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VOL. III, No. 2 CONTENTS AUGUST, 1930

COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI _Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "The Planet of Dread. "_

THE PLANET OF DREAD R. F. STARZL 147 _A Stupid Blunder--and Mark Forepaugh Faces a Lifetime of Castaway Loneliness in the Savage Welter of the Planet Inra's Monster-ridden Jungles. _

THE LORD OF SPACE VICTOR ROUSSEAU 158 _A Black Caesar Had Arisen on Eros--and All Earth Trembled at His Distant Menace. _

THE SECOND SATELLITE EDMOND HAMILTON 175 _Earth-men War on Frog-vampires for the Emancipation of the Human Cows of Earth's Second Satellite. _ (A Novelet. )

SILVER DOME HARL VINCENT 192 _In Her Deep-buried Kingdom of Theros, Phaestra Reveals the Amazing Secret of the Silver Dome. _

EARTH, THE MARAUDER ARTHUR J. BURKS 210 _Deep in the Gnome-infested Tunnels of the Moon, Sarka and Jaska Are Brought to Luar the Radiant Goddess Against Whose Minions the Marauding Earth Had Struck in Vain. _ (Part Two of a Three-Part Novel. )

MURDER MADNESS MURRAY LEINSTER 237 _Bell Has Fought through Tremendous Obstacles to Find and Kill The Master, Whose Diabolical Poison Makes Murder-mad Snakes of the Hands; and, as He Faces the Monster at Last--His Own Hands Start to Writhe!_ (Conclusion. )

THE FLYING CITY H. THOMPSON RICH 260 _From Space Came Cor's Disc-city of Vada--Its Mighty, Age-old Engines Weakening--Its Horde of Dwarfs Hungry for the Earth!_

THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US 279 _A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories. _

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Issued monthly by Publishers' Fiscal Corporation, 80 Lafayette St. , New York, N. Y. W. M. Clayton, President; Nathan Goldmann, Secretary. Entered as second-class matter December 7, 1929, at the Post Office atNew York, N. Y. , under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered as aTrade Mark in the U. S. Patent Office. Member Newsstand Group--Men'sList. For advertising rates address E. R. Crowe & Co. , Inc. , 25Vanderbilt Ave. , New York; or 225 North Michigan Ave. , Chicago. 

 * * * * *

The Planet of Dread

_By R. F. Starzl_

[Illustration: _This time Forepaugh was ready for it. _]

[Sidenote: A stupid blunder--and Mark Forepaugh faces a life ofcastaway loneliness in the savage welter of the planet Inra'smonster-ridden jungles. ]

There was no use hiding from the truth. Somebody had blundered--afatal blunder--and they were going to pay for it! Mark Forepaughkicked the pile of hydrogen cylinders. Only a moment ago he had brokenthe seals--the mendacious seals that certified to the world that theflasks were fully charged. And the flasks were empty! The supply ofthis precious power gas, which in an emergency should have beensufficient for six years, simply did not exist. 

He walked over to the integrating machine, which as early as the year2031 had begun to replace the older atomic processes, due to theshortage of the radium series metals. It was bulky and heavy comparedto the atomic disintegrators, but it was much more economical and verydependable. Dependable--provided some thick-headed stock clerk at aterrestrial supply station did not check in empty hydrogen cylindersinstead of full ones. Forepaugh's unwonted curses brought a smile tothe stupid, good-natured face of his servant, Gunga--he who had beenbanished for life from his native Mars for his impiety in closing hissingle round eye during the sacred Ceremony of the Wells. 

The Earth man was at this steaming hot, unhealthful trading stationunder the very shadow of the South Pole of the minor planet Inra foran entirely different reason. One of the most popular of his set onthe Earth, an athletic hero, he had fallen in love, and the devoutlywished-for marriage was only prevented by lack of funds. Theopportunity to take charge of this richly paid, though dangerous, outpost of civilization had been no sooner offered than taken. Inanother week or two the relief ship was due to take him and hisvaluable collection of exotic Inranian orchids back to the Earth, backto a fat bonus, Constance, and an assured future. 

It was a different young man who now stood tragically before theuseless power plant. His slim body was bowed, and his clean featureswere drawn. Grimly he raked the cooling dust that had been forced inthe integrating chamber by the electronic rearrangement of theoriginal hydrogen atoms--finely powdered iron and silicon--the "ashes"of the last tank of hydrogen. 

 * * * * *

Gunga chuckled. 

"What's the matter?" Forepaugh barked. "Going crazy already?"

"Me, haw! Me, haw! Me thinkin', " Gunga rumbled. "Haw! We got, haw!plenty hydr'gen. " He pointed to the low metal roof of the tradingstation. Though it was well insulated against sound, the placecontinually vibrated to the low murmur of the Inranian rains that fellinterminably through the perpetual polar day. It was a rain such as isnever seen on Earth, even in the tropics. It came in drops as large asa man's fist. It came in streams. It came in large, shattering massesthat broke before they fell and filled the air with spray. There waslittle wind, but the steady green downpour of water and the brilliantcontinuous flashing of lightning shamed the dull soggy twilightproduced by the large, hot, but hidden sun. 

"_Your_ idea of a joke!" Forepaugh growled in disgust. He understoodwhat Gunga's grim pleasantry referred to. There was indeed anincalculable quantity of hydrogen at hand. If some means could befound to separate the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen in the world ofwater around them they would not lack for fuel. He thought ofelectrolysis, and relaxed with a sigh. There was no power. Thegenerators were dead, the air drier and cooler had ceased its rhythmicpulsing nearly an hour ago. Their lights were gone, and the automaticradio utterly useless. 

"This is what comes of putting all your eggs in one basket, " hethought, and let his mind dwell vindictively on the engineers who haddesigned the equipment on which his life depended. 

An exclamation from Gunga startled him. The Martian was pointing tothe ventilator opening, the only part of this strange building thatwas not hermetically sealed against the hostile life of Inra. A darkrim had appeared at its margin, a loathsome, black-green rim that wasmoving, spreading out. It crept over the metal walls like thelow-lying smoke of a fire, yet it was a solid. From it emanated astrong, miasmatic odor. 

"The giant mold!" Forepaugh cried. He rushed to his desk and took outhis flash pistol, quickly set the localizer so as to cover a largearea. When he turned he saw, to his horror, Gunga about to smash intothe mold with his ax. He sent the man spinning with a blow to the ear. 

"Want to scatter it and start it growing in a half-dozen places?" hesnapped. "Here!"

 * * * * *

He pulled the trigger. There was a light, spiteful "ping" and for aninstant a cone of white light stood out in the dim room like a solidthing. Then it was gone, and with it was gone the black mold, leavinga circular area of blistered paint on the wall and an acrid odor inthe air. Forepaugh leaped to the ventilating louver and closed ittightly. 

"It's going to be like this from now on, " he remarked to the shakenGunga. "All these things wouldn't bother us as long as the machinerykept the building dry and cool. They couldn't live in here. But it'sgetting damp and hot. Look at the moisture condensing on the ceiling!"

Gunga gave a guttural cry of despair. "It knows, Boss; look!"

Through one of the round, heavily framed ports it could be seen, thelower part of its large, shapeless body half-floating in the lashingwater that covered their rocky shelf to a depth of several feet, theupper part spectral and gray. It was a giant amoeba, fully six feet indiameter in its present spheroid form, but capable of assuming anyshape that would be useful. It had an envelope of tough, transparentmatter, and was filled with a fluid that was now cloudy and thenclear. Near the center there was a mass of darker matter, and this wasundoubtedly the seat of its intelligence. 

The Earth man recoiled in horror! A single cell with a brain! It wasunthinkable. It was a biological nightmare. Never before had he seenone--had, in fact, dismissed the stories of the Inranian natives as abit of primitive superstition, had laughed at these gentle, stupidamphibians with whom he traded when they, in their imperfect language, tried to tell him of it. 

They had called it the Ul-lul. Well, let it be so. It was an amoeba, and it was watching him. It floated in the downpour and watched him. With what? It had no eyes. No matter, it was watching him. And then itsuddenly flowed outward until it became a disc rocking on the waves. Again its fluid form changed, and by a series of elongations andcontractions it flowed through the water at an incredible speed. Itcame straight for the window, struck the thick, unbreakable glass witha shock that could be felt by the men inside. It flowed over the glassand over the building. It was trying to eat them, building and all!The part of its body over the port became so thin that it was almostinvisible. At last, its absolute limit reached, it dropped away, baffled, vanishing amid the glare of the lightning and the frothingwaters like the shadows of a nightmare. 

 * * * * *

The heat was intolerable and the air was bad. 

"Haw, we have to open vent'lator, Boss!" gasped the Martian. 

Forepaugh nodded grimly. It wouldn't do to smother either. Though toopen the ventilator would be to invite another invasion by the blackmold, not to mention the amoebae and other fabulous monsters that hadup to now been kept at a safe distance by the repeller zone, a simpleadaptation of a very old discovery. A zone of mechanical vibrations, of a frequency of 500, 000 cycles per second, was created by a largequartz crystal in the water, which was electrically operated. Withoutpower, the protective zone had vanished. 

"We watch?" asked Gunga. 

"You bet we watch. Every minute of the 'day' and 'night. '"

He examined the two chronometers, assuring himself that they were wellwound, and congratulated himself that they were not dependent on thedefunct power plant for energy. They were his only means of measuringthe passage of time. The sun, which theoretically would seem to travelround and round the horizon, rarely succeeded in making its exactlocation known, but appeared to shift strangely from side to side atthe whim of the fog and water. 

"Th' fellas, " Gunga remarked, coming out of a study. "Why not come?"He referred to the Inranians. 

"Probably know something's wrong. They can tell the quartz oscillatoris stopped. Afraid of the Ul-lul, I suppose. "

"'Squeer, " demurred the Martian. "Ul-lul not bother fellas. "

"You mean it doesn't follow them into the underbrush. But it wouldfind tough going there. Not enough water; trees there, four hundredfeet high with thorny roots and rough bark--they wouldn't like that. Oh no, these natives ought to be pretty snug in their dens. Why, they're as hard to catch as a muskrat! Don't know what a muskrat is, huh? Well, it's the same as the Inranians, only different, and not sougly. "

 * * * * *

For the next six days they existed in their straitened quarters, oneguarding while the other slept, but such alarms as they experiencedwere of a minor nature, easily disposed of by their flash pistol. Ithad not been intended for continuous service, and under the frequentdrains it showed an alarming loss of power. Forepaugh repeatedlywarned Gunga to be more sparing in its use, but that worthy persistedin his practice of using it against every trifling invasion of thepoisonous Inranian cave moss that threatened them, or the warm, soggywater-spiders that hopefully explored the ventilator shaft in searchof living food. 

"Bash 'em with a broom, or something! Never mind if it isn't nice. Save our flash gun for something bigger. "

Gunga only looked distressed. 

On the seventh day their position became untenable. Some kind of seacreature, hidden under the ever-replenished storm waters, had foundthe concrete emplacements of their trading post to its liking. Justhow it was done was never learned. It is doubtful that the creaturescould gnaw away the solid stone--more likely the process was chemical, but none the less it was effective. The foundations crumbled; themetal shell subsided, rolled half over so that silty water leaked inthrough the straining seams, and threatened at any moment to bebuffeted and urged away on the surface of the flood toward thatdistant vast sea which covers nine-tenths of the area of Inra. 

"Time to mush for the mountains, " Forepaugh decided. 

Gunga grinned. The Mountains of Perdition were, to his point of view, the only part of Inra even remotely inhabitable. They were sometimesfairly cool, and though perpetually pelted with rain, blazing withlightning and reverberating with thunder, they had caves that werefairly dry and too cool for the black mold. Sometimes, under favorablecircumstances on their rugged peaks, one could get the full benefit ofthe enormous hot sun for whose actinic rays the Martian's starvedsystem yearned. 

"Better pack a few cans of the food tablets, " the white man ordered. "Take a couple of waterproof sleeping bags for us, and a few hundredfire pellets. You can have the flash pistol; it may have a few morecharges in it. "

 * * * * *

Forepaugh broke the glass case marked "Emergency Only" and removed twomore flash pistols. Well he knew that he would need them after passingbeyond the trading area--perhaps sooner. His eyes fell on his personalchest, and he opened it for a brief examination. None of the contentsseemed of any value, and he was about to pass when he dragged out along, heavy, . 45 caliber six-shooter in a holster, and a cartridgebelt filled with shells. The Martian stared. 

"Know what it is?" his master asked, handing him the weapon. 

"Gunga not know. " He took it and examined it curiously. It was a finemuseum piece in an excellent state of preservation, the metal overlaidwith the patina of age, but free from rust and corrosion. 

"It's a weapon of the Ancients, " Forepaugh explained. "It was a sortof family heirloom and is over 300 years old. One of my grandfathersused it in the famous Northwest Mounted Police. Wonder if it'll stillshoot. "

He leveled the weapon at a fat, sightless wriggler that came squirmingthrough a seam, squinting unaccustomed eyes along the barrel. Therewas a violent explosion, and the wriggler disappeared in a smear ofdirty green. Gunga nearly fell over backward in fright, and evenForepaugh was shaken. He was surprised that the ancient cartridge hadexploded at all, though he knew powder making had reached a high levelof perfection before explosive chemical weapons had yielded to thenewer, lighter, and infinitely more powerful ray weapons. The gunwould impede their progress. It would be of very little use againstthe giant Carnivora of Inra. Yet something--perhaps a sentimentalattachment, perhaps what his ancestors would have called a"hunch"--compelled him to strap it around his waist. He carefullypacked a few essentials in his knapsack, together with one chronometerand a tiny gyroscopic compass. So equipped, they could travel with afair degree of precision toward the mountains some hundred miles onthe other side of a steaming forest, a-crawl with feral life, and hotwith blood-lust. 

 * * * * *

Man and master descended into the warm waters and, without a backwardglance, left the trading post to its fate. There was not even any usein leaving a note. Their relief ship, soon due, would never find thestation without radio direction. 

The current was strong, but the water gradually became shallower asthey ascended the sloping rock. After half an hour they saw ahead ofthem the loom of the forest, and with some trepidation they enteredthe gloom cast by the towering, fernlike trees, whose tops disappearedin murky fog. Tangled vines impeded their progress. Quagmires lay inwait for them, and tough weeds tripped them, sometimes throwing one oranother into the mud among squirming small reptiles that lashed atthem with spiked, poisonous feet and then fell to pieces, each pieceto lie in the bubbling ooze until it grew again into a whole animal. 

Several times they almost walked under the bodies of great, spheroidal creatures with massive short legs, whose tremendously long, sinuous necks disappeared in the leafy murk above, swaying gently likelong-stalked lilies in a terrestial pond. These were azornacks, mild-tempered vegetarians whose only defense lay in their thick, blubbery hides. Filled with parasites, stinking and rancid, theirdecaying covering of fat effectively concealed the tender fleshunderneath, protecting them from fangs and rending claws. 

Deeper in the forest the battering of the rain was mitigated. Giantneo-palm leaves formed a roof that shut out not only most of the weakdaylight, but also the fury of the downpour. The water collected incataracts, ran down the boles of the trees, and roared through thesemi-circular canals of the snake trees, so named by early explorersfor their waving, rubbery tentacles, multiplied a millionfold, thatperformed the duties of leaves. Water gurgled and chuckled everywhere, spread in vast dim ponds and lakes writhing with tormented roots, up-heaved by unseen, uncatalogued leviathans, rippled by translucentdiscs of loathsome, luminescent jelly that quivered from place toplace in pursuit of microscopic prey. 

Yet the impression was one of calm and quiet, and the waifs from otherworlds felt a surcease of nervous tension. Unconsciously they relaxed. Taking their bearings, they changed their course slightly for thenesting place of the nearest tribe of Inranians where they hoped toget food and at least partial shelter; for their food tablets hadmysteriously turned to an unpleasant viscous liquid, and theirsleeping bags were alive with giant bacteria easily visible to theeye. 

 * * * * *

They were doomed to disappointment. After nearly twelve hours ofdesperate struggling through the morass, through gloomy aisles, andcountless narrow escapes from prowling beasts of prey in which onlythe speed and tremendous power of their flash pistols saved them frominstant death, they reached a rocky outcropping which led to thecomparatively dry rise of land on which a tribe of Inranians made itshome. Their faces were covered with welts made by the hangingfilaments of blood-sucking trees as fine as spider webs, and theirsenses reeled with the oppressive stench of the abysmal jungle. If thepampered ladies of the Inner Planets only knew where theirthousand-dollar orchids sprang from!

Converging runways showed the opening of one of the underground dens, almost hidden from view by a bewildering maze of roots, rendered moreformidable by long, sharp stakes made from the iron-hard thigh-bonesof the flying kabo. 

Forepaugh cupped his hands over his mouth and gave the call. 

"Ouf! Ouf! Ouf! Ouf! Ouf!"

He repeated it over and over, the jungle giving back his voice in amuffled echo, while Gunga held a spare flash pistol and kept a sharplookout for a carnivore intent on getting an unwary Inranian. 

There was no answer. These timid creatures, who are often rated themost intelligent life native to primitive Inra, had sensed disasterand had fled. 

Forepaugh and Gunga slept in one of the foul, poorly ventilated dens, ate of the hard, woody tubers that had not been worth taking along, and wished they had a certain stock clerk at that place at that time. They were awakened out of deep slumber by the threshing of an evillooking creature which had become entangled among the sharpenedspikes. Its tremendous maw, splitting it almost in half, was opened inroars of pain that showed great yellow fangs eight inches in length. Its heavy flippers battered the stout roots and lacerated themselvesin the beast's insensate rage. It was quickly dispatched with a flashpistol and Gunga cooked himself some of the meat, using a fire pellet;but despite his hunger Forepaugh did not dare eat any of it, knowingthat this species, strange to him, might easily be one of the many onInra that are poisonous to terrestials. 

 * * * * *

They resumed their march toward the distant invisible mountains, andwere fortunate in finding somewhat better footing than they had ontheir previous march. They covered about 25 miles on that "day, "without untoward incident. Their ray pistols gave them on insuperableadvantage over the largest and most ferocious beasts they could expectto meet, so that they became more and more confident, despite theknowledge that they were rapidly using up the energy stored in theirweapons. The first one had long ago been discarded, and the chargeindicators of the other two were approaching zero at a disquietingrate. Forepaugh took them both, and from that time on he was carefulnever to waste a discharge except in case of a direct and unavoidableattack. This often entailed long waits or stealthy detours throughsucking mud, and came near to ending both their lives. 

The Earth man was in the lead when it happened. Seeking an uncertainfooting through a tangle of low-growing, thick, ghastly whitevegetation, he placed a foot on what seemed to be a broad, flat rockprojecting slightly above the ooze. Instantly there was a violentupheaval of mud; the seeming rock flew up like a trap-door, disclosinga cavernous mouth some seven feet across, and a thick, triangulartentacle flew up from its concealment in the mud in a vicious arc. Forepaugh leaped back barely in time to escape being swept in andengulfed. The end of the tentacle struck him a heavy blow on thechest, throwing him back with such force as to bowl Gunga over, andwhirling the pistols out of his hands into a slimy, bulbous growthnearby, where they stuck in the phosphorescent cavities the force oftheir impact had made. 

 * * * * *

There was no time to recover the weapons. With a bellow of rage thebeast was out of its bed and rushing at them. Nothing stayed itsprogress. Tough, heavily scaled trees thicker than a man's bodyshuddered and fell as its bulk brushed by them. But it was momentarilyconfused, and its first rush carried it past its dodging quarry. Thismomentary respite saved their lives. 

Rearing its plumed head to awesome heights, its knobby bark runningwith brown rivulets of water, a giant tree, even for that world ofgiants, offered refuge. The men scrambled up the rough trunk easily, finding plenty of hand and footholds. They came to rest on one of theshelflike circumvoluting rings, some twenty-five feet above theground. Soon the blunt brown tentacles slithered in search of them, but failed to reach their refuge by inches. 

And now began the most terrible siege that interlopers in thatprimitive world can endure. From that cavernous, distended throat camea tremendous, world-shaking noise. 

"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"

Forepaugh put his hand to his head. It made him dizzy. He had notbelieved that such noise could be. He knew that no creature could longlive amidst it. He tore strips from his shredded clothing and stuffedhis ears, but felt no relief. 

"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"

It throbbed in his brain. 

Gunga lay a-sprawl, staring with fascinated eye into the pulsatingscarlet gullet that was blasting the world with sound. Slowly, slowlyhe was slipping. His master hauled him back. The Martian grinned athim stupidly, slid again to the edge. 

Once more Forepaugh pulled him back. The Martian seemed to acquiesce. His single eye closed to a mere slit. He moved to a position betweenForepaugh and the tree trunk, braced his feet. 

"No you don't!" The Earth man laughed uproariously. The din was makinghim light-headed. It was so funny! Just in time he had caught thatcunning expression and prepared for the outlashing of feet designed toplunge him into the red cavern below and to stop that hellish racket. 

"And now--"

He swung his fist heavily, slamming the Martian against the tree. Thered eye closed wearily. He was unconscious, and lucky. 

Hungrily the Earth man stared at his distant flash pistols, plainlyvisible in the luminescence of their fungus bedding. He began a slow, cautious creep along the top of a vine some eight inches thick. If hecould reach them. .. . 

 * * * * *

Crash! He was almost knocked to the ground by the thud of a frantictentacle against the vine. His movement had been seen. Again thetentacle struck with crushing force. The great vine swayed. He managedto reach the shelf again in the very nick of time. 

"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"

A bolt of lightning struck a giant fern some distance away. The crashof thunder was hardly noticeable. Forepaugh wondered if his tree wouldbe struck. Perhaps it might even start a fire, giving him a flamingbrand with which to torment his tormentor. Vain hope! The wood wassaturated with moisture. Even the fire pellets could not make it burn. 

"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"

The six-shooter! He had forgotten it. He jerked it from its holsterand pointed it at the red throat, emptied all the chambers. He saw theflash of yellow flame, felt the recoil, but the sound of thedischarges was drowned in the Brobdignagian tumult. He drew back hisarm to throw the useless toy from him. But again that unexplainable, senseless "hunch" restrained him. He reloaded the gun and returned itto its holster. 

"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"

A thought had been struggling to reach his consciousness against thepressure of the unbearable noise. The fire pellets! Couldn't they beused in some way? These small chemical spheres, no larger than the endof his little finger, had long ago supplanted actual fire along thefrontiers, where electricity was not available for cooking. In contactwith moisture they emitted terrific heat, a radiant heat whichpenetrated meat, bone, and even metal. One such pellet would cook ameal in ten minutes, with no sign of scorching or burning. And theyhad several hundred in one of the standard moisture-proof containers. 

 * * * * *

As fast as his fingers could work the trigger of the dispenserForepaugh dropped the potent little pellets down the bellowing throat. He managed to release about thirty before the bellowing stopped. Averitable tornado of energy broke loose at the foot of the tree. Thegiant maw was closed, and the shocking silence was broken only by thethrashing of a giant body in its death agonies. The radiant heat, penetrating through and through the beast's body, withered nearbyvegetation and could be easily felt on the perch up the tree. 

Gunga was slowly recovering. His iron constitution helped him to rallyfrom the powerful blow he had received, and by the time the jungle wasstill he was sitting up mumbling apologies. 

"Never mind, " said his master. "Shin down there and cut us off a goodhelping of roast tongue, if it has a tongue, before something elsecomes along and beats us out of a feast. "

"Him poison, maybe, " Gunga demurred. They had killed a specimen new tozoologists. 

"Might as well die of poison as starvation, " Forepaugh countered. 

Without more ado the Martian descended, cut out some large, juicychunks as his fancy dictated, and brought his loot back up the tree. The meat was delicious and apparently wholesome. They gorgedthemselves and threw away what they could not eat, for food spoilsvery quickly in the Inranian jungles and uneaten meat would only serveto attract hordes of the gauzy-winged, glutinous Inranian swamp flies. As they sank into slumber they could hear the beginning of a bedlam ofsnarling and fighting as the lesser Carnivora fed on the body of thefallen giant. 

When they awoke the chronometer recorded the passing of twelve hours, and they had to tear a network of strong fibers with which the treehad invested them preparatory to absorbing their bodies as food. Forso keen is the competition for life on Inra that practically allvegetation is capable of absorbing animal food directly. Many anInranian explorer can tell tales of narrow escapes from some of themore specialized flesh-eating plants; but they are now so well knownthat they are easily avoided. 

 * * * * *

A clean-picked framework of crushed and broken giant bones was allthat was left of the late bellowing monster. Six-legged water dogswere polishing them hopefully, or delving into them with their long, sinuous snouts for the marrow. The Earth man fired a few shots withhis six-shooter, and they scattered, dragging the bodies of theirfallen companions to a safe distance to be eaten. 

Only one of the flash pistols was in working order. The other had beentrampled by heavy hoofs and was useless. A heavy handicap under whichto traverse fifty miles of abysmal jungle. They started with nothingfor breakfast except water, of which they had plenty. 

Fortunately the outcroppings of rocks and gravel washes were becomingmore and more frequent, and they were able to travel at much betterspeed. As they left the low-lying jungle land they entered a zonewhich was faintly reminiscent of a terrestial jungle. It was stillhot, soggy, and fetid, but gradually the most primitive aspects of thescene were modified. The over-arching trees were less closely packed, and they came across occasional rock clearings which were bare ofvegetation except for a dense carpet of brown, lichenlike vegetationthat secreted an astonishing amount of juice. They slipped and sloshedthrough this, rousing swarms of odd, toothed birds, which dartedangrily around their heads and slashed at them with the razor-sharpsaw edges on the back of their legs. Annoying as they were, they couldbe kept away with branches torn from trees, and their presenceconnoted an absence of the deadly jungle flesh-eaters, permitting atemporary relaxation of vigilance and saving the resources of the lastflash gun. 

They camped that "night" on the edge of one of these rock clearings. For the first time in weeks it had stopped raining, although the sunwas still obscured. Dimly on the horizon could be seen the first ofthe foothills. Here they gathered some of the giant, oblong fungusthat early explorers had taken for blocks of porous stone because oftheir size and weight, and, by dint of the plentiful application offire pellets, managed to set it ablaze. The heat added nothing totheir comfort, but it dried them out and allowed them to sleepunmolested. 

 * * * * *

An unwary winged eel served as their breakfast, and soon they were ontheir way to those beckoning hills. It had started to rain again, butthe worst part of their journey was over. If they could reach the topof one of the mountains there was a good chance that they would beseen and rescued by their relief ship, provided they did not starvefirst. The flyer would use the mountains as a base from which tosearch for the trading station, and it was conceivable that theskipper might actually have anticipated their desperate adventure andwould look for them in the Mountains of Perdition. 

They had crossed several ranges of the foothills and were beginning tocongratulate themselves when the diffused light from above wassuddenly blotted out. It was raining again, and above theecho-augmented thunder they heard a shrill screeching. 

"A web serpent!" Gunga cried, throwing himself flat on the ground. 

Forepaugh eased into a rock cleft at his side. Just in time. A greatgrotesque head bore down upon him, many-fanged as a medieval dragon. Between obsidian eyes was a fissure whence emanated a wailing and afoul odor. Hundreds of short, clawed legs slithered on the rocks undera long sinuous body. Then it seemed to leap into the air again. Websgrew taut between the legs, strumming as they caught a strong uphillwind. Again it turned to the attack, and missed them. This timeForepaugh was ready for it. He shot at it with his flash pistol. 

 * * * * *

Nothing happened. The fog made accurate shooting impossible, and thegun lacked its former power. The web serpent continued to course backand forth over their heads. 

"Guess we'd better run for it, " Forepaugh murmured. 

"Go 'head!"

They cautiously left their places of concealment. Instantly theserpent was down again, persistent if inaccurate. It struck the placeof their first concealment and missed them. 

"Run!"

They extended their weary muscles to the utmost, but it was soonapparent that they could not escape long. A rock wall in their pathsaved them. 

"Hole!" the Martian gasped. 

Forepaugh followed him into the rocky cleft. There was a strong draftof dry air, and it would have been next to impossible to hold theMartian back, so Forepaugh allowed him to lead on toward the source ofthe draft. As long as it led into the mountains he didn't care. 

The natural passageway was untenanted. Evidently its coolness anddryness made it untenable for most of Inra's humidity and heat lovinglife. Yet the floor was so smooth that it must have been artificiallyleveled. Faint illumination was provided by the rocks themselves. Theyappeared to be covered by some microscopic phosphorescent vegetation. 

After hundreds of twists and turns and interminable straight galleriesthe cleft turned more sharply upward, and they had a period of stiffclimbing. They must have gone several miles and climbed at least20, 000 feet. The air became noticeably thin, which only exhilaratedGunga, but slowed the Earth man down. But at last they came to the endof the cleft. They could go no further, but above them, at least 500feet higher, they saw a round patch of sky, miraculously bright bluesky!

"A pipe!" Forepaugh cried. 

He had often heard of these mysterious, almost fabulous structuressometimes reported by passing travelers. Straight and true, smooth asglass and apparently immune to the elements, they had beenoccasionally seen standing on the very tops of the highestmountains--seen for a few moments only before they were hidden againby the clouds. Were they observatories of some ancient race, placedthus to pierce the mysteries of outer space? They would find out. 

 * * * * *

The inside of the pipe had zigzagging rings of metal, convenientlyspaced for easy climbing. With Gunga leading, they soon reached thetop. But not quite. 

"Eh?" said Forepaugh. 

"Uh?" said Gunga. 

There had not been a sound, but a distinct, definite command hadregistered on their minds. 

"Stop!"

They tried to climb higher, but could not unclasp their hands. Theytried to descend, but could not lower their feet. 

The light was by now relatively bright, and as by command their eyessought the opposite wall. What they saw gave their jaded nerves anunpleasant thrill--a mass of doughy matter of a blue-green color aboutthree feet in diameter, with something that resembled a cyst filledwith transparent liquid near its center. 

And this thing began to flow along the rods, much as tar flows. Fromthe mass extended a pseudopod; touched Gunga on the arm. Instantly thearm was raw and bleeding. Terrified, immovable, he writhed in agony. The pseudopod returned to the main mass, disappearing into itsinterior with the strip of bloody skin. 

Its attention was centered so much on the luckless Martian that itscontrol slipped from Forepaugh. Seizing his flash pistol, he set thelocalized for a small area and aimed it at the thing, intent onburning it into nothingness. But again his hand was stayed. Againstthe utmost of his will-power his fingers opened, letting the pistoldrop. The liquid in the cyst danced and bubbled. Was it laughing athim? It had read his mind--thwarted his will again. 

Again a pseudopod stretched out and a strip of raw, red flesh adheredto it and was consumed. Mad rage convulsed the Earth man. Should hethrow himself tooth and nail on the monster? And be engulfed?

He thought of the six-shooter. It thrilled him. 

But wouldn't it make him drop that too?

 * * * * *

A flash of atavistic cunning came to him. 

He began to reiterate in his mind a certain thought. 

"This thing is so I can see you better--this thing is so I can see youbetter. "

He said it over and over, with all the passion and devotion of acelibate's prayer over a uranium fountain. 

"This thing is harmless--but it will make me see you better!"

Slowly he drew the six-shooter. In some occult way he knew it waswatching him. 

"Oh, this is harmless! This is an instrument to aid my weak eyes! Itwill help me realize your mastery! This will enable me to know yourtrue greatness. This will enable me to know you as a god. "

Was it complacence or suspicion that stirred the liquid in the cyst sosmoothly? Was it susceptible to flattery? He sighted along the barrel. 

"In another moment your great intelligence will overwhelm me, "proclaimed his surface mind desperately, while the subconscious tensedthe trigger. And at that the clear liquid burst into a turmoil ofalarm. Too late. Forepaugh went limp, but not before he had loosed asteel-jacketed bullet that shattered the mind cyst of the pipedenizen. A horrible pain coursed through his every fibre and nerve. Hewas safe in the arms of Gunga, being carried to the top of the pipe tothe clean dry air, and the blessed, blistering sun. 

The pipe denizen was dying. A viscous, inert mass, it dropped lowerand lower, lost contact at last, shattered into slime at the bottom. 

 * * * * *

Miraculous sun! For a luxurious fifteen minutes they roasted there onthe top of the pipe, the only solid thing in a sea of clouds as far asthe eye could reach. But no! That was a circular spot against thebrilliant white of the clouds, and it was rapidly coming closer. In afew minutes it resolved itself into the _Comet_, fast relief ship ofthe Terrestial, Inranian, Genidian, and Zydian Lines, Inc. With a lowbuzz of her repulsion motors she drew alongside. Hooks were attachedand ports opened. A petty officer and a crew of roustabouts made herfast. 

"What the hell's going on here?" asked the cocky little terrestial whowas skipper, stepping out and surveying the castaways. "We've beenlooking for you ever since your directional wave failed. But come onin--come on in!"

He led the way to his stateroom, while the ship's surgeon took Gungain charge. Closing the door carefully, he delved into the bottom ofhis locker and brought out a flask. 

"Can't be too careful, " he remarked, filling a small tumbler forhimself and another for his guest. "Always apt to be some snooper toreport me. But say--you're wanted in the radio room. "

"Radio room nothing! When do we eat?"

"Right away, but you'd better see him. Fellow from the InterplanetaryNews Agency wants you to broadcast a copyrighted story. Good for aboutthree years' salary, old boy. "

"All right. I'll see him"--with a happy sigh--"just as soon as I putthrough a personal message. "

[Advertisement: Everyone Is Invited_To "Come Over in_'THE READERS' CORNER'!"]

The Lord of Space

_By Victor Rousseau_

[Illustration]

[Sidenote: A Black Caesar had arisen on Eros--and all Earth trembledat his distant menace. ]

"On the day of the next full moon every living thing on earth will bewiped out of existence--unless you succeed in your mission, Lee. "

Nathaniel Lee looked into the face of Silas Stark, President of theUnited States of the World, and nodded grimly. "I'll do my best, Sir, "he answered. 

"You have the facts. We know who this self-styled Black Caesar is, whohas declared war upon humanity. He is a Dane named Axelson, whosefather, condemned to life imprisonment for resisting the newworld-order, succeeded in obtaining possession of an interplanetaryliner. 

"He filled it with the gang of desperate men who had been associatedwith him in his successful escape from the penitentiary. Together theysailed into Space. They disappeared. It was supposed that they hadsomehow met their death in the ether, beyond the range of human ken. 

"Thirty years passed, and then this son of Axelson, born, according tohis own story, of a woman whom the father had persuaded to accompanyhim into Space, began to radio us. We thought at first it was somepractical joker who was cutting in. 

[Illustration: _It was like struggling with some vampire creatures ina hideous dream. _]

"When our electricians demonstrated beyond doubt that the voice camefrom outer space, it was supposed that some one in our Moon Colony hadacquired a transmitting machine. Then the ships we sent to the MoonColony for gold failed to return. As you know, for seven weeks therehas been no communication with the Moon. And at the last full moonthe--blow--fell. 

"The world depends upon you, Lee. The invisible rays that destroyedevery living thing from China to Australia--one-fifth of the humanrace--will fall upon the eastern seaboard of America when the moon isfull again. That has been the gist of Axelson's repeatedcommunications. 

"We shall look to you to return, either with the arch-enemy of thehuman race as your prisoner, or with the good news that mankind hasbeen set free from the menace that overhangs it. 

"God bless you, my boy!" The President of the United States of theWorld gripped Nat's hand and stepped down the ladder that led from thelanding-stage of the great interplanetary space-ship. 

 * * * * *

The immense landing-field reserved for the ships of the InterplanetaryLine was situated a thousand feet above the heart of New York City, inWestchester County. It was a flat space set on the top of five greattowers, strewn with electrified sand, whose glow had the property ofdispersing the sea fogs. There, at rest upon what resembled nothing somuch as iron claws, the long gray shape of the vacuum flyer bulked. 

Nat sneezed as he watched the operations of his men, for the commoncold, or coryza, seemed likely to be the last of the germ diseasesthat would yield to medical science, and he had caught a bad one inthe Capitol, while listening to the debate in the Senate upon thethreat to humanity. And it was cold on the landing-stage, in contrastto the perpetual summer of the glass-roofed city below. 

But Nat forgot the cold as he watched the preparations for the ship'sdeparture. Neon and nitrogen gas were being pumped under pressure intothe outer shell, where a minute charge of leucon, the newly discoveredelement that helped to counteract gravitation, combined with them toprovide the power that would lift the vessel above the regions of thestratosphere. 

In the low roof-buildings that surrounded the stage was a scene oftremendous activity. The selenium discs were flashing signals, and theradio receivers were shouting the late news; on the great power boardsdials and light signals stood out in the glow of the amylite tubes. Ona rotary stage a thousand feet above the ship a giant searchlight, visible for a thousand miles, moved its shaft of dazzling luminosityacross the heavens. 

Now the spar-aluminite outer skin of the ship grew bright with the redneon glare. Another ship, from China, dropped slowly to its stage nearby, and the unloaders swarmed about the pneumatic tubes to receive themail. The teleradio was shouting news of a failure of the Manchurianwheat crop. Nat's chief officer, a short cockney named Brent, came upto him. 

"Ready to start, Sir, " he said. 

 * * * * *

Nat turned to him. "Your orders are clear?"

"Yes, Sir. "

"Send Benson here. "

"I'm here, Sir. " Benson, the ray-gunner in charge of the battery thatcomprised the vessel's armament, a lean Yankee from Connecticut, stepped forward. 

"You know your orders, Benson? Axelson has seized the Moon and thegold-mines there. He's planning to obliterate the Earth. We've got togo in like mad dogs and shoot to kill. No matter if we kill everyliving thing there, even our own people who are inmates of the Moon'spenal settlement, we've got to account for Axelson. "

"Yes, Sir. "

"We can't guess how he got those gold-ships that returned with neonand argon for the Moon colonists. But he mustn't get us. Let the menunderstand that. That's all. "

"Very good, Sir. "

The teleradio suddenly began to splutter: A-A-A, it called. Andinstantly every sound ceased about the landing-stage. For that was thecall of Axelson, somewhere upon the Moon. 

"Axelson speaking. At the next full moon all the American Province ofthe World Federation will be annihilated, as the Chinese Province wasat the last. There's no hope for you, good people. Send out yourvacuum liners. I can use a few more of them. Within six months yourworld will be depopulated, unless you flash me the signal ofsurrender. "

Would the proud old Earth have to come to that? Daily those ominousthreats had been repeated, until popular fears had become frenzy. AndNat was being sent out as a last hope. If he failed, there would benothing but surrender to this man, armed with a super-force thatenabled him to lay waste the Earth from the Moon. 

Within one hour, those invisible, death-dealing rays had destroyedeverything that inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon. The ray with whichthe liner was equipped was a mere toy in comparison. It would kill atno more than 500 miles, and its action was quite different. 

As a prelude to Earth's surrender, Axelson demanded that WorldPresident Stark and a score of other dignitaries should depart forthe Moon as hostages. Every ray fortress in the world was to bedismantled, every treasury was to send its gold to be piled up in agreat pyramid on the New York landing-stage. The Earth was toacknowledge Axelson as its supreme master. 

 * * * * *

The iron claws were turning with a screwlike motion, extendingthemselves, and slowly raising the interplanetary vessel until shelooked like a great metal fish with metal legs ending with suckerlikedisks. But already she was floating free as the softly purring enginesheld her in equipoise. Nat climbed the short ladder that led to herdeck. Brent came up to him again. 

"That teleradio message from Axelson--" he began. 

"Yes?" Nat snapped out. 

"I don't believe it came from the Moon at all. "

"You don't? You think it's somebody playing a hoax on Earth? You thinkthat wiping out of China was just an Earth-joke?"

"No, Sir. " Brent stood steady under his superior's sarcasm. "But I waschief teleradio operator at Greenwich before being promoted to theProvince of America. And what they don't know at Greenwich they don'tknow anywhere. "

Brent spoke with that self-assurance of the born cockney that even thecenturies had failed to remove, though they had removed the cockneyaccent. 

"Well, Brent?"

"I was with the chief electrician in the receiving station whenAxelson was radioing last week. And I noticed that the waves of soundwere under a slight Doppler effect. With the immense magnificationnecessary for transmitting from the Moon, such deflection might beconstrued as a mere fan-like extension. But there was ten times themagnification one would expect from the Moon; and I calculated thatthose sound-waves were shifted somewhere. "

"Then what's your theory, Brent?"

"Those sounds come from another planet. Somewhere on the Moon there'san intercepting and re-transmitting plant. Axelson is deflecting hisrays to give the impression that he's on the Moon, and to lure ourships there. "

"What do you advise?" asked Nat. 

"I don't know, Sir. "

"Neither do I. Set your course Moonward, and tell Mr. Benson to keephis eyes peeled. "

 * * * * *

The Moon Colony, discovered in 1976, when Kramer, of Baltimore, firstproved the practicability of mixing neon with the inert new gas, leucon, and so conquering gravitation, had proved to be just what ithad been suspected of being--a desiccated, airless desolation. Nevertheless, within the depths of the craters a certain amount of theMoon's ancient atmosphere still lingered, sufficient to sustain lifefor the queer troglodytes, with enormous lung-boxes, who survivedthere, browsing like beasts upon the stunted, aloe-like vegetation. 

Half man, half ape, and very much unlike either, these vestiges of aspecies on a ruined globe had proved tractable and amenable todiscipline. They had become the laborers of the convict settlementthat had sprung up on the Moon. 

Thither all those who had opposed the establishment of the WorldFederation, together with all persons convicted for the fourth time ofa felony, had been transported, to superintend the efforts of thesedumb, unhuman Moon dwellers. For it had been discovered that the Mooncraters were extraordinarily rich in gold, and gold was still themedium of exchange on Earth. 

To supplement the vestigial atmosphere, huge stations had been set up, which extracted the oxygen from the subterranean waters five milesbelow the Moon's crust, and recombined it with the nitrogen withwhich the surface layer was impregnated, thus creating an atmospherewhich was pumped to the workers. 

Then a curious discovery had been made. It was impossible for humanbeings to exist without the addition of those elements existing in theair in minute quantities--neon, krypton, and argon. And the ships thatbrought the gold bars back from the Moon had conveyed these gaseouselements there. 

 * * * * *

The droning of the sixteen atomic motors grew louder, and mingled withthe hum of gyroscopes. The ladder was drawn up and the port holesealed. On the enclosed bridge Nat threw the switch of durobronze thatreleased the non-conducting shutter which gave play to the sixteengreat magnets. Swiftly the great ship shot forward into the air. Thedroning of the motors became a shrill whine, and then, growing tooshrill for human ears to follow it, gave place to silence. 

Nat set the speed lever to five hundred miles an hour, the utmost thathad been found possible in passing through the earth's atmosphere, owing to the resistance, which tended to heat the vessel and damagethe delicate atomic engines. As soon as the ether was reached, thespeed would be increased to ten or twelve thousand. That meant atwenty-two hour run to the Moon Colony--about the time usually taken. 

He pressed a lever, which set bells ringing in all parts of the ship. By means of a complicated mechanism, the air was exhausted from eachcompartment in turn, and then replaced, and as the bells rang, the menat work trooped out of these compartments consecutively. This had beenoriginated for the purpose of destroying any life dangerous to manthat might unwittingly have been imported from the Moon, but on oneoccasion it had resulted in the discovery of a stowaway. 

Then Nat descended the bridge to the upper deck. Here, on a platform, were the two batteries of three ray-guns apiece, mounted on swivels, and firing in any direction on the port and starboard sidesrespectively. The guns were enclosed in a thin sheath of osmium, through which the lethal rays penetrated unchanged; about them, thickshields of lead protected the gunners. 

He talked with Benson for a while. "Don't let Axelson get the jump onyou, " he said. "Be on the alert every moment. " The gunners, keen-looking men, graduates from the Annapolis gunnery school, grinnedand nodded. They were proud of their trade and its traditions; Natfelt that the vessel was safe in their hands. 

The chief mate appeared at the head of the companion, accompanied by agirl. "Stowaway, Sir, " he reported laconically. "She tumbled out ofthe repair shop annex when we let out the air!"

 * * * * *

Nat stared at her in consternation, and the girl stared back at him. She was a very pretty girl, hardly more than twenty-two or three, attired in a businesslike costume consisting of a leather jacket, knickers, and the black spiral puttees that had come into style in thepast decade. She came forward unabashed. 

"Well, who are you?" snapped Nat. 

"Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate, " she answered, laughing. 

"The devil!" muttered Nat. "You people think you run the WorldFederation since you got President Stark elected. "

"We certainly do, " replied the girl, still laughing. 

"Well, you don't run this ship, " said Nat. "How would you like a longparachute drop back to Earth?"

"Don't be foolish, my dear man, " said Madge. "Don't you know you'llget wrinkles if you scowl like that? Smile! Ah, that's better. Now, honestly, Cap we just had to get the jump on everybody else ininterviewing Axelson. It means such a lot to me. "

Pouts succeeded smiles. "You're not going to be cross about it, areyou?" she pleaded. 

"Do you realize the risk you're running, young woman?" Nat demanded. "Are you aware that our chances of ever getting back to Earth aresmaller than you ought to have dreamed of taking?"

"Oh, that's all right, " the girl responded. "And now that we'refriends again, would you mind asking the steward to get me somethingto eat? I've been cooped up in that room downstairs for fifteen hours, and I'm simply starving. "

Nat shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. He turned to the chief mate. "Take Miss Dawes down to the saloon and see that Wang Ling suppliesher with a good meal, " he ordered. "And put her in the Admiral'scabin. That good enough for you?" he asked satirically. 

