"You have already given it to me," Waltk said quietly. "Freedom from The Hole, if only for a while. Because you led me from the Hole, I will help you until your quest is ended. I swear it." Jarl Gare chuckled to himself. _The simple-minded brute! He thinks he's free. For the moment, sure, but when he meets the Venusians he's done. Good riddance. A tool should be discarded if there's no more use for it._ * * * * * The gentle touch of Waltk's big hand on his shoulder awakened him. "The Chameleon men," Waltk whispered. Hastily, Jarl Gare slipped on the glasses and seized the light. "Where?" he asked. "They are in a circle about the tree." Jarl Gare swerved the light around the tree. A hundred yards away was the edge of the circle. The infra-red showed them--dark, hunched figures. "They just seem to be waiting for something," Jarl Gare said. "Us," Waltk said laconically. Jarl Gare went through the card-catalog of his brain. The Chameleon men, the Venusian natives, evolved from reptiles who walked upright, were intelligent but could converse with men only through thought pictures. They were the guardians of the pearl-beds. Their vision in their fog world was as good if not better than Waltk's. They needed no infra-red rays to penetrate the fog as the Earthmen did. They had fought viciously against colonization by Earthmen. Despite punitive measures by Earth, they were not conquered and finally there had been an Earth-Venus treaty. Earthmen were permitted access to the oil fields and were allowed to create The Hole. In token of the great pact, the Earth had given its largest, most perfect diamond to Venus. Venus, ruled by its hierarchy of the Guardian Priests, had given a pearl. The pearl had touched off cupidity on Earth--and adventurers by the score had attempted to wrest others. Earth at first had sought to halt the adventurers, but Venus had replied cryptically. "Let them come. If they can obtain a pearl, they have won it fairly." Of the hundreds who had tried, only three had won through successfully. Only three had been strong enough to pass the test of weakness. If an Earthman made it to the pearl-beds, he was given the test of weakness. If he passed it, he went free with a pearl of his choice. If he lost, he disappeared. Only three ... and Jarl Gare chuckled. Soon there would be four. Jarl Gare. The Venusians were sluggish moving and web-footed, perfectly at home on their spongy earth. But in the trees? Jarl Gare spoke quietly to Waltk. "We can escape them by traveling through the trees." "I could," said Waltk, "but you would be too slow. They would capture you." Jarl Gare looked at Waltk appraisingly. "On your back, I would not slow you too much." Waltk grinned widely, his moon face wrinkling. He laughed throatily. "You would not slow me at all. I had not thought of that."