"Kuei!" exclaimed Li Kin tremulously. "Shan Kar spoke truth! Brute and men are equal here — at least, in the Brotherhood!"
They heard Shan Kar yell something and plunged forward after him. They were in time to witness an astounding spectacle. Shan Kar, sword in hand, was tensely approaching a mighty, crouching wolf that had been attempting to drag away a man's limp form.
"It's Tark!" cried Shan Kar. "He was trying to drag Barin away!"
Eric Nelson glimpsed the flaring green eyes of the great wolf as it turned its face toward them. It did not snarl, as an ordinary beast would have done. It merely crouched for an instant, seeming to choose its victim swiftly before it sprang.
Nelson, startled, raised his rifle as the wolf launched itself for his throat. Shan Kar yelled at the same instant.
"Don't kill him if you can help it! He's valuable to us alive!"
The wolf would have died despite that cry had Nelson been able to shoot in time. But the spring was too swift for that. Nelson, involuntarily stepping back from the blazing-eyed charge as he raised his gun, tripped and stumbled.
He just glimpsed the terrific swing of Sloan's heavy gun as the other batted with it at the plunging wolf.
He heard the thud of the blow, felt Tark's massive, hairy weight hit him — but limply. Then he scrambled hastily from beneath the motionless body of the stunned wolf.
"We've got Tark alive and Barin, Kree's son, too!" Shan Kar exclaimed. "And we've given the Brotherhood its first taste of our new weapons!"