"Oh that'll be fine, " answered the girl enthusiastically. "And I shallrely on you to keep me posted about everything that's going on. And alittle later I'm going to take X-ray photographs of you and all thesemen. " She smiled at the grinning gunners. "That's the new fad, youknow, and we're going to offer prizes for the best developed skeletonsin the American Province, and pick a King and Queen of Beauty!"

 * * * * *

"A radio, Sir!"

Nat, who had snatched a brief interval of sleep, started up as the manon duty handed him the message. The vessel had been constantly incommunication with Earth during her voyage, now nearing completion, but the dreaded A-A-A that prefaced this message told Nat that it camefrom Axelson. 

"Congratulations on your attempt, " the message ran, "I have watchedyour career with the greatest interest, Lee, through the medium ofsuch scraps of information as I have been able to pick up on theMoon. When you are my guest to-morrow I shall hope to be able to offeryou a high post in the new World Government that I am planning toestablish. I need good men. Fraternally, the Black Caesar. "

Nat whirled about. Madge Dawes was standing behind him, trying to readthe message over his shoulder. 

"Spying, eh?" said Nat bitterly. 

"My dear man, isn't that my business?"

"Well, read this, then, " said Nat, handing her the message. "You'relikely to repent this crazy trick of yours before we get muchfarther. "

And he pointed to the cosmic-ray skiagraph of the Moon on the curvedglass dome overhead. They were approaching the satellite rapidly. Itfilled the whole dome, the craters great black hollows, the mountainsstanding out clearly. Beneath the dome were the radium apparatus thatemitted the rays by which the satellite was photographedcinematographically, and the gyroscope steering apparatus by which theship's course was directed. 

Suddenly a buzzer sounded a warning. Nat sprang to the tube. 

"Gravitational interference X40, gyroscopic aberrancy one minute 29, "he called. "Discharge static electricity from hull. Mr. Benson, standby. "

"What does that mean?" asked Madge. 

"It means I shall be obliged if you'll abstain from speaking to theman at the controls, " snapped Nat. 

"And what's that?" cried Madge in a shriller voice, pointing upward. 

 * * * * *

Across the patterned surface of the Moon, shown on the skiagraph, ablack, cigar-shaped form was passing. It looked like one of theold-fashioned dirigibles, and the speed with which it moved wasevident from the fact that it was perceptibly traversing the Moon'ssurface. Perhaps it was travelling at the rate of fifty thousand milesan hour. 

Brent, the chief officer, burst up the companion. His face was livid. 

"Black ship approaching us from the Moon, Sir, " he stammered. "Benson's training his guns, but it must be twenty thousands milesaway. "

"Yes, even our ray-guns won't shoot that distance, " answered Nat. "Tell Benson to keep his guns trained as well as he can, and open fireat five hundred. "

Brent disappeared. Madge and Nat were alone on the bridge. Nat wasshouting incomprehensible orders down the tube. He stopped and lookedup. The shadow of the approaching ship had crossed the Moon's disk anddisappeared. 

"Well, young lady, I think your goose is cooked, " said Nat. "If I'mnot mistaken, that ship is Axelson's, and he's on his way to knock usgalley-west. And now oblige me by leaving the bridge. "

"I think he's a perfectly delightful character, to judge from thatmessage he sent you, " answered Madge, "and--"

Brent appeared again. "Triangulation shows ten thousand miles, Sir, "he informed Nat. 

"Take control, " said Nat. "Keep on the gyroscopic course, allowing foraberrancy, and make for the Crater of Pytho. I'll take command of theguns. " He hurried down the companion, with Madge at his heels. 

 * * * * *

The gunners stood by the ray-guns, three at each. Benson perched on arevolving stool above the batteries. He was watching a periscopicinstrument that connected with the bridge dome by means of a tube, aflat mirror in front of him showing all points of the compass. At oneedge the shadow of the black ship was creeping slowly forward. 

"Eight thousand miles, Sir, " he told Nat. "One thousand is our extremerange. And it looks as if she's making for our blind spot overhead. "

Nat stepped to the speaking-tube. "Try to ram her, " he called up toBrent. "We'll open with all guns, pointing forward. "

"Very good, Sir, " the Cockney called back. 

The black shadow was now nearly in the centre of the mirror. It movedupward, vanished. Suddenly the atomic motors began wheezing again. Thewheeze became a whine, a drone. 

"We've dropped to two thousand miles an hour, Sir, " called Brent. 

Nat leaped for the companion. As he reached the top he could hear theteleradio apparatus in the wireless room overhead begin to chatter:

"A-A-A. Don't try to interfere. Am taking you to the Crater of Pytho. Shall renew my offer there. Any resistance will be fatal. Axelson. "

And suddenly the droning of the motors became a whine again, thensilence. Nat stared at the instrument-board and uttered a cry. 

"What's the matter?" demanded Madge. 

Nat swung upon her. "The matter?" he bawled. "He's neutralized ourengines by some infernal means of his own, and he's towing us to theMoon!"

 * * * * *

The huge sphere of the Moon had long since covered the entire dome. The huge Crater of Pytho now filled it, a black hollow fifty milesacross, into which they were gradually settling. And, as they settled, the pale Earth light, white as that of the Moon on Earth, showed thegaunt masses of bare rock, on which nothing grew, and the longstalactites of glassy lava that hung from them. 

Then out of the depths beneath emerged the shadowy shape of thelanding-stage. 

"You are about to land, " chattered the radio. "Don't try any tricks;they will be useless. Above all, don't try to use your puny ray. Youare helpless. "

The ship was almost stationary. Little figures could be seen swarmingupon the landing-stage, ready to adjust the iron claws to clamp thehull. With a gesture of helplessness, Nat left the bridge and wentdown to the main deck where, in obedience to his orders, the crew hadall assembled. 

"Men, I'm putting it up to you, " he said. "Axelson, the Black Caesar, advises us not to attempt to use the Ray-guns. I won't order you to. I'll leave the decision with you. "

"We tried it fifteen minutes ago, Sir, " answered Benson. "I toldLarrigan to fire off the stern starboard gun to see if it was inworking order, and it wasn't!"

At that moment the vessel settled with a slight jar into the clamps. Once more the teleradio began to scream:

"Open the port hold and file out slowly. Resistance is useless. Ishould turn my ray upon you and obliterate you immediately. Assembleon the landing-stage and wait for me!"

"You'd best obey, " Nat told his men. "We've got a passenger toconsider. " He glared at Madge as he spoke, and Madge's smile was alittle more tremulous than it had been before. 

"This is the most thrilling experience of my life, Captain Lee, " shesaid. "And I'll never rest until I've got an X-Ray photograph of Mr. Axelson's skeleton for the Universal News Syndicate. "

 * * * * *

One by one, Nat last, the crew filed down the ladder onto thelanding-stage, gasping and choking in the rarefied air that lay like ablanket at the bottom of the crater. And the reason for this was onlytoo apparent to Nat as soon as he was on the level stage. 

Overhead, at an altitude of about a mile, the black ship hung, andfrom its bow a stupendous searchlight played to and fro over thebottom of the crater, making it as light as day. And where had beenthe mining machinery, the great buildings that had housed convicts andMoon people, and the huge edifice that contained the pumping station, there was--nothing. 

The devilish ray of Axelson had not merely destroyed them, it hadobliterated all traces of them, and the crew of the liner werebreathing the remnants of the atmosphere that still lay at the bottomof the Crater of Pytho. 

But beside the twin landing-stages, constructed by the WorldFederation, another building arose, with an open front. And that frontwas a huge mirror, now scintillating under the searchlight from theblack ship. 

"That's it, Sir!" shouted Brent. 

"That's what?" snapped Nat. 

"The deflecting mirror I was speaking of. That's what deflected theray that wiped out China. The ray didn't come from the Moon. Andthat's the mirror that deflects the teleradio waves, thesuper-Hertzian rays that carry the sound. "

Nat did not answer. Sick at heart at the failure of his mission, hewas watching the swarm of Moon men who were at work upon thelanding-stage, turning the steel clamps and regulating the mechanismthat controlled the apparatus. Dwarfed, apish creature, with tinylimbs, and chests that stood out like barrels, they bustled about, chattering in shrill voices that seemed like the piping of birds. 

It was evident that Axelson, though he had wiped out the Moon convictsand the Moon people in the crater, had reserved a number of the latterfor personal use. 

 * * * * *

The black ship was dropping into its position at the secondlanding-stage, connected with the first by a short bridge. Thestarboard hold swung open, and a file of shrouded and hooded formsappeared, masked men, breathing in condensed air from receptacles upontheir chests, and staring with goggle eyes at their captives. Each oneheld in his hand a lethal tube containing the ray, and, as if bycommand, they took up their stations about their prisoners. 

Then, at a signal from their leader, they suddenly doffed their masks. 

Nat looked at them in astonishment. He had not known whether thesewould be Earth denizens or inhabitants of some other planet. But theywere Earth men. And they were old. 

Men of sixty or seventy, years, with long, gray beards and wrinkledfaces, and eyes that stared out from beneath penthouses of shaggyeyebrows. Faces on which were imprinted despair and hopelessness. 

Then the first man took off his mask and Nat saw a man of differentcharacter. 

A man in the prime of life, with a mass of jet black hair and a blackbeard that swept to his waist, a nose like a hawk's, and a pair ofdark blue eyes that fixed themselves on Nat's with a look ofLuciferian pride. 

"Welcome, Nathaniel Lee, " said the man, in deep tones that had acurious accent which Nat could not place. "I ought to know your name, since your teleradios on Earth have been shouting it for three dayspast as that of the man who is to save Earth from the threat ofdestruction. And you know me!"

"Axelson--the Black Caesar, " Nat muttered. For the moment he was takenaback. He had anticipated any sort of person except this man, whostood, looked, and spoke like a Viking, this incarnation of pride andstrength. 

Axelson smiled--and then his eyes lit upon Madge Dawes. And for amoment he stood as if petrified into a block of massive granite. 

"What--who is this?" he growled. 

"Why, I'm Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate, " answered thegirl, smiling at Axelson in her irrepressible manner. "And I'm sureyou're not nearly such a bold, bad pirate as people think, and you'regoing to let us all go free. "

 * * * * *

Instantly Axelson seemed to become transformed into a maniac. Heturned to the old men and shouted in some incomprehensible language. Nat and Madge, Brent and Benson, and two others who wore the uniformsof officers were seized and dragged across the bridge to thelanding-stage where the black ship was moored. The rest of the crewwere ordered into a double line. 

And then the slaughter began. 

Before Nat could even struggle to break away from the gibbering Moonmen to whom he and the other prisoners had been consigned, the agedcrew of the Black Caesar had begun their work of almost instantaneousdestruction. 

Streams of red and purple light shot from the ray-pistols that theycarried, and before them the crew of the ether-liner simply witheredup and vanished. They became mere masses of human débris piled on thelanding-stage, and upon these masses, too, the old men turned theirimplements, until only a few heaps of charred carbon remained on thelanding-stage, impalpable as burned paper, and slowly rising in thelow atmospheric pressure until they drifted over the crater. 

Nat had cried out in horror at the sight, and tried to tear himselffree from the grasp of the Moon dwarfs who held him. So had the rest. Never was struggle so futile. Despite their short arms and legs, theMoon dwarfs held them in an unshakable grip, chattering and squealingas they compressed them against their barrel-like chests until thebreath was all but crushed out of their bodies. 

"Devil!" cried Nat furiously, as Axelson came up to him. "Why don'tyou kill us, too?" And he hurled furious taunts and abuse at him, inthe hope of goading him into making the same comparatively mercilessend of his prisoners. 

Axelson looked at him calmly, but made no reply. He looked at Madgeagain, and his features were convulsed with some emotion that gave himthe aspect of a fiend. And then only did Nat realize that it was Madgewho was responsible for the Black Caesar's madness. 

Axelson spoke again, and the prisoners were hustled up the ladder andon board the black vessel. 

 * * * * *

"The Kommandant-Kommissar will see you!" The door of their prison hadopened, letting in a shaft of light, and disclosing one of thegraybeards, who stood there, pointing at Nat. 

"The--who?" Nat demanded. 

"The Kommandant-Kommissar, Comrade Axelson, " snarled the graybeard. 

Nat knew what that strange jargon meant. He had read books about thepolitical sect known as Socialists who flourished in the Nineteenthand Twentieth Centuries, and, indeed, were even yet not everywhereextinct. And with that a flash of intuition explained the presence ofthese old men on board. 

These were the men who had been imprisoned in their youth, withAxelson's father, and had escaped and made their way into space, andhad been supposed dead long since. Somewhere they must have survived. 

And here they were, speaking a jargon of past generations, andignorant that the world had changed, relics of the past, dead as thedead Moon from which the black ship was winging away through theether. 

"Don't go, Captain, " pleaded Madge. "Tell him we'll all go together. "

Nat shook his head. "Maybe I'll be able to make terms with him, " heanswered, and stepped out upon the vessel's deck. 

The graybeard slammed the door and laughed savagely. "You'll make noterms with the Black Caesar, " he said. "This is the reign of theproletariat. The bourgeois must die! So Lenin decreed!"

But he stopped suddenly and passed his hand over his forehead like aman awakening from a dream. 

"Surely the proletariat has already triumphed on earth?" he asked. "Along time has passed, and daily we expect the summons to return andestablish the new world-order. What year is this? Is it not 2017? Itis so hard to reckon on Eros. "

"On Eros?" thought Nat. "This is the year 2044, " he answered. "You'vebeen dreaming, my friend. We've had our new world-order, and it's notin the least like the one you and your friends anticipated. "

"Gott!" screamed the old man. "Gott, you're lying to me, bourgeois!You're lying, I tell you!"

 * * * * *

So Eros was their destination! Eros, one of the asteroids, those tinyfragments of a broken planet, lying outside the orbit of Mars. Some ofthese little worlds, of which more than a thousand are known to exist, are no larger than a gentleman's country estate; some are mere rocksin space. Eros, Nat knew, was distinguished among them from the factthat it had an eccentric orbit, which brought it at times nearer Earththan any other heavenly body except the Moon. 

Also that it had only been known for thirty years, and that it wassupposed to be a double planet, having a dark companion. 

That was in Nat's mind as he ascended the bridge to where Axelson wasstanding at the controls, with one of the graybeards beside him. Thedoor of his stateroom was open, and suddenly there scuttled out of itone of the most bestial objects Nat had ever seen. 

It was a Moon woman, a dwarfish figure, clothed in a shapeless garmentof spun cellulose, and in her arms she held a heavy-headed Moon baby, whose huge chest stood up like a pyramid, while the tiny arms and legshung dangling down. 

"Here is the bourgeois, Kommandant, " said Nat's captor. 

Axelson looked at Nat, eye meeting eye in a slow stare. Then herelinquished the controls to the graybeard beside him, and motionedNat to precede him into the stateroom. 

Nat entered. It was an ordinary room, much like that of the captain ofthe ether-liner now stranded on the Moon. There were a bunk, chairs, adesk and a radio receiver. 

Axelson shut the door. He tried to speak and failed to master hisemotion. At last he said:

"I am prepared to offer you terms, Nathaniel Lee, in accordance withmy promise. "

"I'll make no terms with murderers, " replied Nat bitterly. 

 * * * * *

Axelson stood looking at him. His great chest rose and fell. Suddenlyhe put out one great hand and clapped Nat on the shoulder. 

"Wise men, " he said, "recognize facts. Within three weeks I shall bethe undisputed ruler of Earth. Whether of a desert or of a cowed andsubmissive subject-population, rests with the Earth men. I have neverbeen on Earth, for I was born on Eros. My mother died at my birth. Ihave never seen another human woman until to-day. "

Nat looked at him, trying to follow what was in Axelson's mind. 

"My father fled to Eros, a little planet seventeen miles in diameter, as we have found. He called it a heavenly paradise. It was hisintention to found there a colony of those who were in rebellionagainst the tyrants of Earth. 

"His followers journeyed to the Moon and brought back Moon women forwives. But there were no children of these unions. Later there weredissensions and civil war. Three-fourths of the colony died in battlewith one another. 

"I was a young man. I seized the reins of power. The survivors--theseold men--were disillusioned and docile. I made myself absolute. Ibrought Moon men and women to Eros to serve us as slaves. But in a fewyears the last of my father's old compatriots will have died, and thusit was I conceived of conquering Earth and having men to obey me. Forfifteen years I have been experimenting and constructing apparatus, with which I now have Earth at my mercy. 

"But I shall need assistance, intelligent men who will obey me and aidme in my plans. That is why I saved you and the other officers ofyour ether-lines. If you will join me, you shall have the highest poston Earth under me, Nathaniel Lee, and those others shall be underyou. "

 * * * * *

Axelson paused, and, loathing the man though he did, Nat was consciousof a feeling of pity for him that he could not control. He saw hislonely life on Eros, surrounded by those phantom humans of the past, and he understood his longing for Earth rule--he the planetary exile, the sole human being of all the planetary system outside Earth, perhaps, except for his dwindling company of aged men. 

"To-day, Nathaniel Lee, " Axelson went on, my life was recast in a newmould when I saw the woman you have brought with you. I did not knowbefore that women were beautiful to look on. I did not dream thatcreatures such as she existed. She must be mine, Nathaniel Lee. 

"But that is immaterial. What is your answer to my offer?"

Nat was trying to think, though passion distorted the mental images asthey arose in his brain. To Axelson it was evidently incomprehensiblethat there would be any objection to his taking Madge. Nat saw that hemust temporize for Madge's sake. 

"I'll have to consult my companions, " he answered. 

"Of course, " answered Axelson. "That is reasonable. Tell them thatunless they agree to join me it will be necessary for them to die. DoEarth men mind death? We hate it on Eros, and the Moon men hate it, too, though they have a queer legend that something in the shape of aninvisible man raises from their ashes. My father told me that thatsuperstition existed on Earth in his time, too. Go and talk to yourcompanions, Nathaniel Lee. "

The Black Caesar's voice was almost friendly. He clapped Nat on theshoulder again, and called the graybeard to conduct him back to hisprison. 

"Oh, Captain Lee, I'm so glad you're back!" exclaimed Madge. "We'vebeen afraid for you. Is he such a terrible man, this Black Caesar?"

Nat sneered, then grinned malevolently. "Well, he's not exactly theold-fashioned idea of a Sunday-school teacher, " he answered. Of coursehe could not tell the girl about Axelson's proposal. 

 * * * * *

The little group of prisoners stood on the upper deck of the blackship and watched the Moon men scurrying about the landing-stage as shehovered to her position. 

Axelson's father had not erred when he had called the tiny planet, Eros, a heavenly paradise, for no other term could have described it. 

They were in an atmosphere so similar to that of Earth that they couldbreathe with complete freedom, but there seemed to be a lightness anda vigor in their limbs that indicated that the air was superchargedwith oxygen or ozone. The presence of this in large amounts wasindicated by the intense blueness of the sky, across which fleecyclouds were drifting. 

And in that sky what looked like threescore moons were circling withextraordinary swiftness. From thirty to forty full moons, of allsizes, from that of a sun to that of a brilliant planet, and ridingblack against the blue. 

The sun, hardly smaller than when seen from Earth, shone in thezenith, and Earth and Mars hung in the east and north respectively, each like a blood-red sun. 

The moons were some of the thousand other asteroids, weaving theirlacy patterns in and out among each other. But, stupendous as thesight was, it was toward the terrestrial scene that the party turnedtheir eyes as the black ship settled. 

A sea of sapphire blue lapped sands of silver and broke into softlines of foam. To the water's edge extended a lawn of brightest green, and behind this an arm of the sea extended into what looked like atropical forest. Most of the trees were palmlike, but towered toimmense heights, their foliage swaying in a gentle breeze. There wereapparently no elevations, and yet, so small was the little sphere thatthe ascending curve gave the illusion of distant heights, while thehorizon, instead of seeming to rise, lay apparently perfectly flat, producing an extraordinary feeling of insecurity. 

Near the water's edge a palatial mansion, built of hewn logs and of asingle story, stood in a garden of brilliant flowers. Nearer, beyondthe high landing-stage, were the great shipbuilding works, and nearthem an immense and slightly concave mirror flashed back the light ofthe sun. 

"The death ray!" whispered Brent to Nat. 

Axelson came up to the party as the ship settled down. "Welcome toEros, " he said cordially. "My father told me that in some Earth tonguethat name meant 'love'. "

 * * * * *

Never, perhaps, was so strange a feast held as that with which Axelsonentertained his guests that day. Dwarfish Moon men passed viands and asort of palm wine in the great banquet-room, which singularlyresembled one of those early twentieth century interiors shown inmuseums. Only the presence of a dozen of the aged guards, armed withray-rods, lent a grimness to the scene. 

Madge sat on Axelson's right, and Nat on his left. The girl'slightheartedness had left her; her face grew strained as Axelson'smotives--which Nat had not dared disclose to her--disclosed themselvesin his manner. 

Once, when he laid his finger for a moment against her white throat, she started, and for a moment it seemed as if the gathering storm mustbreak. 

For Nat had talked with his men, and all had agreed that they wouldnot turn traitor, though they intended to temporize as long aspossible, in the hope of catching the Black Caesar unawares. 

Then slowly a somber twilight began to fall, and Axelson rose. 

"Let us walk in the gardens during the reign of Erebos, " he said. 

"Erebos?" asked Nat. 

"The black world that overshadows us each sleeping period, " answeredAxelson. 

Nat knew what he meant. The dark companion of Eros revolves around itevery six hours; the day of Eros would therefore never be longer thansix hours, this without reckoning the revolution of Eros around thesun. But owing to its small size, it was probable that it was bathedin almost perpetual sunshine. 

The sweet scent of the flowers, much stronger than of any flowers onearth, filled the air. They walked across the green lawn and entered ajungle path, with bamboos and creeping plants on either side, and hugepalmlike trees. Behind them stalked the guards with their ray-rods. 

A lake of deepest black disclosed itself. Suddenly Madge uttered ascream and clung to Nat. "Look, look!" she cried. "It's horrible!"

 * * * * *

Suddenly Nat realized that the lake swarmed with monsters. They wereof crocodilian form, but twice the size of the largest crocodile, andsprawled over one another in the shallows beside the margin. As theparty drew near, an enormous monster began waddling on its clawed feettoward them. 

A mouth half the length of the creature opened, disclosing a purplishtongue and hideous fangs. Madge screamed again. 

"Ah, so fear exists on Earth, too?" asked Axelson blandly. "That makesmy conquest sure. I suspected it, and yet I was not sure that sciencehad not conquered it. But there is no cause for fear. A magnetic fieldprotects us. See!"

For the waddling monster suddenly stopped short as if brought upsharply by the bars of a cage, and drew back. 

Axelson turned and wheezed in the Moon language--if the gibbering ofthe dwarfs could be called speech--and one of the guards answered him. 

"These primitive dwellers on Eros I have preserved, " said Axelson, "asa means of discipline. The Moon animals are afraid of them. I keep asupply of those who have transgressed my laws to feed them. See!"

He turned and pointed. Two guards were bringing a gibbering, screeching, struggling Moon man with them. Despite his strength, heseemed incapable of making any resistance, but his whole bodyquivered, and his hideous face was contorted with agony of terror. 

At a distance of some fifty feet they turned aside into a littlebypath through the jungle, reappearing close beside the Lake upon araised platform. And what happened next happened so swiftly that Natwas unable to do anything to prevent it. 

The guards disappeared; the Moon man, as if propelled by someinvisible force, moved forward jerkily to the lake's edge. Instantlyone of the saurians had seized him in its jaws, and another hadwrenched half the body away, and the whole fighting, squirming massvanished in the depths. 

And from far away came the screeching chant of the Moon men, as if ininvocation to some hideous deity. 

And, moving perceptibly, the huge black orb of Eros's dark satellitecrept over the sky, completely covering it. 

 * * * * *

Axelson stepped forward to where Nat stood, supporting Madge in hisarms. The girl had fainted with horror at the scene. 

"Your answer Nathaniel Lee, " he said softly. "I know you have beenpostponing the decision. Now I will take the girl, and you shall giveme your answer. Will you and these men join me, or will you die as theMoon man died?" He spoke wheezily, as if he, like Nat, had a cold. 

And he put his arm around Madge. 

Next moment something happened to him that had never happened in hislife before. The Black Caesar went down under a well-directed blow tothe jaw. 

He leaped to his feet trembling with fury and barked a command. Instantly the old guards had hurled themselves forward. And behindthem a horde of Moon men came, ambling. 

While the guards covered their prisoners with their ray-rods, two Moonmen seized each of them, imprisoning him in their unbreakable grasp. 

Axelson pointed upward. "When the reign of Erebos is past, " he said, "you become food for the denizens of the lake, unless you have agreedto serve me. "

And he raised Madge in his arms, laughing as the girl fought andstruggled to resist him. 

"Madge!" cried Nat, trying to run toward her. 

So furious were his struggles that for a moment he succeeded inthrowing off the Moon men's grasp. Then he was caught again, and, fighting desperately, was borne off by the dwarfs through the shadows. 

They traversed the border of the lake until a small stone buildingdisclosed itself. Nat and the others were thrust inside into pitchdarkness. The door clanged; in vain they hurled themselves against it. It was of wood, but it was as solid as the stone itself, and it didnot give an inch for all their struggles. 

 * * * * *

"Where is your Kommandant?" The whisper seemed in the stone hutitself. "Your Nathaniel Lee. I must speak to him. I am the guard whobrought him to the Black Caesar on board the ship. "

"I'm here, " said Nat. "Where are you?"

"I am in the house of the ray. I am on guard there. I am speaking intothe telephone which runs only to where you are. You can speak anywherein the hut, and I shall hear you. "

"Well, what do you want?" asked Nat. 

"You love the Earth woman. I remember, when I was a boy, we used tolove. I had forgotten. There was a girl in Stamford. .. . Tell me, is ittrue that this is the year 2044 and that the proletariat has not yettriumphed?"

"It's true, " said Nat. "Those dreams are finished, We're proud of theWorld Federation. Tell me about Madge Dawes--the Earth woman. Is shesafe?"

"He has taken her to his house. I do not think she is harmed. He isill. He is closely guarded. There are rumors afoot. I do not know. "

"What do you want, then?"

"If the Black Caesar dies will you take me back to Earth again? I longso for the old Earth life. I will be your slave, if only I can setfoot on Earth before I die. "

"Can you rescue us?" Nat held his breath. 

"The Moon men are on guard. "

"They have no ray-guns and you have. "

"The penalty would be terrible. I should be thrown to the monsters. "

"Can you get us each a ray-gun? Will you risk it, to get back toEarth?" asked Nat. 

A pause. Then, "My friend, I am coming. "

Nat heard Benson hissing in his ear, "If we can surprise them, we canget possession of the black ship and return. "

"We must get Madge Dawes. "

"And smash the mirror, " put in Brent. 

After that there was nothing to do but wait. 

 * * * * *

The door clicked open. An indistinct form stood in the entrance. Itwas already growing light; the dark satellite that eclipsed Eros waspassing. 

"Hush! I have brought you ray-rods!" It was the old man with whom Nathad spoken on the boat. Under his arm he held five metallic rods, tipped with luminous glass. He handed one to each of the prisoners. "Do you know how to use them?" he asked. 

Nat examined his. "It's an old-style rod that was used on earth fiftyyears ago, " he told his men. "I've seen them in museums. It came intouse in the Second World War of 1950 or thereabouts. You slip back thesafety catch and press this button, taking aim as one did with thepistol. You fellows have seen pistols?"

"My father had an old one, " said the chief mate, Barnes. 

"How many times can they be fired without reloading?" Nat asked theold guard. 

"Ten times; sometimes more; and they were all freshly loadedyesterday. "

"Take us to where Axelson is. "

"First you must destroy the guards. I sent the one on duty here awayon some pretext. But the others may be here at any moment. Talk lower. Are you going to kill them?"

"We must, " said Nat. 

The old fellow began to sob. "We were companions together. They seizedus and imprisoned us together, the capitalists, years ago. I thoughtthe proletariat would have won, and you say it is all different. I aman old man, and life is sad and strange. "

"Listen. Is Axelson in the house?" demanded Nat. 

"He is in his secret room. I do not know the way. None of us has everentered it. "

"And Madge?"

"She was with him. I do not know anything more. " He sank down, groaning, broken. 

 * * * * *

Nat pushed his way past him. It was fast growing light now. A ray ofsunshine shot from beneath the edge of the dark sphere overhead, whichstill filled almost all the heavens. At that moment the hideous faceand squat body of one of the Moon men came into view at the end ofthe path. The creature stopped, gibbering with surprise, and thenrushed forward, mewing like a cat. 

Nat aimed his ray-rod and pressed the button. The streak of light, notquite aimed, in Nat's excitement, sheared off one side of the Moonman's face. 

The creature rocked where it stood, raised its voice in a screech, andrushed forward again, arms flailing. And this time Nat got home. Thestreak passed right through the body of the monster, which collapsedinto a heap of calcined carbon. 

But its screech had brought the other dwarfs running to the scene. Ina moment the path was blocked by a score of the hideous monsters, which, taking in what was happening, came forward in a yelling bunch. 

The ray-rods streaked their message of death into the thick of them. Yet so fierce was the rush that some parts got home. Arms, legs, andbarrel chests, halves of men, covering the five with that impalpableblack powder into which their bodies were dissolving. Nat rememberedafterward the horror of a grinning face, apparently loose in the air, and a flailing arm that lashed his chest. 

For fifteen seconds, perhaps, it was like struggling with some vampirecreatures in a hideous dream. And then, just when it seemed to Natthat he was going mad, he found the path free, and the huddledremnants of the Moon men piled up about him on every side. 

He emptied two more ray-shots into the writhing mass, and saw it ceaseto quiver and then dissolve into the black powder. He turned andlooked at his companions. They, too, showed the horror of the strainthey had undergone. 

"We must kill the guards now, " Nat panted. "And then find Madge andsave her. "

"We're with you, " answered Brent, and together the five rushed intothe sunlight and the open. 

 * * * * *

There were no guards on duty at the entrance of the house, and thedoor stood wide open. Nat rushed through the door at the head of hismen. A single guard was in the hall, but he only looked up as theycame in. And it was evident that he was in no condition to resist, forhe was in the grip of some terrible disease. 

His features were swollen so that they were hardly recognizable, andhoarse, panting breaths came from his lungs. He was so far gone thathe hardly registered surprise at the advent of the five. 

"Where's Axelson?" demanded Nat. 

The guard pointed toward the end of the corridor, then let his armfall. Nat led his men along the half-dark passage. 

At the end of the corridor two more guards were on duty, but one wascollapsed upon the floor, apparently unconscious, and the other, making a feeble attempt to draw his ray-rod, crumbled into ashes asBrent fired. The five burst through the door. 

They found themselves in the banquet-hall. The remnants of the mealwere still upon the table, and three Moon men, looking as if they hadbeen poisoned, were writhing on the floor. At the farther end of thehall was another door. 

This gave upon a central hall, with a door in each of its four sides, and a blaze of sunlight coming through the crystal roof. The fivestopped, baffled. Then of a sudden Axelson's voice broke thesilence--his voice, yet changed almost beyond recognition, hoarse, broken, and gasping:

"Try the doors, Nathaniel Lee. Try each door in turn, and then goback. And know that in an instant I can blast you to nothingness whereyou stand!"

And suddenly there came Madge's voice, "He can't! He can't, Nat. He'sdying, and he knows it. I won't let him, and he hasn't got thestrength to move. "

"Which door?" cried Nat in desperation. 

"None of the doors. They're a trick, " came Madge's voice. "Go forwardand press the grooved panel upon the wall in front of you. "

 * * * * *

Nat stepped forward, found the panel, and pressed it. The wall swungopen, like two folded doors, revealing another room within, perfectlycircular. 

It contained a quantity of pieces of apparatus, some glowing withlight, some dark, and a radio transmitting set; it was evidently thesecret lair of the Black Caesar. And there he was, trapped at last bythe mortal illness that had overtaken him!

He was lying upon the couch, his great form stretched out, hisfeatures hideously swollen by the same disease that had attacked theguards. 

Nat raised his ray-rod, but Axelson feebly put up his hand, and Natlowered the weapon. And, as the five gathered about the dying man, again Nat felt that strange sense of pathos and pity for him. 

He had never known Earth life, and he was not to be measured by thecommon standards applicable on Earth. 

"Don't fire, Nat, " said Madge in a shaky voice. She was seated besideAxelson, and--the wonder of it--she was sponging the foam from hislips and moistening his forehead. She raised a crystal that containedsome fluid to his lips, and he drained it greedily. 

"So--Earth wins, Nathaniel Lee, " whispered Axelson hoarsely. "I amdying. I know it. It is the same dreaded disease that came to the Moonat the time of my father's landing there. Three-fourths of the Moonanimals died. It is mortal. The lungs burn away. 

"My father told me that on Earth it is not mortal. He called it'cold'--but I am burning hot. "

Then only did Nat understand, and the irony of it made him catch hisbreath and grit his teeth to check his hysterical laughter. The BlackCaesar, the terror of Earth, was dying of a common cold which hehimself had given him. 

The coryza germ, almost harmless on Earth, among a populationhabituated to it for countless generations, had assumed the potency ofa plague here, where no colds had ever been known--among the Moon men, and even among the guards, after their lifetime in the germlessclimate of Eros. 

"I've failed, Nathaniel Lee, " came the Black Caesar's voice. "And yetthat hardly troubles me. There is something more that I do notunderstand. She is a creature like ourselves--with will and reason. She is not like the Moon women. She told me that she did not wish tobe queen of the Earth because she did not love me. I do notunderstand. And so--I am glad to go. "

 * * * * *

A gasp came from Axelson's throat as he raised his head and tried tospeak, but the death-rattle was already in his throat. A slightstruggle, and the massive form upon the couch was nothing butinanimate clay. 

Madge rose from beside him, and the tears were streaming down herface. 

"He wasn't a bad man, Nat, " she said. "He was--gentle with me. Hedidn't understand; that was all. When I refused to be his queen, hewas overcome with bewilderment. Oh, Nat, I can never, never write thisstory for the Universal News Syndicate. "

Nat led her, sobbing, from the room. 

Soon he succeeded in getting into teleradio communication with Earth. He broadcast the news that the Black Caesar was dead, and that hispower for evil was at an end forever. 

Then, in the few hours of daylight that remained, he set his men towork to smash the ray outfit that had destroyed China. There was someprinciple involved which he did not altogether understand, thoughBrent professed to have a clue to it, but it was evident that, exceptfor the ray, Axelson had possessed no knowledge superior to that ofthe Earth scientists. 

Of the guards, a few were already recovering, principally those ofcomparatively younger age. Not a Moon man, on the other hand, hadsurvived the epidemic. As soon as Nat had got the guards out of thehouse, he reduced it to ashes by the aid of an old-fashioned box ofphosphoric matches. 

As the dark satellite was again creeping over Eros, the black ship setsail. 

 * * * * *

But of the return journey to the Moon, where they transferred to theirown ship, of their landing at New York, and of the triumphal receptionthat was accorded them, this is no place to speak. Nat's journey withMadge from the center of the city, in what was the old Borough ofWestchester, to his home in the suburb of Hartford, was a continualovation. 

Crowds lined the air-route, and every few miles, so thick was theair-traffic, he was forced to hover and address the cheeringmultitudes. Hartford itself was _en fete_, and across the main roadthe City Bosses had hung an old-fashioned banner, strung from house tohouse on either side, bearing the legend: For World President:NATHANIEL LEE!

Nat turned to Madge, who was seated beside him silently. "Ever hear of'getting married?'" he asked. 

"Of course I've heard of it, " replied the girl indignantly. "Do youthink I'm as dumb as that, Nat Lee? Why, those old-fashioned novelsare part of the public schools' curriculum. "

"Pity those days can't come back. You ought to be a WorldPresidentess, you know, " said Nat. "I was thinking, if we registeredas companionates, I could take you into the White House, and you'dhave a swell time there taking X-rays on visiting days. "

"Well, " answered Madge slowly. "I never thought of that. It might beworth trying out. "

The Second Satellite

_By Edmond Hamilton_

[Illustration: _The city of the frog-men!_]

[Sidenote: Earth-men war on frog-vampires for the emancipation of thehuman cows of Earth's second satellite. ]

Norman and Hackett, bulky in their thick flying suits, seemed to fillthe little office. Across the room Harding, the field superintendent, contemplated them. Two planes were curving up into the dawn togetherfrom the field outside, their motors thunderous as they roared overthe building. When their clamor had receded, Harding spoke:

"I don't know which of you two is crazier, " he said. "You, Norman, topropose a fool trip like this, or you, Hackett, to go with him. "

Hackett grinned, but the long, lean face of Norman was earnest. "Nodoubt it all sounds a little insane, " he said, "but I'm convinced I'mright. "

The field superintendent shook his head. "Norman, you ought to bewriting fiction instead of flying. A second satellite--and Fellows andthe others on it--what the devil!"

"What other theory can account for their disappearance?" asked Normancalmly. "You know that since the new X-type planes were introduced, hundreds of fliers all over Earth have been trying for altituderecords in them. Twenty-five miles--thirty--thirty-five--the recordshave been broken every day. But out of the hundreds of fliers whohave gone up to those immense heights, four have never come down norbeen seen again!

"One vanished over northern Sweden, one over Australia, one over LowerCalifornia, and one, Fellows, himself, right here over Long Island. You saw the globe on which I marked those four spots, and you saw thatwhen connected they formed a perfect circle around the Earth. The onlyexplanation is that the four fliers when they reached a forty-mileheight were caught up by some body moving round Earth in that circularorbit, some unknown moon circling Earth inside its atmosphere, asecond satellite of Earth's whose existence has until now never beensuspected!"

 * * * * *

Harding shook his head again. "Norman, your theory would be all rightif it were not for the cold fact that no such satellite has ever beenglimpsed. "

"Can you glimpse a bullet passing you?" Norman retorted. "The twofliers at Sweden and Lower California vanished within three hours ofeach other, on opposite sides of the Earth. That means that thissecond satellite, as I've computed, circles Earth once every sixhours, and travelling at that terrific speed it is no more visible tous of Earth than a rifle bullet would be. "

"Moving through Earth's atmosphere at such speed, indeed, one wouldexpect it to burn up by its own friction with the air. But it doesnot, because its own gravitational power would draw to itself enoughair to make a dense little atmosphere for itself that would cling toit and shield it as it speeds through Earth's upper air. No, I'mcertain that this second satellite exists, Harding, and I'm as certainthat it's responsible for the vanishing of those four fliers. "

"And now you and Hackett have figured when it will be passing overhere and are going up in an X-type yourselves to look for it, "Harding said musingly. 

"Look for it?" echoed Hackett. "We're not going to climb forty milesjust to get a look at the damn thing--we're going to try landing onit!"

"You're crazy sure!" the field superintendent exploded. "If Fellowsand those others got caught by the thing and never came down again, why in the name of all that's holy would you two want--" He stoppedsuddenly. "Oh, I think I see, " he said, awkwardly. "Fellows was rathera buddy of you two, wasn't he?"

"The best that ever flew a crippled Nieuport against three Fokkers topull us out of a hole, " said Norman softly. "Weeks he's been gone, andif it had been Hackett and I he'd be all over the sky looking forus--the damned lunatic. Well, we're not going to let him down. "

"I see, " Harding repeated. Then--"Well, here comes your mechanic, Norman, so your ship must be ready. I'll go with you. It's an event tosee two Columbuses starting for another world. "

 * * * * *

The gray dawn-light over the flying field was flushing to faint roseas the three strode out to where the long X-type stood, its strangelycurved wings, enclosed cabin and flat, fan-like tail gleaming dully. Its motor was already roaring with power and the plane's stubby wheelsstrained against the chocks. In their great suits Norman and Hackettwere like two immense ape-figures in the uncertain light, to the eyesof those about them. 

"Well, all the luck, " Harding told them. "You know I'm pulling foryou, but--I suppose it's useless to say anything about being careful. "

"I seem to have heard the words, " Hackett grinned, as he and Normanshook the field superintendent's hand. 

"It's all the craziest chance, " Norman told the other. "And if wedon't come down in a reasonable time--well, you'll know that ourtheory was right, and you can broadcast it or not as you please. "

"I hope for your sake that you're dead wrong, " smiled the official. "I've told you two to get off the Earth a lot of times, but I nevermeant it seriously. "

Harding stepped back as the two clambered laboriously into the crampedcabin. Norman took the controls, the door slammed, and as the chockswere jerked back and the motor roared louder the long plane curved upat a dizzy angle from the field into the dawn. Hackett waved a thickarm down toward the diminishing figures on the field below; thenturned from the window to peer ahead with his companion. 

The plane flew in a narrow ascending spiral upward, at an angle thatwould have been impossible to any ship save an X-type. Norman's eyesroved steadily over the instrument as they rose, his earsunconsciously alert for each explosion of the motor. Earth recededswiftly into a great gray concave surface as they climbed higher andhigher. 

By the time the five-mile height was reached Earth's surface hadchanged definitely from concave to convex. The plane was ascending bythen in a somewhat wider spiral, but its climb was as steady and sureas ever. Frost begin to form quickly on the cabin's windows, creepingout from the edges. Norman spoke a word over the motor's muffledthunder, and Hackett snicked on the electrical radiators. The frostcrept back as their warm, clean heat flooded the cabin. 

Ten miles--fifteen--they had reached already altitudes impossible buta few years before, though it was nothing to the X-types. As theypassed the ten-mile mark, Hackett set the compact oxygen-generatorgoing. A clean, tangy odor filled the cabin as it began functioning. Twenty miles--twenty-two--

 * * * * *

After a time Norman pointed mutely to the clock on the instrumentboard, and Hackett nodded. They were well within their time schedule, having calculated to reach the forty-mile height at ten, the hourwhen, by its computed orbit, the second satellite should be passingoverhead. "--26--27--28--" Hackett muttered the altimeter figures tohimself as the needle crept over them. 

Glancing obliquely down through the window he saw that Earth was now ahuge gray ball beneath them, white cloud-oceans obscuring the drabdetails of its surface here and there. "--31--32--" The plane wasclimbing more slowly, and at a lesser angle. Even the X-type had tostruggle to rise in the attenuated air now about them. Only thesuper-light, super-powered plane could ever have reached the terrificheight. 

It was at the thirty-four mile level that the real battle for altitudebegan. Norman kept the plane curving steadily upward, handling it withsurpassing skill in the rarefied air. Frost was on its windows nowdespite the heating mechanism. Slowly the altimeter needle crept tothe forty mark. Norman kept the ship circling, its wings tiltedslightly, but not climbing, Earth a great gray misty ball beneath. 

"Can't keep this height long, " he jerked. "If our second satellitedoesn't show up in minutes we've had a trip for nothing. "

"All seems mighty different up here, " was Hackett's shouted comment. "Easy enough to talk down there about hopping onto the thing, but uphere--hell, there's nothing but air and mighty little of that!"

Norman grinned. "There'll be more. If I'm right about this thing wewon't need to hop it--its own atmosphere will pick us up. "

Both looked anxious as the motor sputtered briefly. But in a moment itwas again roaring steadily. Norman shook his head. 

"Maybe a fool's errand after all. No--I'm still sure we're right! Butit seems that we don't prove it this time. "

"Going down?" asked Hackett. 

"We'll have to, in minutes. Even with its own air-feed the motor can'tstand this height for--"

 * * * * *

Norman never finished the words. There was a sound, a keen rising, rushing sound of immense power that reached their ears over themotor's roar. Then in an instant the universe seemed to go mad aboutthem: they saw the gray ball of Earth and the sun above skyrocketingaround them as the plane whirled madly. 

The rushing sound was in that moment thunderous, terrible, and aswinds smashed and rocked the plane like giant hands, Hackett glimpsedanother sphere that was not the sphere of Earth, a greenish globe thatexpanded with lightning speed in the firmament beside their spinningplane! The winds stilled; the green globe changed abruptly to alandscape of green land and sea toward which the plane was falling!Norman was fighting the controls--land and sea were gyrating up tothem with dizzy speed--crash!

With that cracking crash the plane was motionless. Sunlight pouredthrough its windows, and great green growths were all around it. Hackett, despite Norman's warning cry, forced the door open and wasbursting outside, Norman after him. They staggered and fell, withcurious lightness and slowness, on the ground outside, then clutchedthe plane for support and gazed stupefiedly around them. 

The plane had crashed down into a thicket of giant green reeds thatrose a yard over their heads, its pancake landing having apparentlynot damaged it. The ground beneath their feet was soft and soggy, theair warm and balmy, and the giant reeds hid all the surroundinglandscape from view. 

In the sky the sun burned near one horizon with unusual brilliance. But it was dwarfed, in size, by the huge gray circle that filled halfthe heavens overhead. A giant gray sphere it was, screened here andthere by floating white mists and clouds, that had yet plain on itthe outlines of dark continents and gleaming seas. A quakingrealization held the two as they stared up at it. 

 * * * * *

"Earth!" Norman was babbling. "It's Earth, Hackett--above us; my God, I can't believe even yet that we've done it!"

"Then we're on--the satellite--the second satellite!--" Hackett foughtfor reality. "Those winds that caught us--"

"They were the atmosphere of this world, of the second satellite! Theycaught us and carried us on inside this smaller world's atmosphere, Hackett. We're moving with it around Earth at terrific speed now!"

