"It is not yours to ask, savage," said Harg curtly. "But reassure
yourself. She will come to no harm."
Sandra's eyes pleaded with Larry; silently she let the attendants lead
her away. After the door had closed behind them, Larry began to pace
the floor angrily. His mind was tumultuous with conflicting thoughts
and emotions. Damn them! he thought. If this was the world of the
future, it would be better that the future never come! Anyway, he knew
he wanted none of it! He wanted to be back in the good old Twentieth
Century where men were men, not callous, grinning little sawed-off
runts.
But--how to get there?
* * * * *
A scraping sound from the farther wall of his cell interrupted his
angry reverie. Instantly Larry was again a man of action. On silent
feet he tiptoed toward the mysterious sound. The scratching persisted.
Larry drew a deep breath, then pounded on the metal with his bare fist.
"Who's there?"
Immediately the noise ended. Larry waited breathlessly. Was this a trap
of some kind? Or was it just some experiment of Harg's, designed to
test him as laboratory students test the reaction of rats in a maze?
His footsteps deliberately loud, he stomped away from the wall. Then
he stole back quietly. After a brief moment of waiting, the gentle,
fumbling sound resumed. Larry pressed his ear to the metal wall. He
could hear a faint noise as of someone breathing deeply. He leaned
closer....
Then, suddenly, the wall before him slid away, and he was catapulted
forward against a flesh-and-blood body that grunted under the impact of
his weight!
Larry regained his balance; came up with doubled fists. But his fists,
like his mouth, dropped open abruptly as he stared in astonishment at
his antagonist. This was no puny dwarfling such as he had expected.
This was a _man_--a man whose stature was greater even than his own! A
mighty, bronzed, strong-thewed giant with a shock of silvery-white hair
capped by the _menaudo_ of the future folk!
The great one's face was etched with bitter lines of disappointment.
But the look faded as his eyes swept up Larry's six foot frame, noted
the breadth of shoulder and the lean, hard muscles of arm and thigh.
The stranger rose, and his full lips parted in a smile of greeting.
And, "Peace, friend!" he said in a deep, resonant voice, "I, too, am a
captive!"