotion in the
bushes and among the boles of the trees surrounding us, and
simultaneously a hundred Kro-lu warriors appeared in a rough circle
about us. They greeted Chal-az with a volley of questions as they
approached slowly from all sides, their heavy bows fitted with long,
sharp arrows. Upon Ajor and me they looked with covetousness in the
one instance and suspicion in the other; but after they had heard
Chal-az's story, their attitude was more friendly. A huge savage did
all the talking. He was a mountain of a man, yet perfectly
proportioned.

"This is Al-tan the chief," said Chal-az by way of introduction. Then
he told something of my story, and Al-tan asked me many questions of
the land from which I came. The warriors crowded aro