"The second satellite, and we on it!" Hackett whispered, incredulously. "But these reeds--it can't all be like this--"

They stepped together away from the plane. The effort sent each ofthem sailing upward in a great, slow leap, to float down more than ascore of feet from the plane. But unheeding in their eagerness thisstrange effect of the satellite's lesser gravitational power, theymoved on, each step a giant, clumsy leap. Four such steps took themout of the towering reeds onto clear ground. 

It was a gentle, grassy slope they were on, stretching away along agray-green sea that extended out to the astoundingly near horizon ontheir right. To the left it rose into low hills covered with densemasses of green junglelike vegetation. Hackett and Norman, though, gazed neither at sea or hills for the moment, but at the half-scoregrotesque figures who had turned toward them as they emerged from thereeds. A sick sense of the unreal held them as they gazed, frozen withhorror. For the great figures returning their gaze a few yards fromthem were--frog-men!

 * * * * *

Frog-men! Great mottled green shapes seven to eight feet in height, with bowed, powerful legs and arms that ended in webbed paws. Theheads were bulbous ones in which wide, unwinking frog-eyes were set atthe sides, the mouths white-lipped and white-lined. Three of thecreatures held each a black metal tube-and-handle oddly like atarget-pistol. 

"Norman!" Hackett's voice was a crescendo of horror. "_Norman!_"

"Back to the plane!" Norman cried thickly. "The plane--"

The two staggered back, but the frog-men, recovering from their ownfirst surprise, were running forward with great hopping steps! The twofliers flung themselves back in a floating leap toward the reeds, butthe green monsters were quick after them. A croaking cry came from oneand as another raised his tube-and-handle, something flicked from itthat burst close beside Norman. There was no sound or light as itburst, but the reeds for a few feet around it vanished!

 * * * * *

A hoarse cry from Hackett--the creatures had reached him, grasped himat the edge of the reeds! Norman swerved in his floating leap tostrike the struggling flier and frog-men. The scene whirled around himas he fought them, great paws reaching for him. With a sick, franticrage he felt his clenched fist drive against cold, green, billowybodies. Croaking cries sounded in his ears; then, Hackett and he werejerked to their feet, held tightly by four of the creatures. 

"My God, Norman, " panted Hackett, helpless. "What arethey--frog-things?--"

"Steady, Hackett. They're the people of the second satellite, itseems; wait!"

One of the armed frog-men approached and inspected them, and thencroaked an order in a deep voice. Then, still holding the two tightly, the party of monsters began to move along the slope, skirting thesea's edge. In a few minutes they reached two curious objects restingon the slope. They seemed long black metal boats, slender and withsharp prow and stern. A compact mechanism and control-board filledthe prow, while at the stern and sides were long tubes mounted onswivels like machine-guns. 

The frog-men motioned Norman and Hackett into one, fastening the twoprisoners and themselves into their seats with metal straps providedfor the purpose. Four had entered the one boat, the others that of thecaptives. One at the prow moved his paws over the control-board andwith a purring of power the boat, followed by the other, rose smoothlyinto the air. It headed out over the gray-green sea, land droppingquickly from sight behind, the horizons water-bounded on all sides. From their nearness Norman guessed that this second satellite ofEarth's was small indeed beside its mother planet. He had to look upto earth's great gray sphere overhead to attain a sense of reality. 

Hackett was whispering beside him, the frog-men watchful. "Norman, it'snot real--it can't be real! These things--these boats--intelligent likemen--"

The other sought to steady him. "It's a different world, Hackett. Gravitation different, light different, everything different, andevolution here has had a different course. On Earth men evolved to bethe most intelligent life-forms, but here the frog-races, it seems. "

"But where are they taking us? Could we ever find the plane again?"

"God knows. If we ever get away from these things we might. And we'vegot to find Fellows, too; I wonder where he is on this world. "

 * * * * *

For many minutes the two boats raced on at great speed over theendless waters before the watery skyline was broken far ahead bysomething dark and unmoving. Hackett and Norman peered with intenseinterest toward it. It seemed at first a giant squat mountain risingfrom the sea, but as they shot nearer they saw that its outline wastoo regular, and that colossal as it was in size it was the work ofintelligence. They gasped as they came nearer and got a better view ofit. 

For it was a gigantic dome of black metal rising sheer from the lonelysea, ten miles if anything in diameter, a third that in greatestheight. There was no gate or window or opening of any kind in it. Justthe colossal, smooth black dome rearing from the watery plain. Yet thetwo boats were flashing lower toward it. 

"They can't be going inside!" Hackett conjectured. "There's no way inand what could be in there? The whole thing's mad--"

"There's some way, " Norman said. "They're slowing--"

The flying-boats were indeed slowing as they dipped lower. They werevery near the dome now, its curving wall a looming, sky-high barrierbefore them. Suddenly the boats dipped sharply downward toward thegreen sea. Before the two fliers could comprehend their purpose, coulddo aught more than draw instinctive great breaths in preparation, thetwo craft had shot down into the waters and were arrowing down throughthe green depths. 

Blinded, flung against his metal strap by the resistance of the watersthey ripped through, Norman yet retained enough of consciousness toglimpse beams of light that stabbed ahead from the prows of theirrushing boats, to see vaguely strange creatures of the deep blunderingin and out of those beams as the boats hurtled forward. The water thatforced its way between his lips was fresh, he was vaguely aware, andeven as he fought to hold his breath was aware too that the frog-menseemed in no way incommoded by the sudden transition into the water, their amphibian nature allowing them to stay under it far longer thanany human could do. 

The boats ripped through the waters at terrific speed and in a fewseconds there loomed before them the giant metal wall of the greatdome, going down into the depths here. Norman glimpsed vaguely thatthe whole colossal dome rested on a vast pedestal-like mountain ofrock that rose from the sea's floor almost to the surface. Then agreat round opening in the wall; the boats flashed into it and werehurtling along a water-filled tunnel. Norman felt his lungs nearbursting--when the tunnel turned sharply upward and the boats whizzedup and abruptly out of the water-tunnel into air!

 * * * * *

But it was not the open air again. They were beneath the giganticdome! For as Norman and Hackett breathed deep, awe fell on their facesas they took in the scene. Far overhead stretched the dome'scolossally curving roof, and far out on all sides. It was lit beneaththat roof by a clear light that the two would have sworn was sunlight. The dome was in effect the roof of a gigantic, illuminated building, and upon its floor there stretched a mighty city. 

The city of the frog-men! Their boats were rising up over it andNorman and Hackett saw it clear. Square mile upon square mile ofstructures stretched beneath the dome, black buildings often ofimmense size, varying in shape, but all of square, rectangularproportions. Between them moved countless frog-hordes, swirlingthrongs in streets and squares, and over the roofs darted thick swarmsof flying-boats. And at the city's center, in a great, circular, clearspace, lay a wide, round, green pool--the opening of the water-tunnelup through which they had come. 

Norman pointed down toward it. "That's your answer!" he cried. "Theonly entrance to this frog-city is from the sea, up through thatwater-tunnel!"

"Good God, an amphibian city!" Hackett was shaken, white-faced. 

The two boats were driving quickly over the city, through the swarmingcraft. Norman glimpsed towering buildings that might have beenpalaces, temples, laboratories. They slowed and dipped toward oneblock-like building not far from the water-tunnel's opening. Armedfrog-guards were on its roof, and other boats rested there. The twocame to rest and the two captives were jerked out, the guards seizingthem. 

Half-dragged and half-floating they were led toward an opening in theroof from which a stair led downward. They passed down thus into thebuilding's interior, lit by many windows. Norman glimpsed long hallsending in barred doors, guards here and there. Tube-lines ran alongthe walls and somewhere machines were throbbing dully. They came atlast to a barred door whose guard opened it at the croaking order ofthe frog-men who held the two, and they were thrust inside, as thedoor clanged. They turned, and exclaimed in amazement. The room heldfully a half-hundred men!

They were men such as the two fliers had never seen before, likehumans except that their skins were a light green instead of thenormal white and pink. They were dressed in dark short tunics, andkept talking to each other in a tongue quite unintelligible to Normanand Hackett. They came closer, flocking curiously around the two men, with a babel of voices quite meaningless to the two. Then one of themen uttered an exclamation, and all turned. 

 * * * * *

The barred door had swung open and a half-dozen frog-guards entered, followed by two frog-men carrying a square little mechanism from whichtubing led back out through the door. 

"Norman--these men--" Hackett was whispering rapidly. "If there aremen in this world too, it may be that--"

"Quiet, Hackett--look at what they're doing. "

The two frog-men had set their mechanism in place and then croaked outa brief word or order. Slowly, reluctantly, one of the green men movedtoward them. Quickly they removed a metal disk fastened to his arm, exposing a small orifice like an unhealed wound. Onto this theyfastened a suckerlike object from which a transparent tube led backthrough the mechanism. The machine hummed and at once a red streampulsed through the tube and back through the mechanism. The man towhom it was attached was growing rapidly pale!

Norman, sick with horror, clutched his companion. "Hackett--thesefrog-men are sucking his blood from him!"

"Good God! And look--they're doing it with another!"

"All of these men--kept prisoners to furnish them with blood. It mustbe the damned creatures' food! And we here with the others--"

A common horror shook the two. It did not seem to affect the green menin the room, though, who advanced to the mechanism one by one with areluctant air as of cows unwilling to be milked. Each was attached tothe mechanism by the sucking disk on his arm, and out of each theblood poured through the tube. The metal disk was replaced on his armthen and he went back to the others. Norman saw that the frog-men tookonly from each an amount of blood that they could lose and yet live, since, though each came back pale and weak from the mechanism, theywere able to walk. 

"It must be their food--human blood!" Norman repeated. "They may havethousands on thousands of humans penned up like this, like so manyherds of cows, and perhaps they live entirely on the life-blood theymilk from them. Human cows--God!"

"Norman--look--they're calling to us!"

 * * * * *

The two stiffened. All the others in the room had taken their turn atthe blood-sucking mechanism and now the frog-men croaked their orderto the two fliers. They had forgotten their own predicament in thehorror of the scene, but now it became real to them. They backedagainst the room's wall, quivering, dangerous. 

The frog-guards came forward to drag them to the machine. A webbed pawwas outstretched but Hackett with a wild blow drove the frog-man backand downward. The frog-guards leaped, and Norman and Hackett struckthem back with all the greater strength the lesser gravitation gavethem. The room was in an uproar, the green men shouting hoarsely andseeming on the point of rushing to their aid. 

But the menacing force-pistols of the other frog-guards held back theshouting men and in moments the two fliers were overpowered by sheerweight of frog-bodies. Norman felt himself dragged to the machine. 

Pain needled his upper arm as an incision was made. He felt thesucking-disk attached; then the machine hummed, and a sickening nauseaswept him as the blood drained from his body. Held tightly by theguards he went dizzy, weak, but at last felt the sucker removed and ametal disk fastened over the incision. He was jerked aside andHackett, his face deathly white, was dragged into his place. In amoment some of the latter's blood had been pumped from him also. 

The machine was withdrawn, Norman and Hackett were released, and thefrog-men, with their black force-pistols watchfully raised, withdrew, the door clanging. The room settled back to quietness, the green menstretching in lassitude on the metal bunks around it. The two flierscrouched down near the door, shuddering nausea and weakness stillholding them. 

Norman found that Hackett was laughing weakly. "To think thattwenty-four hours ago I was in New York, " he half-laughed, half-sobbed. "On Earth--Earth--"

The other gripped his arm. "It's horrible, Hackett, I know. But itisn't instant death, and we've still a chance to escape. Hell, candamn frog-men keep us here? Where's your nerve, man?"

A voice beside them made them turn in amazement. "You are men fromEarth?" it asked, in queerly accented English. "From Earth?"

 * * * * *

Astonishment held them as they saw who spoke. It was one of the greenmen in the room, who had settled down by their side. A tall figurewith superb muscles and frank, clean countenance, his dark eyes afirewith eagerness. 

"English?" Norman exclaimed. "You know English--you understand me?"

The other showed his teeth in a smile. "I know, yes. I'm Sarja, and Ilearned to speak it from Fallas, in my city, before the Ralas caughtme. "

"Fallas--" Norman repeated, puzzled; then suddenly he flamed. "By God, he means Fellows!"

"Fallas, yes, " said the other. "From the sky he fell into our city ina strange flying-boat that was smashed. He was hurt but we cared forhim, and he taught me his speech, which I heard you talking now. "

"Then Fellows is in your city now?" asked Hackett eagerly. "Where isthat?"

"Across this sea--back in the hills, " the other waved. "It is far fromthe sea but I was rash one day and came too near the water in myflying-boat. The Ralas were out raiding and they saw me, caught me, and brought me here. No escape now, until I die. "

"The Ralas--you mean these frog-men?" Norman asked. 

Sarja nodded. "Of course. They are the tyrants and oppressors of thisworld. Our little world is but a tenth or less the size of your greatEarth which it circles, but it has its lands and rivers, and this onegreat fresh-water sea into which the latter empty. In this sea longago developed the Ralas, the great frog-men who acquired suchintelligence and arts that they became lords of this world. 

"Through the centuries, while on the land our races of green men havebeen struggling upward, the Ralas have oppressed them. Long ago theRalas left all their other cities to build this one great amphibiancity at the sea's center. Entrance to it is only by the water-tunnelfrom without, and being frog-people entrance thus is easy for themsince they can move for many minutes under water, though they drownlike any other breathing animal if kept under too long. Humans darenot try to enter it thus by the water-tunnel, since, before they couldfind it and make their way up through it, they would have drowned. 

 * * * * *

"So the Ralas have ruled from this impregnable amphibian city. Itscolossal metal dome is invulnerable to ordinary attack, and thoughsolid and without openings it is always as light beneath the dome hereas outside, since the Ralas' scientists contrived light-condensers andconductors that catch light outside and bring it in to release inside. So when it is day outside the sunlight is as bright here, and whennight comes the Earth-light shines here the same as without. 

"From this city their raiding parties have gone out endlessly to swoopdown on the cities of us green men. Since we learned to makeflying-boats like theirs, with molecular-motors, and to make the gunslike theirs that fire shells filled with annihilating force, we haveresisted them stoutly but their raids have not ceased. And always theyhave brought their prisoners back in to this, their city. 

"Tens of thousands of green men they have prisoned here like us, forthe sole purpose of supplying them with blood. For the Ralas live onthis blood alone, changing it chemically to fit their own bodies andthen taking it into their bodies. It eliminates all necessity for foodhere for them. Every few days they drain blood from us, and since weare well fed and cared for to keep us good blood-producers, we will behere for a long time before we die. "

"But haven't you made any attempt to get out of here--to escape?"Norman asked. 

Sarja smiled. "Who could escape the city of the Ralas? In all recordedhistory it has never been done, for even if by some miracle you got aflying-boat, the opening of the water-tunnel that leads outward isguarded always. "

"Guards or no guards, we're going to try it and not sit here tofurnish blood for the Ralas, " Norman declared. "Are you willing tohelp, to try to get to Fellows and your city?"

The green man considered. "It is hopeless, " he said, "but as well todie beneath the force-shells of the Ralas as live out a lifetime here. Yes, I will help, though I cannot see how you expect to escape evenfrom this room. "

"I think we can manage that, " Norman told him. "But first--not a wordto these others. We can't hope to escape with them all, and there isno knowing what one might not betray us to the frog-men. "

He went on then to outline to the other two the idea that had come tohim. Both exclaimed at the simpleness of the idea, though Sarjaremained somewhat doubtful. While Hackett slept, weak still from hisloss of blood, Norman had the green man scratch on the metal floor aswell as possible a crude map of the satellite's surface, and foundthat the city, where Fellows was, seemed some hundreds of miles backfrom the sea. 

 * * * * *

While they talked, the sunlight, apparently sourceless, that camethrough the heavily barred windows of the room faded rapidly, and dusksettled over the great amphibian city beneath the giant dome, keptfrom total darkness by a silvery pervading light that Norman reflectedmust be the light from Earth's great sphere. With the dusk's comingthe activities in the frog-city lessened greatly. 

With dusk, too, frog-guards entered the room bearing long metaltroughs filled with a red jellylike substance, that they placed onracks along the wall. As the guards withdrew the men in the roomrushed toward the troughs, elbowing each other aside and strikingeach other to scoop up and eat as much of the red jelly as possible. It was for all the world like the feeding of farm-animals, and Hackettand Norman so sickened at the sight that they had no heart to try thefood. Sarja, though, had no such scruples and seemed to make a heartymeal at one of the troughs. 

After the meal the green men sought the bunks and soon were stretchedin sonorous slumber. It was, Norman reflected, exactly the existenceof domesticated animals--to eat and sleep and give food to theirmasters. A deeper horror of the frog-men shook him, and a deeperdetermination to escape them. He waited until all in the room weresleeping before beckoning to Sarja and Hackett. 

"Quiet now, " he whispered to them. "If these others wake they'll makesuch a clamor we won't have a chance in the world. Ready, Sarja?"

The green man nodded. "Yes, though I still think such a thing'simpossible. "

"Probably is, " Norman admitted. "But it's the one chance we've got, the immensely greater strength of our Earth-muscle that the frog-menmust have forgotten when they put us in here. "

They moved silently to the room's great barred door, outside which afrog-guard paced. They waited until he had passed the door and on downthe hall, then Norman and Hackett and Sarja grasped together one ofthe door's vertical bars. It was an inch and a half in thickness, ofsolid metal, and it seemed ridiculous that any men could bend it bythe sheer strength of their muscles. 

Norman, though, was relying on the fact that on the second satellite, with its far lesser gravitational influence, their Earth-muscles gavethem enormous strength. He grasped the bar, Hackett and Sarja grippingit below him, and then at a whispered word they pulled with all theirforce. The bar resisted and again, with sweat starting on theirforeheads, they pulled. It gave a little. 

 * * * * *

They shrank back from it as the guard returned, moving past. Thengrasping the bar again they bent all their force once more upon it. Each effort saw it bending more, the opening in the door's barswidening. They gave a final great wrench and the bent bar squealed alittle. They shrank back, appalled, but the guard had not heard ornoticed. He moved past it on his return along the hall, and no soonerwas past it than Norman squeezed through the opening and leapedsilently for the great frog-man's back. 

It went down with a wild flurry of waving webbed paws and croakingcries, stilled almost instantly by Norman's terrific blows. There wassilence then as Hackett and Sarja squeezed out after him, themomentary clamor of the battle having aroused no one. 

The three leaped together toward the stairs. In two great floatingleaps they were on the floor above, Hackett and Norman dragging Sarjabetween them. They were not seen, were sailing in giant steps upanother stair, hopes rising high. The last stair--the roof-openingabove; and then from beneath a great croaking cry swelled instantlyinto chorus of a alarmed shouts. 

"They've found the door--the guard!" panted Hackett. 

They were bursting out onto the roof. Frog-guards were on it who camein a hopping rush toward them, force-pistols raised. But a giant leaptook Hackett among them, to amaze them for a moment with greatflailing blows. Sarja had leaped for the nearest flying-boat restingon the roof, and was calling in a frantic voice to Norman and Hackett. Norman was turning toward Hackett, the center of a wild combat, butthe latter emerged from it for a brief second to motion himfrantically back. 

"No use, Norman--get away--get away!" he cried hoarsely, frenziedly. 

"Hackett--for God's sake--!" Norman half-leaped to the other, but anarm caught him, pulled him desperately onto the boat's surface. It wasSarja, the long craft flying over the roof beneath his control. 

"They come!" he panted. "Too late now--" Frog-men were pouring up ontothe roof from below. Sarja sent the craft rocketing upward, as Hackettgestured them away for a last frantic time before going down beneaththe frog-men's onslaught. 

 * * * * *

The roof and the combat on it dropped back and beneath them like astone as their craft ripped across the silvery dusk over the mightyfrog-city. They were shooting toward the city's center, toward thegreen pool that was the entrance to the water-tunnel, while behind andbeneath an increasing clamor of alarm spread swiftly. Norman ragedfutilely. 

"Hackett--Hackett! We can't leave him--"

"Too late!" Sarja cried. "We cannot help him but only be capturedagain. We escape now and come back--come back--"

The truth of it pierced Norman's brain even in the wild moment. Hackett had fought and held back the frog-guards only that they mightescape. He shouted suddenly. 

"Sarja--the water-tunnel!" A half-dozen boats with frog-guards on themwere rising round it in answer to the alarm!

"The force-gun!" cried the green man. "Beside you--!"

Norman whirled, glimpsed the long tube on its swivel beside him, trained it on the boats rising ahead as they rocketed nearer. Hefumbled frantically at a catch at the gun's rear, then felt a streamof shells flicking out of it. Two of the boats ahead vanished as theshells released their annihilating force, another sagged and fell. From the remaining three invisible force-shells flicked around them, but in an instant Sarja had whirled the boat through them and downinto the water-tunnel!

Norman clung desperately to his seat as the boat flashed down throughthe waters, and then, as Sarja sent it flying out through the greattunnel's waters, glimpsed, close behind, the beams of the three Ralaboats as they pursued them through the tunnel, overtaking them. Couldthe force-shells be fired under water? Norman did not know, butdesperately he swung the force-gun back as they rushed through thewaters, and pressed the catch. An instant later beams and boats behindthem in the tunnel vanished. 

His lungs were afire; it seemed that he must open them to thestrangling water. The boat was ripping the waters at such tremendousspeed that he felt himself being torn from his hold on it. Pain seemedpoured like molten metal through his chest--he could hold out nolonger; and then the boat stabbed up from the waters into clear air!

 * * * * *

Norman panted, sobbed. Behind them rose the colossal metal dome of thefrog-city, gleaming dully in the silvery light that flooded thefar-stretching seas. That light poured down from a stupendous silvercrescent in the night skies. Norman saw dully the dark outlines on itbefore he remembered. Earth! He laughed a little hysterically. Sarjawas driving the flying-boat out over the sea and away from thefrog-city at enormous speed. At last he glanced back. Far behind themlay the great dome and up around it gleaming lights were pouring, lights of pursuing Rala boats. 

"We escape, " Sarja cried, "the city of the Ralas, from which none everbefore escaped!"

Remembrance smote Norman. "Hackett! Held off those frog-men so wecould get away--we'll come back for him, by God!"

"We come back!" said Sarja. "We come back with all the green men ofthis world to the Ralas' city, yes! I know what Fallas has planned. "

"Can you find your way to him--to your city?" Norman asked. 

Sarja nodded, looking upward. "Before the next sun has come and gonewe can reach it. "

The boat flew onward, and the great dome and the searching lightsaround it dropped beneath the horizon. Norman felt the warm winddrying his drenched garments as they rushed onward. Crouched on theboat he gazed up toward the silver crescent of Earth sinking towardthe horizon ahead. That meant, he told himself, that the satelliteturned slowly on its axis as it whirled around Earth. It came to himthat its night and day periods must be highly irregular. 

When the sun climbed from the waters behind them they were flyingstill over a boundless waste of waters, but soon they sighted on thehorizon ahead the thin green line of land. Sarja slowed as theyreached it, took his bearings, and sent the craft flying onward. 

They passed over a green coastal plain and then over low hills joinedin long chains and mantled by dense and mighty jungles, towering greengrowths of unfamiliar appearance to Norman. He thought he glimpsed, more than once, huge beastlike forms moving in them. He did see twicein the jungles great clearings where were fair-sized cities ofbright-green buildings, a metal tower rising from each. But when hepointed to them Sarja shook his head. 

 * * * * *

At last, as they passed over another range of hills and came intosight of a third green city with its looming tower, the other pointed, his face alight. 

"My city, " he said. "Fallas there. "

Fellows! Norman's heart beat faster. 

They shot closer and lower and he saw that the buildings wereobviously green to lend them a certain protective coloration similarto that of the green jungles around them. The tower with itssurmounting cage puzzled him though, but before he could ask Sarjaconcerning it his answer came in a different way. A long metal tubepoked slowly out of the cage on the tower's top and sent a hail offorce-shells flicking around them. 

"They're firing on us!" Norman cried. "This can't be your city!"

"They see our black boat!" Sarja exclaimed. "They think we're Ralaraiders and unless we let them know they'll shoot us out of the air!Stand up--wave to them--!"

Both Norman and Sarja sprang to their feet and waved wildly to thosein the tower-cage, their flying-boat drifting slowly forward. Instantly the force-shells ceased to hail toward them, and as theymoved nearer a sirenlike signal broke from the cage. At once scores offlying-boats like their own, but glittering metal instead of black, shot up from the city where they had lain until now, and surroundedthem. 

As Sarja called in his own tongue to them the green men on thesurrounding boats broke into resounding cries. They shot down towardthe city, Norman gazing tensely. Great crowds of green men in theirdark tunics had swarmed out into its streets with the passing of thealarm, and their craft and the others came to rest in an open squarethat was the juncture of several streets. 

The green men that crowded excitedly about Norman and Sarja gave wayto a half-dozen hurrying into the square from the greatest of thebuildings facing on it. All but one were green men like the others. But that one--the laughing-eyed tanned face--the worn brown clothing, the curious huge steps with which he came--Norman's heart leapt. 

"Fellows!"

"Great God--Norman!" The other's face was thunderstruck. "Norman--howby all that's holy did you get here?"

 * * * * *

Norman, mind and body strained to the breaking point, was incoherent. "We guessed how you'd gone--the second satellite, Fellows--Hackettand I came after you--taken to that frog-city--"

As Norman choked the tale, Fellows' face was a study. And when it wasfinished he swallowed, and gripped Norman's hand viselike. 

"And you and Hackett figured it out and came after me--took that risk?Crazy, both of you. Crazy--"

"Fellows, Hackett's still there, if he's alive! In the Rala city!"

Fellows' voice was grim, quick. "We'll have him out. Norman, if hestill lives. And living or dead, the Ralas will pay soon for this andfor all they've done upon this world in ages. Their time nears--yes. "

He led Norman, excited throngs of the green men about them, into thegreat building from which he had emerged. There were big rooms inside, workshops and laboratories that Norman but vaguely glimpsed inpassing. The room to which the other led him was one with a long metalcouch. Norman stretched protestingly upon it at the other's bidding, drifted off almost at once into sleep. 

He woke to find the sunlight that had filled the room gone andreplaced by the silvery Earth-light. From the window he saw that thesilver-lit city outside now held tremendous activity, immense hordesof green men surging through it with masses of weapons and equipment, flying-boats pouring down out of the night from all directions. Heturned as the door of the room clicked open behind him. It was his oldfriend Fellows. 

"I thought you'd be awake by now, Norman. Feeling fit?"

"As though I'd slept a week, " Norman said, and the other laughed hisold care-free laugh. 

"You almost have, at that. Two days and nights you've slept, but itall adds up to hardly more than a dozen hours. "

"This world!" Norman's voice held all his incredulity. "To think thatwe should be on it--a second satellite of Earth's--it seems almostbeyond belief. "

 * * * * *

"Sometimes it seems so to me, too, " Fellows said thoughtfully. "Butit's not a bad world--not the human part of it, at least. When thissatellite's atmosphere caught me and pitchforked me down among thesegreen men, smashing the plane and almost myself, they took care of me. You say three others vanished as I did? I never heard of them here;they must have crashed into the sea or jungles. Of course, I'd havegot back to Earth on one of these flying-boats if I'd been able, buttheir molecular power won't take them far from this world's surface, so I couldn't. 

"As it was, the green men cared for me, and when I found how thosefrog-men have dominated this world for ages, how that city of theRalas has spread endless terror among the humans here, I resolved tosmash those monsters whatever I did. I taught some of the green menlike Sarja my own speech, later learning theirs, and in the weeks I'vebeen here I've been working out a way to smash the Ralas. 

"You know that amphibian city is almost impregnable because humans canhardly live long enough under the water to get into it, let alonefight under water as the frog-men can. To meet them on even terms thegreen men needed diving-helmets with an oxygen supply. They'd neverheard of such an idea, too afraid of the sea ever to experiment in it, but I convinced them and they've made enough helmets for all theirforces. In them they can meet the Ralas under water on equal terms. 

"And there's a chance we can destroy that whole Rala city with theirhelp. It's built on a giant pedestal of rock rising from the sea'sfloor, as you saw, and I've had some of the green men make hugeforce-shells or force-bombs that ought to be powerful enough to splitthat pedestal beneath the city. If we can get a chance to place thosebombs it may smash the frog-men forever on this world. But one thingis sure: we're going to get Hackett out if he still lives!"

"Then you're, going to attack the Rala city now?" Norman cried. 

Fellows nodded grimly. "While you have slept all the forces of thegreen men on this world have been gathering. Your coming has onlyprecipitated our plans, Norman--the whole soul of the green races hasbeen set upon this attack for weeks!"

 * * * * *

Norman, half bewildered at the swiftness with which events rushed uponhim, found himself striding with Fellows in great steps out throughthe building into the great square. It was shadowed now by mass onmass of flying-boats, crowded with green men, that hung over it andover the streets. One boat, Sarja at its controls, waited on theground and as they entered and buckled themselves into the seats thecraft drove up to hang with the others. 

A shattering cheer greeted them. Norman saw that in the silvery lightof Earth's great crescent there stretched over the city andsurrounding jungle now a veritable plain of flying-boats. On each weregreen men and each bristled with force-guns, and had as many greatgoggled helmets fastened to it as it had occupants. He glimpsed largerboats loaded with huge metal cylinders--the force-bombs Fellows hadmentioned. 

Fellows rose and spoke briefly in a clear voice to the assembled greenmen on their craft, and another great shout roared from them, and fromthese who watched in the city below. Then as he spoke a word, Sarjasent their craft flying out over the city, and the great mass ofboats, fully a thousand in number, were hurtling in a compact columnafter them. 

Fellows leaned to Norman as the great column of purring craft shot onover the silver-lit jungles. "We'll make straight for the Rala cityand try setting into it before they understand what's happening. "

"Won't they have guards out?"

"Probably, but we can beat them back into the city before their wholeforces can come out on us. That's the only way in which we can getinside and reach Hackett. And while we're attacking the force-bombscan be placed, though I don't rely too much on them. "

"If the attack only succeeds in getting us inside, " Norman said, grim-lipped, "we'll have a chance--"

"It's on the knees of the gods. These green men are doing anunprecedented thing in attacking the Ralas, the masters of this world, remember. But they've got ages of oppression to avenge; they'llfight. "

The fleet flew on, hills and rivers a silver-lit panorama unreelingbeneath them. Earth's crescent sank behind them, and by the time theyflashed out over the great fresh-water sea, the sun was rising like aflaming eye from behind it. Land sank from sight behind and the greenmen were silent, tense, as they saw stretching beneath only the graywaters that for ages had been the base of the dread frog-men. Butstill the fleet's column raced on. 

 * * * * *

At last the column slowed. Far ahead the merest bulge broke the levelline where sky and waters met. The amphibian city of the Ralas! AtFellows' order-the flying-boats sank downward until they moved justabove the waters. Another order made the green hosts don the grotesquehelmets. Norman found that while cumbersome their oxygen supply wasunfailing. They shot on again at highest speed, but as the giganticblack dome of the frog-city grew in their vision there darted up fromaround it suddenly a far-flung swarm of black spots. 

"Rala boats!"

The muffled exclamation was Fellows'. There needed now no order on hispart, though. Like hawks, leaping for prey, the fleet of the green mensprang through the air. Norman, clutching the force-gun between hisknees, had time only to see that the Rala craft were a few hundred innumber and that, contemptuous of the greater odds that favored thesehumans they had so long oppressed, they were flying straight to meetthem. Then the two fleets met--and were spinning side by side abovethe waters. 

Norman saw the thing only as a wild whirl of Rala boats toward andbeside them, great green frog-men crowding the craft, their force-gunshailing shells. Automatically, with the old air-fighting instinct, hisfingers had pressed the catch of the gun between his knees and as itsshells flicked toward the rushing boats he saw areas of nothingnessopening suddenly in their mass, shells striking and exploding inannihilating invisibility there and in their own fleet. 

The two fleets mingled and merged momentarily, the battle becoming athing of madness, a huge whirl of black and glittering flying-boatstogether, striking shells exploding nothingness about them. The Ralaswere fighting like demons. 

The merged, terrific combat lasted but moments; could last butmoments. Norman, his gun's magazine empty, seemed to see the mass ofstruggling ships splittering, diverging; then saw that the black craftwere dropping, plummeting downward toward the waves! The Ralas, stunned by that minute of terrific combat, were fleeing. Muffled criesand cheers came from about him as the glittering flying-boats of thegreen men shot after them. They crashed down into the waters andcurved deeply into their green-depths, toward the gigantic dome. 

 * * * * *

Ahead the Rala boats were in flight toward their city, and now theirpursuers were like sharks striking after them. There in the depths theforce-guns of black and glittering boats alike were spitting, andgiant waves and underwater convulsions rocked pursued and pursuers asthe exploding shells annihilated boats and water about them. Thetunnel! Its round opening yawned in the looming wall ahead, and Normansaw the Rala craft, reduced to scores in number, hurtling into it, torouse all the forces of the great amphibian city. Their own boats wereflashing into the opening after them. He glimpsed as he glanced backfor a moment the larger craft with the great force-bombs veering asidebehind them. 

It was nightmare in the water-tunnel. Flashing beams of the craftahead and waters that rocked and smashed around them as in flight theRalas still rained back force-shells toward them in a chaos of action. Once the frog-men turned to hold them back in the tunnel, but by sheerweight the rushing ships of the green men crashed them onward. Boatswere going into nothingness all around them. A part of Norman's brainwondered calmly why they survived even while another part kept his gunagain working, with refilled magazine. Fellows and Sarja weregrotesque shapes beside him. Abruptly the tunnel curved upward and asthey flashed up after the remaining Rala craft their boats ripped upinto clear air! They were beneath the giant dome!

The frog-men chased inward spread out in all directions over theirmighty, swarming city and across it a terrific clamor of alarm raninstantly as the green men emerged after them! Norman saw flying-boatsbeginning to rise across all the city and realized that moments wouldsee all the immense force of the Ralas, the thousands of craft theycould muster, pouring upon them. He pointed out over the city to ablock-like building, and shouted madly through his helmet to Fellowsand Sarja:

"Hackett!"

But already Sarja had sent their craft whirling across the city towardthe structure, half their fleet behind it, with part still emergingfrom the water-tunnel. Rala boats rose before them, but nothing couldstop them now, their force-shells raining ahead to clear a path fortheir meteor-flight. They shot down toward the block-structure, andNorman, half-crazed by now, saw that to descend and enter was suicidein the face of the frog-forces rising now over all the city. He criedto Fellows, and with two of the guns as they swooped lower theysprayed force-shells along the building's side. 

 * * * * *

The shells struck and whiffed away the whole side, exposing the levelon the building's interior. Out from it rushed swarms of crazed greenmen, sweeping aside the frog-men guards, while far over the city theinvading craft were loosing shells on the block-like buildings thatheld the prisoners, tens of thousands of them swarming forth. In thethrong below as they raced madly forth Norman saw one, and shoutedwildly. The one brown garbed figure looked up, saw their boat swoopinglower, and leaped for it in a tremendous forty-foot spring thatbrought his fingers to its edge. Norman pulled him frenziedly up. 

"Norman!" he babbled. "In God's name--Fellows--!"

"That helmet, Hackett!" Fellows flung at him. "My God, look at thoseprisoners--Norman!"

The countless thousands of green men released from the buildings whosewalls had vanished under the shells of the invaders had poured forthto make the amphibian city a chaos of madness. Oblivious to all elsethey were throwing themselves upon the city's crowding frog-men in abattle whose ferocity was beyond belief, disregarding all else in thissupreme chance to wreak vengeance on the monstrous beings who had fedupon their blood. In the incredible insanity of that raging fury thecraft of the green men hanging over the city were all but forgotten. 

Suddenly the city and the mighty dome over it quivered violently, andthen again. There came from beneath a dull, vast, grinding roar. 

"The great force-bombs!" Fellows screamed. "They've set them off--thecity's sinking--out of here, for the love of God!"

The boat whirled beneath Sarja's hands toward the pool of thewater-tunnel, all their fleet rushing with them. The grinding roar waslouder, terrible; dome and city were shaking violently now; but in theinsensate fury of their struggle the frog-men and their releasedprisoners were hardly aware of it. The whole great dome seemed sinkingupon them and the city falling beneath it as Sarja's craft ripped downinto the tunnel's waters, and then out, at awful speed, as the greattunnel's walls swayed and sank around them! They shot out into thegreen depths from it to hear a dull, colossal crashing through thewaters from behind as the great pedestal of rock on which the city hadstood, shattered by the huge force-bombs, collapsed. And as theirboats flashed up into the open air they saw that the huge dome of thecity of the Ralas was gone. 

Beneath them was only a titanic whirlpool of foaming waters in whichonly the curved top of the settling dome was visible for a moment asit sank slowly and ponderously downward, with a roar as of the roar offalling worlds. Buckling, collapsing, sinking, it vanished in thefoam-wild sea with all the frog-men who for ages had ruled the secondsatellite, and with all those prisoners who had at the last draggedthem down with them to death! Ripping off their helmets, with all thegreen men shouting crazily about them, Norman and Fellows and Hackettstared down at the colossal maelstrom in the waters that was the tombof the masters of a world. 

Then the depression's sides collapsed, the waters rushing together . .. And beneath them was but troubled, tossing sea. .. . 

 * * * * *

Earth's great gray ball was overhead again and the sun was sinkingagain to the horizon when the three soared upward in the long, gleaming plane, its motor roaring. Norman, with Hackett and Fellowscrowding the narrow cabin beside him, waved with them through itswindows. For all around them were rising the flying-boats of the greenmen. 

They were waving wildly, shouting their farewells, Sarja's tall figureerect at the prow of one. Insistent they had been that the threeshould stay, the three through whom the monstrous age-old tyranny ofthe frog-men had been lifted, but Earth-sickness was on them, and theyhad flown to where the plane lay still unharmed among the reeds, ahundred willing hands dragging it forth for the take-off. 

The plane soared higher, motor thundering, and they saw theflying-boats sinking back from around them. They caught the wave ofSarja's hand still from the highest, and then that, too, was gone. 

Upward they flew toward the great gray sphere, their eyes on the darkoutlines of its continents and on one continent. Higher--higher--greenland and gray tea receding beneath them; Hackett and Fellows intentand eager as Norman kept the plane rising. The satellite lay, agreenish globe, under them. And as they went higher still a rushingsound came louder to their ears. 

"The edge of the satellite's atmosphere?" Fellows asked, as Normannodded. 

"We're almost to it--here we go!"

As he shot the plane higher, great forces smote it, gray Earth andgreen satellite and yellow sun gyrating round it as it reeled andplunged. Then suddenly it was falling steadily, gray Earth and itsdark continent now beneath, while with a dwindling rushing roar itssecond satellite whirled away above them, passing and vanishing. Passing as though, to Norman it seemed, all their strange sojourn onit were passing; the frog-men and their mighty city, Sarja and theirmad flight, the green men and the last terrific battle; all whirlingaway--whirling away. 

HISTORIC EXPERIMENT PROVES EARTH'S ROTATION

The famous experiment which proves that the "earth do move" by lettingthe observer actually see it twisting underneath his feet, anexperiment invented by the French mathematician Jean B. L. Foucaultnearly a century ago was repeated recently under unusually impressivecircumstances before an international scientific congress at Florence, Italy, the same city where Galileo once was persecuted for holding thesame opinion. 

From the center of the dome of the Church of Santa Maria di Fiore, Father Guido Alfani, director of the Astronomical Observatory, suspended a 200-pound weight on a wire 150 feet long. On the bottom ofthis weight was a tiny projecting point which traced a line on atable-top sprinkled with sand, as the great pendulum swung slowly backand forth. At a given signal Father Alfani set the pendulum toswinging. While the assembled scientists watched it, slowly the linetraced across the sand table-top changed direction. 

As Foucault proved long ago and as the watching scientists well knew, the table was being twisted underneath the pendulum by the rotation ofthe earth. 

A REVOLUTIONARY AIRPLANE

A new airplane propeller has recently been patented by J. Kalmanson ofBrooklyn, N. Y. Greater speed and marked saving in fuel is claimed forthe invention, which may be attached to any type of airplane. 

The device is in two parts, which may be used separately as front andrear propellers or combined into a single blade. The principle is thatthe front one acts to bring air to the other, giving the propellermore of a hold, so to speak, and greater power. This is accomplishedby four air-spoons, one on each side of each blade of the propeller. 

It is said that the device can double the speed of an airplane andraise it from the ground in ninety feet instead of the 200 feet mostairplanes now require. It is also claimed that the new propeller willprevent the plane from making a nose drive unless the pilot forces itto do so, and enable it to make a safe landing within a shortdistance. Because of the increase in power and speed, the device wouldsave a large amount of gasoline and oil, as well as guarding the motorfrom part of the strain on it. 

The device is said to be also applicable to ships, the same principleoperating in water as well as air. 

Silver Dome

_By Harl Vincent_

[Illustration: _Orris led the way to a great underground city. _]

[Sidenote: In her deep-buried kingdom of Theros, Phaestra reveals theamazing secret of the Silver Dome. ]

In a secluded spot among the hills of northern New Jersey stood theold DeBost mansion, a rambling frame structure of many wings andgables that was well-nigh hidden from the road by the half-mile ormore of second-growth timber which intervened. High on the hill itstood, and it was only by virtue of its altitude that an occasionalglimpse might be obtained of weatherbeaten gable or partlytumbled-down chimney. The place was reputed to be haunted since thedeath of old DeBost, some seven years previously, and the path whichhad once been a winding driveway was now seldom trod by human foot. 

It was now two years since Edwin Leland bought the estate for a songand took up his residence in the gloomy old house. And it had thenbeen vacant for five years since DeBost shot himself in the northeastbedroom. Leland's associates were sure he would repent of his bargainin a very short time, but he stayed on and on in the place, with nocompany save that of his man-servant, an aged hunch-back who wasknown to outsiders only as Thomas. 

Leland was a scientist of note before he buried himself in the DeBostplace, and had been employed in the New York research laboratory ofone of the large electrical manufacturers, where he was much admiredand not a little envied by his fellow workers. These knew almostnothing of his habits or of his personal affairs, and were muchsurprised when he announced one day that he had come into a sizablefortune and was leaving the organization to go in for private researchand study. Attempts to dissuade him were of no avail, and the purchaseof the DeBost property followed, after which Leland dropped from sightfor nearly two years. 

 * * * * *

Then, on a blustery winter day, a strange telephone call was receivedat the laboratory where he had previously worked. It was from oldThomas, out there in the DeBost mansion, and his quavering voice askedfor Frank Rowley, the genial young engineer whose work had been mostclosely associated with Leland's. 

"Oh, Mr. Rowley, " wailed the old man, when Frank responded to thecall, "I wish you would come out here right away. The master has beenacting very queerly of late, and to-day he has locked himself in hislaboratory and will not answer my knocks. "

"Why don't you break in the door?" asked Frank, looking through thewindow at the snow storm that still raged. 

"I thought of that, Mr. Rowley, but it is of oak and very thick. Besides, it is bound with steel or iron straps and is beyond mypowers. "

"Why not call the police?" growled Frank. He did not relish the ideaof a sixty or seventy mile drive in the blizzard. 

"Oh--no--no--no!" Old Thomas was panicky at the suggestion. "Themaster told me he'd kill me if I ever did that. "

Before Frank could formulate a reply, there came a sharp gasp from theother end of the line, a wailing cry and a thud as of a falling body;then silence. All efforts to raise Leland's number merely resulted in"busy" or "line out of order" reports. 

Frank Rowley was genuinely concerned. Though he had never been a closefriend of Leland's, the two had worked on many a knotty problemtogether and were in daily contact during the nearly ten years thatthe other man had worked in the same laboratory. 

"Say, Tommy, " said Frank, replacing the receiver and turning to hisfriend, Arnold Thompson, who sat at an adjoining desk, "something hashappened out at Leland's place in Sussex County. Want to take a driveout there with me?"

"What? On a day like this? Why not take the train?"

"Don't be foolish, Tommy, " said Frank. "The place is eight miles fromthe nearest station, which is a flag stop out in the wilds. And, evenif you could find a cab there--which you couldn't--there isn't a taxidriver in Jersey who'd take you up into those mountains on a day likethis. No, we'll have to drive. It'll be okay. I've got chains on therear and a heater in the old coupe, so it shouldn't be so bad. What doyou say?"

So Tommy, who usually followed wherever Frank led, was prevailed uponto make the trip. He had no particular feeling for Leland, but hesensed an adventure, and, in Frank's company, he could ask for nomore. 

 * * * * *

Frank was a careful driver, and three hours were required to make thesixty-mile journey. Consequently, it was late in the afternoon whenthey arrived at the old DeBost estate. It had stopped snowing, but thedrifts were deep in spots, and Frank soon found that the car could notbe driven through the winding path from the road to the house. Sothey left it half buried in a drift and proceeded on foot. 

It was a laborious task they had undertaken, and, by the time they setfoot on the dilapidated porch, even Frank, husky and athletic as washis build, was puffing and snorting from his exertions. Little Tommy, who tipped the scales at less than a hundred and twenty, could hardlyspeak. They both were wet to the waist and in none too good humor. 

"Holy smoke!" gasped Tommy, stamping the clinging snow from his soddentrouser legs and shoes, "if it snows any more, how in Sam Hill are wegoing to get out of this place?"

"Rotten trip I let you in for Tommy, " growled Frank, "and I hopeLeland's worth it. But, darn it all, I just had to come. "

"It's all right with me, Frank. And maybe it'll be worth it yet. Look--the front door's open. "

 * * * * *

He pointed to the huge oaken door and Frank saw that it was ajar. Thesnow on the porch was not deep and they saw that footprints led fromthe open door to a corner of the porch. At that point the snow on therailing was disturbed, as if a hurrying man had clung to it a momentbefore jumping over and into the drifts below. But the tracks led nofurther, for the drifting snow had covered all excepting a hollowwhere some body had landed. 

