As the party of hrossa draws closer, Ransom distinguishes their cargo. They are carrying three long bundles and guarding two short, oddly shaped creatures who walk “with unnecessary violence” (25). He realizes with a shock that the grotesque creatures are Weston and Devine, whose human bodies he had momentarily seen through Malacandrian eyes. The long bundles contain the bodies of three dead hrossa, Hyoi and two other hrossa whom Weston and Devine killed in a panic during their capture.

Oyarsa asks Weston and Devine why they killed his hnau. Both are shocked to hear a voice seemingly out of thin air, and Weston suspects that one of the surrounding hnau is using ventriloquism to throw their voice. Pinpointing an elderly hross who is napping nearby, Weston approaches and shouts at him in poor hrossian. Oyarsa attempts to redirect Weston’s attention, but Weston continues to yell at the sleeping hross, alternating between threats of violence and attempts to bribe him with a gold necklace. Weston’s antics make the surrounding hnau laugh. Ransom and Devine beg him to stop, but Weston continues, going so far as to place the gold necklace on the head of the sleeping hross.