"That was a very noble effort on the part of your friend," he said, "but quite useless as you can see. Moreover, he killed some of my men, and I do not think he helped the rest of you by that." His eyes glittered. "Yes, before the Ritual ends this time I think all of you will have participated." "We haven't got your damned Shining Stone," Blake grated through clenched teeth, "and we never even heard of it!" "The Shining Stone? Oh, yes, I had quite forgotten I told you about it; but I neglected to say that it is quite safe. It is always quite safe, even when it is stolen; because, you see--_we_ stole it." "_You_ stole it!" Janus repeated. "But didn't you say the Stone meant little to such as you?" "Only as a means to an end. Commander Janus, you are a scientific man above all else. For that reason I respect you as much as I despise your stupid friend down there. I shall explain the Ritual you are about to witness. First: those little savages think you Earthmen stole their Shining Stone, because we wish them to think that; and you could never convince them otherwise. Therefore they must have their revenge. All this is very necessary for a certain reason you will understand shortly." "I'm beginning to already," Blake said bitterly. "It's a high-powered racket and we're the fall guys." V'Naric looked at him as though he didn't quite understand such English words. A sudden, louder murmur came up from below. "It has begun," V'Naric said, nodding toward the window. "If you will observe, please." The men turned back to the window and watched. Devries at least half knew what to expect; but he felt the other two tense beside him as they realized the purpose of that cage over Ketrik's head. A little door in the side of it was open, and one of the official Proktols was thrusting several tiny animals inside. They were sharp-fanged, scaled, almost reptilian. But they had beady little rodent eyes, and the eyes blinked as the animals scurried around the disc under the cage. Ketrik's head jerked convulsively at the nearness of them. "Little inhabitants of our desert," came V'Naric's calm voice across the room behind them. "Ordinarily quite tame and harmless. But these are trained for this. They are very hungry." The Earthmen's minds were too numbed just then. They didn't feel the full horror until sometime later. They just stood there in terrible fascination, staring down, unable to move; and behind them they could still hear V'Naric's cold voice, as though he were a class-room lecturer. He didn't even need to look as he spoke. He knew what was happening. He had seen this many times. "The little creatures are a bit restless now. I imagine the way your friend moves his head frightens them. But they will become used to that presently, and then their work will begin."