"Thomas!" exclaimed Frank. "And he was in a hustle, by the looks ofthe tracks. Bet he was frightened while at the telephone and beat it. "

They entered the house and closed the door behind them. It was growingquite dark and Frank searched for the light switch. This was near thedoor, and, at pressure on the upper button, the spacious old hall withits open staircase was revealed dimly by the single remaining bulb ina cluster set in the center of the high ceiling. The hall wasunfurnished, excepting for a telephone table and chair, the chairhaving fallen to the floor and the receiver of the telephone danglingfrom the edge of the table by its cord. 

"You must have heard the chair fall, " commented Tommy, "and it suredoes look as if Thomas left in a hurry. Wonder what it was thatfrightened him?"

The house was eerily silent and the words echoed awesomely through theadjoining rooms which connected with the hall through large opendoorways. 

"Spooky place, isn't it?" returned Frank. 

 * * * * *

And then they were both startled into immobility by a rumble thatseemed to shake the foundations of the house. Heavier and heavierbecame this vibration, as if some large machine was coming up tospeed. Louder and louder grew the rumble until it seemed that therickety old house must be shaken down about their ears. Then therecame a whistling scream from the depths of the earth--from farunderground it seemed to be--and this mounted in pitch until theireardrums tingled. Then abruptly the sounds ceased, the vibrationstopped, and once more there was the eery silence. 

Rather white-faced, Tommy gazed at Frank. 

"No wonder old Thomas beat it!" he said. "What on earth do you supposethat is?"

"Search me, " replied Frank. "But whatever it is, I'll bet it hassomething to do with Leland's strange actions. And we're going to findout. "

He had with him the large flashlamp from the car, and, by its light, the two made their way from room to room searching for the iron-bounddoor mentioned by Thomas. 

They found all rooms on the first and second floors dusty and unusedwith the exception of two bedrooms, the kitchen and pantry, and thelibrary. It was a gloomy and spooky old house. Floor boards creakedstartlingly and unexpectedly and the sound of their footsteps echoeddismally. 

"Where in time is that laboratory of Leland's?" exclaimed Frank, hisruddy features showing impatient annoyance, exaggerated to anappearance of ferocity by the light of the flashlamp. 

"How about the cellar?" suggested Tommy. 

"Probably where it is, " agreed Frank, "but I don't relish this job somuch. I'd hate to find Leland stiff down there, if that's where heis. "

"Me, too, " said Tommy. "But we're here now, so let's finish the joband get back home. It's cold here, too. "

"You said it. No steam in the pipes at all. He must have let the firego out in his furnace, and that's probably in the cellar too--usuallyis. "

 * * * * *

While talking, Frank had opened each of the four doors that openedfrom the kitchen, and the fourth revealed a stairway that led into theblackness beneath. With the beam of his torch directed at the steps, he proceeded to descend, and Tommy followed carefully. There was nolight button at the head of the stairs, where it would have beenplaced in a more modern house, and it was not until they had reachedthe furnace room that they located a light fixture with a pull cord. An ordinary cellar, with furnace, coal bin, and a conglomeration ofdust-covered trunks and discarded furniture, was revealed. And, at itsfar end, was the iron-bound door. 

The door was locked and could not be shaken by the combined efforts ofthe two men. 

"Have to have a battering ram, " grunted Frank, casting about for asuitable implement. 

"Here you are, " called Tommy, after a moment's search. "Just the thingwe are looking for. "

 * * * * *

He had come upon a pile of logs, and one of these, evidently a sectionof an old telephone pole, was of some ten or twelve inches diameterand about fifteen feet long. Frank pounced upon it eagerly, and, supporting most of the weight himself, led the attack on the heavyoak door with the iron bands. 

No sound from within greeted the thunderous poundings. Clearly, ifLeland was behind that door, he was either dead or unconscious. 

Finally the double lock gave way and Tommy and Frank were precipitatedheadlong into the brightly lighted room beyond. Recovering theirbalance, they took stock of their surroundings and were amazed at whatthey saw--a huge laboratory, fitted out with every modern appliancethat money could buy. A completely equipped machine shop there was;bench after bench covered with the familiar paraphernalia of thechemical and physical laboratory; huge retorts and stills; complicatedelectrical equipments; dozens of cabinets holding crucibles, flasks, bottles, glass tubing, and what not. 

"Good Lord!" gasped Tommy. "Here's a laboratory to more than match ourown. Why, Leland's got a fortune invested here!"

"I should say so. And a lot of stuff that our company does not evenhave. Some of it I don't know even the use of. But where is Leland?"

 * * * * *

There was no sign of the man they had come to help. He was not in thelaboratory, though the door had been locked from within and the lightsleft burning throughout. 

With painstaking care they searched every nook and cranny of the largesingle room and were about to give up in despair when Tommy happenedto observe an ivory button set into the wall at the only point in theroom where there were no machines or benches at hand. Experimentallyhe pressed the button, and, at the answering rumble from under hisfeet, jumped back in alarm. Slowly there opened in the paneled oakwall a rectangular door, a door of large enough size to admit a man. From the recess beyond there came a breath of air, foul with themusty odor of decayed vegetation, dank as the air of a tomb. 

"Ah-h-h!" breathed Frank. "So that is where Ed Leland is hiding! Thesecret retreat of the gloomy scientist!"

He spoke half jestingly, yet when he squeezed his stalwart bulkthrough the opening and flashed the beam of his light into thedarkness of a narrow passage ahead he was assailed with vagueforebodings. Tommy followed close behind and spoke not a word. 

 * * * * *

The passage floor was thick with dust, but the marks of many footstepsgoing and returning gave mute evidence of the frequency of Leland'svisits. The air was heavy and oppressive and the temperature andhumidity increased as they progressed along the winding length of therock-walled passageway. The floor sloped, ever downward and, in spots, was slippery with slimy seepage. It seemed that they turned back ontheir course on several occasions but were descending deeper anddeeper into the heart of the mountain. Then, abruptly, the passageended at the mouth of a shaft, which dropped vertically from almostbeneath their feet. 

"Whew!" exclaimed Frank. "Another step and I'd have dropped into it. That's probably what happened to Leland. "

He knelt at the rim of the circular opening and looked into the depthsof the pit, Tommy following suit. The feeble ray of the flashlight waslost in the blackness below. 

"Say, Frank, " whispered Tommy, "turn off the flash. I think I saw alight down there. "

And, with the snapping of the catch, there came darkness. But, milesbelow them, it seemed, there was a tiny pin-point of brilliance--aneery green light that was like a wavering phosphorescence ofwill-o'-the-wisp. For a moment it shone and was gone. Then came thedreadful vibration they had experienced in the hall of the house--thewhistling scream that grew louder and louder until it seemed theymust be deafened. The penetrating wail rose from the depths of thepit, and the vibration was all around them, in the damp rock floor onwhich they knelt, and in the very air of the cavern. Hastily Franksnapped on the light of his flash. 

"Oh boy!" he whispered. "Leland is certainly up to something downthere and no mistake! How're we going to get down?"

"Get down?" asked Tommy. "You don't want to go down there, do you?"

"Sure thing. We're this far now and, by George, we're going to findout all there is to learn. "

"How deep do you suppose it is?"

"Pretty deep, Tommy. But we can get an idea by dropping a stone andcounting the seconds until it strikes. "

 * * * * *

He played the light of the flash over the floor and soon located asmooth round stone of the size of a baseball. This he tossed over therim of the pit and awaited results. 

"Good grief!" exclaimed Tommy. "It's not falling!"

What he said was true, for the stone poised lightly over the openingand drifted like a feather. Then slowly it moved, settling graduallyinto oblivion. Frank turned the flash downward and they watched inastonishment as the two-pound pebble floated deliberately down thecenter of the shaft at the rate of not more than one foot in eachsecond. 

"Well, I'll be doggoned, " breathed Frank admiringly. "Leland has doneit. He has conquered gravity. For, in that pit at least, there is nogravity, or at any rate not enough to mention. It has been almostcompletely counteracted by some force he has discovered and now weknow how to follow him down there. Come on Tommy, let's go!"

And, suiting action to his words, Frank jumped into the mouth of thepit where he bobbed about for a moment as if he had jumped into apool of water. Then slowly he sank from view, and Tommy followed him. 

 * * * * *

It was a most unique experience, that drop into the heart of themountain. Practically weightless, the two young men found it quitedifficult to negotiate the passage. For the first hundred or more feetthey continued to bump about in the narrow shaft and each sustainedpainful bruises before he learned that the best and simplest method ofaccommodating himself to the strange condition was to remainabsolutely motionless and allow the greatly weakened gravity to takeits course. Each movement of an arm or leg was accompanied by a changein direction of movement, and contact with the hard stone wallsfollowed. If they endeavored to push themselves from the contact theresult was likely to be an even more serious bump on the opposite sideof the shaft. So they continued the leisurely drop into the unknowndepth of the pit. 

Frank had turned off the flashlamp, for its battery was giving out andhe wished to conserve its remaining energy for eventualities. Thusthey were in Stygian darkness for nearly a half-hour, though the greenluminosity far beneath them grew stronger with each passing minute. Itnow revealed itself as a clearly defined disc of light that flickeredand sputtered continually, frequently lighting the lower end of theshaft with an unusual burst of brilliance. Remotely distant it seemedthough, and unconscionably slow in drawing nearer. 

"How far do you think we must drop?" called Tommy to Frank, who wasprobably fifty feet below him in the shaft. 

"Well, I figure we have fallen about a thousand feet so far, " came thereply, "and my guess is that we are about one third of the way down. "

"Then this shaft is over a half-mile deep, you think?"

"Yes, at least a thousand yards, I should say. And I hope his gravityneutralizing machinery doesn't quit all of a sudden and let us down. "

"Me, too, " called Tommy, who had not thought of that possibility. 

 * * * * *

This was no joke, this falling into an unknown region so far beneaththe surface of good old mother earth, thought Tommy. And how theywould ever return was another thing that was not so funny. Frank wasalways rushing into things like this without counting the possiblecost and--well--this might be the last time. 

Gradually the mysterious light became stronger and soon they couldmake out the conformation of the rock walls they were passing at sucha snail's pace. Layers of vari-colored rock showed here and there, and, at one point there was a stratum of gold-bearing or mica-filledrock that glistened with a million reflections and re-reflections. Theair grew warmer and more humid as they neared the mysterious lightsource. They moved steadily, without acceleration, and Frank estimatedthe rate at about forty feet a minute. Then, with blinding suddenness, the light was immediately below and they drifted into a tremendouscavern that was illuminated by its glow. 

Directly beneath the lower end of the shaft through which they hadpassed, there was a glowing disc of metal about fifteen feet indiameter. They drifted to its surface and sprawled awkwardly wherethey fell. Scrambling to gain a footing, they bounced and floatedabout like toy balloons before realizing that it would be necessary tocreep slowly from the influence of that repelling force which had madethe long drop possible without injury. Gravity met them at the disc'sedge with what seemed to be unusual violence. 

 * * * * *

At first it seemed that their bodies weighed twice the normal amount, but this feeling soon passed and they looked about them withincredulous amazement. The metal disc was quite evidently the mediumthrough which the repelling force was set up in the shaft, and to thisdisc was connected a series of heavy cables that led to a pedestalnearby. On the pedestal was a controlling lever and this moved over aquadrant that was graduated in degrees, one end of the quadrant beinglabeled "Up" and the other "Down. " The lever now stood at a point buta very few degrees from the center or "Zero" mark and on the downside. Frank pulled this lever over to the full "Down" position andthey found that they could walk over the disc with normal gravity. 

"I suppose, " said Frank, "that if the lever is at the other end of thescale one would fall upward with full gravity acceleration--reversed. At zero, gravity is exactly neutralized, and the intermediatepositions are useful in conveying materials or human beings up anddown the shaft as desired. Very clever; but what is the reason for itall?"

In the precise center of the great cavern there was a dome orhemisphere of polished metal, and it was from this dome that the eerylight emanated. At times, when the light died down, this dome gleamedwith dull flickerings that threatened to vanish entirely. Thensuddenly it would resume full brilliance, and the sight was marvelousbeyond description. A slight hissing sound came from the direction ofthe dome, and this varied in intensity as did the light. 

"Gosh!" said Tommy. "That looks like silver to me. And, if it is, whata wealthy man our friend Leland has become. He has spent his fortunewell, even if he used it all to get to this. "

"Yes, but where is he?" commented Frank. Then: "Leland! Leland!" hecalled. 

 * * * * *

His voice echoed through the huge vault and re-echoed hollowly. Butthere was no reply save renewed flickerings from the dome. 

Leaving the vicinity of the gravity disc, the two men advanced in thedirection of the shining dome, which was about a quarter-mile fromwhere they stood. Both perspired freely, for the air was very closeand the temperature high. But the light of the dome was as cold as thelight of a firefly and they had no hesitancy in drawing near. It was abeautiful sight, this dome of silver with its flickering lights andperfect contour. 

"By George, I believe it _is_ silver, " exclaimed Frank, when they werewithin a few feet of the dome. "No other metal has that precise color. And look! There is a wheelbarrow and some mining tools. Leland hasbeen cutting away some of the material. "

Sure enough, there was indisputable evidence of the truth of hisstatement. And the material was undoubtedly silver!

"Silver Dome, " breathed Tommy, holding a lump of the metal in hishand. "A solid dome of pure silver--fifty feet high and a hundred indiameter. How much does that figure in dollars and cents, Frank?"

"Maybe it isn't solid, " said Frank dryly, "though it's worth asizeable fortune even if it is hollow. And we haven't found Leland. "

 * * * * *

They circled the dome twice and looked into every corner of the greatcavern, but there was no sign of the man for whom they searched. Thewheelbarrow was half filled with lumps of the heavy metal, and mauland drill lay where they had been dropped by the lone miner. A cavitythree feet across, and as many deep, appeared in the side of the dometo show that considerably more than one wheelbarrow load had beenremoved. 

"Funny, " grunted Tommy. "Seems almost like the old dome had swallowedhim up. "

At his words there came the terrific vibration. The light of the domedied out, leaving them in utter darkness, and from its interior thererose the mounting scream that had frightened old Thomas away. From soclose by it was hideous, devastating; and the two men clung to eachother in fright, expecting momentarily that the earth would give waybeneath their feet and precipitate them into some terrible depth fromwhich there could be no return. 

Then the sound abruptly ceased and a gleam of light came from underthe dome of silver. A crack appeared between its lower edge and therocky floor of the cavern, and through this crack there shone a lightof dazzling brilliancy--a warm light of rosy hue. Wider grew theopening until there was a full three feet between the floor and thebottom of the dome. Impelled by some irresistible force from within, the two men stumbled blindly to the opening, fell to the floor androlled inside. 

There was a heavy thud and the dome had returned to its normalposition, with Frank and Tommy prisoners within its spacious hollow. The warm light bathed them with fearful intensity for a moment, thenfaded to a rosy glow that dulled their senses and quieted theirnerves. Morpheus claimed them. 

 * * * * *

When Frank awoke he found himself between silken covers, and for amoment he gazed thoughtfully at a high arched ceiling that wasentirely unfamiliar. Then, remembering, he sprang from the downy bedto his feet. The room, the furnishings, his silken robe, everythingwas strange. His bed, he saw, was a high one, and the frame was of thesame gleaming silver as the dome under which they had been trapped. The arched ceiling glowed softly with the same rosy hue as had theinner surface of the dome. A large pool of water invited him, thesurface of the pool being no more than a foot below the point where itwas built into the tile floor of the room. A large open doorwayconnected with a similar adjoining room, where he suspected Tommy hadbeen taken. On his bare toes, he moved silently to the other room andsaw that his guess had been correct. Tommy lay sleeping quietlybeneath covers as soft as his own and amidst equal luxury ofsurroundings. 

"Well, " he whispered, "this doesn't look as though we would come toany harm. And I might as well take a dive in that pool. "

Returning to his own room, he removed the silken garment with which hehad been provided and was quietly immersed in the cool, invigoratingwater of the bath. His head cleared instantly. 

"Hi there!" called Tommy from the doorway. "Why didn't you wake me up?Where are we, anyway?"

With dripping head and shoulders above the water, Frank was compelledto laugh at the sleepy-eyed, wondering expression on the blue-jowledface of his friend. "Thought you were dead to the world, " he returned, "you old sleepy-head. And I don't know where we are, excepting that itis somewhere under the silver dome. What's more, I don't much care. You should get into this water. It's great!"

 * * * * *

So saying, he dived to the bottom of the pool and stood on his hands, his feet waving ludicrously above the surface. Tommy sniffed once andthen made a quick dash for the pool in his own room. He was not to beoutdone by his more energetic partner. 

A half-hour later, shaved and attired in their own garments, which hadbeen cleaned and pressed and hung neatly in the closets, they settledthemselves for a discussion of the situation. Having tried the doorsof both rooms and found them locked from the outside, there was noother course open to them. They must await developments. 

"Looks like Leland has quite an establishment down here inside themountain, " ventured Tommy. 

"Hm!" snorted Frank, "this place it none of Leland's work. He isprobably a prisoner here, as are we. He just stumbled on to thesilver dome and was captured by whatever race is living down herebeneath it, the same as we were. Who the real inhabitants are, andwhat the purpose of all this is, remains to be seen. "

"You think we are in friendly hands?"

"These quarters do not look much like prison cells, Tommy, but I mustadmit that we are locked in. Anyhow, I'm not worrying, and we willsoon learn our fate and have to be ready to meet it. The people whoown this place must have everything they want, and they sure have somescientific knowledge that is not known to us on the surface. "

"Wonder if they are humans?"

"Certainly they are. You never heard of wild beasts sleeping in bedslike these, did you?"

 * * * * *

Tommy laughed at he examined the exquisite hand-wrought figures on thesilver bedstead. "No, I didn't, " he admitted; "but where on earth didthey come from, and what are they doing here?"

"You ask too many questions, " replied Frank, shrugging his broadshoulders. "We must simply wait for the answers to reveal themselves. "

There was a soft rap at the door of Frank's room, where the two menwere talking. 

"Come in, " called Frank, chuckling at the idea of such considerationfrom their captors. 

A key rattled in the lock and the door swung open to admit thehandsomest man they had ever set eyes on. He was taller than Frank byseveral inches, standing no less than six feet five in his thin-soledsandals, and he carried himself with the air for an emperor. Hismarble-white body was uncovered with the exception of a loin cloth ofsilver hue, and lithe muscles rippled beneath his smooth skin as headvanced to meet the prisoners. His head, surmounted by curly hair ofebon darkness, was large, and his forehead high. The features wereclassic and perfectly regular. The corners of his mouth drew upward ina benign smile. 

"Greetings, " he said, in perfect English and in a soft voice, "to thedomain of Theros. You need fear no harm from our people and will bereturned to the upper world when the time comes. We hope to make yourstay with us enjoyable and instructive, and that you will carry backkind memories of us. The morning meal awaits you now. "

 * * * * *

So taken aback were the two young Americans that they stared foolishlyagape for a space. Then a tinkling laugh from the tall stranger setthem once more at ease. 

"You will pardon us, I hope, " apologized Frank, "but this is all sounexpected and so unbelievable that your words struck me speechless. And I know that my friend was similarly affected--We place ourselvesin your hands. "

The handsome giant nodded understanding. "No offense was taken, " hemurmured, "since none was intended. And your feelings are not to bewondered at. You may call me Orrin. "

He turned toward the open door and signified that they were to followhim. They fell in at his side with alacrity, both suddenly realizingthat they were very hungry. 

They followed in silent wonderment as Orrin led the way to a broadbalcony that overlooked a great underground city--a city lighted by thesoft glow from some vast lighting system incorporated in its vaultedceiling high overhead. The balcony was many levels above the streets, which were alive with active beings of similar appearance to Orrin, these speeding hither and yon by means of the many lanes of travelingways of which the streets were composed. The buildings--endless rows ofthem lining the orderly streets--were octagonal in shape and rose tothe height of about twenty stories, as nearly as could be judged byearthly standards. There were no windows, but at about every fifth floorthere was an outer silver-railed balcony similar to the one on whichthey walked. The air was filled with bowl-shaped flying ships that spedover the roof tops in endless procession and without visible means ofsupport or propulsion. Yet the general effect of the busy scene was oneof precise orderliness, unmarred by confusion or distracting noises. 

 * * * * *

Orrin vouchsafed no explanations and they soon reentered the largebuilding of which the balcony was a part. Here they were conducted toa sumptuously furnished dining room where their breakfast awaitedthem. 

During the meal, which consisted of several courses of fruits andcereals entirely strange to Frank and Tommy, they were tended by Orrinwith the utmost deference and most painstaking attention. Heanticipated their every want and their thoughts as well. For, whenFrank endeavored to ask one of the many questions with which his mindwas filled, he was interrupted by a wave of the hand and a smile fromtheir placid host. 

"It is quite clear to me that you have many questions to propound, "said Orrin, "and this is not a matter of wonder. But it is notpermitted that I enlighten you on the points you have in mind. Youmust first finish your meal. Then it is to be my privilege to conductyou to the presence of Phaestra, Empress of Theros, who will revealall. May I ask that you be patient until then?"

So friendly was his smile and so polished his manner that theyrestrained their impatience and finished the excellent breakfast inpolite silence. 

And Orrin was as good as his word, for, no sooner had they finishedwhen he led them from the room and showed the way to the elevatorwhich conveyed them to the upper floor of the building. 

From the silver-grilled cage of the lift they stepped into a room ofsuch beauty and magnificence of decoration that they gazed about themin wondering admiration. The paneling and mouldings were of hammeredsilver that gleamed with polished splendor in the soft rose glow ofthe hidden lights. The hangings were of heavy plush of deep green hueand bore intricate designs of silver thread woven into the material. At the opposite side of the room there was a pair of huge double doorsof chased silver and on either side of this pretentious portal therestood an attendant attired as was Orrin, but bearing a silver scepterto denote his official capacity. 

"Phaestra awaits the visitors from above, " intoned one of theattendants. Both bowed stiffly from the waist when Orrin led the twoyoung scientists through the great doors which had opened silently andmajestically at their approach. 

 * * * * *

If the outer room was astonishing in its sumptuousness of decorationand furnishing, the one they now entered was positively breath-taking. On every side there were the exquisite green and silver hangings. Tables, divans, and rugs of priceless design and workmanship. But thebeauty of the surroundings faded into insignificance when they saw theempress. 

A canopied dais in the center of the room drew their attention andthey saw that Phaestra had risen from her seat in a deeply cushioneddivan and now stood at its side in an attitude of welcome. Nearly astall as Frank, she was a figure of commanding and imperious beauty. The whiteness of her body was accentuated by the silver embroideredand tightly fitted black vestments that covered yet did not concealits charms. A halo of glorious golden hair surmounted a head that waspoised expectantly alert above the perfectly rounded shoulders. Theexquisite oval of her face was chiseled in features of transcendentloveliness. She spoke, and, at sound of her musical voice, Frank andTommy were enslaved. 

 * * * * *

"Gentlemen of the upper world, " she said gently, "you are welcome toTheros. Your innermost thoughts have been recorded by our scientistsand found good. With a definite purpose in mind, you learned of theexistence of the silver dome of Theros, yet you came without greed ormalice and we have taken you in to enlighten you on the many questionsthat are in your minds and to return you to mankind with a knowledgeof Theros--which you must keep secret. You are about to delve into amystery of the ages; to see and learn many things that are beyond theken of your kind. It is a privilege never before accorded to beingsfrom above. "

"We thank you, oh, Queen, " spoke Frank humbly, his eyes rivetted tothe gaze of those violet orbs that seemed to see into his very soul. Tommy mumbled some commonplace. 

"Orrin--the sphere!" Phaestra, slightly embarrassed by Frank's stare, clapped her hands. 

At her command, Orrin, who had stood quietly by, stepped to the walland manipulated some mechanism that was hidden by the hangings. Therewas a musical purr from beneath the floor, and, through a circularopening which appeared as if by magic, there rose a crystal sphere ofsome four feet in diameter. Slowly it rose until it reached the levelof their eyes and there it came to rest. The empress raised her handsas if in invocation and the soft glow of the lights died down, leavingthem in momentary darkness. There came a slight murmur from thesphere, and it lighted with the eery green flickerings they hadobserved in the dome of silver. 

 * * * * *

Fascinated by the weaving lights within, they gazed into the depths ofthe crystal with awed expectancy. Phaestra spoke. 

"Men from the surface, " she said, "you, Frank Rowley, and you, ArnoldThompson, are about to witness the powers of that hemisphere of metalyou were pleased to term 'Silver Dome. ' As you rightly surmised, thedome is of silver--mostly. There are small percentages of platinum, iridium, and other elements, but it is more than nine-tenths puresilver. To you of the surface the alloy is highly valuable for itsintrinsic worth by your own standards, but to us the value of the domelies in its function in revealing to us the past and present events ofour universe. The dome is the 'eye' of a complicated apparatus whichenables us to see and hear any desired happening on the surface of theearth, beneath its surface, or on the many inhabited planets of theheavens. This is accomplished by means of extremely complex vibrationsradiated from the hemisphere, these vibrations penetrating earth, metals, buildings, space itself, and returning to our viewing andsound reproducing spheres to reveal the desired past or presentoccurrences at the point at which the rays of vibrations are directed. 

 * * * * *

"In order to view the past on our own planet, the rays, which travelat the speed of light, are sent out in a huge circle through space, returning to earth after having spent the requisite number of years intransit. Instantaneous effect is secured by a connecting beam thatties together the ends of the enormous arc. This, of course, is beyondyour comprehension, since the Ninth Dimension is involved. When it isdesired that events of the present be observed, the rays are projecteddirect. The future can not be viewed, since, in order to accomplishthis, it would be necessary that the rays travel at a speed greaterthan that of light, which is manifestly impossible. "

"Great guns!" gasped Frank. "This crystal sphere then, is capable ofbringing to our eyes and ears the happenings of centuries past?"

"It is, my dear Frank, " said Phaestra, "and I would that I were ableto describe the process more clearly. " She smiled, and in theunearthly light of the sphere she appeared more beautiful than before, if such a thing were possible. 

On the pedestal which supported the sphere there was a glitteringarray of dials and levers. Several of these controls were now adjustedby Phaestra, the delicate motions of her tapered fingers being watchedby the visitors with intense admiration. There came a change in thenote of the sphere, a steadying of the flickerings within. 

"Behold!" exclaimed Phaestra. 

 * * * * *

They gazed into the depths of the sphere and lost all sense ofdetachment from the scene depicted therein. It seemed they were at apoint several thousand miles from the surface of a planet. A greatcontinent spread beneath them, its irregular shore line being clearlyoutlined against a large body of water. Here and there the surface wasobscured by great white patches of clouds that cast their shadowsbelow. 

"Atlantis!" breathed Phaestra reverently. 

The lost continent of mythology! The fabled body of land that wasengulfed by the Atlantic thousands of years ago--a fact!

Tommy glanced at Frank, noting that he had withdrawn his gaze from thesphere and was devouring Phaestra with his eyes. As if drawn by theardor of his observation, she raised her own eyes from the sphere tomeet those of the handsome visitor. Obviously confused, she droppedher long lashes and turned nervously to the controls. Tommyexperienced a sudden feeling of dread. Surely his pal was not fallingin love with this Theronian empress!

Then there came another change in the note of the sphere and once morethey lost themselves in contemplation of the scene within. The surfaceof the lost continent was rushing madly to meet them. With terrificvelocity they seemed to be falling. An involuntary gasp was forcedfrom Tommy's lips. Mountains, valleys, rivers could now be discerned. 

 * * * * *

Then the scene shifted slightly and they were stationary, directlyabove a large seacoast city. A city of great beauty it was, and itsbuildings were of the same octagonal shape as were those of Theros!There could be but one inference--the Theronians were directdescendants of those inhabitants of ancient Atlantis. 

"Yes, " sighed Phaestra, in answer to the thought she had read, "ourancestors were those you now see in the streets of this city ofAtlantis. A marvelous race they were, too. When the rest of the worldwas still savage and unenlightened, they knew more of the arts andsciences than is known on the surface to-day. The mysteries of theFourth Dimension they had already solved. Their telescopes were ofsuch power that they knew of the existence of intelligent beings onMars and Venus. They had conquered the air. They knew of the relationbetween gravity and magnetism but recently propounded by yourEinstein. They were prosperous, happy. Then--but watch!"

Faint sounds of the life of the city came to their ears. A swarm ofmonoplanes roared past just beneath them. The streets were crowdedwith rapidly moving vehicles, the roof-tops with air-craft. Thensuddenly the scene darkened; a deep rumbling came from the sea. Asthey watched in fascinated wonder, a great chasm opened up through theheart of the city. Tall buildings swayed and crumbled, falling intoheaps of twisted metal and crushed masonry and burying hundreds of thepopulace in their fall. The confusion was indescribable, the uproarterrific, and within the space of a very few minutes the entire citywas a mass of ruins, fully half of the wrecked area having beenswallowed up by the heaving waters of the ocean. 

 * * * * *

Phaestra stifled a sob. "Thus it began, " she stated. "Trovus wasfirst--the city you just saw--then came three more of the cities ofthe western coast in rapid succession. Computations of the scientistsshowed that the upheaval was widespread and that the entire continentwas to be engulfed in a very short time. The exodus began, but it wastoo late, and only a few hundred people were able to escape thecontinent before it was finally destroyed. The ocean became the tombof two hundred millions. The handful of survivors reached the coast ofwhat is now North America. But the rigors of the climate proved severeand more than three-quarters of them perished within a few days aftertheir planes landed. Then the rest took to the caves along the shore, and for a while were safe. "

She manipulated the controls once more and there was a quick shift toanother coast, a rugged, wave-beaten shore. Closer they drew untilthey observed a lofty palisade that extended for miles along thebarren waterfront. They saw a fire atop this elevation and active menand women at various tasks within the narrow circle of its warmth. Acave mouth opened at the brink of the precipice near the spot theyoccupied. 

Then came a repetition of the upheaval at Trovus. The ocean rushed inand beat against the cliff with such ferocity that its spray wastossed hundreds of feet in the air. The earth shook and the group ofpeople around the fire made a hasty retreat to the mouth of the cave. The sky darkened and the winds howled with demoniac fury. Quake afterquake rent the rugged cliffs: huge sections toppled into the angrywaters. Then a great tidal wave swept in and covered everything, cliffs, cave mouths and all. Nought remained where they had been butthe seething waters. 

 * * * * *

"But some escaped!" exulted Phaestra, "and these discovered Theros. Though many miles of the eastern seaboard of your United States weresubmerged and the coastline entirely altered, these few were saved. Their cave connected with a long passage, a tunnel that led into thebowels of the earth. With the outer entrance blocked by the upheavalthey had no alternative save to continue downward. "

"They traveled for days and days. Some were overcome by hunger andfell by the wayside. The most hardy survived to reach Theros, a seriesof enormous caverns that extends for hundreds of miles under thesurface of your country. Here they found subterranean lakes of purewater; forests, game. They had a few tools and weapons and theyestablished themselves in this underground world. From that smallbeginning came this!"

Phaestra's slim fingers worked rapidly at the controls. The scenesshifted in quick succession. They were once more in the present, andseemed to be traveling speedily through the underground reaches ofTheros. Now they were racing through a long lighted passage; now overa great city similar to the one in which they had arrived. Here theyvisited a huge workshop or laboratory; there a mine where radium orcobalt or platinum was being wrested from the vitals of the unwillingearth. Then they visited a typical Theronian household, saw theperfect peace and happiness in which the family lived. Again they werein a large power plant where direct application of the internal heatof the earth as obtained through deep shafts bored into the interiorwas utilized in generating electricity. 

They saw vast quantities of supplies, fifty-ton masses of machinery, moved from place to place as lightly as feathers by use of the gravitydiscs, those heavily charged plates whose emanations counteracted theearth's attraction. In one busy laboratory they saw an immensetelevision apparatus and heard scientists discussing moot questionswith inhabitants of Venus, whose images were depicted on the screen. They witnessed a severe electrical storm in the huge cavern arch overone of the cities, a storm that condensed moisture from theartificially oxygenated and humidified atmosphere in such blindingsheets as to easily explain the necessity for well-roofed buildings inthe underground realm. And, in all the speech and activities of theTheronians, there was evident that all-pervading feeling of absolutecontentment and freedom from care. 

"What I can not understand, " said Frank, during a quiet interval, "iswhy the Theronians have never migrated to the surface. Surely, withall your command of science and mechanics, that would be easy. "

"Why? Why?" Phaestra's voice spoke volumes. "Here--I'll show you thereason. "

 * * * * *

And again the scene in the sphere changed. They were on the surfaceand a few years in the past--at Chateau Thierry. They saw their fellowmen mangled and broken; saw human beings shot down by hundreds inwithering bursts of machine-gun fire; saw them in hand-to-hand bayonetfights; gassed and in delirium from the horror of it all. 

They traveled over the ocean; saw a big passenger liner the victim oftorpedo fire; saw babies tossed into the water by distracted motherswho jumped in after them to join them in death. 

A few years were passed by and they saw gang wars in Chicago and NewYork; saw militia and picketing strikers in mortal combat; saw wealthybrokers and bank presidents turn pistols on themselves following acrash in the stock market; government officials serving penitentiaryterms for betrayal of the people's trust; opium dens, speakeasies, sexcrimes. It was a fearful indictment. 

"Ah, no, " said Phaestra kindly, "the surface world has not yet emergedfrom savagery. We should be unwelcome were we to venture outside. Andnow we come to the reason for your visit. You come in search of oneEdwin Leland, a fellow worker at one time. Your motives are abovereproach. But Leland came as a greedy searcher of riches. We broughthim within to teach him the error of his ways and to beg him to desistfrom his efforts at destroying the dome of silver. He alone knew thesecret. "

"Then you followed him and we took you in for similar reasons, thoughour scientists found very quickly that your mental reactions were ofentirely different type from Leland's and that the secret would besafe in your keeping. Leland remains obdurate. He threatens us withphysical violence, and his reactions to the thought-reading machinesare of the most treacherous sort. We must keep him with us. He shallremain unharmed, but he must not be allowed to return. That is thestory. You two are free to leave when you choose. I ask not that yougive your word to keep the secret of 'Silver Dome. ' I know it is notnecessary. "

 * * * * *

The lights had resumed their normal glow, and the marvelous spherereturned to its receptacle beneath the floor. Phaestra resumed herseat on the canopied divan. Frank dropped to a seat on the edge of thedais. Tommy and Orrin remained standing, Tommy lost in thought andOrrin stolidly mute. The empress avoided Frank's gaze studiously. Hercheeks were flushed; her eyes bright with emotion. 

Frank was first to break the silence. "Leland is in solitaryconfinement?" he asked. 

"For the present he is under guard, " replied Phaestra. "He was quiteviolent and it was necessary to disarm him after he had killed one ofmy attendants with a shot from his automatic pistol. When he agrees tosubmit peacefully, he shall be given the freedom of Theros for theremainder of his life. "

"Perhaps, " suggested Frank, "if I spoke to him. .. . "

"The very thing. " Phaestra thanked him with her wondrous eyes. 

A high pitched note rang out from behind the hangings, and, in rapidsyllables of the language of Theros, a voice broke forth from theconcealed amplifiers. Orrin, startled from his stoicism, sprang to theside of his empress. She rose from her seat as the voice completed itsexcited message. 

"It is Leland, " she said calmly. "He has escaped and recovered hispistol. I have been told that he is now at large in the palace, terrorizing the household. We have no weapons here, you see. "

"Good God!" shouted Frank. "Suppose he should come here?"

 * * * * *

He jumped to his feet just as a shot rang out in the antechamber. Orrin dashed to the portal when a second shot spat forth from theautomatic which must certainly be in the hands of a madman. The doorsswung wide and Leland, hair disarranged and bloodshot eyes staring, burst into the room. Orrin went down at the next shot and the hardlyrecognizable scientist advanced toward the dais. 

When he saw Frank and Tommy he stopped in his tracks. "So you two havebeen following me!" he snarled. "Well, you won't keep me from mypurpose. I'm here to kill this queen of hell!"

Once more he raised his automatic, but Frank had been watching closelyand he literally dove from the steps of the dais to the knees of thederanged Leland. As beautiful a tackle as he had ever made in hiscollege football days laid the maniac low with a crashing thud thattold of a fractured skull. The bullet intended for Phaestra went wide, striking Tommy in the shoulder. 

Spun half way around by the impact of the heavy bullet, Tommy foughtto retain his balance. But his knees went suddenly awry and gave waybeneath him. He crumpled helplessly to the floor, staring foolishly atthe prostrate figure of Leland and at Frank, who had risen to his feetand now faced the beautiful empress of Theros. Strange lights dancedbefore Tommy's eyes, and he found it difficult to keep the pair infocus. But he was sure of one thing--his pal was unharmed. Then thetwo figures seemed to merge into one and he blinked his eyes rapidlyto clear his failing vision. By George, they were in each other'sarms! Funny world--above or below--it didn't seem to make anydifference. But it was a tough break for Frank--morganatic marriageand all that. No chance--well--

Tommy succumbed to his overpowering drowsiness. 

 * * * * *

The awakening was slow, but not painful. Rather there was a feeling ofutter contentment, of joy at being alive. A delicious languor pervadedTommy's being as he turned his head on a snow white silken pillow andstared at the figure of the white-capped nurse who was fussing withthe bottles and instruments that lay on an enameled table beside thebed. Memory came to him immediately. He felt remarkably well andrefreshed. Experimentally he moved his left shoulder. There wasabsolutely no pain and it felt perfectly normal. He sat erect in hissurprise and felt the shoulder with his right hand. There was nobandage, no wound. Had he dreamed of the hammer blow of thatforty-five caliber bullet?

His nurse, observing that her patient had recovered consciousness, broke forth in a torrent of unintelligible Theronian, then rushed fromthe room. 

He was still examining his unscarred shoulder in wonder, when thenurse returned, with Frank Rowley at her heels. Frank laughed at theexpression of his friend's face. 

"What's wrong, old-timer?" he asked. 

"Why--I--thought that fool of a Leland had shot me in the shoulder, "stammered Tommy, "but I guess I dreamed it. Where are we? Still inTheros?"

"We are. " Frank sobered instantly, and Tommy noted with alarm that hisusually cheerful features were haggard and drawn and his eyes hollowfrom loss of sleep. "And you didn't dream that Leland shot you. Thatshoulder of yours was mangled and torn beyond belief. He was usingsoft nosed bullets, the hell-hound!"

"Then how--?"

 * * * * *

"Tommy, these Theronians are marvelous. We rushed you to this hospitaland a half-dozen doctors started working on you at once. They repairedthe shattered bones by an instantaneous grafting process, tied thesevered veins and arteries and closed the gaping wound by filling itwith a plastic compound and drawing the edges together with clamps. You were anaesthetized and some ray machine was used to heal theshoulder. This required but ten hours and they now say that your armis as good as ever. How does it feel?"

"Perfectly natural. In fact I feel better than I have in a month. "Tommy observed that the nurse had left the room and he jumped from hisbed and capered like a school boy. 

This drew no sign of merriment from Frank, and Tommy scrutinized himonce more in consternation. "And you, " he said, "what is wrong withyou?"

"Don't worry about me, " replied Frank impatiently. Then, irrelevantly, he said "Leland's dead. "

"Should be. I knew we shouldn't have started out to help him. But, Frank, I'm concerned about you. You look badly. " Tommy was gettinginto his clothes as he spoke. 

"Forget it, Tommy. You've been sleeping for two days, you know--partof the cure--and I haven't had much rest during that time. That isall. "

"It's that Phaestra woman, " Tommy accused him. 

"Well, perhaps. But I'll get over it, I suppose. Tommy, I love her. But there's no chance for me. Haven't seen her since the row in thepalace. Her council surrounds her continually and I have been advisedto-day that we are to be returned as quickly as you are up and around. That means immediately now. "

"Good. The sooner the better. And you just forget about this queen assoon as you are able. She's a peach, of course, but not for you. There's lots more back in little old New York. " But Frank had no replyto this sally. 

 * * * * *

There came a knock at the door and Tommy called, "Come in. "

"I see you have fully recovered, " said the smiling Theronian whoentered at the bidding, "and we are overjoyed to know this. You havethe gratitude of the entire realm for your part in the saving of ourempress from the bullets of the madman. "

"I?"

"Yes. You and your friend. And now, may I ask, are you ready to returnto your own land?"

Tommy stared. "Sure thing, " he said, "or rather, I will be in a fewminutes. "

"Thank you. We shall await you in the transmitting room. " TheTheronian bowed and was gone. 

"Well, I like that, " said Tommy. "He hands me an undeserved complimentand then asks how soon we can beat it. A 'here's your hat, what's yourhurry' sort of thing. "

"It's me they're anxious to be rid of, " remarked Frank, shrugging hisbroad shoulders, "and perhaps it is just as well. "

"You bet it is!" agreed Tommy enthusiastically, "and I'm in favor ofmaking it good and snappy. " He completed his toilet as rapidly aspossible and then turned to face the down-hearted Frank. 

"How do we go? The way we came?" he asked. 

 * * * * *

"No, Tommy. They have closed off the shaft that led from the cavern ofthe silver dome. They are taking no more chances. It seems that theshaft down which we floated was constructed by the Theronians; not byLeland. They had used it and the gravity disc to transport casualvisitors to the surface, who occasionally mixed with our people inorder to learn the languages of the upper world and to actually touchand handle the things they were otherwise able to see only through themedium of Silver Dome and the crystal spheres. Further visits to thesurface are now forbidden, and we are to be returned by a remarkableprocess of beam transmission of our disintegrated bodies. "

"Disintegrated?"

"Yes. It seems they have learned to dissociate the atoms of which thehuman body is composed and to transmit them to any desired point overa beam of etheric vibrations, then to reassemble them in the originalliving condition. "

"What? You mean to say we are to be shot to the surface through theintervening rock and earth? Disintegrated and reintegrated? And we'llnot even be bent, let alone busted?"

 * * * * *

This time he was rewarded by a laugh. "That's right. And I have gonethrough the calculations with one of the Theronian engineers and canfind no flaw in the scheme. We're safe in their hands. "

"If you say so, Frank, it's okay with me. Let's go!"

Reluctantly his friend lifted his athletic bulk from the chair. Insilence he led the way to the transmitting room of the Theronianscientists. 

Here they were greeted by two savants with whom Frank was alreadyacquainted, Clarux and Rhonus by name. A bewildering array of complexmechanisms was crowded into the high-ceilinged chamber and, prominentamong them, was one of the crystal spheres, this one of somewhatsmaller size than the one in the palace of Phaestra. 

"Where do you wish to arrive?" asked Clarux. 

"As near to my automobile as possible, " replied Frank, taking suddeninterest in the proceedings. "It is parked in the lane betweenLeland's house and the road. "

Tommy looked quickly in his direction, encouraged by the apparentchange in his attitude. The scientists proceeded to energize thecrystal sphere. They were bent upon speeding the parting guests. Theirbeloved empress was to be saved from her own emotions. 

Quick adjustments of the controls resulted in the locating of Frank'scar, which was still buried to its axles in snow. The scene includedLeland's house, or rather its site, for it appeared to have beenutterly demolished by some explosion within. 

 * * * * *

Tommy raised questioning eyebrows. 

"It was necessary, " explained Rhonus, "to destroy the house inobliterating all traces of our former means of egress. It has beencommanded that you two be returned safely, and we are authorized totrust implicitly in your future silence regarding the existence ofTheros. This is satisfactory, I presume?"

Both Tommy and Frank nodded agreement. 

"Are you ready, gentlemen?" asked Clarux, who was adjusting amechanism that resembled a huge radio transmitter. Its twelve giantvacuum tubes glowed into life as he spoke. 

"We are, " chimed the two visitors. 

They were requested to step to a small circular platform that wasraised about a foot from the floor by means of insulating legs. Abovethe table there was an inverted bowl of silver in the shape of a largeparabolic reflector. 

"There will be no alarming sensations, " averred Clarux. "When I closethe switch the disintegrating energy from the reflector above willbathe your bodies for a moment in visible rays of a deep purple hue. You may possibly experience a slight momentary feeling of nausea. Then--presto!--you have arrived. "

"Shoot!" growled Frank from his position on the stand. 

Clarux pulled the switch and there was a murmur as of distant thunder. Tommy blinked involuntarily in the brilliant purple glow thatsurrounded him. Then all was confusion in the transmitting room. Somebody had rushed through the open door shouting, "Frank! Frank!" Itwas the empress Phaestra. 

 * * * * *

In a growing daze Tommy saw her dash to the platform, seize Frank in aclutch of desperation. There was a violent wrench as if some monsterwere twisting at his vitals. He closed his eyes against the blindinglight, then realized that utter silence had followed the erstwhileconfusion. He sat in Frank's car--alone. 

The journey was over, and Frank was left behind. With awful finalityit came to him that there was nothing he could do. It was clear thatPhaestra had wanted his pal, needed him--come for him. From the factthat Frank remained behind it was evident that she had succeeded inretaining him. A sickening fear came to Tommy that she had been toolate; that Frank's body was already partly disintegrated and that hemight have paid the price of her love with his life. But a littlereflection convinced him that if this were the case a portion of hisfriend's body would have reached the intended destination. Then, unexplainably, he received a mental message that all was well. 

