"I think you scientists are wrong about _all_ the termites having intelligence," he whispered. "I believe that thing has the only reasoning mind in the mound. Look at those two guards at the door, for instance. There's no earthly need for them to keep guard as eternally as they do. We can't even move, let alone try to escape. They're utterly brainless, commanded to guard the entrance with their mandibles, and continuing to guard it accordingly although the need for it is past." Jim worked almost unthinkingly at his bonds. "If we could kill the wizened, little, big-headed thing, we might have a chance. There'd be nothing left to guide the tribe, no ruling power to direct them against us. We might even ... escape!" "Through the entire city--with untold thousands of these horrible things on our trail?" objected Denny gloomily. "But if the untold thousands were dummies, used to being directed in every move by this master brain," urged Jim, "they might just blunder around while we slipped through the lines...." His words trailed into silence. Escape seemed so improbable as to be hardly worth talking about. Quiet reigned for a long time. * * * * * It was broken finally by Dennis. "Jim," he breathed suddenly, "can you see my legs?" With difficulty Jim turned his head. "Yes," he said. "Why?" "It seems to me I can move my left knee--just a little!" Jim looked more closely. "By heaven!" he exclaimed. "Denny, _I think the brown stuff is cracking_! Maybe it was never intended to be more than a temporary bond, to hold an enemy helpless just long enough for it to be killed! Maybe it hardens as it dries so that it loses all resiliency! Maybe--" He stopped. A faint quivering of the ruler's withered little legs heralded its reawakening consciousness. "Act helpless!" whispered Denny excitedly, as he too saw that faint stir of awakening. "Don't let the thing get an idea of what we're thinking. Because ... we _might_ get our moment of freedom...." Both lay relaxed on the floor, eyes half closed. And in the hardening substance that covered them all over like a shell of cloudy brown bakelite, appeared more minute seams as it dried unevenly on the flexible human flesh beneath it. Whether Jim's guess that it was only a temporary bond was correct, or whether it had been developed to harden relentlessly only over unyielding surfaces of horn such as the termites' deadliest enemy, the ants, wear for armor, will never be known. But in a matter of moments it became apparent that it was going to prove too brittle to continue clamping flesh as elastic as that of the two humans! * * * * *