But he said, "Then you shared not Ravana's desire?" "Shared it!" Vibhishana's voice deepened angrily. "You dare accuse me--I am sorry, Ramey Winters. You did not mean to offend, I know. But believe me, never for an instant did I, when I ruled Lanka, harbor any lust for dominion over your people. With the Gaanelian lord I cherished the dream that we of the more advanced cultures might help improve your planet, make it a finer world for your people. All I asked of earthmen was their allegiance, small territorial rights on which to base a sound commerce and a solid economy between our two homelands. "Perhaps--" he continued almost wistfully--"even more than Sugriva I cherished this hope. For his race, the blue ones of Gaanelia, are after all of a different stock. We of Videlia, and you of Earth, are of the same seed. Behold your companion, Ramey Winters. Can you deny that from the same source sprang the root which was to nourish us both?" There was, indeed, a great similarity between Sheng-ti and Vibhishana. Both were tall, both almost beardless by nature, both ochre-skinned. And the "Mongolian fold," that small, peculiarly creased fold of flesh which lends obliquity to the typical Oriental eye, was common to both men. Ramey said, perplexed, "But--but that would indicate that ages before _this_ your world must have had intercourse with ours. Yet Sugriva said his planet was the first to develop space-travel--" "Even the Lord Sugriva can err, Ramey Winters. The dead past buries many secrets. We of Videlia have a legend that our civilization sprang from a planet now vanished from the heavens, a mighty race whose home-world was destroyed in a frightful cataclysm. Who knows but that refugees from this earlier world might have emigrated to each of our two younger ones?[10] [Footnote 10: Many astronomers believe the planetoids (or asteroids) which girdle space between Mars and Jupiter are the fragments of a true planet formerly located in that orbit. In his book _Ragnarok_, Ignatius Donnelly suggests that this planet may have been destroyed by a comet.--Ed.] "But enough of this now. I see the companions of Tauthus are back, bringing with them the captains. For what reason summoned you them?" Ramey turned to where Tauthus stood chafing impatiently for this palaver to end. As Vibhishana had said, the captains had gathered. And a rougher, tougher, meaner-looking crew, Ramey had never set eyes on in his life. But they were a sight calculated to warm the heart of a fighting man. Ramey stepped into their midst. "Now, this--" he began--"this is my plan...." * * * * * Without artificial means, it would have been impossible to tell, in the dungeons beneath Lanka, what hour of day or night it was. No feeblest ray of sun light ever penetrated this dank depths; skins were colorless, gums sloughing-sore, and hair without lustre amongst those who had lain long in the prison.