 * * * * *

Considerably heartened, he pressed the starter button and the coldmotor of Frank's coupe turned over slowly, protestingly. Finally itcoughed a few times, and, after considerable coaxing by use of thechoke, ran smoothly. He proceeded to back carefully through the driftstoward the road, casting an occasional regretful glance in thedirection of the demolished mansion. 

He would have some explaining to do when he returned to New York. Perhaps--yes, almost certainly, he would be questioned by the policeregarding Frank's disappearance. But he would never betray the trustof Phaestra. Who indeed would believe him if he told the story?Instead, he would concoct a weird fabrication regarding an explosionin Leland's laboratory, of his own miraculous escape. They could nothold him, could not accuse him of murder without producing a body--the_corpus delicti_, or whatever they called it. 

Anyway, Frank was content. So was Phaestra. 

Tommy swung the heavy car into the road and turned toward New York, alone and lonely--but somehow happy; happy for his friend. 

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Earth, the Marauder

PART TWO OF A THREE-PART NOVEL

_By Arthur J. Burks_

[Illustration: Closer and closer they came. ]

[Sidenote: Deep in the gnome-infested tunnels of the Moon, Sarka andJaska are brought to Luar, the radiant goddess against whose minionsthe marauding Earth had struck in vain. ]

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

The Earth was dying. Ever since Sarka the First, king of scientists, had given mankind the Secret of Life, which prolonged lifeindefinitely, the Earthlings had multiplied beyond all count, and beenforced to burrow deep into the ground and high into the air in thedesperate search for the mere room in which to live. There was muchcivil war. The plight of the children of men was desperate. Somethinghad to be done. 

[Illustration]

Then Sarka the Third called the Spokesmen of the Gens of Earth aroundhim, and proposed to them a new scheme which had come to him in hislaboratory atop the Himalayas. He would swing the Earth from itsorbit!--send it careening through space toward the Moon!--there todestroy its inhabitants and supplant them with a colony of Earthlings!And then they would surge on to Mars!

One by one the twelve Spokesmen, each the head and representative ofthe teeming trillions comprising his Gens, acceded. Even Dalis, thejealous rival of Sarka, finally gave his sulky consent. 

So, under Sarka's commands, the Earth's hordes were mobilized; and intune with the Master Beryl in Sarka's laboratory all the Beryls of theEarth vibrated, freeing the Earth from her age-old orbit and swingingher out towards the Moon. 

The Gens of Dalis--the trillions of people who swore allegiance tohim--would lead the attack on the Moon. When within fifty thousandmiles, they darted out, clad only in their tight green clothing andthe helmets that held the anti-gravitational ovoids, whichneutralized gravity for them and enabled them to instantly fly wherethey willed. Their only weapons were hand atom-disintegrators. And outfrom the Moon came mysterious aircars, with long clutchingtentacles--the weapons of the Moon's minions! The war of the worldswas begun!

Yet Dalis, leader of the Gens that now engaged the Moon's aircars, wasstill in the laboratory with Sarka. For Dalis' treacherous mindcoveted control of the Earth, and though the urge to lead his Gensinto battle was tremendous, still he stayed, watching Sarka closely, waiting for the moment when he could trick Sarka and assume control. 

And at the head of the Gens of Dalis was a woman, Jaska, whom Sarkaloved. The Moon's aircars swept away the Gens of Dalis, and out fromEarth poured the Gens of Cleric, who was Jaska's father. The newcomersfought desperately to save Jaska from the deadly clutches of theaircars. 

Dalis could stand it no longer. He sped forth from the laboratory, toreorganize his beaten Gens. Jaska flew for home; but behind her asingle aircar, splashed with crimson, reached forth its tentacles toclutch her--and Sarka groaned with the agony of his impotence to helpthe woman he loved. 

CHAPTER XI

_Escape--and Dalis' Laughter_

But Sarka was not to be so easily beaten. There still remained aninfinite number of possible changes of speed by manipulation of ovidumby vibration set up by the Beryls, without which this flight from thebeginning would have been impossible. But for two hours, while thewhite robed men of Cleric fought against the car of the crimsonsplashes to prevent the capture of the daughter of theirSpokesman--and died by hundreds in the grip of those grimtentacles--Sarka was forced to labor with the Beryls untilperspiration bathed his whole body and his heart was heavy as heforesaw failure. And failure meant death or worse for Jaska. 

But at the end of two hours, while the men of Cleric fought like meninspired against the aircar of the crimson slashes, a cessation in theoutward speed of the earth could be noted. At the end of three hoursthe body of Jaska, all this time fighting manfully to attain tolanding place on the Earth, was at last bulking larger; but thetentacles of the aircar were groping after her, reaching for her, striving to catch and clasp her to her death. 

The two Sarkas watched and prayed while the might of the Beryls, traveling at top speed, fought against the force of whatever was usedby the Moon-men to compel the Moon to withdraw. Still the men ofCleric fought that single car, and died by hundreds in the fighting. White robed figures which became shriveled and black in the grip ofthose tentacles. 

 * * * * *

Countless of the men of Cleric deliberately cast themselves againstthose tentacles, throwing their lives away to give Jaska more leewayin her race for life. 

"Will she make it, father?" queried Sarka in a whisper. 

"If the courage and loyalty of her people stand for anything, she willmake it, " he replied. 

On she came at top speed, and now through the micro-telescopes theSarkas could see the agony of effort on her face, even through thesmooth mask used by the people of Earth for flight in space wherethere was no atmosphere. Courage was there, and the will ofnever-say-die; and Jaska, moreover, was coming back to the man sheloved. In a nebulous sort of way Sarka realized this, for though thesetwo had not mated there was a resonant inner sympathy between themwhich had rounded into an emotion of overpowering force since Jaskahad proved to Sarka that she was to be trusted--that he had beensomething less than a faithful lover when he had mistrusted her, everso little. 

Closer now and closer, and at last the aircar of the crimson splasheswas drawing away, losing in the race for life. It was falling back, asthough minded to turn about and race back for the Moon, now a ball inthe sky, far away, the outlines of its craters growing dim and mistywith distance. Now the men of Cleric, those who remained, werebreaking contact with the aircar, and forming a valiant rear-guard forthe retreat of Jaska. 

 * * * * *

Throughout the Earth, as the Beryls fought with ever increasing speedto lower the rate of the earth's outward race from the Moon, was sucha trembling, such a vibration induced by conflicting, alien forces asthere had not been even in that moment when back there in its orbit, the Earth could have either been kept within its orbit, or hurledoutward into space at the touch of a finger. 

Now Jaska, surrounded by her father's men, was almost close enough totouch the Earth. 

She made it, weak and weary, and rested for a moment while herfather's men steadied her. Then, thrusting them aside, with gesturesbidding them return to their Gens, she lifted into the air again, andfled straight for the laboratory of Sarka. 

She entered tiredly through the exit dome, and all but collapsed into thearms of Sarka. Gently he removed her helmet of the anti-gravitationalovoid, noting as she leaned against him the tumultuous beating of herheart. Then her gentle eyes opened and she whispered to Sarka. 

"You trust me now?"

For answer he bent and kissed her softly on the lips--for the kiss, from the far distant time when the first baby was kissed by the firstmother, had been the favored caress of mankind. Her face wastransfigured as she read his answer in his eyes, and the touch of hislips. Then, remembering, fear flashed across her face. Shestraightened, and grasping Sarka by the hand, hurried with him intothe observatory. 

 * * * * *

She took the seat in which Dalis had sat before he had gone out to thecommand of his Gens, studied for many minutes the battle in spacebetween the two alien worlds. 

"Dalis is winning, " said the Elder Sarka quietly, "apparently!"

"The qualification is a just one, " said Jaska softly. "'Apparently, 'indeed! You will note now that, though men of the Gens of Dalis swarmall about the aircars, and even clamber atop them, no more are dyingin the grasp of those tentacles? Is Dalis arranging a treacheroustruce with the Moon-men?"

"I have been wondering about that, " said Sarka softly, "for it is mybelief that nothing not conducive to his own selfish interests wouldhave forced Dalis to leave this place and take command of his Gens, asI had first ordered, unless he had schemes planned of which father andI could know nothing. Now that I think of it, Jaska, how did Dalisknow our secret code of fingers?"

Jaska started, and turned a blanched face to Sarka. 

"_Did_ he know?" she cried. "Did he? If he did that proves a suspicionthat I have entertained since the first moment when Dalis swept intothe fight, and I sensed that alien signals were being flashed back andforth!"

"Flashed back and forth!" ejaculated Sarka. "How do you mean? ThatDalis was somehow able to communicate with the Moon-men in their ownlanguage, or through their own signals?"

 * * * * *

"Why not? He knew our secret code, did he not? I never gave it to him, and I know that you did not. No, Dalis has some means, neverdiscovered or suspected by you Sarkas, whereby he is able tounderstand alien tongues and alien sign manuals!"

"That means, " said Sarka the Elder in a dead voice, "that by forcingDalis to go out at the head of his Gens. .. . "

"We have, " interrupted Sarka the Younger, "placed a new weapon oftreason in his hands! Dalis, at the very moment of contact with theaircars, loaded with Moon-men, broke in on their signals--they musthave had some means of signalling one another--and communicated withthem in their own way! Do you think it possible that, with all hisGens, he may go over to the Moon-men, form an alliance with them?"

For many moments no one dared to answer the question; yet, from whatthe Sarkas knew of him, it was not impossible at all. For Dalis wasthe master egotist always, and never overlooked opportunity to gainsomething for himself. 

It was Jaska who broke the silence. 

"Did you note carefully, " she said, "those aircars which werepartially destroyed by our ray directors and atom-disintegrators?"

The Sarkas nodded. 

"Did you note that no men, formed like our own, no creatures of anysort whatever, fell from the cars?"

 * * * * *

Again the awesome silence, and the keen brains of the Sarkas wrestledwith this vague hint of the uncanny. 

"You mean, Jaska . .. You mean. .. . "

"That the occupants of aircars are part of the cars, but--Beings ofthe Moon! That they are either metal monsters endowed with brains ortiny creatures irrevocably attached to the cars themselves!"

"But how, " said Sarka at last, "are we to be sure? I can understandwhat Dalis might do if the Moon-men granted his wish for an alliancewith them. It is easy to understand why his Gens would follow hislead, for with the Moon forced outward from the Earth faster than hisGens could retreat, there is but one direction for his Gens togo--toward the Moon! They would go to the Moon as captives and trustthe keen brain of Dalis to gain the mastery, sooner or later, over theMoon-men. And then. .. . "

"And then--?" repeated Sarka the Elder. 

"Then, Dalis has already been inspired by the speed with which thoseaircars travel! You will remember that he did not take kindly toleaving the Earth and making his abode on some other planet! But whycould he not do so, combine forces and knowledge with the people ofthat planet--and then return to Earth in alliance with them?--after wehave depleted our forces by placing a large portion of our people onMars and Venus and Saturn?"

"Sarka, my son, " said Sarka's father, "before we continue with ourflight to Mars, we must know the truth! We must somehow learn exactlywhat is going on on the Moon! If you could reach the Moon, alone, undetected, and bring back a report. .. . "

 * * * * *

For a moment he left it there, and the faces of all three were graywith worry and abysmal fear. 

"I can't go bodily, father, " said Sarka at last, "but you remember mysecret exit dome, to the right of the observatory, from which I havenever yet dared exit from this place for fear that it might cost me mylife?"

Sarka the Elder nodded, while Jaska looked puzzled. Another evidenceof the fact that Sarka had not always trusted her, for she knewnothing of a secret exit dome. Sarka's eyes, as he looked at Jaska, mutely asked her forgiveness, which she gave him with her smile. 

"I remember, son, and now?. .. "

"Surely it is worth risking one's life to know what new menace loomsover the children of men!"

"What is the use of this secret dome?" asked Jaska softly. 

"It is merely an elaboration of the regular exit dome, combined withcertain phases of our atom-distintegrators, and the principle involvedin the anti-gravitational ovoids. I step into the secret exit dome, garbed for flight Outside, and will myself to appear bodily in acertain placed. It is instantaneous. I step into the dome, forexample, and will myself to appear whole upon the Moon, and there Iwill appear!"

"You mean that during the period of transposition you are invisible?"

"Yes, invisible because non-existent, except for the essentialelements of me, broken down by the secret exit dome, reassembled atthe place willed in their entirety! I can't fly there, for a millioneyes would see me approach! I must go in secret, as a spy, and wearingthe clothing and insignia of a member of the Gens of Dalis!"

Silence in the observatory for a brief breathing space, and then Jaskaspoke that speech out of the books of antiquity, which remains theclassic expression of loyalty. 

"Whithersoever thou goest, there will I go also!"

From the laboratory came a sudden burst of laughter, the laughterwhich all three recognized as the laughter of Dalis; but when theyentered the place of the Revolving Beryl, there was no one there--anda feeling of dread, all encompassing, held them thralled for the spaceof several heart-beats. Dalis, they knew, was thousands of miles away, upon the Moon; yet here in the place of the Master Beryl they allthree had just heard his sardonic laughter!

CHAPTER XII

_Ashes of the Moon_

Through the micro-telescopes it was possible to see what had happenedafter Dalis had assumed command of the Gens of Dalis. For even thoughthe Moon, in spite of the speed of the Beryls, was being forcedfurther and further from the Earth, the eyes of the micro-telescopespicked out and enlarged details to such an extent that the battleseemed to be transpiring under the eyes of the beholders. 

A terrific jumble, in which Earthlings and aircars were all tumbledtogether in mad chaos, a great mass of writhing, green-garbed figures. Infinite in number--in the midst of which were the gigantic aircars, like monster beetles being beset by armies upon armies of ants. 

Then, by the time Jaska had seated herself in the observatory atop theHimalayas, to watch what developed, the battle seemed to be over, andthe Moon-men had won. For the huge cars swung around between themyriads of the Gens of Dalis, and seemed to be herding them toward theMoon, as though they were prisoners. 

Telepathically, Sarka and his father had been able to catch some hintof the thoughts of the Earthlings in the battle, and these thoughtshad been tinged with doubt, fear and horror, so that even thus toreceive them, by mental telepathy, was to feel the searing heat oftheir fear. 

 * * * * *

Now, in the instant when the battle in Space seemed to be over and theGens of Dalis were prisoners, the thought waves were no more, and abrooding silence took their place. Dalis, the Sarkas knew, possessedthe power to mask his thoughts, for it was a power possessed in commonby all the scientists of Earth. But the common people of his Gens didnot posses that power. However, for the moment Sarka had forgotten anall important something: that, when people were outside the roof ofthe world, they were subservient to the will of a common commander towhom they had sworn allegiance. 

If, therefore, Dalis could mask his own thoughts from the brains ofmen, he could also mask the thoughts of the people of his Gens, merelyby willing it! So Sarka and his father and Jaska could not knowwhether the Gens of Dalis had gone over in a body with him, in a trucewith the people of the Moon, or whether they were dual prisoners--ofDalis and of the Moon-men!

More than ever was it necessary for someone to somehow reach the Moonand make a thorough investigation, discover just what Dalis was doing, what mischief he was hatching. 

The secret exit dome seemed to be the answer. 

"You can manage without me, father?" asked Sarka. 

 * * * * *

The elder Sarka nodded. 

"Of the other Spokesmen of Earth, " went on Sarka, "I trust Gerd themost. Might I suggest that you bring him here, trust him in alldetails, and let him take my place wherever possible? Or, betterstill, keep Jaska here with you! I . .. I may not be able to return!I'll try to find a way, but--we can always communicate telepathically. Jaska. .. . "

"Jaska, " said that young lady grimly, "goes with Sarka wherever Sarkagoes!"

"But it may mean death! We can only guess at the cunning of the Moondwellers! They may have been in secret communication with Dalis forcenturies! Dalis, who somehow discovered our secret finger code, mayalso know of the secret exit dome, and the principle upon which itoperates! If he does, he may know how to combat it! Perhaps thatexplains his laughter! Perhaps he heard and understood every word wespoke, hears and understands every word we speak now! Who knows? Hemay wait until I have passed through the secret exit dome, and thenmake it impossible for me to be reincarnated on the Moon--orelsewhere!"

"No matter, " said Jaska softly, "wherever Sarka goes, there goesJaska! It is useless to attempt to dissuade me, and it is time youlearned that!"

In spite of himself Sarka smiled, and his father met his smile with aquizzical one of his own. Both men had the same thought. 

"The eternal woman!" said Sarka the Elder. "No man has ever understoodher--no man ever will! And all men are ruled by her!"

Sarka shrugged, and Jaska spoke again. 

"Don't you think it is time we tried this new experiment?"

 * * * * *

Sarka nodded, and his face was suddenly alight with the excitementwhich burned within him. 

"First, " he said, "we need accoutrements of the Gens of Dalis for twopeople!"

Jaska smiled. 

"Forseeing that we might have need of such equipment, I had severalcomplete outfits sent here when I took charge of the Gens of Dalis asits Spokesman!"

Two minutes later, arrayed in the green clothing of the House ofDalis, swathed in it from neck to toe, wearing their belts and themasks which were necessary to life in space where there was noatmosphere, the whole topped by the gleaming helmets whose skull-pansheld the infinitesimally small anti-gravitational ovoids, Jaska andSarka entered the secret exit dome, side by-side. 

On the breast and back of each showed the yellow stars of the Gens ofDalis. There was no hiding their identity otherwise, and if any of theGens saw them, both would be immediately recognized--for Jaska hadcommanded the Gens, and Sarka was the world's greatest scientist knownto every human being. But they planned on carrying out theirinvestigations by stealth. 

"Father, " said Sarka, "when the inner door is closed upon us, you havebut to press the button to the right of the door. Press it when thelight beside it glows red, which will indicate that we have willedourselves to go to a certain destination!"

 * * * * *

The inner door closed upon Sarka and Jaska, and, hand in hand, side byside, their bodies glowing with knowledge of warm, sympatheticcontact, they waited for a miracle which had never before beenattempted. 

"Are you afraid, beloved?" queried Sarka. 

"When I am with you, " she said softly, "I have no fear. "

"Then face the outer door, and will to go wherever I will to takeyou!"

Side by side, hand-in-hand still, they faced the outer door, and Sarkawilled:

"Let us appear together in a deserted spot, within sight but unseen, of the Moon crater from which those aircars were sent against us!"

A sudden blur, a cessation of all knowledge, and then. .. . 

Sarka and Jaska stood side by side in a desolate expanse surrounded bybleak and appalling mountains of grotesque shape, in a light that wasweirdly, awesomely blue. Their feet were invisible, deeply rooted insome soft, fine material which looked like snow. 

After a swift glance around to see if anything lived or moved in thisawful desolation, Sarka stooped and dipped up some of the fine stuffwith his fingers, touched it to his lips. 

 * * * * *

The material seemed to be fine blue ashes and on his tongue it had asoapy savor. He peered at Jaska, whose eyes were glowing withexcitement, whose lips were parted with anticipation, and instantly heopened a mental conversation with her. 

"We must speak with each other telepathically, but do not speak withme until I have explained to you how to mask your thoughts from allpersons save the one with whom you hold converse! First, I love you!Second, let us see if, searching the sky, we can find the Earth!"

In a few brief, highly technical words, Sarka told his beloved how totalk with him in the manner which he had never before explained toher. They had used telepathy before, countless times, but they had notcared who heard--while now secrecy in all things was the primeessential for success, even for life. 

When he had told her, and she replied, "I understand perfectly, and itseems quite easy, " they turned and surveyed the heavens, out of which, by this new miracle of the secret exit dome, they had dropped to theface of the Moon. 

Away across the space between worlds, its transfiguration plainlyvisible to the two, they could make out and identify the world fromwhich they had come. Save that they knew themselves standing on theMoon, they would have thought as far as appearances went, that theplace where they had come was the Moon, many times enlarged. It seemedincredible that they had come so far in the twinkling of an eye; butthat they had was proved by the fact of their physical presence. 

"Look, Jaska!" said Sarka suddenly. "See how our Earth glows, asthough it were afire inside!"

 * * * * *

They stared at the great circular yellowish flame that he pointed out, and Sarka, always the scientist whose science was one of exactness, tried to estimate just where, on the Earth's surface, the glow was. 

"Jaska, " he said again, "that glow comes out of the heart of the Gens areawhich Dalis ruled! And no one lives there, since Dalis' Gens flew out to dobattle! That's why we did not know of it before we left! That glow, somehow, beloved, is the cause of the outward-from-the-Earth journey of theMoon! First we must locate the Moon-source of the glow, and render itincapable of further forcing itself away! For do you realize that, unlesswe do so, we will never again see home?"

Jaska said nothing, but her eyes were troubled for a moment. Then shesmiled again. 

"What care I if I become a prisoner on the Moon, if you are with me?"

Sarka was just now realizing the wonder of this raven-haired womanwhom, knowing her for half a century as he had, he had just known solittle after all. 

"If we seem in danger of discovery, Jaska, " he said to her, "drop downinstantly into the ashes, for if we are discovered by Dalis. .. . "

He left it there and, with a deep intake of breath, started away forthe nearest and highest hill. They desired to walk, yet found walkingalmost impossible, as they could not keep their feet on the groundsave by the exercise of a really incredible effort of will. So, despairing of keeping their feet in contact with the ashes, they flewjust above them, heading for the nearest weird-looking ridge. 

 * * * * *

In the strange light, which was oddly like moonlight in some painteddesert of Earth, shapes were distorted and somehow menacing, colorswere raw, almost bleeding--and distances that seemed but a steprequired hours to traverse. 

Ever and anon, as they traveled they looked back up at the Earth whichwas their home. It still was visible, though plainly smaller withdistance, and for a time Sarka's heart misgave him; but he onlyclasped tighter the hand of Jaska and moved on. 

They were just at the base of the first hill, which had now become amountain of gloomy, forbidding aspect, when the first sound they hadheard on the moon came to them. A sound that was a commingling of thelaughter of Dalis, the barking of jackals of the olden times, thehumming of a million Beryls revolving at top speed, and a stridentbuzzing such as neither had ever heard. 

Had they been discovered? Was the sound a warning? They could notknow; but as they stared at the crest of the hill, two long, snaky, waving things appeared above the crest, undulating, waving to andfro, as though questing for something. They crouched low in the whiteashes at the base of the mountain, and waited, scarcely breathing. 

CHAPTER XIII

_The Lunar Cubes_

For a long time Sarka and Jaska remained still, like sentinels, listening to the strange discord which seemed to emanate from behindthe hill at whose base they crouched. 

"Look!" said Sarka at last. "There against the sky, beyond and betweenthose two waving tentacles! Note that column of light, scarcelylighter than the light which surrounds it everywhere? It looks like amassive column just lighter than everything around it, yet so littlelighter that you have to watch closely to see it at all?"

Jaska stared for all of a minute, before she thought back her answer. 

"I see it, " she said. 

"Note now whether it goes, as it reaches outward into Space!"

Jaska followed the mighty height of the thing, outward and outward, and then gasped. 

"Sarka, " she said, "its end touches the Earth in the very heart ofthat strange glow we spoke about!"

"Exactly! And people of Earth know nothing about it, because it isinvisible to them! It is only from Outside that the glow it makesagainst the Earth is visible! If we can divert its direction, orrender it useless in any way, the Moon will no longer be thrust awayby its force!"

A pause of indecision, then Sarka thought again:

"Let us go, Jaska! Keep behind me, right on my heels!"

Slowly, fighting against something that seemed determined to pull, orhurl, them outward from the surface of the Moon with each forwardmovement they made, they essayed the side of the hill, pausing at theend of what seemed like hours in a sort of hollow just large enoughto mask their bodies and stared over its edge into one of the cratersof the Moon. Out of the depths of that crater came the discordantsounds, which now were almost deafening, and out of that crater toocame the almost invisibly bluish column whose outer tip touched theEarth. 

 * * * * *

Right before them, so close that they all but rested in its shadow, was one of those monster aircars, its tentacles moving to and fro asthough wafted into motion by some vagrant breeze. But since neitherSarka nor Jaska could feel the breeze, Sarka knew that it was lifewhich caused the waving motion of those tentacles of terror. 

"Note, " he said to Jaska, "that there is a tiny trap-door in thebottom of the aircar, and that the thing rests on a half-dozen ofthose tentacles!"

"I see, " came Jaska's reply. 

Jaska went on:

"Note the gleaming thing on the ground, right below the aircar? Iwonder what it is?"

They studied the thing there, which seemed to be a huge jewel of somesort that glittered balefully in the eery light of the Moon. It was, perhaps, twice the size of an average man's torso, and was almostexactly cubical in shape. As Sarka studied the thing, he sensed thatfeeling flowed out of it--that the cube, whatever it was, was alive!

He tore his glance away from it, and realized that he accomplished thefeat with a distinct effort of will--as though the cube had willed tohold his gaze, knew he was there. His eyes, peering around the innerslope of the crater--which dipped over, some hundreds of feet down, and plunged downward to some unknown depth--noted a broad, flat stone, off to his right; and around the rim of the crater he counted a fullhundred of the aircars, all with their tentacles waving as if theybelonged to sentient creatures. 

 * * * * *

Below each one, as he studied them and strained his eyes to make outdetails, he caught the baleful gleam of other cubes like the first hehad seen. The aircars, it seemed, were either sentinels, at the lip ofthe crater, or were the dwelling places of sentinels--and the cubeswere those sentinels!

It seemed absurd, but it came to Sarka in a flash that that was theanswer, and his eyes came back to the first cube, because it wasnearer and more easy to study. 

"I will not be swayed by the will of the thing, " Sarka told himself. "Nor will I allow it to analyze me! Jaska, do you do likewise!"

Beside him, Jaska shivered. He turned to look at her. Her face wascoldly white, and her eyes were big with terror and fascination as shestared at that first cube, resting so balefully there under the firstaircar. 

He shook her, and she seemed to bring her eyes to his with a terrific, will-straining effort. 

"Look at me!" he told her, telepathically. "Keep your eyes on me, forto look at the cube spells danger!"

But his own eyes went back to the thing, and he studied it closely. Acold chill raced through his body as he noted that its gleam wasbecoming dull, fading slowly out. It had gleamed brightly at first, and now was losing its sheen, fading away to invisibility. He thoughthe should be able, regardless of gleam or color, to see its outline;but its outline, too, seemed to be becoming faint, indistinct. 

 * * * * *

Then, in a trice, it was gone, and a feeling of uneasiness, morecompelling than he had ever known before, coursed through the soul ofSarka. Where had the cube gone? What was it? What was its purpose? Hetore his eyes away from the spot where he had last seen it, and staredaway to the shadow beneath the second nearest aircar, where he hadglimpsed another of the cubes. 

The cube there, too, was fading out. 

"Sarka! Sarka! Look!" came to his brain the thoughts of Jaska. 

Sarka turned and stared at her, and a feeling of fear for which hecould not account at all took fast hold of him. The eyes of Jaska, wide and staring as they had been when he commanded her to look awayfrom the cube under the aircar, were staring at that flat, table-likerock, off to his right. 

There, almost in the center of the rock, a gleaming something wastaking shape! Just a dull spot, in the center of the yellow glow; thenthe beginning of the outline of a cube. Then, all at once, the cubeitself, gleaming and baleful!

Sarka gasped in terror. He had seen the cube vanish, its glowdisappear, and now here it was, almost close enough to touch, on arock beside him, gleaming and baleful as before! That it was the samecube he had seen under the first aircar, he somehow knew without beingtold. That it was a sentient _thing_ he also knew, for now there wasno mistaking the fact that, but for the presence in the little hollowof Jaska and Sarka, the cube would not have moved. 

 * * * * *

Swift as light, Sarka's right hand darted to his belt, where his raydirector should be nestled against his need of it. And with his firstmovement, the cube's brilliance vanished instantly, the cubedisappeared, and appeared again right before the face of Sarka, soclose he could touch it! Yet he did not turn the ray director againstit, nor did he extend his hand to touch the thing--because he wasafraid to do so!

Even as the cube appeared before his eyes, thrice baleful and menacingin its close proximity, his eyes darted back to that broad flat rock, where the second gleaming cube now appeared!

"Great God, Jaska!" he sent mentally, "what does it mean?"

"These, " she answered bravely back, "are Moon-soldiers! And, unlesswe manage not to appear furtive, we are undone!"

Still Sarka made no move, while other gleaming cubes appeared on theflat rock. Five other cubes appeared beside the first, at the rim ofthe hollow which held the forms of Jaska and Sarka. The cubes wereclosing on them, oddly like a squad of Earthlings in the olden times, advancing by rushes against an entrenched enemy!

The buzzing sound which they had first heard now seemed accentuated, but, instead of being outside of the listeners, seemed inside them, hammering against their very brains! Messages were being sent to them, or passed back and forth between and among the cube-men aboutthem--and they hadn't the slightest idea how to make answer, knowwhether an answer was expected of them, or what the cube-men thoughtabout them!

Since there was nothing else to do, they lay there, hands clasped, aschildren in the dark clasp hands, and waited for what might transpire. 

 * * * * *

Suddenly the discord from the inside of the crater ceased, and all wasstill, while it came to Sarka that the cube-men who stood before himwere in grim communication with something invisible to Sarka andJaska, somebody, perhaps, deep in the bowels of the Moon, over insidethe crater. 

They knew, those two, that the cube-soldiers were reporting theirpresence, and asking instructions; that the Moon had gone silent tolisten, and that within a few moments their fate would be decided. What should they do?

In his hand Sarka held his ray director, with which he knew he couldblast one or all of the cubes into nothingness. But still he held hishand, made no move. 

Something, however, had to be done, for the discord was startingagain, growing in volume. It made Sarka think, oddly enough, of a deafmute fighting for speech! Then came the first intelligible sound. .. . 

A burst, from the depths of the crater, of sardonic laughter!

"Dalis!" said Sarka, and moved. While Sarka moved, Jaska held fast tohis arm. Casting her fear to the winds, furious because of thelaughter of Dalis, Sarka thrust his ray director back into his beltand stood upright. 

Bending over he seized the first of the gleaming cubes and hurled itover the edge of the crater, saw it start plummeting down. But evenbefore it fell out of sight within the crater its gleam had dulleduntil it was almost impossible to see the thing. Racing as thoughracing against time, Sarka caught up cube after cube and hurled themall after the first. 

 * * * * *

Out of the crater there came no sound of heavy objects striking, though Sarka felt there should have, for the cubes were almost asheavy as a man. 

Then his hair almost stood on end under his helmet, for under thatfirst aircar, where he had first seen it, the initial cube was againgleaming into life!

The thing had dissolved while being hurled over the rim, and reformedin its proper place, its station as silent sentinel under the aircar!

These cubes then, were indeed sentinels--sentinels impossible toinjure. Though no force had been used against Sarka and Jaska, Sarkahad the feeling that they were powerless, and that here on the edge ofa crater of the Moon awful forces were being mustered against them. Mustered slowly, sluggishly, yet surely, as though the mentality whichmustered them knew them helpless, and that there was no need to hurry!

As for Jaska, she merely clung to Sarka and waited--trusting him nomatter what might transpire. 

On a blind chance, Sarka brought out his ray director again, turnedits muzzle toward that invisibly-blue column, pressed with hisfingers, moving the director back and forth. 

Instantly the blue column seemed to break short off, while the brokenupper portion started racing outward toward the Earth. Sarka watchedit, and noted that the yellowish glow on the Earth, even as hewatched, was fading out--disappearing!

"If the ray will smash the blue column, Jaska, " he said, "it will alsodestroy its source! Come! We will go look for it!"

And, holding her hand tightly, he rose to his feet and strode boldlydown the inner slope of the vast crater. 

CHAPTER XIV

_The Crater Gnomes_

It seemed to Sarka, as he moved down the inner slope of the crater, that the cubes were somehow making sport of him, laughing at him, though no hint of laughter or anything resembling laughter emanatedfrom them. 

But, shutting his lips grimly, holding fast to Jaska's hand, heproceeded on, reached the lower portion of the inner slope, where itdropped off into a seeming black abyss, and dropped, keeping to a safespeed because of the fact that both he and Jaska were attired formovement in the air--though their manner of aerial transportationcould scarcely be called flying. 

The anti-gravitational ovoids simply rendered ineffectual the law ofgravity. 

Down they dropped, endlessly it seemed, while all about them, growinggradually, a bluish glow began to make itself manifest. Sarka turnedand looked at the face of Jaska and noted that it--all her being--wasglowing with this strange radiance. 

He smiled at her, and she smiled back. 

Looking down now, to what seemed still a vast depth, they could seefigures moving, tiny, almost infinitesimal, about a great circularcone, out of the depths of which came that strange bluish column whoseouter tip touched the Earth. 

 * * * * *

Some inner sense warned Sarka not to touch that column, or to permitJaska to do so. They dropped down beside it, while Sarka, for noreason that he could assign, once more took his ray director in hisfree hand and held it in readiness. It seemed so tiny and futile--sofoolish for two people, one of them a woman--to go into the very heartof an alien world, against an unknown enemy, armed with such a tinyweapon. Two people against unguessed myriads, whose very nature was anenigma, even to Sarka. 

Closer now appeared the bottom of the crater, whose floor seemed to becovered with something that looked like blue sand, or rock. From thisbluish substance the glow which bathed the two Earthlings seemed toemanate. 

The funnel of the crater had now given away to the immensities ofspace, in all directions, and the cold of outside was being replacedby a warmth which promised soon to be even uncomfortable. 

Then, without a jar, the two landed at the bottom of the crater, sideby side, close enough almost to that great cone to touch it. Out ofthe cone came that bluish column, to shoot up through the funnel downwhich the two had lightly dropped . .. And the motion of the--whateverit was--was accompanied by a muted moaning sound, like that of adistant waterfall. 

They paused there, in amazement, taking stock of their surroundings. Huge tunnels, whose roofs were lost to invisibility in the bluishhaze, whose extremities could only be guessed at, reached off in alldirections. As far as the two could tell they were the only livingsouls within the crater, though both knew better. 

Sarka had the feeling, and he knew Jaska shared it with him, thatinnumerable eyes were studying them, innumerable intellects werecataloguing them. And somehow he sensed the presence, somewhere near, of the traitor Dalis!

 * * * * *

Then that discordant sound again, breaking so swiftly that it fellupon the eardrums of Sarka and Jaska like the crack of doom. Out ofthe many tunnels, from all directions, came hordes of beings whichwould have made the nightmares of Paracelsus--first of the scientistsof Earth--pale to insignificance. 

Paracelsus had written and illustrated his nightmares. Had hinted ofstrange acts of flesh-grafting--as the grafting of legs on the head ofman. He had spoken, and written about, ghastly operations, from whichmen came forth as part men, part spiders; part men, part scorpions, dogs, cats, crocodiles. .. . 

Sarka thought, as his mind went back to those ancient books of hispeople in which still remained vestiges of the theories of Paracelsus, that somehow, in his dreams, Paracelsus must have visited the cratersof the Moon. 

These people . .. If they could be called people. .. . 

They had heads like the heads of Earthlings, broad-domed of brow, lacking eyelashes or lids, so that their eyes were perpetuallystaring. They possessed no bodies at all, and their legs, thin andattenuated to the size of the wrists of average men, seemed to supportthe massive heads with difficulty!

From all directions they came, looking like spiders such as Sarka theFirst had described to Sarka, when Sarka had been a mere boy. Theycame on the floor, out of the tunnels; they dropped from the walls ofthe tunnels, and down from the invisible roofs, landing on the flooras lightly as feathers--and all converged on Jaska and Sarka. 

They seemed to have no fear at all, but only a vast curiosity. 

Closer and closer they came. 

 * * * * *

Jaska's grip tightened on the hand of Sarka, for one of the creatures, with a spiderish leap, had jumped upon her, fastening its legs in hertight-fitting costume, where he hung, his face within an inch or twoof hers. His lidless eyes, unblinking, stared deeply into hers. 

Others jumped up beside the first, and still others clambered overSarka, until both Sarka and Jaska were covered by them like beetlesattacked by ants. But these strange gnomelike creatures, who did notfear these strangers, apparently meant them no harm. 

Then, after a thorough scrutiny, began the strangest talking Sarka hadever heard. The crater-Gnomes seemed to communicate by making strangeclucking sounds with their tongues, sounds which were unmusical anddiscordant, and which, as the Gnomes who stood back from them, becausealready the two were covered until no more could cling to Jaska orSarka, joined in the speech--mounted in the cavern to a vast crescendoof sound. 

Sarka knew then that this was the sound which had come out to themwhile they crouched at the crater rim. These were people of the Moon:but if these were Moon-men, what, or who, were those gleaming cubes?

"Stand perfectly still, " Sarka mentally admonished Jaska, "theyapparently mean us no harm!"

He had not spoken aloud, had not allowed his thought to reach any butJaska; yet instantly the discordant clucking ceased, and the Gnomeswere quiet, as though they politely listened to someone who hadinterrupted them, yet whose interruption they resented, or werecurious about. 

 * * * * *

Wondering how the creature would regard his action, Sarka reachedforth and plucked away the first Gnome which had jumped upon Jaska, and placed him gently on the ground. The thing merely stared at Sarkawith his lidless eyes, as though wondering at Sarka's meaning. Thenhis lips, which were triangular, rather than straight as those ofEarthlings, began again that strange clucking. 

Immediately the Gnomes which clung to Jaska and Sarka dropped away, and scuttled into the midst of the myriads that stood and watched. They did not understand the speech of these Earthlings, but they wereunusually clever in comprehending the meaning of gestures. 

"Hold fast to me, Jaska, " thought Sarka toward her--and wondered anewas the Gnomes instantly ceased their clucking sounds--"for I am goingto try an experiment. "

Holding her hand still, he turned and strode straight toward the hugecone out of which rose the bluish column. 

Instantly the Gnomes broke into a frightful clucking of tongues, asound that mounted to ear-drum-breaking intensity, and in a trice, climbing over one another to get into position, they moved in betweenSarka and the cone. So eager were they to bar his further progressthat they stood atop one another, until the depth of them was as tallas Sarka standing upright. 

Yet, though they plainly said to Sarka: "You must not approach thecone, " they did not seem to be angry with their visitors, but onlycurious. Sarka looked at Jaska, noted how wanly she smiled. 

Then he turned, and headed for the nearest of the monster tunnels. 

 * * * * *

Instantly he detected a surprising eagerness in the renewed cluckingof tongues, while the Gnomes raced ahead, behind, all about the two, capering like pet animals, showing these strangers the way into thetunnel. 

As they entered it, Sarka tried to discover whence came the bluishglow. The floor seemed to be of bluish sandstone, though its color, too, might have been caused by the glow. It was warm, too, so warmthat perspiration was breaking out on the cheeks of Sarka. 

Whence came the glow? Apparently from the very walls of the tunnel, orits roof; but surely from somewhere, surely from some secret place, whence it was diffused all over. 

"And Jaska, " said Sarka, "the Moon, according to my father'sresearches, is literally honeycombed with craters like this one!"

Again, as he thought, that strange, sudden cessation of the cluckingof the Gnomes. Whither were they leading them? It was plain to be seenthat the Gnomes were heading for some destination, almost herdingSarka and Jaska toward it. Capering creatures, who behaved witlessly, yet were far from witless. If Sarka were not sadly mistaken, thesewere Moon-men--and women, too, perhaps, since he could not tell thesex of them--and those gleaming cubes were their outer guards, perhapsslaves. 

If the cubes were really of metal--they had felt warm to Sarka'stouch--then these Moon-men had gone further in science thanEarthlings, as they had imbued at least some metals, or stones, withintelligence sufficiently advanced for them to perform actionsindependently of their masters' wills. 

 * * * * *

Sarka, too, was remembering another thing: that he had touched one ofthese Gnomes, to remove it from Jaska--and had felt a distinct shockthat was patently electrical!

The bluish glow was increasing, becoming more soft and mellow, shadinggradually into golden, as they advanced--shading still as theypreceded until it was almost white, almost blinding, in its radiance. 

Then, of a sudden, the clucking of the Gnomes ended, and the creaturesceased their capering, fell into something that might have been anordered military formation, and with Jaska and Sarka in the midst ofthem, moved straight toward a broad expanse of the tunnel wall, in theface of which appeared three long lines, deeply cut in the shape of atriangle. 

The Gnome who had first leaped upon Jaska advanced to the wall, pausedwith his face almost against the lower line of the triangle, andremained there, intently staring, while the other Gnomes remainedmute and unmoving. 

Stronger and stronger appeared the blinding light. Slowly the innerportion of the triangle began to give inward, like a door. And out ofthe opening came that blinding radiance. 

As the triangular door stood entirely open, Sarka and Jaska stood inthunderstruck silence, staring like people bereft of their senses. Forthere, standing in the opening, the now white radiance itself a mantleto cover her, was a woman, unclothed save for the radiance, who mighthave been of the Earth, save that she was more beautiful than anywoman of Earth. 

Beside her the radiant beauty of Jaska paled, became wan and sickly. 

But Sarka noted immediately her eyes, whose depths bewildered, amazedhim. For in them he could see no expression, no feeling, but onlyabysmal cruelty. That she was Sarka's master, and Jaska's master, andmaster of all these Gnomes, became instantly apparent fortelepathically she addressed Sarka. 

"I am busy now. The Moon-people will hold you prisoners in the Placeof the Blue light, until I am ready to give you to the Cone!"

CHAPTER XV

_The Place of the Blue Light_

So the Gnomes were Moon-people, masters of the Moon cubes! And peopleand cubes were ruled by a woman who resembled a woman of Earth!

The Gnomes took them back the way they had come. 

Where, Sarka wondered, were the people of the Gens of Dalis? And wherewas Dalis himself! Sarka was sure that, in those first discords whichhad come out of the crater, he had heard at least a hint of thelaughter of Dalis. 

And this woman clothed in radiance--who was she? And what? That shewas a creature of the Moon, and yet resembled in all ways a woman ofEarth, save that she was more beautiful than any woman Sarka had everseen, seemed almost impossible to believe. Yet he had seen her. So hadJaska, and as Sarka and Jaska, with the capering Gnomes still aboutthem, were led away to a fate at which they could only guess, Sarkawondered at Jaska's silence and at the strange lack of expression onher face. 

He pressed her hand, but somehow she failed to return the pressure, mystifying more than ever. This sudden coldness was not like Jaska. 

Back they went through the vast cavern where the cone of the bluishcolumn still moaned and murmured. Sarka moved as close to the cone asthe Gnomes would permit, and peered up along the mighty length of thecolumn. At its tip was still the Earth, like a star viewed from thebottom of a deep well. 

Smaller, too, it seemed, which proved that Sarka's breaking of theblue column had been but momentary, that the column had almostinstantly regained its contact with the Earth. What was its source, what the composition of the column?

 * * * * *

At the moment there could be no answer to the question. Now the Gnomeswere escorting them into another tunnel, whose glow was even bluerthan that which the two had experienced in the other tunnels. And thedeeper they penetrated, the more distant from the cavern of the Cone, the deeper in color became that light. 

Finally the Gnome who had mentally asked permission of the RadiantWoman to show her Jaska and Sarka passed before another expanse ofwall, identical in appearance with that of the wall of the trianglefrom which the Radiant Woman had appeared. 

This time the Gnome managed ingress by a strange clucking sound, withhis triangular lips held close to the base-line of the triangle. 

Now the door swung open; but the radiance which now came out was notclear white, as in the case of the outer door, but deeply, coldlyblue. For the first time the Gnomes used force with their prisoners, thus proving to them that they were indeed prisoners. Their tiny feetcaught at Sarka and at Jaska, and forced them through the door, whichswung shut behind them. 

Sarka looked at Jaska who, in this strange new light, had taken on thecolor of indigo, and smiled at her. She did not return his smile, buther eyes looked deeply, somewhat sorrowfully, into his. As though sheasked him a question he could not understand, to which he couldtherefore give no answer. 

 * * * * *

Sarka was now conscious of the fact that the heat of theirprison-house--whose character they did not as yet know--was becomingalmost unbearable. They were alone, too, for the Gnomes had notentered the door of triangle. Sarka partially removed his life mask, and testing the atmosphere of the place, found it capable of beingbreathed without the mask. He signalled mentally to Jaska to removeher mask, and when the girl had done so he took her in his arms andkissed her on the lips. 

She accepted his caress, but did not return it, and her eyes stillpeered deeply into his. 

"Well, beloved, " he said. "I am terribly sorry. But I did not want youto come because I was afraid that something of this sort wouldhappen. "

She did not answer. 

"What is it, Jaska?" he said at last. 

"What did you think of that woman?" she asked softly. 

"Beautiful!" he said enthusiastically. "Fearfully beautiful! But didyou see her eyes? She had no more mercy in her heart than if she weremade of stone! And she hated us both the moment she saw us!"

"And you, Sarka--did you hate her, too?"

Sarka stared at her, not comprehending. 

"I feel, " he said, "that if we are ever to escape her, we must killher, or render her incapable of retaining us!"

Then, of her own accord, Jaska placed her arms around Sarka, and gavehim her lips. Her new behavior was as incomprehensible to Sarka as herformer enigmatic expression had been. Wise in the ways of science wasSarka, but he knew nothing of women!

 * * * * *

Now hand in hand again, they began a survey of their prison house. Thebluish glow was unbearable to the eyes, and tears came unbidden andran down the cheeks of the prisoners. In a minute or two, perspirationwas literally bathing the bodies of the two. After a questioningexchange of glances, Sarka swiftly divested himself of his costume, stripping down to the gray toga of Earth's manhood. With a shrug, Jaska removed her clothing to her own toga, and the two suits Sarkacarried under his arm. 

