Shaking my head in an attempt to clear it of the desperate, soul shaking fears brought on by the subsonic vibrator, I stared in the direction of the Centaurian. He seemed to be watching me, questioningly. And suddenly I understood that he was waiting for the weapon to work! He wanted to see what it was going to do. _It wasn't doing anything!_ A quarter of a mile away, on the other side of the amphitheatre, and supposedly out of range, spectators were fainting in droves, literally thousands of them screaming or keeling over. But a few yards before me he stood unimpressed. I swore and threw the thing down, ripped off the rest of the belts and equipment they'd foisted upon me and reached for my sword. It dashed forward, extending a tentacle from its body that formerly I'd been unaware of. I swung desperately and the sword clanged against the limb. I darted backward, noticing a large dent in the cutting edge. Like a flash one of the lobster claws snapped out at me, nipping a cut in my left side, just below the ribs. Had it been another six inches over, I would have been cut in half. * * * * * I dashed to one side and it rushed past, stirring up a breeze as it went. How such a large creature could get up momentum so rapidly was a mystery to me. I grated out one of Suzi's slogans to give myself courage. _The bigger they are, the harder they fall._ And then it came to me that the trouble was that if they're big enough perhaps they don't get around to falling at all. It was about and after me again. I stood in its path, sword in hand, waiting. A massive groan went up from the stands. Just before it reached me, I darted forward, crouched low, and dashed under its belly. Here, if anywhere, was the soft spot. As I ran, I thrust desperately upward with all my strength, then I was suddenly completely under and beyond it. I spun around and stood there panting and staring at the end of my broken pointed sword. It turned too, as though looking to find my trampled body, and surprised that I'd survived. It was about thirty feet away, and seemingly resting. Suddenly from its mouth gushed forth a stream of flame, reaching out for me. It was only by the merest chance that my grenade-made crater was immediately behind me. I tripped again and fell backward, and the sheet of flame passed over me. A sigh went up from the stands. Suddenly, over the ridge it came tearing. Hoping, evidently, to catch me before I recovered from my fall. It had miscalculated and passed a good six feet to my right. I sprung to my feet and dashed over in time to deal its tail a smashing blow--and to accumulate another dent in my blade. At this pace, my strength was rapidly giving out, and his seemed as great as ever--but I was still quicker in that my size and build enabled me to turn, spin, dodge, more effectively.