There were huge water snakes with humanlike hands. There were spherical beasts with a row of legs around the equator, a row of eyes around the tropic of cancer, and a circular mouth rimmed with teeth at the north pole. There were—
But at this point Jud urged him on into another room, where he promptly forgot all the other creatures in the sight which met his eyes.
In a large wooden cage in the center of the room was an enraged ant-man gnawing at the bars, while a score or so of Vairking warriors stood around and prodded him with spears.
“Stop!” Jud shouted at the soldiery, whereat they all fell back obediently.
This called the attention of the imprisoned beast to the newcomers, so he looked up and stared at them. Cabot stared back.
Then he rushed forward to the cage!
XIV
OLD FRIENDS
“Doggo!” he cried. “Doggo! They told me you were dead!”
But of course all this was lost on the radio speech sense of the prisoner. Vairking soldiers interposed their spears between Myles Cabot and what they believed was sure destruction at the jaws of the black beast. Cabot recoiled.
“Jud,” he called out, “order off your henchmen! I am not crazy, nor do I court death. This creature is the only one of the Formians whom I can control. He will prove a valuable ally for us, if I can persuade him to forgive the indignities which your men have already heaped upon him.”