They started ahead, exploring, then sprang back with a cry of fright. Sarka did not know whether it was Jaska or himself who had cried out;for just as they moved forward, a rent opened in the floor at theirfeet, and their eyes for a moment--they could stand no longer--peeredinto a bluely flaming abyss which, save for the color, reminded Sarkaof the word pictures of Hell he had read in Earth's books ofantiquity!

As the two stepped back, the rent in the floor closed instantly. Sarkahad noted where the end of it had been, and started to detour, hiseyes on the floor. 

Over to his left the bluely glowing wall reached up to invisibleimmensity. But as he would have passed along the wall, the rent openedagain, effectually barring his way. 

Beyond the rent he could see a vast continuation of the cavern, and hefelt that, could they only pass the rent, they might reach a placewhere the heat was not so unbearable, and they could stay and talk incomfort. 

 * * * * *

Releasing Jaska, he stepped back and prepared to leap the spot wherethe rent had been. High he jumped, and far, surprised at the length ofhis own leap. He landed lightly, far beyond the area where the renthad been, and even as he landed, a rent opened again at his feet, thuseffectually barring further progress!

"It could just as easily, " he told himself, "have opened under myfeet, and dropped me into the abyss!"

From behind him came the sudden sound of screaming. He whirled to lookback, to see Jaska standing there, arms outstretched toward him, hereyes wide with fear and horror, and as he stood watching, she raced tohim, unmindful of abysses that might open under her feet, and flungherself into his arms. 

"Come back!" she moaned. "Come back! Don't you see? _They_ don't wishyou to explore further! We are in their power, and must simply awaittheir pleasure, whoever or whatever they are! They see all we do!"

So they turned back, and stood against the door which held themprisoners; and the heat of the place seemed to enter into them, tognaw at their very vitals. After a time Sarka found himself almosttearing at his throat, fighting for breath. 

 * * * * *

Gasping, the tears bathing their cheeks until even their tears andtheir perspiration would flow no more, they huddled now just insidethe massive stone door, arms about each other, and almost prayed fordeath. Sarka at least prayed for death for both of them; but Jaskaprayed for a way of deliverance, prayed that herself and Sarka mightsomehow win free, and be together again. 

Sarka, who knew little of women, marveled at the grandeur of hercourage, and wondered that he really knew this radiant woman solittle. He compared her in his mind with the unclothed woman who hadordered them here as prisoners, and it came to him that Jaska was allperfection, all tender womanhood, while the Radiant Woman was amonster, without soul or compassion--a creature of horror who mockedGod with her outward seeming of perfection. 

Jaska read his thoughts, and smiled wanly to herself, and Sarkawondered how, suffering as he knew she must be suffering, she couldfind the courage to smile. 

Then, for a time, the two became comatose, mastered by the blue heat, and in dreamlike imaginings wandered in strange fields which couldonly, to these two, have been racial memories, since neither had everseen such fields. There were cool streams, all a-murmur, and breezeswhich cooled their sun-tanned cheeks. Water touched their tongues, andcooled their whole bodies as they gratefully imbibed it. 

 * * * * *

In their wanderings, in which Sarka was a faun and Jaska a nymph, theytalked together in a language which only these two comprehended--alanguage which dealt in figures of speech, a language which dependedupon handclasps for periods, glances of the eyes for commas, and thesinging of their hearts for complete understanding. 

Then a cool breeze, cool by comparison, caressed their pain-distortedcheeks, and the Gnomes came in, found them lying there, and cluckedendlessly as though wondering what to do with them. 

From hand to tiny hand, their feet serving as hands, the Gnomes passedgarments--garments of the Gens of Dalis, and clothed again the twowhom the Place of the Blue Light had all but slain. Of that ghastlyexperiment Sarka retained but one real memory. .. . 

That bluish light, in the midst of the abyss, shifting and swayinglike blue serpents swimming in Hades . .. That bluish light of theCone, which he had broken up for a brief moment by the use of his raydirector. Was this bluish light in the abyss the source of the lightin the Cone? If one were to destroy it at its source. .. . 

The two regained consciousness completely as the triangular doorclosed behind Sarka and Jaska and the Gnomes, and they were taken intothe refreshing coolness of the tunnel, led back again in the directionof the room where they had seen the Radiant Woman. Both Jaska andSarka noticed that they were clothed in new clothing, and a shy blushtinged the cheeks of Jaska as her eyes met those of Sarka. 

 * * * * *

This time they entered the vast chamber of radiance behind the firsttriangular door, and were forced to their knees to do obeisance to theRadiant Woman, who sat on a gleaming yellow stone for dais! The guardswho forced Sarka and Jaska to their knees, were clothed in the greenof the Gens of Dalis, and Dalis himself, his face stern, but bearingno sign of recognition of these two, stood at the right hand of theRadiant Woman!

"You come to us as spies, " the thought of the Radiant Woman impingedupon the brains of Sarka and of Jaska, "and as spies you should begiven to the Cone. But if you swear eternal allegiance to me, to obeyme in all things, to forego your allegiance to Earth, your lives willbe spared! What say you?"

Boldly Sarka stared into the almost opaque eyes of the woman. Then hisglance went to the face of Dalis. 

"What, " he asked boldly, in the language of Earth, "does the traitorDalis say?"

"I have sworn allegiance to Luar, who addresses you, and am her allyin all things! I have but one addition to make to what she says: Jaskabelongs to me!"

The sudden leering grin of Dalis was hideous. 

Sarka peered at Jaska, framing his answer. But Jaska spoke first. 

"For myself, O Dalis, " she said swiftly, "I can answer in but one way. Return me to the Place of the Blue Light, and forget me there!"

Sarka smiled, while his heart leaped with joy. 

"And I, O Luar, " he said mentally to the Radiant Woman, "prefer deathwith Jaska, at the Place of the Blue Light, than life as a traitor tothe world of my nativity!"

Instantly Luar began the clucking sound which was the language of theGnomes, at the same time allowing her thoughts as she spoke to impressthemselves upon the brains of the prisoners. 

"Take them away! Take them to the Cavern of the Cone, and when theyhave suffered as much as such inferior beings are capable ofsuffering, thrust them into the base of the Cone!"

CHAPTER XVI

_Cavern of the Cone_

The Gnomes had been bidden to take the prisoners to the Cavern of theCone, but to the surprise of Sarka and Jaska, they were taken back tothe Place of the Blue Light! This time the Gnomes entered the placewith them, closing and securing the door behind them. 

But the Place of the Blue Light had changed!

Now it had no floor of blue, as it had had before, but only a corridorperhaps wide enough to allow the passage of four grown men, walkingside by side, while the abyss of which the two had got but the meresthint through the opening and closing rents filled all the center ofthe place!

The Gnomes seemed impervious to the unendurable heat, and these, moving together, one behind the other, one beside the other, one atopthe other, formed a living wall between Sarka and Jaska and the rim ofthe flaming blue abyss, to protect them from the heat. 

Yet through the bodies of this living wall of Gnomes, a wall which washigher than the heads of Sarka and Jaska, the heat forced its way tothe prisoners, and burned them anew with its agony. 

To what dread rendezvous were they going? Where, save for the fewguards at the house of Luar, were the people of the Gens of Dalis?Sarka felt, somehow, that the answers to all these questions wouldsoon be made manifest, and a feeling of exaltation he could notexplain was possessing him as he advanced. Around the corridor, whoseone side was the wall reaching up to invisibility, whose other sidedropped off into the abyss, the Gnomes herded the prisoners. 

 * * * * *

The leader of the Gnomes was again the Gnome who had first leaped uponJaska to examine her curiously. Now, watching the lidless eyes of thisbeing, Sarka fancied he could detect a hint of some expression. TheGnome was excited at some prospect, some climax which they wereapproaching. What? On and on they moved. The blue flames from theabyss, roaring in a way that neither of the prisoners had everexperienced, reached upward in searing tongues toward the invisibleroof of this place. 

Then, when they had progressed far from the door of entry, Sarkagasped at a new manifestation. Out of the abyss, some distance ahead, came a gleaming thing, something that had apparently evolved itselfout of the flames of the abyss. Blue of color it was, because of theflames from the pit; but Sarka recognized it with a start which hecould not suppress nor understand. 

It was one of those cubes, such as he and Jaska had seen at the lip ofthe Moon-crater! As they approached, guided by the Gnomes, other cubesappeared out of the abyss, others in numbers swiftly augmented, untila veritable battalion of them had marshalled itself, there at the lipof the abyss. 

 * * * * *

Straight toward these cubes the Gnomes led Sarka and Jaska, and whenthey had reached the center of the group, they halted, forming acircle, still a wall to mask the prisoners from the heat of the abyss. The leader of the Gnomes stopped with his face, his lidless eyes, close to one of the cubes. 

For a moment he paused thus, and Sarka felt sure that somehow theGnome was holding thought converse with the cube; but, try as hemight, he could find no meaning in the weird conversation for himself. It was oddly like listening to a conversation in a code beyond hisknowledge. 

Then the Gnome turned back to Sarka and Jaska. By a pressure of tinyfeet, he tried to indicate that Sarka and Jaska should unclasp theirhands. But they only clung the tighter, and now threw their arms abouteach other. 

The Gnome desisted, much to the joy of the lovers, while Sarka studiedthe cubes, wondering what their mission was with Jaska and himself. 

Slowly, together, the cubes began to lose their bluish glow, theircube shape--to vanish utterly. 

In a trice, still locked in each other's arms, Sarka and Jaska saw theGnomes through what appeared to be an even bluer haze. Besides, theheat of the abyss no longer tortured them, and their bodies werecooling in a way that was unbelievably refreshing. 

"What is it, beloved?" whispered Jaska. "What is it?"

 * * * * *

Sarka stared at the Gnomes, now in retreat, capering as they had firstcapered when the two had fallen into their hands, toward the door bywhich all had entered. Mystified, Sarka put forth his hand. It came incontact with something solid, and oddly warm, which stirred aninstantly responsive chord in the brain of Sarka. 

This feeling was the same as he experienced when he had lifted thosecubes and hurled them into the crater--where they had dissolved infalling, and instantly reappeared, each under its own aircar!

"Jaska!" he explained. "Jaska! The cubes have dissolved themselves, and have reformed in the shape of a globe, as a protective coveringabout us, to protect us from the heat of the abyss! Apparently we arenot to be killed at once! These cubes are slaves of the Gnomes, ofwhom Luar is ruler!"

They were indeed locked inside a globe, a globe whose integral partswere the cubes of their acquaintance; and the atmosphere of theinterior was not uncomfortable, but otherwise. Sarka and Jaska werefeeling normal for the first time since they had landed on the Moon. But what was the meaning of this strange imprisonment?

They were soon to know!

For the globe which enclosed them, moved to the edge of the flamingabyss, and dropped into the bluish glow! It did not drop heavily, likea falling object on Earth, but rather floated downward, right into theheart of the flames. At this new manifestation of the strangeness ofscience on the Moon, Sarka was at once all scientist himself, strivingto find adequate answers for things which, from cause to effect, wereentirely new to him. With Jaska still clasped close against him, heseated himself in the base of the globe and studied the area throughwhich they were passing. 

Blue flames which seemed to be born somewhere, an infinite distancebelow them; blue flames which he knew to be the element that, shotoutward from the great cone, had forced the Moon away from the Earth. 

No sound of the roaring flames came through the globe, but everymovement of them was visible. 

 * * * * *

Sarka turned and peered through the bottom of the globe; but all hecould see below were the flames, a molten indigo lake of them. Now, asthey floated downward, the glow was giving away to lighter blue, towhite, almost pure white, like the radiance which covered Luar like amantle. 

Sarka felt himself on the eve of vast important discoveries, and thescientist in him made him, for the moment, almost forget the woman athis side. Jaska, unbothered about anything, now that Sarka was at herside, regarded his expression of deep concentration with a tolerantsmile. 

Whiter now was the light, and faster fell the globe which held thetwo. 

The color of the globe, now fallen below the area of blue, had takenon, chameleonlike, the color of the white flames that bathed it. 

Then, apparently right in the center of a lake of white flames, thoughSarka could see no solid place on which the globe had landed, theglobe came to rest. 

Now everything was plain to see, and Sarka studied his surroundingswith new interest. He felt a mounting sensation of scalp-pricklinghorror. 

For, scattered throughout the lake of white flames, in all directions, as far as the eye could reach--standing alone, suffering untoldagonies, from the expressions on their faces--were people of the Gensof Dalis!

 * * * * *

No longer were they clothed in green and wearing on breast and backthe yellow stars of their Gens. Now they were nude as they had comeinto the world and standing there, each was holding out hands inhorror, to hold back myriads of the Gnomes, who would have forced themto submerge themselves in the white flames of the lake!

Was the Gens of Dalis being burned alive? What was the meaning ofthis?

For a moment, filled with horror, Sarka looked away from thespectacle. Off to his right, as he sat, he noted that the flames, which here seemed lighter than they had in high levels, wereconverging on a single spot toward the side of the lake of whiteflames--as smoke converges on the base of a chimney leading outward tothe air!

He knew as he stared that he was gazing at the spot where the bluishcolumn of the cone was born!

Shaking his head, he turned back to the mighty spectacle of thishorrible thing that was being done to the people of the Gens of Dalis. 

In his brain there suddenly crashed a thought whose source he couldonly guess at, whose meaning mystified him more than anything yetexperienced. The thought might have emanated from Luar, or from Dalis. But the more he thought of the matter, the more he thought how thephrasing of the thought was like the telepathy of Sarka the Second, now thousands of miles away, upon the Earth. And this was the thought:

"If they fight the flames, the flames will destroy them! If they gointo them freely, voluntarily, they will be rendered immune to heatand to cold, to life and to death. But it is better that they die, forEarth's sake!"

What did it mean?

 * * * * *

Sarka thought of the radiant white light which perpetually bathed theperson of Luar, and thought that he had somehow been given a hint ofits source. If the Gens of Dalis were voluntarily bathed in the lakeof white flames, would they become as Luar?

Somehow, though he knew that such bathing would save their lives, theidea filled him anew with horror. He found himself torn between twoduties. If he sent his thought out there to the Gens of Dalis, peopleof Earth, his people, they would be saved, but might forever becomeallies of the people of the Moon. If Sarka did not tell them, theywould die--and there were millions of them. 

But his science had always been a science of Life, and it still was. 

"Enter the flames!" he telepathically bade his people. "Enter theflames!"

But they did not heed him, and for the first time the atmosphere ofthe interior of the globe seemed filled with savage, abysmal menace!Plain to Sarka was the meaning of that menace: The cubes whichcomposed this globe were loyal to their masters, the masters to amistress, Luar, and would countenance no meddling. 

Likewise it was impossible, if the Gnomes willed it to the cubes, forSarka to transmit his thoughts to the Gens of Dalis through thetransparent walls of the globe!

They were prisoners, indeed, of Dalis and of Luar!

 * * * * *

But could Sarka and Jaska turn their new-found knowledge to their ownuse? Sarka was thinking back, back to one of the ancient tomes of hispeople. It spoke, someplace, of a man who had got trapped in the heartof a seething volcano, where the heat of it had cured him of hisillnesses, made him whole again, given him new youth and freshness. 

But since the cubes could forestall his transmission of thought, andperhaps could read and understand thoughts, how was he to tell Jaska?How show her that a way of deliverance had been given into theirhands, if they only possessed the courage to use it!

Again came that thought, which Sarka recognized as the telepathy ofhis father:

"Courage! You will win, and Jaska with you!"

Thoughts could come in to them then, but could not go out. Or did itmean that the cubes, or the masters of the cubes, did not care if theprisoners received messages from outside, because they knew themselvescapable of frustrating anything the prisoners planned? Perhaps. Morethan likely that was it. 

But, looking through the bottom of the globe, into the sea of whiteflames below, Sarka gripped more tightly his ray director, and triedto marshal the forces of his courage. There was surely some way ofescape. Some way out of their strange predicament. 

CHAPTER XVII

_Casting the Die_

Somehow Sarka believed that this white radiance of the abyss held thesecret of the omnipotence of Luar, if omnipotence she possessed. Thatshe did seemed sure, else Dalis would not have been with her. Besides, she had asked Sarka and Jaska to swear allegiance to her. Yes thesecret was here, in the heart of the lake of white flames. 

It might have been the Moon Fountain of Youth, or of omnipotence. There was no telling, unless Sarka tried an experiment. 

His fury at Dalis now knew no bounds, and he was conscious of adesire, too poignant almost to be borne, in some way to circumvent thearch-traitor. For here in the craters of the Moon Dalis was workingout a strange amplification of the scheme which he had, centuriesbefore, proposed to Sarka the First. He was subjecting the people ofhis Gens to the white flames. 

If they immersed themselves voluntarily, they became as Luar was, butstill subservient to the will of Dalis--and, in his hands, invincibleinstruments of war! Dalis had doubtless already been bathed in theflames. Sarka was not sure, for in the home of Luar the white lightwas so blinding it would have been impossible to make sure that thewhite radiance clothed the others with Luar. 

"That's it!" said Sarka to himself. "That's it! Dalis and those guardsat the dais of Luar have already been subjected to the white flames!The rest who immerse themselves, voluntarily, come forth as Luar andDalis! Who do not, die. Dalis' manner of forcing the survival of thefittest! His idea of the flood in grandfather's time, only now hecauses his selection by flames instead of flood! He believes that onlythose worthy to survive, and to stand at his back in whatever heconceives to be his need, will guess the secret of the immersion. Theothers will die!"

 * * * * *

What a terrible alternative, when Dalis could as easily have given thesecret to all his people! Could have told them how to save themselves!But it was not Dalis' way. Here, in the beginning of what was tobecome a dual sovereignty of the Moon, Dalis had already taken thoughton the matter of over-population, and was destroying the many that thefew--the strongest, most ruthless--might survive! Hundreds ofthousands, millions of the Gens of Dalis, stood at the door of life, and did not know how to enter, merely because Dalis withheld the key!And, pausing in terror before the flames, they died, when a step and aplunge would have saved them all!

"If he lives to be a million, if he lives through everlasting life, "said Sarka to himself, "and does penance through a thousandreincarnations, Dalis can never atone for this wholesale destructionof humanity! But I . .. I wonder!"

Sarka realized the nicety of the revenge of Dalis upon Jaska andhimself. Dalis had not given the secret to the prisoners, but by hisuse of the cubes, he had plunged them into the very heart of thehorror, where they could see the suffering of the people of the Gens. Then, when they had seen and appreciated the horror of it all, theywould follow the people of the Gens to death!

But Luar had spoken of thrusting them into the base of the Cone!

 * * * * *

Then they were not for the flames after all! How could it be done? Theglobe composed of the cubes had but to transport the prisoners to thebase of the Cone, press against that base, and open to let theprisoners free--and in the heart of the white-blue column they wouldbe hurled outward from the Moon, into space. The mere prospect of suchhorror caused the perspiration to break forth anew on the body ofSarka. 

But there might be a way. 

"I wonder, " he asked himself, "if the Earth people in _this_ cratercould read my thoughts in spite of their agonies, if I could get mythought to them through the globe? I wonder if, reading my thoughts, they would obey?"

Bit by bit, as parts of a puzzle fall into place, he made his plan, and his heart beat high with excitement. Jaska bent before him to lookinto his eyes, and he knew that she was trying to read his face. Sheknew, wise Jaska, that this brilliant lover of hers was making a plan, and she believed in the sure success of it because it would be _his_!

She smiled at him, her courage high, and waited!

Holding the ray director between his body and that of Jaska, he took aterrible, ghastly chance. Dalis had known the secret sign manual ofthese two; but would the intelligence of the cubes comprehend it? Hemust take the chance, slender as it seemed. His free hand began tospell out, with all speed, the mad plan he had conceived. 

"The white flames are harmless if one plunges into them voluntarily. Are you afraid to attempt it? No? Then unfasten your clothing, andhave it so arranged that you can drop entirely out of it when I giveyou the signal, which will be a mere widening of the eyes, like this!You understand? We must go nude into the flames, so that they willbathe our whole bodies! But, when you slip out of your clothing, tearyour anti-gravitational ovoid from the skull-pan of your helmet, andhold it in your mouth! Then depend upon me, and have no fear!"

"I have no fear, " replied the fingers of Jaska. "I go to death withyou if you wish--or to Life!"

 * * * * *

Feeling the menace of the cubes almost gripping at his throat as hegot into action, Sarka unfastened his own clothing, ripped the ovoidfrom his helmet, placed it in his mouth. Then, looking at Jaska, hegave her the signal. 

Instantly, at her nod, he brought forth the ray director, pressed itwith his fingers, directing its muzzle toward the curve of the globe, swinging it around in a circle, cutting out the bottom of the globe ofcubes. 

The action must have been one of untold surprise to the cubes whichmade up the globe, for before anything could be done to stay the handof Sarka, his ray director had cut out the bottom of the globe, andJaska and himself, divested now of all clothing, had fallen from theglobe. 

Unbearable heat slashed and tore at them. They still held hands, andwhen their feet touched upon something solid, they were gasping withthe unbelievable heat; and it was ripping at their lungs like talonsof white hot steel. But, pausing not at all, Sarka raced ahead withJaska, and dived straight into the lake of white flames. 

As he dived he directed his thoughts toward the people of the Gens whostood, undecided, dying by slow inches, on their little oases in thelake. And this was the thought, which was a command. 

"Plunge into the flames! They will not hurt you! Plunge in, and obeymy commands, O people of the Gens of Dalis! I, Sarka, command that youobey me! Jaska, who commanded you at the will of Dalis, also commands. Gather with Jaska and me at the base of the Cone! You have but tofollow the converging of the flames!"

 * * * * *

Together the two plunged in, and it seemed all at once as though thefire had gone out of the white flames, for they were cool and soothingto the touch. Sarka could feel new life being borne in him, could feelhimself revitalized, exalted, lifted to the heights. He suddenlyexperienced the desire to run, and shout his joy for all to hear. Butreason held him. Not thus easily would Luar and Dalis, the traitor, give over their designs against these two. 

But in the heart of the flames, they dropped down, while they turnedtheir faces toward the base of the Cone, or where they thought thebase to be, even as Sarka gave another command to the now invisiblepeople of the Gens of Dalis. 

"Hold your ovoids in your mouths and follow! Obey my will!"

They dropped now to what seemed to be cool flagstones, while abovethem showed an orifice in a wall, into which those tongues of flamewere darting. They paused there, side by side, their faces radiant, and looked back the way they had come. 

Coming out of the white flames, like battalions on parade, were thepeople of the Gens of Dalis--scores and hundreds of them, who hadsensed and heeded the mental commands of Sarka. Like genii appearingout of the flames they came, to muster about Sarka and Jaska. 

Then, when it seemed that no more were coming, Sarka turned to thebase of the Cone, his face high shining with courage and confidence, and stepped straight into the flames that led into the Cone. Besidehim came Jaska, while behind him came the people of the Gens of Daliswho dared to do as he had commanded. 

They were sucked into the Cone like chips sucked into a whirlpool, andSarka willed a last command as they entered:

"Quit the column at the lip of the crater, and muster about theaircars!"

CHAPTER XVIII

_The People of Radiance_

The exaltation of Sarka knew no bounds, and looking into the eyes ofJaska, he knew she felt it, too. For her face was shining, and all ofher, the wondrous shining brilliance of her, was bathed in the whiteradiance that mantled Luar. And now, since Jaska too knew thatradiance, her beauty was greater even than that of Luar. Sarkathrilled anew at the glory of her. 

But even as he stepped into the base of the Cone, he stepped out ofthe blue column at the lip of the Moon-crater. Swift as light, andswifter, had been the flight upward from the Cavern of the Cone; yet, so keen were his perceptions, he knew when he had passed through thechamber of the bluish glow, into which he and Jaska had first droppedupon arrival. 

Now they were on the lip of the crater, and the people of the Gens whohad followed him, were slipping out of the blue column, like insectsout of a flame, and converging on the aircars whose tentacles stillwaved as they had when Sarka had last seen them. 

Sarka looked at these people in amazement. To him there was a divinitynow about their nudeness which nudity never before had suggested tohim. For the people shone, and there was something glorious in thosedivinely white bodies. They reminded Sarka of his people's books ofantiquity, and his childhood's pictures of angels. .. . 

But the effect of those white flames!. .. 

 * * * * *

There was no explaining it. But Sarka felt that whatever he willed todo he could do; that whatever he wished for was his, whether it washis by right or no. He felt that he could move mountains, with onlythe aid of his hands. Looking at Jaska he conceived all sorts of newbeauty in her, for she was the brightest, to him, of all the peoplewho had passed through the lake of white flames, and been cleansed intheir heat. 

"No wonder Luar has mastered the Moon!" he cried to Jaska. "For whenshe was bathed in the white flames, her will is paramount!"

"But how, if she passes the people of the Gens of Dalis through theflames, will she retain her sovereignty?"

"Because Dalis, too, has passed through, and his will is the will ofthe Gens! They will obey him, and he has sworn allegiance to Luar, orgiven some sort of oath of fealty!"

"How strange that but one person on the Moon has been bathed in thewhite flames!"

"How do we know, " Sarka almost whispered it, "that she is, originally, of the Moon? Does she not look too much like our people, to be fromanother world entirely?"

"I do not know, but . .. You mean . .. You mean. .. ?"

"I scarcely know; but Dalis would swear allegiance to no man, muchless to a woman, unless he knew that man, or woman, far better than hehas had opportunity, in a matter of hours only, to know Luar!"

He left it there then, as he strode boldly, with Jaska by his side, tothe nearest of the aircars. 

 * * * * *

As he approached the car, the gleam cube beneath it seemed to gleambrighter and brighter, as though it echoed the radiance of Sarka. Sarka knew, studying this phenomenon, that he possessed at least ahint of the secret of Luar's omnipotence. There had been a hintbefore, but by now its meaning was clearer. The white flames, out ofthe heart of the dying Moon, gave new life, exaltation, not only tothe bodies but to the brains of those who passed through it, and withtheir brains quickened, they possessed such knowledge as men of Earth, for ages, had wished to possess. 

Transmutation of metals . .. The ability, at will, to endow the higher, more selective metals with intelligence . .. And the ability to retaincommand of the intelligences thus endowed. This explained the power ofLuar over the Gnomes, and the power of the Gnomes over the cubes--ifthey possessed that power. 

But the Gnomes, what of them? What were they?

But for a space Sarka must await the answer to that question, forthere was little time. Already he knew that the tale of his escape, and his taking over of a portion of the Gens of Dalis, must have gonelike wildfire through all the crater, and from this crater, perhaps, had been transmitted to all the craters of the Moon. All thecraters. .. . 

 * * * * *

That explained to him the absence from the lake of white flames, wherehe had seen so few, comparatively, of the people of Dalis' Gens. TheMoon was honeycombed by such craters, and perhaps the white flameconnected them all, made them all one. And Luar commanded all from herdais in this crater Sarka and his people were escaping. The millionsof the Gens had been swallowed by the craters of the Moon, at commandof Luar, acceded to by Dalis--and all over the Moon the very thingswhich Sarka and Jaska had witnessed were taking place. 

Even now, as Sarka raced for the aircar, and Jaska with him, he couldfeel a backward pulling that was well-nigh invincible. Someone waswilling him to return, willing the Gnomes to pursue him, willing thecubes to refuse obedience to him; but he laughed and stepped to theaircar, passing by the nearest writhing tentacle as though he knew itpossessed no power to harm him. The tentacle swept aside, and did nottry to bar him, while he sent his will crashing against that brightlygleaming cube. "Into the aircar! We enter with you!"

The cube vanished instantly, and it seemed to Sarka that invisiblehands caught at his feet, lifting him up through the trap-door in thebelly of the aircar, up and inside. The door swung shut, and in theforward end of the vast aircar gleamed the cube which had obeyed hiscommand!

 * * * * *

Sarka sent one thought careening outward from the aircar, a command tothe cubes which stood watch beneath the other aircars. 

"Obey the Radiant People, and through them, _me_!"

The light of the cube made the interior of the aircar as light as day, and Sarka was struck at once with another phenomenon. He could seethrough the sides of the car in any direction. 

And what he saw filled him with a sudden fear!

Out of the crater poured myriads of the Gnomes, and up the sides of itcame myriads of the gleaming cubes, all racing toward the cars. 

"Get back! Get back!" he commanded the Gnomes and the cubes. 

At the same time he issued his commands to the cube within his owncar, and to the cubes which by now were inside the other aircars, realizing that the cubes themselves were the motive power of theaircars--and that his will was the will of these individual cubes. 

"Fly at once! Fly outward at top speed toward the Earth!"

Instantly, as though a single signal had started all the cars, a dozenaircars rose majestically from the crater, while Sarka studied theGnomes and the cubes in turmoil on the rim. He noted then, a strangecircumstance: that when he commanded the Gnomes and the pursuing cubesto keep back, they hesitated, dazedly, as though they did not knowwhether to advance or to retreat; that when he merely watched them, they came on. 

He laughed aloud at this measuring of mental swords with Luar, andwith Dalis. For he could sense the conflict very plainly. Shecommanded the Gnomes and the cubes to attack, he commanded them toretreat, and they remained undecided, like people drawn between twoextremities, and uncertain which direction to take. 

Upward, side by side now, floated the aircars of the Moon, and in theforepeak of each, one of the gleaming cubes, like--likeanti-gravitational ovoids of the Moon! At the fast falling rim of thecrater boiled the Gnomes and the cubes, stirring and tumbling, hampered by their very numbers, as they tried to attack at will ofLuar and retreated in confusion at the will of Sarka. 

Then there was Jaska beside Sarka, her face fearful, as he pointed offacross the gloomy expanse of the Moon. 

From all sides, from all directions, from other craters which thesetwo had not even seen, came scores and hundreds of the monster cars!

They had beaten Luar and Dalis but for a moment, then! Now, at hercommand, the countless other aircars were coming in to head them off, to fight them back to the surface of the Moon. It would be a raceagainst time, and against death. But of at least a dozen of theaircars, Sarka was master, and he did not fear the issue. That strangeexaltation which the white flames had given him filled him with aconfidence that nothing could shake. 

He shot a thought at the gleaming cube in the forepeak. 

"Faster! Faster! There is no limit to your speed! Faster! Faster! Evenfaster!"

Instantly the Moon seemed literally to drop away beneath the dozenaircars which carried the Radiant People, while the aircars of Luarand of Dalis fell hopelessly behind. 

Sure that they would win in this race now, since he was just beginningto realize the vastness of his power--the all-encompassing, all-mastering power of the human mind and will, which the white flamesof the Moon had made almost god-like--Sarka turned his eyes toward acoldly gleaming sphere in the star-spangled heavens ahead. 

 * * * * *

It was the Earth, and it seemed ringed in flames! From its edges thereseemed to shoot long streamers of yellow or golden flames, which brokeinto sunlike pinwheels of radiance at their tips. Something, there onthe precious Earth, was decidedly wrong!

Instantly, telepathically, he sought to gain mental contact with hisfather. 

"Father, we are coming!" he said, across those countless miles. "Whatis happening?"

For a full minute there was no answer. Then it came, feeble, broken, weighted with fear; but it was a thought-message, unmistakably, ofSarka the Second. 

"Hurry, son! Hurry! For Dalis has indeed betrayed us! I could notmaintain control of the Earth with the Beryls, for some strangecatastrophe has destroyed all the Beryls in the area Dalis ruled! Theshifting of positions of the Earth and the Moon has so altered therelative effects of the pull of gravity exerted by the planets thatMars has been brought into dangerous proximity to us and is already soclose that her ether-lights are playing over us! Surely you must beable to see them! We have received messages, but as yet I have onlybeen partially able to decode them! What I have decoded, however, presages catastrophe--for I am sure that Mars and the Moon are inconfederation, and that the Moon-people have deliberately forced usinto contact with her ally!"

Cold fear clutched at the throat of Sarka as he caught the message. Hedecided not to tell Jaska for the moment. He looked to right and left, at the aircars on either side of him, then issued his commands. 

"Faster! Faster! Be prepared to land in the area of the Gens ofCleric, as close as possible to my laboratory!"

A strange, awesome sight, that flight of the rebels of Dalis' Gensfrom the Moon to the Earth--like gleaming stars across the void. Farout in Space they fled at terrific speed through almost utterdarkness, but their light was still blinding, lighting the way. 

(_Concluded in the next issue_)

Murder Madness

CONCLUSION OF A FOUR-PART NOVEL

_By Murray Leinster_

[Illustration: _The deck was covered with panic-stricken folk who hadcome in awful terror to watch. And all were slaves to The Master. _]

[Sidenote: Bell has fought through tremendous obstacles to find andkill The Master, whose diabolical poison makes murder-mad snakes ofthe hands; and, as he faces the monster at last--his own hands startto writhe!]

CHAPTER XV

The door of the car swung wide, and Ortiz's pale grim face peered inbehind the blue steel barrel of his automatic. He smiled queerly asJamison, with a grunt of relief, tapped Bell's wrist in sign to putaway his weapon. 

"Ah, very well, " said Ortiz, with the same queer smile upon his face. "One moment. "

He disappeared. On the instant there was the thunderous crashing of aweapon. Bell started up, but Jamison thrust him back. Then Ortizappeared again with smoke still trickling from the barrel of hispistol. 

"I have just done something that I have long wished to do, " heobserved coolly. "I have killed the chauffeur and his companion. Youmay alight, now. I believe we will have half an hour or more. It willdo excellently. "

He offered his hand to Paula as she stepped out. She seemed to shuddera little as she took it. 

"I do not blame you for shuddering, Senorita, " he said politely, "butmen who are about to die may indulge in petty spites. And thechauffeur was a favorite with the deputy for whom I am substituting. Like all favorites of despots, he had power to abuse, and abused it. Icould tell you tales, but refrain. "

 * * * * *

The car had come to a stop in what seemed to be a huge warehouse, andby the sound of water round about, it was either near or entirelybuilt out over the harbor. A large section near the outer end waswalled off. Boxes, bales, parcels and packages of every sort wereheaped all about. Bell saw crated air engines lying in a row againstone wall. There were a dozen or more of them. Machinery, huge cases offoodstuffs. .. . 

"The Buenos Aires depot, " said Ortiz almost gaily. "This was the pointof receipt for all the manufactured goods which went to the _fazenda_of Cuyaba, Senor Bell. Since you destroyed that place, it has not beenso much used. However, it will serve excellently as a tomb. There arecases of hand grenades yonder. I advise you to carry a certain numberwith you. The machine guns for the air-craft, with their ammunition, are here. .. . "

He was hurrying them toward the great walled-off space as he talked, his automatic serving as a pointer when he indicated the variousobjects. 

"Now, here, " he added as he unlocked the door, "is your vessel. TheMaster bought only amphibian planes of late. Those for Cuyaba wereassembled in this little dock and took off from the water. Yourdestruction up there, Senor Bell, left one quite complete butundelivered. I think another, crated, is still in the warehouse. Ihave been very busy, but if you can fuel and load it before we areattacked. .. . "

They were in a roofed and walled but floorless shed, built into thewarehouse itself. Water surged about below them, and on it floated afive passenger plane, fully assembled and apparently ready to fly, but brand new and so far unused. 

 * * * * *

"I'll look it over, " said Bell, briefly. He swung down the catwalkpainted on the wings. He began a swift and hasty survey. Soot on theexhaust stacks proved that the motors had been tried, at least. Everything seemed trim and new and glistening in the cabin. The fueltanks showed the barest trace of fuel. The oil tanks were full totheir filling-plugs. 

He swung back up. 

"Taking a chance, of course, " he said curtly. "If the motors were allright when they were tried, they probably are all right now. They mayhave been tuned up, and may not. I tried the controls, and they seemto work. For a new ship, of course, a man would like to go over itcarefully, but if we've got to hurry. .. . "

"I think, " said Ortiz, and laughed, "that haste would be desirable. Herr Wiedkind--No! _Amigo mio_, it was that damned Antonio Calles wholistened to us last night. I found pencil marks beside the listeninginstrument. He must have sat there and eavesdropped upon me many wearyhours, and scribbled as men do to pass the time. He had a pretty tastein monograms. .. . I gave all the orders that were needful for you totake off from the flying field. I even went there myself and gaveadditional orders. And Calles was there. Also others of The Master'ssubjects. My treason would provoke a terrible revenge from The Master, so they thought to prove their loyalty by permitting me to disclose myplan and foil it at its beginning. 

"I would have made the journey with you to The Master, but as aprisoner with the tale of my treason written out. So I returned andchanged the orders to the chauffeur, when all the Master's loyalsubjects were waiting at the flying field. But soon it will occur tothem what I have done. They will come here. Therefore, hasten!"

"We want food, " said Bell evenly, "and arms, but mostly we want fuel. We'll get busy. "

 * * * * *

He shed his coat and picked up a hand-truck. He rammed it under a drumof gasoline and ran it to the walkway nearest to the floating plane. Coiled against the wall there was a long hose with a funnel at itsupper end. In seconds he had the hose end in one of the wingfuel-tanks. In seconds more he had propped the funnel into place andwas watching the gasoline gurgling down the hose. 

"Paula, " he said curtly, "watch this. When it's empty roll the drumaway so I can put another in its place. "

She moved quickly beside it, throwing him a little smile. She setabsorbedly about her task. 

Jamison arrived with another drum of gas before the first was emptied, and Bell was there with a third while the second still gurgled. Theyheaped the full drums in place, and Jamison suddenly abandoned histruck to swear wrathfully and tear off his spectacles and fling themagainst the wall. The bushy eyebrows and beard peeled off. His coatwent down. He began to rush loads of foodstuffs, arms, and otherobjects to a point from which they could be loaded on the plane. Ortizpointed out the things he pantingly demanded. 

In minutes, it seemed, he was demanding: "How much can we take? Anymore than that?"

"No more, " said Bell. "All the weight we can spare goes for fuel. Seeif you can find another hose and funnel and get to work on the othertank. I'm going to rustle oil. "

He came staggering back with heavy drums of it. A thought struck him. 

"How do we get out? What works the harbor door?"

 * * * * *

Ortiz pointed, smiling. 

"A button, Senor, and a motor does the rest. " He looked at his watch. "I had better see if my fellow subjects have come. "

He vanished, smiling his same queer smile. Bell worked frantically. Hesaw Ortiz coming back, pausing to light a cigarette, and taking up ahatchet, with which he attacked a packing case. 

"They are outside, Senor, " he called. "They have found the signs ofthe car entering, and now are discussing. "

He plucked something carefully from the packing box and went leisurelyback toward the door. Bell began to load the food and stores into thecabin, with sweat streaming down his face. 

There was the sound of a terrific explosion, and Bell jumped savagelyto solid ground. 

"Keep loading! I'll hold them back!" he snapped to Jamison. 

But when he went pounding to the back of the warehouse he found Ortizlaughing. 

"A hand grenade, Senor, " he said in wholly unnatural levity. "Amongthe subjects of The Master. I believe that I am going mad, to takesuch pleasure in destruction. But since I am to die so shortly, whynot go mad, if it gives me pleasure?"

 * * * * *

He peered out a tiny hole and aimed his automatic carefully. Itspurted out all the seven shots that were left. 

"The man who poisoned me, " he said pleasantly. "I think he is dead. Goback and make ready to leave, Senor Bell, because they will probablytry to storm this place soon, and then the police will come, andthen. .. . It is amusing that I am the one man to whom those enslavedamong the city authorities would look for The Master's orders. "

Bell stared out. He saw a small horde of people, frantically agitated, milling in the cramped and unattractive little street of Buenos Aires'waterfront. Sheer desperation seemed to impel them, desperation and afrantic fear. They surged forward--and Ortiz flung a hand grenade. Itsexplosion was terrific, but he had perhaps purposely flung it short. Bell suddenly saw police uniforms, fighting a way through to the frontof the crowd and the source of all this disturbance. 

"Go back, " said Ortiz seriously. "I shall die, Senor Bell. There isnothing else for me to do. But I wish to die with Latin melodrama. " Hemanaged a smile. "I will give you ten minutes more. I can hold off thepolice themselves for so long. But you must hasten, because there arepolice launches. "

 * * * * *

He held out his hand. Bell took it. 

"Good luck, " said Ortiz. 

"You can come--" began Bell, wrenched by the gaiety on Ortiz's face. 

"Absurd, " said Ortiz, smiling. "I should be murder mad within threedays. This is a preferable death, I assure you. Ten minutes, no more!"

And Bell went racing back and found Jamison rolling away the last ofthe fuel drums and Paula looking anxiously for him. 

"Tanks full, " said Jamison curtly. "Everything set. What next?"

"Engines, " said Bell. 

He swung down and jerked a prop over. Again, and again. .. . The motorcaught. He went plunging to the other. Minutes. .. . They caught. Hethrottled them down to the proper warming up roaring, while the air inthe enclosed space grew foul. 

 * * * * *

Once more to the warehouse. Ortiz shouted and waved his hand. He wasfilling his pockets with hand grenades. Bell made a gesture offarewell and Ortiz seemed to smile as he went back to hold theentrance for a little longer. 

"We're going, " said Bell grimly. "Get your guns ready, Jamison, forwhen the door goes up. "

He pressed on the button Ortiz had pointed out. There were moreexplosions and the rattle of firearms from the front of the warehouse. There was a sudden rumble of machinery and the blank front of thelittle covered dock rose suddenly. The sunlit waters of Buenos Airesharbor spread out before them. To Bell, who had not looked on sunlightthat day, the effect was dazzling. He blinked, and then saw a fastlittle launch approaching. There were uniformed figures crowded aboutits bows. 

"All set!" he snapped. "I'm going to give her the gun. "

"Go to it, " said Jamison. "We're--"

The motors bellowed and drowned out the rest. The plane shuddered andbegan to move. The sound of explosions from the back of the warehousewas loud and continuous, now. Out into the bright sunlight the planemoved, at first heavily, then swiftly. .. . 

Bell saw arms waving wildly in the launch with the uniformed men. Sunlight glittered suddenly on rifle barrels. Puffs of vapor shot out. Something spat through the wall beside Bell. But the roaring of themotors kept up, and the pounding of the waves against the curved bowof the boat-body grew more and more violent. .. . Sweat came out onBell's face. The ship was not lifting. .. . 

 * * * * *

But it did lift. Slowly, very slowly, carrying every pound with whichit could have risen from the water. It swept past the police launch atninety miles an hour, but no more than five feet above the waves. Abig, clumsy tramp flying the Norwegian flag splashed up river with itspropeller half out of water. Bell dared to rise a little so he couldbank and dodge it. He could not rise above it. 

He had one glimpse of blonde, astonished beards staring over the sternof the tramp as he swept by it, his wing tips level with its rail andbarely twenty feet away. And then he went on and on, out to sea. 

He began to spiral for height fully four miles offshore, and lookedback at the sprawling city. Down by the waterfront a thick, curlingmass of smoke was rising from one spot abutting on the water. Itswayed aside and Bell saw the rectangular opening out of which theplane had come. 

"Ortiz's in there, " he said, sick at heart. "Dying as he planned. "

But there was a sudden upheaval of timbers and roof. A colossal burstof smoke. A long time later the concussion of a vast explosion. Therewas nothing left where the warehouse had been. 

Bell looked, and swore softly to himself, and felt a fresh surge ofthe hatred he bore to The Master and all his works. And then filmyclouds loomed up but a little above the rising plane, and Bell shotinto them and straightened out for the south. 

 * * * * *

For many long hours the plane floated on to southward, high above agray ocean which seemed deceptively placid beneath a canopy of thinclouds. The motors roared steadily in the main, though once Bellinstructed Jamison briefly in the maintenance of a proper course andheight, and swung out into the terrific blast of air that swept pastthe wings. He clung to struts and handholds and made his way out onthe catwalk to make some fine adjustment in one motor, with sixthousand feet of empty space below the swaying wing. 

"Carburetter wrong, " he explained when he had closed the cabin windowbehind him again and the motors' roar was once more dulled. "It waslikely to make a lot of carbon in the cylinders. O. K. , now. "

Paula's hand touched his shyly. He smiled abstractedly at her and wentback to the controls. 

And then the plane kept on steadily. Time and space have become purelyrelative in these days, in startling verification of Mr. Einstein, andthe distance between Buenos Aires and Magellan Strait is great orsmall, a perilous journey or a mere day's travel, according to themind and the transportation facilities of the voyager. Before fouro'clock in the afternoon the coast was low and sandy to the westward, and it continued sterile and bare for long hours while the plane hunghigh against the sky with a following wind driving it on vastly moreswiftly than its own engines could have contrived. 

 * * * * *

It was little before sunset when the character of the shore changedyet again, and the sun was low behind a bank of angry clouds when thestubby forefinger of rock that Magellan optimistically named the Capeof the Eleven Thousand Virgins reached upward from the seeminglyplacid water. Bell swept lower, then, much lower, looking for alanding place. He found it eight or nine miles farther on, on a widesandy beach some three miles from a lighthouse. The little planesplashed down into tumbling sea and, half supported by the waves andhalf by the lift remaining to its wings, ran for yards up upon thehard packed sand. 

The landing had been made at late twilight, and Bell moved stifflywhen he rose from the pilot's seat. 

"I'm going over to that lighthouse, " he said curtly. "There won't beenough men there to be dangerous and they probably haven't frequentcommunication with the town. I'll learn something, anyway. You twostay with the plane. "

Jamison lifted his eyebrows and was about to speak, but looked atBell's expression and stopped. Leadership is everywhere a matter ofemotion and brains together, and though Jamison had his share ofbrains, he had not Bell's corroding, withering passion of hatredagainst The Master and all who served him gladly. All the way down thecoast Bell had been remembering things he had seen of The Master'sdoing. His power was solely that of fear, and the deputies of hisselection had necessarily been men who would spread that terror withan unholy zest. The nature of his hold upon his subjects was such thatno honorable man would ever serve him willingly, and for deputies hehad need of men even of enthusiasm. His deputies, then, were men whofound in the assigned authority of The Master full scope for thesatisfaction of their own passions. And Bell had seen what thosepassions brought about, and there was a dull flame of hatred burningin his eyes that would never quite leave them until those men werepowerless and The Master dead. 

 * * * * *

"You'll look after the ship and Paula, " said Bell impatiently. "Allright?"

Jamison nodded. Paula looked appealingly at Bell, but he had become aman with an obsession. Perhaps the death of Ortiz had cemented it, butcertainly he was unable to think of anything, now, but the necessityof smashing the ghastly hold of The Master upon all the folk he hadentrapped. Subconsciously, perhaps, Bell saw in the triumph of TheMaster a blow to all civilization. Less vaguely, he foresaw an attemptat the extension of The Master's rule to his own nation. But when Bellthought of The Master, mainly he remembered certain disconnectedincidents. The girl at Ribiera's luxurious _fazenda_ outside of Rio, who had been ordered to persuade him to be her lover, on penalty of ahorrible madness for her infant son if she failed. Of a pale andstricken _fazendiero_ on the Rio Laurenço who thought him a deputy andhumbly implored the grace of The Master for a moody twelve year oldgirl. Of a young man who kept his father, murder mad, in a barred roomin his house and waited despairingly for that madness to be meted outupon himself and on his wife and children. Of a white man who had beenkept in a cage in Cuyaba, with other men. .. . 

 * * * * *

Bell trudged on through the deepening night with his soul a burningflame of hatred. He clambered amid boulders, guided by the talllighthouse of Cape Possession with the little white dwelling he hadseen at its base before nightfall. He fell, and rose, and forced hisway on and upward, and at last was knocking heavily at a trim andneatly painted door. 

He was so absorbed in his rage that his talk with the lighthousekeeper seemed vague in his memory, afterward. The keeper was a wizenedlittle Welshman from the Chibut who spoke English with anextraordinary mixture of a Spanish intonation and a Cimbrian accent. Bell listened heavily and spoke more heavily still. At the end he wentback to the plane with a spindle-shanked boy with a lanternaccompanying him. 

"All settled, " he said grimly, when Jamison came out into the darknesswith a ready revolver to investigate the approaching light. "We get aboat from the lighthouse keeper to go to Punta Arenas in. He's adevout member of some peculiar sect, and he's seen enough of the hellPunta Arenas amounts to, to believe what I told him of its cause. Hiswife will look after Paula, and this boy will hitch a team to theplane and haul it out of sight early in the morning. With the help ofGod, we'll kill Ribiera and The Master before sunset to-morrow. "

CHAPTER XVI

But they did not kill The Master before nightfall. It was not quitepracticable. Bell and Jamison started out well before dawn with afavorable wind and tide, in the small launch the wizened Welshmanplaced at their disposal. His air was one of dour piety, but heaccepted Bell's offer of money with an obvious relief, and criticizedhis Paraguayan currency with an acid frankness until Jamison producedArgentine pesos sufficient to pay for the boat three times over. 

"I think, " said Jamison dryly, "that Pau--that Miss Canalejas is safeenough until we come back. The keeper is a godly man and knows wehave money. She'll be in no danger, except of her soul. They may tryto save that. "

Bell did not answer. He could think of nothing but the mission he hadset himself. He tinkered with the engine to make it speed up, and setthe sails with infinite care to take every possible advantage of thestiff breeze that blew. During the day, those sails proved almost asmuch of a nuisance as a help. The fiendish, sullen williwaws that blowfuriously and without warning about the Strait required watching, andmore than once it was necessary to reef everything and depend on themotor alone. 

Bell watched the horizon ahead with smouldering eyes. Jamison watchedhim almost worriedly. 

"Look here, Bell, " he said at last, "you'll get nowhere feeling likeyou do. I know you've done The Master more damage than I have, butyou'll just run your head into a trap unless you use your brains. Forinstance, you didn't ask about communications. There's a directtelegraph wire from Cape Virgins to Buenos Aires, and there'stelephonic communication between the Cape and Punta Arenas. Do youimagine that the plane wasn't seen when it came in the Cape? And doyou imagine The Master doesn't know we're here?"

 * * * * *

Bell turned, then, and frowned blackly. 

"I hadn't thought of it, " he said grimly, "but I put some handgrenades in the locker, there. "

"You damned fool!" said Jamison angrily. "Stop being bloodthirsty anduse your head! You haven't even asked what I've done! I've donesomething, anyhow. That bundle I chucked in the bow has a couple ofsheepmen's outfits in it. Lots of sheep raised around here. We'll put'em on before we land. And like a good general, I arranged a method ofretreat before we left B. A. There'll be a naval vessel here in two orthree days. She's carrying a party of Government scientists. She'llanchor in Punta Arenas harbor and announce a case of some infectiousdisease on board. No shore leave, you see, and nobody from shorepermitted on board her. And she has one or two damned good analyticalchemists with a damned good laboratory on board her, too. It's a longgamble, but if we can get hold of some of The Master's poison. .. . Doyou see?"

"Yes, " said Bell heavily. "I see. But you haven't been through whatI've been through. What I've done, fighting that devil, has caused mento be deserted after being enslaved. There's one place, Cuyaba. .. . "

His face twitched. That place was in his dreams, now. That place andothers where human beings had watched their bodies go mad, and hadbeen carried about screaming with horror at the crimes those bodiescommitted. .. . 

"I'm going to kill The Master, " he rasped. "That's all. "

He settled down to his grim watch for the city. All during the cloudy, overcast day he strained his eyes ahead. Jamison could make nothing ofhim. In the end he had to leave Bell to his moody waiting. 

 * * * * *

The morning passed, and midday, and a long afternoon. Three times Bellcame restlessly back to the engine and tried to coax more speed out ofit. But when darkness fell the town was still not in sight. They kepton, then, steering by the stars with the motor putt-putt-puttingsturdily away in the stern. The water splashed and washed all aboutthem. The little boat rose, and fell, and rose and fell again. 

"That's the town, " said Bell grimly. 

It was eleven at night, or later. Lights began to appear, very faraway, dancing miragelike on the edge of the water. They grew nearerwith almost infinite slowness. Two wide bands of many lights, with adarker space in which a few much brighter lights showed clearly. Presently a single red light appeared, the Punta Arenas harbor light, twenty-five feet up on an iron pole. They passed it. 

"Bell, " said Jamison curtly, "it's time you showed some sense, now. We're going to find out some things before we get reckless. This townisn't a big one, but it always was a hell on earth. No extraditionfrom here. It's full of wanted men. It's dying, now, from the old dayswhen all ships passed the Straits before the Panama Canal opened up, but it ought to be still a hell on earth. And we're going to put onthese sheepmen outfits, and put up at some low caste sailors' andsheepmen's hotel on shore, and find out what is what. In the morning, if you like--"

"In the morning, " said Bell coldly, "I'm going to settle with TheMaster. "

 * * * * *

They found a small and filthy hotel, in a still filthier street wherethe houses were alternately black and silent and empty, and filledwith the squalid hilarity most seaport towns can somehow manage tosupport. The street lamps were white and cold. The dirt and squalorshowed the more plainly by their light. There were sailors from thefew ships in harbor, and women so haggard and bedraggled that shrilllaughter and lavish endearments remained their only allure. And Belland Jamison plodded to the reeking place in which a half-drunksheepman pointed, and there Bell sat grimly in the vermin infestedroom while Jamison, swearing wryly, went out. 

He came back later, much later. His breath was strong of bad whiskeyand he looked like a man who feels that a bath would be verydesirable. He looked like a man who feels unclean. 

"Give me a cigarette, " he said shortly. "I found out most of what wewant to know. "

 * * * * *

Bell gave him a cigarette and waited. 

"Good thing you stayed behind, " said Jamison. "I want to vomit. Whypeople go in hell holes for fun. .. . But I was very drunk and veryamorous. Picked up a woman and fed her liquor. Young, too. Damnation!She got crying drunk and told me everything she knew. I gave her moneyand left. Punta Arenas is The Master's, body and soul. "

"One could have guessed it, " said Bell grimly. 

"Nothing like it is, " said Jamison. "Every living creature, man, woman, and child, has been fed that devilish poison of his. Thekeepers of the dives go fawning to the local officials for theantidote. The _jefe politico_ is driven in his carriage to be curedwhen red spots form before his eyes. The damned place is full ofsuicides, and women, and--oh, my God! It's horrible!"

A humming, buzzing noise set up off in the night somewhere. It kept upfor a long time, throttled down. Suddenly it seemed to grow louder, changed in pitch, and dwindled as if into the far, far distance. 

"That's one of The Master's planes now, no doubt, " said Jamisonsavagely, "going off on some errand for him. He uses this placepractically as an experiment station. The human beings here are hisguinea pigs. The deputies get a standardized form of the stuff, buthe's got it worked out in different doses so he can make a man go madin hours, if he chooses, instead of after a delay. I don't know how. And The Master--"

 * * * * *

He checked himself sharply. There were shuffling footsteps in the halloutside. A timid tap on the door. Jamison opened it, while Belldropped one hand inconspicuously to a weapon inside his shapelessclothing. 

The toothless and filthy old man who kept the hotel beamed in at them. 

"_Senores_, " he cackled. "_Vdes son de Porvenir, no es verdad?_"

Jamison hiccoughed, as one who has been out and been drunken ought todo. 

"_No, viejo_, " he rumbled tipsily, "_somos de la estancia del SeñorRubio. Vaya. _"

The old man seemed to mourn that they did not come from the sheepranches about Porvenir Bay. But he produced a bottle with a shakinghand, still beaming. 

"_Tengo muchos amigos en Porvenir_, " he chirped amiably. "_Y questabotella--_"

"_Démela_, " rumbled Jamison. He reached out his hand. 

"_No mas que poquito!_" said the old man, beaming but anxious asJamison tilted it to his lips. "_Es visky de gentes. .. . _"

He beamed upon Bell, and Bell swallowed a spoonful and seemed toswallow vastly more. He lay back lazily while Jamison in the part of atipsy sheepherder bullied the old man amiably and eventually chasedhim out. 

"You're amused?" asked Jamison sardonically, when there were no moresounds outside. "Because I said you didn't want to meet the youngsenorita who loved you when she saw you downstairs? Well, Bell, if youused your brain you didn't swallow any of that stuff. "

Bell started up. Jamison caught him by the shoulder. 

"I'm not sure, " he said sharply. "Of course not. But it's damned funnyfor a Spanish hotel keeper to give something for nothing, even when heseemed just to want to gossip about his friends. Here. Drink thiswater. It looks vile enough to take the place of mustard. .. . "

 * * * * *

Next morning the hotel keeper beamed upon them both as they went outof the place. A slatternly, dark haired girl who leaned on hisshoulder smiled invitingly at Bell. And Bell, in his character of aloutish sheepman from one of the ranches that dot the shores of theStrait, grinned awkwardly back. But he went on with Jamison. 

"We separate, " said Jamison under his breath. "We want to find whereThe Master lives, mostly, and then we want to find the laboratorywhere his stuff is mixed. We don't want to do any killing until that'ssettled. After all, the Trade has something to say!"

Bell codded indifferently and began to wander idly about the streets, turning here and there as if moved by nothing more than the vaguestcuriosity. But gradually he was working through the sections in whichthe larger buildings stood. Concrete structures, astonishingly modern, dotted the business section. But none of them had the air that wouldsurround a place where a man with power of life or death would be. Ina town the size of Punta Arenas there would be unmistakable evidencesabout The Master's residence, even if it were only that those whopassed it did so hurriedly and with a twinge of fear. 

 * * * * *

There were prosperous men in plenty on the streets, mingled withdeserting sailors, stockmen and farmers from the villages along theStrait, and even a few grimy men who looked like miners. But there isa lignite mine not far from the city, and a narrow gauge railroadrunning to it. Of the prosperous-seeming men, however, Bell picked outone here and there toward whom all passersby adopted a manner ofcringing respect. Bell lounged against a pole and studied themthoughtfully. Men with an air of amused and careless scorn which onlymen with unlimited power may adopt. He saw one grossly fat man withhard and cruel eyes. The uniformed policemen drove all trafficabjectly out of the way of his carriage, and stood with lifted hatuntil he had passed. The fat man gave no faintest sign ofacknowledgment. 

"I wonder, " said Bell slowly, and very grimly, "if that's The Master?"

And then a passerby dodged quickly past his shoulder, brushing againsthim, and waited humbly in the street. Bell turned. A party of men weretaking up nearly all the sidewalk. There were half a dozen of them inall. And nearly in the middle was the bulky, immaculate, pigmentedRibiera. 

Bell stiffened. But to move, beyond clearing the way, would be toattract attention. He backed clumsily off the curbing as if makingway. .. . 

And Ribiera looked at his face. 

 * * * * *

Bell's hand drifted near his hidden weapon. But Ribiera looked neithersurprised nor alarmed. He halted and chuckled. 

"Ah, the Senhor Bell!"

Bell said nothing, looking as stupid as possible, merely because therewas nothing else to do. 

"Ah, do not deny my acquaintance!" said Ribiera. He laughed. "I adviseyou to go and look at the view, over the harbor. Good day, SenhorBell. "

Laughing, he went off along the street. And Bell felt a cold horrorcreeping over him as he realized what Ribiera might mean. Ribiera hadentirely too much against him to greet him only, in a town where eventhe dogs dared not bark without The Master's express command. He hadguards with him, men who would have shot Bell down at a nod fromRibiera. 

Bell burst into a mad run for the waterfront. When the bay spread outbefore his eyes he saw what Ribiera meant, and something seemed tosnap in his brain. 

The plane in which he and Jamison and Paula had escaped in wasfloating out in the harbor. It was unmistakable. A larger, bulkierseaplane floated beside it. The buzzing in the air the nightbefore. .. . The arrival of the plane had been telephoned from CapeVirgins. Through a glass, perhaps, even its alighting had beenwatched. And a big seaplane had gone out to bring it back. Footprintsin the sand would lead toward the lighthouse. There would be plenty ofmen to storm that, if necessary, to take the three fugitives. But theywould have found only Paula. It was quite possible that the plane hadonly been sent for after Bell and Jamison had been seen to land inPunta Arenas. And Paula in The Master's hands would explain Ribiera'samusement perfectly. 

 * * * * *

Bell found Jamison looking unhurriedly for him. And Jamison glanced athis utterly white face and said softly:

"We want to get where we can't be seen, to talk. There's the devil topay. "

"No use hiding, " said Bell. His lips seemed stiff. "Paula--"

"Hide anyway, " snapped Jamison. He fairly thrust Bell into an alleywaybetween two houses and thrust two rounded objects beneath his loosefitting coat. "Two grenades. I have two more. The boat we came in istaken--"

"So is the plane, " said Bell emotionlessly. 

"And there is a sign, in English, posted where we tied it up. The signsays, '_The Senores Bell and Jamison may recover their boat onapplication to The Master, and may also receive news of a latetraveling companion from him. _"

"We're known, " Bell told him--and amazingly found it possible to smilefaintly--"Ribiera met me on the street and spoke to me and laughed andwent on. "

Jamison stared. Bell's manner was almost entirely normal again. ThenJamison shrugged. 

"The sense of what you're saying, " he observed wryly, "is that we'relicked. Let us, then, go to see The Master. I confess I feel somecuriosity to know just what he's like. "

 * * * * *

Bell was smiling. Being in an entirely abnormal state, he had acurious certitude of the proper course to adopt. He went up to apoliceman and said politely, in Spanish:

"I am desired to report to The Master, himself. Will you direct me?"

The policeman abased himself instantly and trotted with them as aguide. And Bell walked naturally, now, with his head up and hisshoulders back, and smoked leisurely as he went, and the policeman'sabasement became abject. All who walked with that air of amusedsuperiority in Punta Arenas were high in the service of The Master. Obviously, the two men in these dejected clothes must also be high inthe service of The Master, and had adopted their disguise for purposesinto which a mere policeman and a slave of The Master should not dareenquire. 

Jamison was rather grim and still. Jamison thought he was walking tohis death. But Bell smiled peculiarly and talked almost gaily and--asJamison thought--almost irrationally. 

 * * * * *

They came to a house set in a fairly spacious lawn behind a ratherhigh wall. There were greenhouses behind it, and there were flowersgrowing as well as any flowers can be expected to grow in such highaltitudes. It was an extraordinarily cheerful dwelling to be found inPunta Arenas, but the shuddering fear with which the little policemanremoved his hat as he entered the gateway was instructive. 

They were confronted by four other policemen, on guard inside thegate. 

"_Estos Señores_--" began the abject one. 

"Take us to The Master, " commanded Bell in a species of amused andsuperior scorn. 

"It is required, Senor, " said the leader of the four on guard, veryrespectfully, "it is required that none enter without being searchedfor weapons. "

Bell laughed. 

"Does The Master manage things so?" he asked scornfully. "Now, where Iam deputy no man would dare to think of a weapon to be used againstme! If it is The Master's rule, though. .. . "

The policeman cringed. Bell scornfully thrust an automatic out. 

"Take it, " he snapped. "And go and tell The Master that the SenoresBell and Jamison await his pleasure, and that they have given uptheir weapons. "

The policeman scuttled toward the house. Bell smiled at his cigarette. 

"Do you know, Bell, " said Jamison dryly, in English, "I'd hate to playpoker with you. "

"I'm not bluffing, " said Bell. "Not altogether. I've a four cardflush, with the draw to come. "

 * * * * *

Almost instantly the policeman returned, more abject still. He hadstammered out Bell's message, just as it was given him. And the slavesof The Master did not usually disobey orders, especially ordersdesigned to prevent any danger of a doomed man or woman trying toassassinate The Master before madness was complete. Bell and Jamisonwere received by liveried servants in utter silence and conductedthrough a long passageway, too long to have been contained entirely inthe house as seen from the front. Indeed, they came out into a greatopen greenhouse, in which the smell of flowers was heavy. There wereflowers everywhere, and a benign, small old man with a snowy beard andhair, sat at a desk as if chatting of amiable trivialities with thefrock-coated men who stood about him. The white haired old man lifteda blossom delicately to his nostrils and inhaled its perfume with asensitive delight. He looked up and smiled benignly upon the two. 

It was then that Jamison got a shock surpassing all the rest. Bell'shands were writhing at the ends of his wrists, writhing as if theywere utterly beyond his control and as if they were longing to rendand tear. .. . 

And Bell suddenly looked down at them, and his expression was that ofa man who sees cobras at the ends of his arms. 

CHAPTER XVII

There was a long pause. Bell was very calm. He seemed to tear his eyesfrom the writhing hands that were peculiarly sensate, as if under thecontrol of in intelligence alien to his own. 

"I believe, " said Bell steadily, "that The Master wishes to speak tome. "

With an apparent tremendous effort of will, he thrust his hands intohis pockets. Jamison cursed softly. Bell had taken the direction ofthings entirely out of his hands. It only remained to play up. 

"To be sure, " said a mild, benevolent voice. The man with the snowybeard regarded Bell exactly in the fashion of an elderlyphilanthropist. "I am The Master, Senor Bell. You have interested megreatly. I have grown to have a great admiration for you. Will you beseated? Your companion also pleases me. I would like"--and the mildbrown eyes beamed at him--"I would like to have your friendship, SenorBell. "

"Pull out a chair for me, Jamison, " said Bell in a strained voice. "And--I'd like to have a cigarette. "

Jamison, cursing under his breath, put a chair behind Bell and stuck acigarette between his lips. He held a match, though his hands shook. 

"You might sit down, too, " said Bell steadily. "From the manner of TheMaster, I imagine that the conversation will take some time. "

 * * * * *

He inhaled deeply of his cigarette, and faced the little man again. And The Master looked so benevolent that he seemed absolutelycherubic, and there was absolutely no sign of anything but the utmostsaintliness about him. His eyes were clear and mild. His complexionwas fresh and translucent. The wrinkles that showed upon his face werethose of an amiable and a serene soul filled with benevolence andcharity. He looked like one of those irritatingly optimistic oldgentlemen who habitually carry small coins and stray bits of candy intheir pockets for such small children as they may converse with underthe smiling eyes of nurses. 

"Ah, Senor Bell, " he said gently. "You do cause me to admire you. MayI see your hands again?"

Bell held them out. He seemed to have conquered their writhing to someextent. But he could not hold them quite still. Sweat stood out on hisforehead. He thrust them abruptly out of sight again. 

"Sad, " said The Master gently. "Very sad. " He sighed faintly and laiddown the rose he had been toying with. His fingers caressed the softpetals delicately. "Fortunately, " he said benevolently, "it is not yettoo late for me to relieve the strain under which you labor, Senor. May I send for a certain medicine which will dispose of those symptomsin a very short time?"

"We'll talk first, " said Bell harshly. "I want to hear what you haveto say. "

 * * * * *

The Master nodded, his fingers touching the rose petals as if in asensitive pleasure in their texture. 

"Always courageous, " he said benignly. "I admire it while I combat it. But the Senor Jamison. .. . "

Jamison had been looking fascinatedly at his own hands, opening andclosing the fingers with a savage abruptness. They obeyed him, thoughthey trembled. 

"I didn't drink the damned stuff that hotel keeper brought us lastnight, " he growled. "Bell did. And I--"

"Wait a minute, Jamison, " said Bell evenly. "Let's talk to The Masterfor a while. I swore, sir, " he said grimly, "that I'd kill you. I'veseen what your devilish poison does, in the hands of the men you'vechosen to distribute it. I've seen"--he swallowed and saidharshly--"I've seen enough to make me desire nothing so much as to seeyou roast in hell! But you wanted to talk to me. Go ahead!"

 * * * * *

The Master beamed at him, and then glanced about at the frock-coatedmen who had been attending him. Bell glanced at them. Ribiera wasthere, chuckling. 

"I told you, _tio mio_, " he said familiarly, "that he would not bepolite. You can do nothing with him. Better have him shot. "

Francia, of Paraguay, nodded amusedly to Bell as their eyes met. ButThe Master shook his really rather beautiful head. An old man can begood to look at, and with a saintly aureole of snow-white hair and thepatriarchal white beard, The Master was the picture of benign andbeautiful old age. 

"Ah, you do not understand, " he protested mildly. "The more the SenorBell shows his courage, _hijo mio_, the more we must persuade him. " Heturned to Bell. "I realise, " he said gently, "that there are hardshipsconnected with the administration of my power, Senor. It isinevitable. But the Latin races of the continent which is now nearlymine require strong handling. They require a strong man to lead them. They are comfortable only under despotism. The task I have chosen foryou is different, entirely. _Los Americanos del Norte_ will notrespond to the treatment which is necessary for those _del Sud_. Theirgovernments, their traditions, are entirely unlike. If you become mydeputy and viceroy for all your nation, you shall rule as you will. Abenevolent, yet strong, rule is needed for your people. It may evenbe--I will permit it--that the democratic institutions of your nationmay continue if you so desire. I am offering you, Senor, the positionof the absolute ruler of your nation. You may interfere with thepresent government not at all, if you choose, provided only that myown commands are obeyed when relayed through you. I choose you becauseyou have courage, and resource, and because you have the _Yanqui_cleverness which will understand your nation and cope with it. "

 * * * * *

Bell inhaled deeply. 

"In other words, " he said bitterly, "you're saying indirectly that youoffer me a chance to be the sort of ruler Americans will submit towithout too much fuss, because you think one of Ribiera's stamp woulddrive them to rebellion. "

The fine dark eyes twinkled. 

"You have much virtue, Senor. My nephew--though he is to be mysuccessor--has a weakness for a pretty face. Would you prefer that Igive him the task of subduing your nation?"

"You might try it, " said Bell. His eyes gleamed. "He'd be dead withina week. "

The Master laughed softly. 

"I like you, Senor. I do like you indeed. I have not been so defiedsince another _Americano del Norte_ defied me in this same room. Buthe had not your resource. He had been enslaved with much lessdifficulty than yourself. I do not remember what happened to him. .. . "

"He was taken, Master, " said a fat man with hard eyes, obsequiously, "he was taken in Bolivia. " It was the man whom Bell had seen earlierthat morning in a carriage. "You gave him to me. He had insulted mewhen I ordered him sent to you. I had him killed, but he was veryobstinate. "

"Ah, yes, " said The Master meditatively. "You told me the details. " Heseemed to recall small facts in benevolent retrospection. "But you, Senor Bell, I have need of you. In fact, I shall insist upon yourfriendship. And therefore--"

He beamed upon Bell. 

"I give you back the Senorita Canalejas. "

 * * * * *

He shook his head reproachfully at the utterly grim look in Bell'seyes. 

"I shall give you one single portion of the antidote to the medicinewhich makes your hands behave so badly. You may take it when youplease. The Senor Jamison I shall keep and enslave. I do not think hewill be as obstinate as you are, but he has excellent qualities. Ifyou prove obdurate, I may yet persuade him to undertake certain tasksfor me. But you and the Senorita Canalejas are free. Your boat hasbeen reprovisioned and provided with fuel. You may go from here whereyou will. "

Ribiera snarled. 

"_Tio mio_, " he protested angrily, "you promised me--"

"Your will in many things, " said The Master gently, "but not in all. Remember that you have much to learn, _hijo mio_. I have taught you toprepare my little medicine, it is true. That is so you can take myplace if age infirmity shall carry me away. " The Master folded hishands with an air of pious resignation. "But you must learn policy. The Senorita Canalejas belongs to the Senor Bell. "

Jamison was staring, now, but Bell's eyes had narrowed to mere slits. 

"You see, " said The Master gently, to him, "I desire your friendship. You may go where you will. You may take the Senorita Canalejas withyou. You will have enough of the antidote to my little medicine tokeep you sane for perhaps a week. In one week you may go far, withher. You may do many things. But you cannot find a place of safety forher. I still have a little power, Senor. If you take her with you, your hands will writhe again. Your body will become uncontrollable. Your eyes, staring and horror-struck, will observe your own handsrending her. While your brain is yet sane you will see this body ofyours which now desires her so ardently, tearing at and crushing thatdelicate figure, gouging out her eyes, battering her tender flesh, destroying her. .. . Have you ever seen what a man who has taken mylittle medicine does to a human being at his mercy?"

 * * * * *

The figures about The Master were peculiarly tense. The fat man withthe hard eyes laughed suddenly. It was a horrible laugh. Francia ofParaguay took out his handkerchief and delicately wiped his lips. Hewas smiling. Ribiera looked at Bell's face and chuckled. His wholegross figure shook with his amusement. 

"And of course, " said The Master benignly, "if you prefer to commitsuicide, if you prefer to leave her here--well, my nephew knows littleexpedients to reduce her will to compliance. You recall _Yagué_, amongothers. "

Bell's face was a white mask of horror and fury. He tried to speak, and failed. He raised his hand to his throat--and it tore at theflesh, insanely. 

"Let--let me see her, " croaked Bell, as if strangling. 

Jamison stiffened. Bell seemed to be trying to get his hands into hispockets. They were apparently uncontrollable. He thrust them under hiscoat as there was a stirring at the door. 

 * * * * *

And Paula was brought in, as if she had been waiting. She was entirelycolorless, but she smiled at Bell. She came quickly to his side. 

"I heard, " she said in a clear and even little voice. "We will gotogether, Charles. If there is a week in which we can be together, itwill be so much of happiness. And when you are--The Master's victim, we will let the little boat sink, and sink with it. I do not wish tolive without you, Charles, and you do not wish to live as his slave. "

Bell gave utterance to a sudden laugh that was like a bark. His handscame out from under his coat. Dangling from each one was a small, pear-shaped globule of metal. A staff projected upward from each one, and he held those staffs in his writhing hands. About each wrist was atiny loop of cord that went down to a pin at the base of the staffs. 

"Close to me, Paula, " he said coldly. She clung to his arm. He movedforward, with half-a-dozen revolver muzzles pointed at his breast. 

"If one of you damned fools fires, " he said harshly, "I'll let go. When I let go--these are Mills grenades, and they go off in threeseconds after they leave the hand. Stand still!"

 * * * * *

There was a terrible, frozen silence. Then a movement from behindBell. Jamison was rising with a grunt. 

"Some day, Bell, " he observed coolly, "I'll be on to all of yourcurves. This is the best one yet. But you're likely to let go at anysecond, aren't you?"

"Like hell!" raged Bell. "I drank some of your poison, " he snarled atThe Master. "Yes! I was fool enough to do it! But I took what measuresany man will take who finds he's swallowed poison. I got it out of mystomach at once. And if you or one of these deputies tries tomove. .. . "

Ribiera had blanched to a pasty gray. The Master was frozen. But Bellsaw Ribiera's eyes move in swift calculation. There was a solid wallbehind The Master. It seemed as if the greenhouse were a sort ofpassageway between two larger structures. And there was a door almostimmediately behind Ribiera. Ribiera glanced right--left--

He flung himself through that door. He knew the secret of The Master'spower. He was The Master's appointed successor. If The Master and allhis deputies died, Ribiera. .. . 

But Bell snapped into action like a bent spring released. His arm shotforward. A grenade went hurtling through the door through whichRibiera had fled. There was an instantaneous, terrific explosion. Thesolid wall shook and shivered and, with a vast deliberation, collapsed. The greenhouse was full of crushed plaster dust. Panes ofglass shivered. .. . 

But Bell was upon The Master. He had struck the little man down andstood over him, his remaining automatic replacing the grenade he hadthrown. 

"Ribiera's dead, " he snapped, "and if I'm shot The Master dies too andyou all go mad! Stand back!"

The deputies stood frozen. 

"I think, " said Jamison composedly, "I take a hand now. I'll pick himup, Bell. .. . Right. I've got him. With a grenade hanging down hisback. If he jerks away from me, or I from him, it will blow his spineto bits. "

"Hold him so, " said Bell coldly. 

 * * * * *

He went coolly to where he could look over the heap of the collapsedwall. He saw a bundle of torn clothing that had been a man. It wasflung against a cracked and tottering chimney. 

"Right, " he said evenly. "Ribiera's dead, all right. "

He turned to the deputies, whose revolvers were still in their hands. 

"The Master's carriage, please, " he said politely. "To the door. Youmay accompany us if you please, but in other carriages. I am workingfor the release of all the Master's slaves, and you among them if youchoose. But you can see very easily that there is no hope of therelease of The Master without the meeting of my terms. "

The Master spoke, softly and mildly and without fear. 

"It is my order that the Senor Bell is to be obeyed. I shall return. You need have no fear of my death. My carriage. "

A man went stiffly, half-paralyzed with terror, to where chatteringscared servants were grouped in the awful fear that came upon theslaves of The Master at any threat to his rule. 

But Bell and Paula and Jamison went slowly and cautiously--though theyheld the whip hand--to the entrance door of the house, and out to theentrance gate. A carriage was already before the door when theyreached it, and others were drawing up in a line behind it. 

"Get in, " said Bell briefly. "Down to the waterfront. "

He turned to the group of frock-coated, stricken men who had followed. 

"Some of you men, " he said coldly, "had better go on ahead and warnthe police and the public generally about the certainty of TheMaster's death if any attempt is made to rescue him. "

Francia, of Paraguay, summoned a swagger and raised his hand to thesecond carriage. It drew in to the curb. 

"I will attend to it, Senor Bell, " he said politely. "Ah, when I thinkthat I once raised my revolver to shoot you and refrained!"

He drove off swiftly. 

 * * * * *

Bell's eyes were glowing. He got into the carriage, and such aprocession drove through the streets of Punta Arenas as has rarelymoved through the streets of any city in the world. The long line ofcarriages moved at a funereal pace amid a surging, terrified mob. TheMaster beamed placidly as he looked out over white, starkly agonizedfaces. Some of the people groaned audibly. A few cursed The Master intheir despair. More cursed Bell, not daring to strike or fire on him. But he would have been torn to bits if he had stepped from thecarriage for an instant. 

"Bell, " said Jamison dryly, "considering that I'm prepared to be blownapart on three seconds notice, it is peculiar that this mob frightensme. "

The Master's eyes twinkled benignly. He seemed totally insensible tofear. 

"You need not be afraid, " he said gently. "They will not touch youunless I order them. "

Jamison stared down at the little man whose collar he held firmly, with a Mills grenade dangling down at the base of his neck. 

"I wouldn't order them to attack, if I were you, " he said coldly. "Ihaven't Bell's brains, but I have just as much dislike for you as hehas. "

 * * * * *

They came to the harbor. Bell spoke again. 

"The carriage is to drive out to the end of one of the docks, and noone else is to go out on that dock. "

The Master relayed the order in his mild voice, but as the coachmanobeyed him he clucked his tongue commiseratingly. 

"Senor Bell, " he protested gently. "You do not expect to escape! Notafter killing me! Why that is absurd!"

Bell said nothing. He alighted from the carriage, his face set grimly, and stared ashore at the long, long row of terrified faces staring outat him. The whole waterfront seemed to be lined with staring faces. Wails came from that mass of enslaved human beings. 

"Hold him here, Jamison, " he said drearily. "I'm going out to look atthat big plane. There's a rowboat tied to the dock, here. "

He swung down the side into the dock and rowed off into the harbor, while the horses attached to The Master's carriage pawed impatientlyat the wooden flooring of the dock. Bell reached the two planesanchored on the still harbor water. The smaller one had brought themdown from Buenos Aires. The larger one had gone after the beachedamphibian and brought it and Paula on to the city. Bell, from theshore, was seen to be investigating the larger one. He came rowingback. 

His head appeared above the dock edge. 

"All right, " he said tiredly. "The Master has a rule requiring all hisships ready for instant flight. Very useful. The big plane is fueledand full of oil. We'll go out to it and take off. "

 * * * * *

Jamison lifted The Master to his feet and with a surge of musclesswept him down to the flooring of the dock. 

"Paula first, " said Bell, "and then The Master, and then you, Jamison. "

"One moment, " said The Master reproachfully. "It would be cruel not tolet me reassure my subjects. I will give an order. "

Bell and Jamison listened suspiciously. But he spoke gently to thecoachman. 

"You will tell the deputies, " said The Master in Spanish, "that amonth's supply of medicine for all my subjects will be found in mylaboratory. And you may tell them that I shall return before the endof that time. "

The coachman's eyes filled with a passionate relief. 

"Now, " said The Master placidly, "I am ready for our little jaunt. "

Paula descended the ladder and seated herself in the bow of the boat. Bell covered The Master grimly with his automatic as he descended, with surprising agility. Jamison came down last, and resumed hisformer grip on The Master's collar. Bell rowed out to the big plane. 

 * * * * *

Jamison kept close watch while Bell started the four huge motors andthrottled them down to warming up speed, and while he hauled up theanchor with which the huge seaplane was anchored. 

The dock was covered with a swarm of panic stricken folk. Everywhere, all the inhabitants of the city who were slaves to The Master had comein awful terror to watch. And all the inhabitants of the city wereslaves to The Master. Some of them fell to their knees and held outimploring arms to Bell, begging him for mercy and the return of TheMaster. Some cursed wildly. 

But, with his jaws set grimly, Bell gave the motors the gun. 

The big plane moved heavily, then more swiftly through the water. Itlifted slowly, and rose, and rose, and dwindled to a speck high in theair. 

And all through the streets and ways of Punta Arenas, fear stalkedalmost as a tangible thing. Panic hovered over the housetops, alwaysready to descend. Terror was in the air that every man breathed, andevery human being looked at every other human being with staring, haunted eyes. Punta Arenas was waiting for its murder madness tobegin. 

CHAPTER XVIII

There were four motors to pull the big plane through the air, andtheir roaring was a vast thundering noise which the earth re-echoed. But inside the cabin that tumult was reduced to a not intolerablebumming sound. 

"What'll I do with this devil, Bell?" asked Jamison. "Now that we'realoft, I confess this grenade makes me nervous. I'm holding it sotightly my fingers are getting cramped. "

"Tie him up, " said Bell, without looking. "He'll talk presently. "

Movements. The plane flew on, swaying slightly in the way of bigsea-planes everywhere. A williwaw began in the hills ahead and sweptout and set the ship to reeling crazily in its erratic currents. TheStrait vanished and there were tumbled hills below them. Minutespassed. 

"Got him fixed up, " said Jamison coolly, "I'll guarantee he won'tbreak loose. Got any plans, Bell?"

"No time, " said Bell. "I haven't had time to make any. The first thingis to get where his folk will never find us. Then we'll see what wecan do with him. "

Paula looked at the now bound figure of The Master. And the little oldman beamed at her. 

"He--he's smiling!" said Paula, in a voice that was full of a peculiarhorrified shock. 

 * * * * *

Bell shrugged. Punta Arenas was all of twenty-five miles behind, andthe earth over which they _flew_ began to take on the shape of anisland. Water appeared beyond it, and innumerable small islands. Bellbegan to rack his brain for the infinitesimal scraps of knowledge hehad about this section of the world. It was pitifully scanty. PuntaArenas was the southernmost point of the continental mass. All aboutit was an archipelago and a maze of waterways, thinly inhabitedeverywhere and largely without any inhabitants at all. The only solidground between Cape Horn and the Antarctic ice pack was Diego Ramirezand the South Shetlands. .. . 

Nothing to go on. But any sufficiently isolated and desolate spotwould do. Almost anywhere along the southern edge of the continentalislands should serve. 

The plane roared on monotonously, while Bell began to wrestle withanother and more serious problem. In three days--two, now--an Americannaval vessel would turn up, with scientists and chemists on board. Itwas to be doubted whether anything like an overt act would be riskedby that vessel. If all the governments of South America were under TheMaster's thumb, then cabled orders from his deputies would race threenavies to the spot. And the government of the United States does notlike to start war, anywhere. Certainly it would not willingly enterinto a conflict with the whole southern continent for the solution ofa problem that so far affected that continent alone. The Master'skidnapping had solved nothing, so far. 

 * * * * *

Jamison tapped his shoulder. 

"No pursuit, so far, " he observed coolly. "I've looked. " Bell nodded. 

"They don't dare. Not yet, anyhow. They're depending on The Master. How is he?"

"Smiling peacefully to himself, damn him!" snarled Jamison. "Do youknow what we're up against?"

"Ourselves, " said Bell coldly. "But I'm nearly licked. He's got totalk!"

Jamison moved away again. The earth below looked as if it had beentorn to shreds in some titanic convulsion of ages past. The sea waseverywhere, and so was land! There were little threads of silverinterlacing and crossing and wavering erratically in every conceivabledirection. And there were specks of islands--rocks only yards inextent--and islands of every imaginable size and shape, with theirsurfaces in every possible state of upheaval and distortion. A broadermass of land appeared ahead and to the left. 

"Tierra del Fuego again, " muttered Bell. "If we cross it. .. . "

For fifteen minutes the plane thundered across desolate, rocky hills. Then the maze of islets again. Bell scanned them keenly, and saw atiny steamer traveling smokily, for no conceivable reason, among thescattered bits of stone. The sea appeared, stretching out towardinfinity. 

Bell rose, to survey a wider space. He swung to the left, so that hewas heading nearly southeast, and went on down toward that desolationof desolations, the stormy cape which faces the eternal ice of theantarctic. He was five thousand feet up, then, and scanning sea andearth and sky. .. . 

And suddenly he swung sharply to the right and headed out toward theopen sea. He felt a small figure pressing against his shoulder. Presently fingers closed tightly upon his sleeve. He glanced down atPaula and managed to smile. 

"There are some rocks out there, " he told her quietly. "Islands, Ithink, and Diego Ramirez, at a guess. "

 * * * * *

They were specks, no more, but they were vastly more distinct from theplane than from Mount Beaufoy. That is on Henderson Island in New YearSound, and its seventeen-hundred-foot peak was almost below Bell whenhe sighted the islands. But the islands have been seen full fiftymiles from there. 

It took the plane nearly forty minutes to cover the space, but longbefore that the islands had become distinct. Two tiny groups ofscattered rocks, the whole group hardly five miles in length and byfar the greater number no more than boulders surrounded by sheets offoam from breakers. Two of them merited the name of islands. Thenearer was high and bare and precipitous. No trace of vegetationshowed upon it. The farther was smaller, and at its northern corner alittle cove showed, nearly land-locked. 

Bell descended steeply. The big plane plunged wildly in the air eddiesabout the taller island at five hundred feet, but steadied and wentwinging on down lower, and lower. .. . The waves between the twoislands were not high, but the seaplane alighted with a mighty, atremendous splashing, and Bell navigated it grimly though clumsilyinto the mouth of the cove. There a small beach showed. He went veryslowly toward it. Presently he swung abruptly about. A wing tip floatgrounded close to the shore. 

The motors cut off and left a thunderous silence. Bell climbed atopthe cabin and let go the anchor. 

"We're here, " he said shortly. "Bring The Master and we'll go ashore. "

 * * * * *

The catwalk painted on the lower wing guided them. Bell jumped to therocks first, and stumbled, and then rose to lift Paula down and takeThe Master's small, frail body from Jamison's arms. 

"You looked for a gun?" asked Bell

"He'd nothing to fight with, " said Jamison heavily. He had been facingthe same problem Bell had worked on desperately, and had found noanswer. But he shuddered a little as he looked about the island. 

There was nothing in sight but rock. No moss. No lichens. Not evenstringy grass or the tufty scrub bushes that seemed able to growanywhere. 

Bell untied The Master, carefully but without solicitude. The littleman sat up, and brushed himself off carefully, and arranged himself ina comfortable position. 

"I am an old man, " said The Master in mild reproach. "You might atleast have given me a cushion to sit upon. "

Bell sat down and lighted a cigarette with fingers that did nottremble in the least. 

"Suppose, " he said hardly, "you talk. First, of what your poison ismade. Second, of what the antidote is made. Third, how we may be sureyou tell the truth. "

 * * * * *

The Master looked at him with bright, shrewd, and apparently kindlyold eyes. 

"_Hijo mio_, " he said mildly, "I am an old man. But I am obstinate. Iwill tell you nothing. "

Bell's eyes glowed coldly. 

"Does it occur to you, " he asked grimly, "that it's too important amatter for us to have any scruples about? That we can--and will--makeyou talk?"

"You may kill me, " said The Master benignly, "but that is all. "

"And, " said Bell, still more grimly, "we have only to get back in theplane yonder, and go away. .. . "

The Master beamed at him. Presently he began to laugh softly. 

"_Hijo mio_, " he said gently, "let us stop this little byplay. Youwill take me back in my airplane, and you will land me at PuntaArenas. And then you will fly away. I concede you freedom, but that isall. You cannot leave me here. "

"Paula, " said Bell coldly, "get in the plane again. Jamison--"

Paula rose doubtfully. Jamison stood up. The Master continued tochuckle amiably. 

"You see, " he said cherubically, "you happen to be a gentleman, SenorBell. Every man has some weakness. That is yours. And you will notleave me here to die, because you have killed my nephew, who was theonly other man who knew how to prepare my little medicine. And youknow, Senor, that all my subjects will wish to die. Those who do, infact, " he added mildly, "will be fortunate. The effect of my littlemedicine does not make for happiness without its antidote. "

 * * * * *

Bell's hands clenched. 

"You know, " said The Master comfortably, "that there are manythousands of people whose hands will writhe, very soon. The city ofPunta Arenas will be turned into a snarling place of maniacs within avery little while--if I do not return. Would you like, Senor, to thinkin after days of that pleasant city filled with men and women tearingeach other like beasts? Of little children, even, crouching, andcrushing and rending the tender flesh of other little children? Oflisping little ones gone--"

"Stop!" snarled Bell, in a frenzy. "Damn your soul! You're right! Ican't! You win--so far!"

"Always, " said The Master benevolently. "I win always. And you forget, Senor. You have seen the worst side of my rule. The revolutions, therebellions that have made men free, were they pretty things to watch?Always, _amigo_, the worst comes. But when my rule is secure, then youshall see. "

 * * * * *

He waved a soft, beautifully formed hand. From every possible aspectthe situation was a contradiction of all reason. The bare, black, saltencrusted rocks with no trace of vegetation showing. The gray waterrumbling and surging among the uneven rocks at the base of the shore, while gulls screamed hoarsely overhead. The white haired little manwith his benevolent face, smiling confidently at the two grim men. 

"The time will come, " said The Master gently, and in the tone of utterconfidence with which one states an inescapable fact, "the time willcome when all the earth will know my rule. The taking of my littlemedicine will be as commonplace a thing as the smoking of tobacco, which I abhor, Senores. You are mistaken about there being an antidoteand a poison. It is one medicine only. One little compound. Avegetable substance, Senor Bell, combined with a product of modernchemistry. It is a synthetic drug. Modern chemistry is a magnificentscience, and my little medicine is its triumph. Even my deputies havenot heard me speak so, Senores. "

Bell snarled wordlessly, but if one had noticed his eyes they wouldhave been seen to be curiously cool and alert and waiting. The Masterleaned forward, and for once spoke seriously, almost reverently. 

"There shall be a forward step, Senores, in the race of men. Do youknow the difference between the brain of a man and that of ananthropoid ape? It consists only of a filmy layer of cortex, a film ofgray nerve cells which the ape has not. And that little layer createsthe difference between ape and man. And I have discovered more. Mylittle medicine acts upon that film. Administered in the tinyquantities I have given to my slaves, it has no perceptible effect. Itis merely a compound of a vegetable substance and a synthetic organicbase. It is not excreted from the body. Like lead, it remains alwaysin solution in the blood. But in or out of the blood it changes, always, to the substance which causes murder madness. Fresh orchanged, my little medicine acts upon the brain. "

 * * * * *

He smiled brightly upon them. 

"But though in tiny quantities it has but little effect, in largerquantities--when fresh it makes the functioning of the gray cells ofthe human brain as far superior to the unmedicated gray cells, asthose human gray cells are to the white cells of the ape! That is whatI have to offer to the human race! Intelligence for every man, whichshall be as the genius of the past!"

He laughed softly. 

"Think, Senores! Compare the estate of men with the estate of apes!Compare the civilization which will arise upon the earth when men'sbrains are as far above their present level as the present level isabove the anthropoid! The upward steps of the human race under my rulewill parallel, will surpass the advance from the brutish caveman tointellectual genius. But I have seen, Senores, the one danger in myoffering. "

There was silence. Jamison shook his head despairingly. The Mastercould not see him. He formed the word with his lips. 

"Crazy!"

 * * * * *

But Bell said coldly:

"Go on. "

"I must rule, " said The Master soberly. "It is essential. If my littlesecret were known, intelligences would be magnified, but under manyflags and with many aims. Scientists, with genius beside whichNewton's pales, would seek out deadly weapons for war. The world woulddestroy itself of its own genius. But under my rule--"

"Men go mad, " said Bell coldly. 

The Master smiled reproachfully. 

"Ah, you are trying to make me angry, so that I will betray something!You are clever, Senor Bell. With my little medicine, in suchquantities as I would administer it to you. .. . "

"You describe it, " said Bell harshly and dogmatically, "as a brainstimulant. But it drives men mad. "

"To be sure, " said The Master mildly. "It does. It is not excretedfrom the body save very, very slowly. But it changes in the bloodstream. As--let us say--sugar changes into alcohol in digestion. Theend-product of my little medicine is a poison which attacks the brain. But the slightest bit of unchanged medicine is an antidote. It is"--hesmiled amiably--"it is as if sugar in the body changed to alcohol, andalcohol was a poison, but sugar--unchanged--was an antidote. That isit exactly. You see that I have taken my little medicine for years, and it has not harmed me. "

"Which, " said Bell--and somehow his manner made utter silence fall sothat each word fell separately into a vast stillness--"which, thankGod, is the one thing that wins finally, for me!"

 * * * * *

He stood up and laughed. Quite a genuine laugh. 

"Paula, " he said comfortably, "get on the plane. In the cabin. Jamisonand I are going to strip The Master. "

Paula stared. The Master looked at him blankly. Jamison frownedbewilderedly, but stood up grimly to obey. 

"But Senor, " said The Master in gentle dignity, "merely to humiliateme--"

"Not for that, " said Bell. He laughed again. "But all the time I'vebeen hearing about the stuff, I've noticed that nobody thought of itas a drug. It was a poison. People were poisoned. They did not becomeaddicts. But you--you are the only addict to your drug. "

He turned to Jamison, his eyes gleaming. 

"Jamison, " he said softly, "did you ever know of a drug addict whocould bear to think of ever being without a supply of his drug--_righton his person_?"

Jamison literally jumped. 

"By God! No!"

The Master was quick. He was swarming up the plane-wing tip beforeJamison reached him, and he kicked frenziedly when Jamison plucked himoff. But then it was wholly, entirely, utterly horrible that thelittle white haired man, whose face and manner had seemed so cherubicand so bland, should shriek in so complete a blind panic as theyforced his fingers open and took a fountain pen away from him. 

"This is it, " said Bell in a deep satisfaction. "This is his point ofweakness. "

 * * * * *

The Master was ghastly to look at, now. Jamison held him gentlyenough, considering everything, but The Master looked at that fountainpen as one might look at Paradise. 

"I--I swear, " he gasped. "I--swear I will give you the formula!"

"You might lie, " said Jamison grimly. 

"I swear it!" panted The Master in agony. "It--If the formula is knownit--can be duplicated! It--the excretion can be hastened! It can allbe forced from the body! Simply! So simply! If only you know! I willtell you how it is done! The medicine is the cacodylate of--"

Bell was leaning forward, now, like a runner breasting the tape at theend of a long and exhausting race. 

"I'll trade, " he said softly. "Half the contents of the pen for theformula. The other half we'll need for analysis. Half the stuff in thepen for the formula for freeing your slaves!"

The Master sobbed. 

"A--a pencil!" he gasped. "I swear--"

Jamison gave him a pencil and a notebook. He wrote, his hinds shaking. Jamison read inscrutably. 

"It doesn't mean anything to me, " he said soberly, "but you can readit. It's legible. "

Bell smiled faintly. With steady finger he took his own fountain penfrom his pocket. He emptied it of ink, and put a scrupulous half of amilky liquid from The Master's pen into it. He passed it over. 

"Your medicine, " said Bell quietly, "may taste somewhat of ink, but itwill not be poisonous. Now, what do we do with you? I give you yourchoice. If we take you with us, you will be held very secretly as aprisoner until the truth of the information you have given us can beproven. And if your slaves have all been freed, then I suppose youwill be tried. .. . "

 * * * * *

The Master was drawn and haggard. He looked very, very old and beaten. 

"I--I would prefer, " he said dully, "that you did not tell where I am, and that you go away and leave me here. I--I may have some subjectswho will search for me, and--they may discover me here. .. . But I ambeaten, Senor. You know that you have won. "

Bell swung up on the wing of the plane. He explored about in thecabin. He came back. 

"There are emergency supplies, " he said coldly. "We will leave themwith you, with such things as may be useful to allow you to hope aslong as possible. I do not think you will ever be found here. "

"I--prefer it, Senor, " said The Master dully. "I--I will catchfish. .. . "

Jamison helped put the packages ashore. The Master shivered. Bellstripped off his coat and put it on top of the heap of packages. TheMaster did not stir. Bell laid a revolver on top of his coat. He wentout to the plane and started the motors. The Master watchedapathetically as the big seaplane pulled clumsily out of the littlecove. The rumble of the engines became a mighty roar. It startedforward with a rush, skimmed the water for two hundred yards or so, and suddenly lifted clear to go floating away through the air towardthe north. 

 * * * * *

Paula was the only one who looked back. 

"He's crying, " she said uncomfortably. 

"It isn't fear, " said Bell quietly. "It's grief at the loss of hisambition. It may not seem so to you two, but I believe he meant allthat stuff he told me. He was probably really aiming, in his own way, for an improved world for men to live in. "

The plane roared on. Presently Bell said shortly:

"That stuff he has won't last indefinitely. I'm glad I left him thatrevolver. "

Jamison stirred suddenly. He dug down in his pocket and fished out acigar. 

"Since I feel that I may live long enough to finish smoking this, " heobserved dryly, "I think I'll light it. I haven't felt that I hadtwenty minutes of life ahead of me for a long time, now. A sense ofeconomy made me smoke cigarettes. It wouldn't be so much waste if youleft half a cigarette behind you when you were killed. "

 * * * * *

The tight little cabin began to reek of the tobacco. Paula pressedclose to Bell. 

"But--Charles, " she asked hopefully, "is--is it really all right, now?"

"I think so, " said Bell, frowning. "Our job's over, anyhow. We go upthe Chilean coast and find that navy boat. We turn our stuff over tothem. They'll take over the task of seeing that every doctor, everywhere in South America, knows how to get The Master's poison outof the system of anybody who's affected. Some of them won't bereached, but most of them will. I looked at his formula. Standarddrugs, all of them. There won't be any trouble getting the newsspread. The Master's slaves will nearly go crazy with joy. And, " headded grimly, "I'm going to see to it that the Rio police take backwhat they said about us. I think we'll have enough pull to demand thatmuch!"

He was silent for a moment or so, thinking. 

"I do think, Jamison, " he said presently, "we did a pretty good job. "

Jamison grunted. 

"If--if it's really over, " said Paula hopefully, "Charles--"

"What?"

"You--will be able to think about me sometimes, " asked Paulawistfully, "instead of about The Master always?"

Bell stared down at her. 

"Good Lord!" he groaned. "I have been a brute, Paula! But I've beenloving you--" He stopped, and then said with the elaborate politenessand something of the customary idiotic air of a man making such anannouncement. "I say, Jamison, did you know Paula and I were to bemarried?"

Jamison snorted. Then he said placidly:

"No. Of course not. I never dreamed of such a thing. When did thisremarkably original idea occur to you?"

He puffed a huge cloud of smoke from his cigar. It was an unusuallyvile cigar. Bell scowled at him helplessly for a moment and then saidwrathfully:

"Oh, go to hell!"

And he bent over and kissed Paula. 

(_The End. _)

[Advertisement: IN THE NEXT ISSUE

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS_Beginning an Exciting Three-Part Novel of the Nares Deep_By Ray Cummings

AN ATTACK FROM SPACE_A Sequel to "Beyond the Heaviside Layer"_By Captain S. P. Meek

MAROONED UNDER THE SEA_A Thrilling Novelet of the Ocean Floor_By Paul Ernst

EARTH, THE MARAUDER_The Conclusion of the Tremendous Novel_By Arthur J. Burks

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The Flying City

_By H. Thompson Rich_

[Illustration: The ray shot down--and squadrons of planes frizzledlike moths in the air. ]

[Sidenote: From Space came Cor's disc-city of Vada--its mighty, age-old engines weakening--its horde of dwarfs hungry for the Earth!]

In the burning solitude of the great Arizona desert, some two milessouth of Ajo, a young scientist was about to perform an experimentthat might have far-reaching results for humanity. 

The scientist was Gordon Kendrick--a tall, tanned, robust chap wholooked more like a prospector in search of gold than a professor ofphysics from the State University of Tucson. 

Indeed, he was in a way, a prospector, since it was gold hesought--some practical method of tapping the vast radio-energetictreasure of the sun--and it was an apparatus designed to accomplishjust this that he was about to test. 

The primary unit of the mechanism comprised a spheroidal vacuum-tubemeasuring a little over a foot across its long axis, mounted in asteel bracket that held it horizontal with the ground. Down throughits short axis ran a shaft on which was centered a light cross ofaluminum wire, carrying four vanes of mica, one face of each coatedwith lampblack. A flexible cable led from the bottom of this shaft tothe base of the bracket, where it was geared to a small electric motordriven by two dry cells. A rheostat-switch for delivering andcontrolling the current was mounted nearby. 

[Illustration]

At the wide arc of the egg-shaped tube was a concave platinum cathode, at the narrow arc a nib of some sort, ending in a socket. From thissocket, two heavy insulated wires extended sixty feet or so across thesand to the secondary unit of the mechanism, which was roughly aseries of resistance coils, resembling those in an ordinary electricheater. 

 * * * * *

As Kendrick prepared to test this delicate apparatus that representedso much of his time and thought, held so much of his hope locked up init, a turmoil was in his heart, though his brown face was calm. 

If his theories were right, that revolving cross would tap and drawinto its vanes radio-energetic waves of force, much as the whirlingarmature of a dynamo draws into its coils electro-magnetic waves offorce. For the blackened sides of the vanes, absorbing more radiationthan the bright sides, would cause the molecules to rebound from thewarmer surfaces with greater velocity, setting up an alternatepressure and bringing the rays to a focus on the cathode, where theywould be reflected to the nib as waves of _heatricity_, to use theword he had coined. 

Those were Kendrick's theories, and now he moved to put them to thesupreme test. Switching on the current, he set the motor going. Inresponse, the cross began to revolve, slowly at first--then faster, faster, as he opened the rheostat wider. 

Eyes fixed on his resistance coils, he gave a sudden cry of triumph. Yes, there was no doubt about it! They were growing red, glowingbrightly, whitely, above the intense desert sunlight. 

Here was a means of convening solar radiation into heat, then, thatoffered tremendous commercial possibilities!

But even as he exulted, there came a blinding flash--and the overtaxedcoils burst into flame. 

 * * * * *

Shielding his eyes from the glare, he reached for the rheostat, shutoff the current, rushed to his secondary unit--where he beheld anamazing sight. Not only had this part of the apparatus completelydisintegrated, but the sand of the desert floor under it as well. Onthe spot quivered a miniature lake of molten glass!

As Kendrick stood ruefully beside that fiery pool, meditating on thespectacular but not altogether gratifying results of his experiment, apeculiar low humming sound reached his ears. Rushing back to hisprimary unit, with the thought that perhaps by some chance he had notfully closed the rheostat, he looked at the cross. But no, the vaneswere still. 

The humming increased, however--grew into a vibration that made hiseardrums ache. 

Puzzled, he looked around. What on earth could it be? Had his unrulyexperiment called into play some tremendous, unsuspected force of theuniverse. Was he to bring the world to ruin, as a result of his blindgroping after this new giant of power?

Such predictions had often been made by the ignorant, to be dismissedby scientists as the veriest nonsense. But was there some truth in theuniversal fear, after all? Was he to be the Prometheus who stole firefrom Olympus, the Samson who toppled down the temple?

Chilled, dizzied with the pain of the ever-increasing vibration, hegritted his teeth, awaiting he knew not what. 

Then it came--a spectacle so staggering that he went rigid with awe ashe regarded it, all power of motion utterly numbed for the moment. Thevibration ceased. The thing appeared. 

It was a city--a city in the air--a flying city!

 * * * * *

As Kendrick stood staring at this phenomenon, he could scarcely credithis senses. 

Had the magic carpet of Bagdad suddenly materialized before him, hewould not have been more astounded. And indeed, it was in a way amagic carpet--a great disclike affair, several miles in diameter, itsmyriad towers and spires glinting like gold under the noonday sun, while its vast shadow fell athwart the desert like the pall of aneclipse. 

The lower portion, he noted, was in the main flat, though a number ofwartish protuberances jutted down from it, ejecting a pale violetemanation. Whatever this was it seemed to have the effect of holdingthe thing motionless in the air, for it hovered there quite easily, ahundred yards or so above the ground. 

But what was it? Where was it from? What had brought it?

Those were the questions he wanted answered; and they were to be, sooner than he knew. 

As he stood there speculating, a device like a trap-door opened in thebase of the disc, and creatures resembling human beings begandescending. Began floating down, rather. 

Whereupon Kendrick did what any sensible man would have done, undersimilar circumstances. He reacted into motion. In short, he ran. 

 * * * * *

Glancing back over his shoulder after a minute or two, however, hedrew up sheepishly. Of that strange apparition and those who haddescended from it there was not a trace, not a shadow!

But the peculiar humming had recommenced, he realized in the nextbreath--and at the same instant he felt himself seized by invisiblehands. 

There was a struggle, but it was brief and futile. When it was overhis captors became visible once more. They were singular little beingsabout four feet tall, with strange, wise, leathery faces, their headsgrotesquely bald. 

The humming had ceased again. The disc, too, was once more visible. 

What happened next was something even more astounding, if there couldbe any further degrees of wonder possible for the utterly baffledyoung scientist. He felt himself lifted up, leaving the desert floor, whirling away toward that incredible phenomenon hovering there. 

Another moment or two and he had been borne up through its trap-dooropening, was standing in a dark space bounded by solid metal walls. Then he was thrust into a cylinder with several of his tiny guards, shot swiftly upward. 

 * * * * *

A door opened as they came to rest, and he was led out into a vastcourt of gleaming amber crystal. Something like a taxi slid up, withirridescent planes, and he was bundled into it, whirled away again. 

Down broad, gleaming avenues they passed, where similar traffic floweddensely, but under marvelous control. Towering skyscrapers loomed toright and left. Tier on tier of upper and lower boulevards revealedthemselves, all crowded with automotive and pedestrian activity. 

At length a stupendous concourse was reached. Thousands of these taxisand similar vehicles were parked along its broad flanks, while literalswarms of diminutive individuals circulated to and fro. 

Assisted from the vehicle that had brought him to this obvious centerof the disc's activities. Kendrick was led into a monumental structureof jade-green stone that towered a full hundred, stories above thestreet level. There he was escorted into another of thoseprojectilelike elevators, shot up, up--till at length it came to rest. The door opened and he was led out into a small lobby of the sameamber crystal he had observed before. 

By now his guards had diminished to two, but he no longer made anyeffort to escape. Wherever this amazing adventure might lead, he wasresolved to follow it through. 

One of the guards had advanced to a jewelled door and was pressing abutton. In response, the door opened. A golden-robed, regal creaturestood there. 

 * * * * *

Though dwarfed to four feet, like his fellow, he was obviously theirmental superior to a prodigious degree. Not only was his symmetricalbald head of large brain content, but the finely-cut features of hisparchment face bore the unmistakable stamp of a powerful intellect. 

"_Ao-chaa!_" commanded this evident monarch of the disc, addressingthe guards. 

They bowed and departed, abruptly. 

"My dear Kendrick!" the regal personage now said, in thin, preciseEnglish. "It is indeed a pleasure to welcome you to my humblequarters. Pray enter and make yourself comfortable. "

Whereupon he ushered him into a dazzling apartment that was one vastmosaic of precious gems, indicated a richly carved chair, into whichthe young scientist dropped wonderingly. 

"Now then, Professor, " continued the mighty little dwarf, when he wasseated in a chair even more sumptuous, "suppose we have a friendlylittle discussion. I have been much interested in your experiments onheat radiation. What you demonstrated this morning, in particular, wasmost absorbing. You have hit upon a rather profound scientificprinciple, yes?"

"Possibly, " Kendrick admitted, quite conscious that he was beingpatronized. 

"Oh, don't be modest, my dear fellow!" smiled the dwarf. "I am thelast one to belittle your achievement. Indeed, it is because of itthat I have invited you here to-day. Permit me to introduce myself, and to make clear one or two possibly perplexing matters. Then I amsure we shall have a most agreeable chat. "

 * * * * *

His name was Cor, he said, and he was in truth the monarch of thisstrange realm. His people had come from the one-time planet of Vada, far distant in the universe. A thousand years ago, this planet hadbeen doomed by the approach of an alien star. Their great scientist, Ravv, had met the emergency by inventing the disc, into whoseconstruction they had poured all their resources. The pick of theirpopulace had been salvaged on this giant life-raft. The rest hadperished when that destroying star had crashed down on the doomedVada. 

Since then these survivors and their descendants had been voyagingthrough space on their marvelous disc. For hundreds of years they hadgiven no thought to the future, content to drift on and on in theinterstellar void, breathing an atmosphere produced artificially. Butat length the inevitable had happened. This superb piece of mechanismdevised by their super-genius, Ravv, was beginning to show signs ofwear. Some of its mighty engines were nearing the exhaustion point. Either they must soon find a planet comparable with the one they hadonce known, where they could pause and rehabilitate their machinery, or they must disintegrate and pass into oblivion. 

Faced with that crisis, Cor had long been seeking such a planet. Hehad found it, at last, in the earth--and had resolved that this waswhere they were going to alight and transplant the civilization ofancient Vada, pending such time as they could take to space again. 

 * * * * *

For some months now they had been hovering over various portions ofthe earth, studying its geography and its peoples, with the resultthat they had concluded the United States offered the most logicalpoint for launching the attack. Once this country was subdued, theywere in possession of the richest and most advanced section of theplanet. The conquest of the rest of it could await their leisure. 

With such an invasion in view, their scientists had mastered thelanguage of the country. This had been accomplished very easily, sincein addition to their power of mingling with the populace in aninvisible form, they had the principles of radio developed to a highdegree and were able to tune in on any station they wanted. 

Kendrick sat there, stunned, as Cor followed his astounding revelationof their origin with this calm plan for the conquest of America, ofthe world. Why, of all people on earth, had he alone been singled outfor this disclosure?

He asked the question now. 

"My dear Professor, can't you really guess?" replied Cor, with thatleathery smile. "Hasn't it dawned that you were a little too near ourown field with that machine of yours? A trifle more research, aslightly different application--and you would have become a dangerousenemy. "

"You--you mean--?"

"I mean there isn't a great deal of difference between the experimentsyou have been making and those our great Ravv once made. For instance, had you broadcast your heatricity, as you call it, instead of tryingto transmit it on wires--well, picture a receiving apparatus in eachhome of the land, like your commercial radio sets. You would havebecome a billionaire, don't you see?"

 * * * * *

Kendrick saw indeed. It was simple, so simple! Fool--why hadn't hethought of it?

"But your invention will never make you wealthy now, my dear fellow, "Cor went on, tauntingly. "You will be our guest, here, until we havetaken over your interesting country. After that, if there is any needfor the broadcasting of heat, we will furnish it ourselves. We havethose facilities, among others, fully developed. Would you care to seeour plant?"

Kendrick naturally admitted that he would, so the dwarf led himthrough a rear door and up a winding flight of stairs. They emergedpresently into a great laboratory housed in the glass-roofed pinnacleof the tower. 

There he beheld a sight that left him breathless. Never before had heseen such an assemblage of scientific apparatus. Its vastness andstrangeness were fairly overpowering, even to a man as well versed inphysio-chemical paraphernalia as he was. 

Before his eyes could take in a tenth part of the spectacle, Cor hadled him to the left wall. 

"There, " he said, "you will observe a development of your heatgenerator. "

Kendrick looked--to see a long bank of large vacuum-tubes, each aboutthree feet high and a foot wide, connected by a central shaft thatcaused series of little vanes in each of them to revolve at lightningspeed. 

Around the apparatus moved numerous small attendants, oiling, wiping, adjusting its many delicate parts. 

"Well, what do you think now?" asked Cor. 

Kendrick made no reply, though he was thinking plenty. 

"You see, it is your invention, my dear Professor, " the dwarf went onin his taunting voice, "only anteceded by a thousand years--and rathermore perfected, you must admit. "

 * * * * *

He walked now to the center of the laboratory, where stood a huge dialof white crystal, ranked with many levers and switches, all cappedwith the same material. 

"Behold!" he said, throwing over one. 

Instantly there came again that peculiar low humming that had sopuzzled him a few minutes before--and the entire room, its engines, its attendants, Cor himself, leapt into invisibility. Only Kendrickremained, facing the faintly visible crystal dial. 

Then he saw a switch move, as though automatically. But no, for thedwarf's hand was on it now. Visibility had returned. The vibrationceased. 

"That is the central control, " said Cor. "Our city and all itsinhabitants become invisible when that switch is thrown. Only the dialremains, for the guidance of the operator, and even that cannot beseen at a distance of more than fifty feet. But now behold!"

He raised his hand, touched a watch-like device strapped to hiswrist--and was instantly invisible. But the laboratory and everymachine and person in it remained in plain view. Nor was there anyvibration now. 

 * * * * *

The next moment, having touched that curious little device again, Correappeared. 

"That is the local control, " he said. "Every one of our inhabitants, except those under discipline, has one of these little mechanisms. Itenables us to make ourselves invisible at will. A convenience attimes, you must admit. "

"Decidedly, " Kendrick agreed. "And the principle?"

"Quite simple. One of those, in fact, that lies behind yourresearches. Doubtless you would have hit upon it yourself in time. Your own scientist, Faraday, you may recall, held the opinion that thevarious forms under which the forces of matter manifest themselveshave a common origin. We of the disc, thanks to our great Ravv, havefound that common origin. "

It was the origin of matter itself, Cor said, which lay in the etherof interstellar space--energy, raw, cosmic--vibrations, rays. 

By harnessing and controlling these various rays, his people had beenable to accomplish their seeming miracles--miracles that the people ofearth, too, were beginning to achieve--as in electricity, forinstance, and its further application, radio. 

But the people of Vada had long since mastered such simple rays, andnow, in possession of vastly more powerful ones, had the elementalforces of the universe at their disposal. 

 * * * * *

The disc was propelled through space by short rays of tremendouslyhigh frequency, up above the ultra-violet. The same rays, directeddownward instead of outward, enabled them to overcome the pull ofgravity when in a planet's influence, as at present. And the escalatorrays, by which they could proceed to and from the disc, were also ofhigh frequency, as were their invisibility rays. 

"But you, Professor, are more interested in low frequency rays, thelong ones down below infra-red, " continued Cor. "You have seen ourdevelopment of the heat-dynamo principle. It utilizes, I might add, not only solar radiation but that of the stars as well. There being abillion and a half of these in the universe, many of them a thousandtimes or more as large as your own sun, we naturally have quite anefficient little heating plant here. It provides us with our weapon ofwarfare, as well as keeping us warm. Permit me to demonstrate. "

He led the way to a gleaming circle of glass like an invertedtelescope, about a yard in diameter, mounted in the floor. 

"Look!" said the dwarf. 

Kendrick did so--and there, spread below him, lay the floor of thedesert. His camp, his apparatus, were just as he had left them. 

Cor now moved toward the dial. 

"Behold!" he said, pulling a lever. 

Instantly the scene below was an inferno. Stricken by a blast ofstupendous heat, the whole area went molten, lay quivering like a lakeof lava in the crater of an active volcano. 

"Suppose, my dear Professor, " smiled the dwarf, strolling back fromthe dial, "just suppose, for instance, that instead of the lonelycamp of an obscure scientist, your proud city of New York had beenbelow there!"

 * * * * *

Kendrick shuddered. 

Well he knew now the terrible power, the appalling menace of thisstrange invader. 

"I would prefer not to make such a supposition, " he said, quietly, with a last thoughtful glance at that witches' caldron below. 

"Then let us think of pleasanter things. You are my guest of honor, sir--America's foremost scientist, though she may never realize it, "with a piping chuckle. "To-night there will be a great banquet in yourhonor. Meanwhile, suppose I show you to your quarters. "

Nettled, fuming, though outwardly calm, Kendrick permitted himself tobe escorted from the laboratory to an ornate apartment on one of thelower floors. 

There Cor left him, with the polite hint that he would find plenty ofattendants handy should he require anything. 

Alone now, in the midst of this vast, nightmarish metropolis, he pacedback and forth, back and forth--knowing the hideous fate thatthreatened the world but powerless to issue one word of warning, muchless avert it. 

 * * * * *

Kendrick was still thinking and brooding along these lines when he sawthe door of the apartment swiftly open and close again. 

Someone had entered, invisible!

Backing away, he waited, tense. Then, suddenly, his visitormaterialized. With a gasp, he saw standing before him a beautifulgirl. 

She was a young woman, rather, in her early twenties. Not one of thesepigmies of the disc either, but a tall, slender creature of his ownworld. 

Her hair was dark, modishly bobbed. Her eyes were a deep, clear brown, her skin a warm olive. And she was dressed as though she had juststepped off Fifth Avenue--which indeed she had, not so long ago, ashe was soon to learn. 

"I hope I haven't startled you too much, Mr. Kendrick, " she said, in arich, husky murmur, "but--well, there wasn't any other way. "

"Oh, I guess I'll get over it, " he replied with a smile. "But you havethe advantage of me, since you know my name. "

Hers was Marjorie Blake, she told him then. 

"Not the daughter of Henderson Blake?" he gasped. 

"Yes, " with a tremor, "his only daughter. "

Whereupon Kendrick knew the solution of a mystery that had baffled thepolice for weeks. The newspapers had been full of it at the time. Thisbeautiful girl, whose father was one of America's richest men andpresident of its largest bank, had disappeared as though the earth hadswallowed her. She had left their summer estate at Great Neck, LongIsland, on a bright June morning, bound for New York on a shoppingtour--and had simply vanished. 

 * * * * *

Suicide had been hinted by some of the papers, but had not been takenseriously, since she had no apparent motive for ending her life. Abduction seemed to be the more logical explanation, and huge rewardshad been offered by her frantic parents--all to no avail. 

What had happened was, she now explained, that after visiting severalshops and making a number of purchases, she had stepped into CentralPark at the Plaza for a breath of fresh air before lunching at theSherry-Netherlands, where she planned to meet some friends. 

But before advancing a hundred yards along the secluded path, she hadbeen seized by invisible hands--had felt something strapped to herwrist, before anyone came in sight--and then, invisible too, had beenlifted up, whirled away into a vast, humming vibration that soundedthrough the air. 

Once on the disc, it had swept off into space at incredible speed, pausing only when some hundreds of miles above the earth and invisiblefrom below without mechanical aid. When its vibration finally ceasedthat amazing city had leapt before her eyes. 

Then, her own visibility restored, she had been led into the presenceof that mighty little monarch, Cor, who explained that she had beenseized as a hostage and would be held as an ace in the hole, pendingconquest of her country. Since when she had been a prisoner aboard thedisc. 

 * * * * *

Learning of Kendrick's capture, from gossip among the women, she hadtaken the first opportunity of coming to him, in the hope that betweenthem they might devise some means of escape. 

Indeed, that was his own fondest hope--their imperative need, if thepeople of America and of the earth were to be saved from thisappalling menace. But what basis was there for such a fantastic hope?Just one, that he could see. 

"That thing on your wrist, " he said, voicing it. "I'm surprised theylet you wear one of those. "

"They don't, " she smiled. "I stole it!--from one of the maids in myapartment. It was the only way I could get here without being seen. Ifelt I must see you at once. We've got to do something, soon, or it'llbe too late. I felt that, as a scientist, you might have some idea howwe could get off. "

"How do the people themselves get off?" he asked. "That escalatorray--do you know how they use it?"

"No, I've never been able to find out. They don't let me go near thatpart of the city. "

Kendrick reflected a moment. 

"Let's have a look at that invisibility affair, " he said. 

She removed it from her wrist, handed it to him. Somewhat in awe, heexamined it. 

 * * * * *

The mechanism portion, which was linked in a strap of elastic metal, resembled only superficially a watch, he now saw. Rather it had theappearance of some delicate electric switch. Rectangular in shape, itwas divided into two halves by a band of white crystal. In each ofthese halves were two little buttons of the same material, those onone side round, on the other square. 

"Which buttons control the invisibility?" he asked. 

"The square ones, " she replied. "One's pushed in now, you see. If youshould push the other, the first would come out--and you'd pass out ofthe picture, so to speak. "

Kendrick was half tempted to try the thing then and there, butdeferred the impulse. 

"What are the round buttons for?" he inquired instead. 

Marjorie didn't know, but thought they were probably an emergencypair, in case something went wrong with the square ones. In any event, nothing happened when you pushed them. 

Kendrick pushed one, just to see. It was true. Nothing happened--buthe seemed to sense a faint, peculiar vibration and a wave of giddinessswept over him. On pushing the other, which released the first, itstopped. 

 * * * * *

He handed the device back to Marjorie. 

"There's your bracelet. Now, if I can just get one like it, I thinkwe'll get down to earth all right. "

"Oh, Mr. Kendrick!" Her eyes lit up eagerly. "Then you've thought of away?"

"Not exactly. I think I've discovered their own way. I can't becertain, but I'm willing to gamble on it, if you are. "

"Then you--you think those round buttons are connected with theescalator rays?"

"Exactly! I think they control individual descent and ascent, just asthe square ones control individual visibility and invisibility. Atany rate, it's the hunch I'm going to act on right now, if you're withme. "

"Oh, I'm with, you!" she breathed. "Anything, death almost, would bepreferable to this. "

"Then stand by, invisible. I'm going to get one of my jailors in hereand relieve him of his wrist-watch. "

Marjorie touched that little square button on her own. She instantlybecame invisible. 

Kendrick touched a button too, a button he had noticed beside thedoor. As he had supposed, it brought one of the Vadans. 

Shutting the door quietly, he seized the fellow before he could movehis hand to his wrist. Thwarted in his attempt to vanish from sight, the diminutive guard attempted an outcry. But Kendrick promptlythrottled him. 

 * * * * *

Marjorie had reappeared by now and together they bound him to a chairwith a gilded cord torn from the drapery. 

Removing the precious mechanism from his wrist, Kendrick slipped it onhis own. 

"Now let's go!" he said, pressing the protruding square button of thedevice. "We haven't a minute to--my golly, what a peculiar sensation!"

"It is rather odd, isn't it?" she laughed, pressing her own andjoining him in that invisible realm. 

"Feels like a combination electric massage and cold shower! Where areyou, anyway? I can't see you. "

"Of course you can't!" came an unseen tinkle. "Here!"

He felt her brush him. 

"Better hold hands, " he suggested, then gave an invisible flush he wasglad she couldn't see. 

"All right. A good idea. "

Her delicate hand came into his, soft, warm. Heart vibrating evenfaster than his body, his whole being a-quiver with a strangeexaltation, Kendrick opened the door, and they left the apartment. 

 * * * * *

The next half-hour was the tensest either of then had everexperienced. Every foot of the way was fraught with peril. 

Not only did they have to carefully avoid the visible swarms of littlepeople who hurried everywhere, but had to be on their guard as wellagainst any who might be moving about like themselves under cover ofinvisibility. 

Nor could they use any elevator or public conveyances, but wereobliged to make their way down to the concourse by heaven knew howmany flights of stairs, and cross heaven knew how many teeming streetson foot, before they reached the amber court, below which thetrap-door and their hope of freedom. 

They got there at last, however, descended, and peered down from thatyawning brink upon the desert floor--to draw back with gasps ofdismay. For the area still gleamed semi-molten from the stupendousblast that had wiped out Kendrick's camp. 

"W-what is it?" she gasped. 

Swiftly he told her. 

"But isn't there any way around it? Look, over there to the left. Oneedge of the crater seems to end almost underneath us. "

It was true that the center of the caldron was far to the right ofwhere they stood, and that its left rim was only a little within theirdirect line of descent. But to land even one foot inside that infernowould be as fatal as to alight in its very midst. 

 * * * * *

Kendrick was thinking fast. 

"There's just a chance, " he said. "It all depends upon how wide thezone of these escalator rays is, and whether we can tune in on them. At least, I can probably answer the latter question. "

Pushing the protrudent round button on his mysterious bracelet as hespoke, he leaned over the edge of the trap-door and awaited results. 

They were not long in coming. The vibration he was already under fromthe invisibility rays seemed to double. Alternate waves of giddinessand depression, of push and pull, swept over him. 

A minute of it was enough. He pressed the round button that nowprotruded, ending this influence, and faced Marjorie, stating:

"I'm positive now that these things control descent and ascent. Asnearly as I can figure, the rays work on the principle of an endlessbelt. If you're up here, you get carried down, and vice versa. As tohow wide the belt is, and whether you can move sideways on it, remainsto be seen. Anyway, I'm going to take a chance. I'll go first. If myguess is wrong, you--well, needn't follow. "

"No, I'm going with you!" she declared resolutely. "We've come thisfar together. I shan't be left alone now. Let's go!"

And again her soft, warm hand was in his. 

Lord, what a girl! How many would be brave enough to take a gamblelike that, on a fellow's mere supposition?

"All right--go it is!" he said. "Push your round button, like this. "He showed her the way he thought was right, pushed his own. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

 * * * * *

Their voices were grave. It was a grim prospect, stepping off intospace like that, with only a guess between them and death. 

"Then jump!"

They jumped, gripping each other's hands tightly--and instead ofdropping like plummets were caught in a powerful field of force andwhirled gently downward. 

"Oh, you were right!" gasped Marjorie, awed. "See, we--"

Then she paused, horror-stricken, for it was obvious that they were todescend within that lake of molten glass, unless they could changetheir course at once. 

"Quick!" he called. "Hold fast! Now--run!"

Breathless, they raced to the left, across that invisible descendingbelt. 

Too far, Kendrick knew, and they would plunge outside its zone, fallcrushed and mangled. Not far enough, and they would meet cremation. Itwas a fearful hazard, either way, but it had to be taken. 

They were almost down, now, and still not quite far enough to theleft. The heat of that yawning crater rose toward them. 

"Faster--_faster_!" he cried, fairly dragging her along with him. 

A last dash--a breathless instant--and they stood there on the ground, not three feet from the edge of doom. 

Swooning with the heat, Marjorie swayed against him, murmured anincoherent prayer. 

"Take heart!" he whispered, lifting her bodily and bearing her someyards away. "We're down--safe!"

 * * * * *

Their safety was but relative, however, Kendrick well knew. Until theycould put miles between them and this monstrous disc, they were notreally safe. No telling how soon their escape might be discovered. Notelling what terrible means Cor might take of curbing their flight. 

So as soon as Marjorie had recovered sufficiently to proceed, theyheaded off across the desert at a fast walk toward Ajo, where he hopedto catch the afternoon train for Gila Bend. From there, they couldboard the limited for Tucson and points east, when it came throughfrom Yuma that night. 

They had tuned out on the escalator rays, but continued on stillinvisible--for the disc hung above them in plain view and it wouldhave been suicide to let themselves be seen. 

Even so, Kendrick soon began to have an uneasy feeling of beingfollowed. He looked around from time to time, but could see nothing. Were some of those invisible little creatures on their trail?

He said nothing to Marjorie of his anxiety, but presently she toobegan glancing backward uneasily, every few steps. 

"They are near us!" she said at length, in a whisper. "I can sensethem. "

It was more than sense, they soon discovered. Little paddings becamequite audible, and once or twice they saw the sand scuffed up, nottwenty feet away, as though by a foot passing over it. 

 * * * * *

Meanwhile they were climbing a rise of ground, broken by many smallhummocks and dotted with thorny shrubs. On the other side, at the footof a long down-slope, lay Ajo. 

Once they reached the summit, Kendrick felt sure they couldoutdistance their pursuers on the descent. Already, if his watch wasright, the train was preparing to pull out. It would be a breathlessdash, but he was confident they could make it. 

So he reassured Marjorie as best he could, and helped her on up theslope. 

They were practically on the summit and already in view of the littlerailroad station and huddle of shacks below--when suddenly he felthimself tripped and flung violently to the ground. At the sameinstant, his companion emitted a scream, as she felt herself seized byinvisible hands. 

Leaping to his feet, Kendrick flailed out with solid fists at theirattackers. Groans answered the impacts and he knew his blows weretaking effect. 

 * * * * *

Free for a moment he dashed to Marjorie, felt for the midgets whoswarmed around her. Seizing one of the invisible forms, he lifted itand flung it crashing to the ground. Another, likewise, and another. 

Then he threshed his legs, where two of the creatures clung, trying todrag him down again. They flew through the air, with cries of fright. 

"Well, so far, so good!" he exclaimed. "We won't wait to see if thereare any more. Come on--let's go!"

"Right!"

Reaching for each other's hands, they raced down the slope. 

Halfway there they saw a warning blast of steam rise from the engine, followed by a whistle. 

"They'll be pulling out in a minute now!" he gasped, increasing speed. "We've got to make it!--our only chance!"

"We _will_ make it!" she sobbed through clenched teeth, meeting hispace. 

Glancing over his shoulder, after another fifteen seconds, Kendricksaw that the disc was no longer visible. Since there was no vibrationhe realized with relief that it was now hidden behind the slope theywere descending. 

"Quick--push your button!" he said, pushing his own. 

They came out of the influence of the invisibility rays, racedbreathless on down the slope--gained the station platform just as thetrain was getting under way. 

Helping the exhausted girl aboard, he mounted the steps himself, ledher through the vestibule into its single passenger coach. 

Dropping into a seat, they sat there panting as the train gatheredspeed. 

 * * * * *

By the time the decrepit but life-saving little local drew into GilaBend they had somewhat recovered from their harrowing experience. 

Marjorie was still pale, however, as Kendrick helped her from thetrain. 

"I may recover, " she said with a wan smile, "but I'll never look thesame! An old saying, but I know what it means now. "

He thought better of a sudden impulse to tell her she looked quite allright to him. Instead, he said grimly:

"I know now what a lot of things mean!"

The Tucson limited would not be through for over an hour, theylearned. That would give them time to hunt up the authorities andsound a warning of the ominous invader that was in the vicinity. Perhaps, by prompt military action, it might be destroyed, or at leastcrippled. 

But first they went to the telegraph office, where Marjorie got off amessage that would bring joy to her grieved family. 

While standing there outside the barred window, odors of food waftingto them from a nearby lunch-room. 

"Um-m!" she sniffed. "That smells good to me! I haven't tasted anyearthly cooking for ages. Everything on that horrible disc wassynthetic. "

"Then I suggest we have ham and eggs, at once, " he said. "Or would youprefer a steak?"

"I think I'll have both!"

 * * * * *

As they walked into the lunch-room, Kendrick told her of the banquetin his honor Cor had promised for that night. 

"I guess I didn't miss much, " he ended. 

"You certainly didn't!" she assured him, with a smile. "It would haveopened with a purée of split-molecule soup, continued with an entréeof breaded electrons, and closed with an ionic café. "

He laughed. 

"I'm just as well satisfied. I was unable to attend! Humble as it is, I think this will prove to be much more wholesome food. "

Night had fallen by the time they left the lunch-room. Glancing at hiswatch, Kendrick saw that they still had better than a half-hour beforethe limited was due, so they betook themselves to the police station. 

It was only a block away and in consequence they weren't long reachingit. 

The chief had gone home, the officer at the desk informed them, but ifthere was anything they cared to report, he would be glad to make noteof it. 

A big raw-boned westerner, he shifted his quid as he spoke and spatresoundingly in a cuspidor at his feet. 

"All right, then--get your pencil ready!" said Kendrick with a smile. "This is Miss Marjorie Blake, daughter of Henderson Blake, of NewYork. Perhaps you read of her disappearance, a few weeks ago. AndI. .. . "

As he introduced himself and told briefly of their astoundingexperience, the officer's eyes bulged with amazement. 

"Say, what yuh-all tryin' to hand me?" he snorted finally. "D'yuhthink I was born simple?"

"Press your button!" whispered Marjorie. "Show him how theinvisibility ray works. It'll save a lot of argument. "

"Right!"

 * * * * *

He held up his wrist. 

"See this? Now watch!"

Whereupon he pressed the button. But to their dismay, nothinghappened. 

"Wa-al. I'm still watchin'!" drawled the officer. "Who's loony now?"

Kendrick examined the mechanism in impatience, pressed that littlebutton repeatedly: but still nothing happened. 

"Try yours!" he told Marjorie finally. 

She did so, with similar results--or lack of them, rather. 

"Something's wrong, " he said at length. "The ray isn't working. "

"Wrong is right!" declared the officer with a contemptuous flood oftobacco juice. "Yuh folks better go catch yuhr train 'fore yuh fergetwhere it is. "

Chagrined, embarrassed, they took their leave, headed back toward therailroad station. 

"Of all the utterly silly things!" declared Marjorie, as they walkedalong. "Why do you suppose it didn't work?"

Kendrick didn't reply at once. When he did, his voice was grave. 

"Because the disc has gone!" he said. "We are outside its zone ofinfluence. That's my hunch, at least, and I think we'd better act onit. "

"You mean. .. ?"

"I mean our escape has probably caused them to hurry their plans. They're probably over New York right now. I think we'd better getthere the quickest possible way. "

 * * * * *

The result was that when the train came, they remained on it only toTucson. There they chartered a fast plane and started east at once. 

At sunset the following day the plane swooped out of the sky and slidto rest on the broad grounds of the Blake estate at Great Neck. 

As Kendrick stepped from the cabin and helped Marjorie down, a tall, distinguished-looking man with graying hair and close-cropped mustachecame hurrying toward them. 

"Daddy!" she cried, rushing into his arms. "Oh, Daddy--Daddy!"

Even without this demonstration. Kendrick would have recognizedHenderson Blake from pictures he had seen recently in the papers. 

Now he was introduced, and Blake was gripping his hand warmly. 

"I don't quite know what this is all about, Professor, " he heard thegreat financier say. "Marjorie's telegram last night was as cryptic asit was over-joying. But I do know that I owe you a deep debt ofgratitude. "

"Yes, and you owe our pilot about a thousand dollars, too!" put in thedaughter of the house, clinging to her father's arm. "Please give hima check--then we'll go inside and I'll explain all about it. "

"A matter very much easier dispatched than my debt to ProfessorKendrick, " said Blake, complying. 

The check was for two thousand, not one, the pilot saw when hereceived it. 

"Thank you very much, sir!" he said, saluting. 

"Don't mention it. Good night--and good luck to you!"

 * * * * *

The pilot returned to his plane, it lifted from the lawn, droned offinto the twilight. 

Then they approached the cool white villa that stood invitingly ahundred yards or so away beyond sunken gardens. 

As they neared it, a handsome, well-preserved woman whose facereflected Marjorie's own beauty came toward them. Lines of sufferingwere still evident around her sensitive mouth, but her dark eyes wereradiant. 

"Mother!"

"My poor darling!"

They rushed into each other's arms, clung, sobbing and laughing. 

Kendrick was glad when these intimate greetings were over and he hadmet Mrs. Blake. 

They were in the drawing-room now, listening to a somewhat more lucidaccount of their daughter's experiences and those of her rescuer. Marjorie was doing most of the talking, but every now and again shewould turn to Kendrick for verification. 

"Heavens!" gasped Mrs. Blake, finally. "Can such things be possible?"

"Almost anything seems possible nowadays, my dear, " her husband toldher. "And you say, Professor, that you have brought back samples ofthis invisibility device?"

"Yes, we have, but I can't promise they'll work. I'll try, however. "

Whereupon, sceptically, he pressed that little square button--andinstantly faded out of sight. 

"Good Lord!" cried Blake, leaping to his feet. "That proves it! Why, this is positively--"

 * * * * *

His remarks were cut short by a scream of terror from his wife. 

"Marjorie--Marjorie!" she shrieked. 

Wheeling, he faced the chair where his daughter had sat. It was empty, so far as human eyes could see. 

"Don't worry Mother--Daddy!" came a calm voice from it. "I'm quite allright--coming back--steady. "

And back she came, as did Kendrick, from the empty chair beside her. 

His face was grave. The success of the demonstration, which had provedtheir story to practical-minded Henderson Blake, had proved to himsomething altogether more significant. The disc, as he had surmised, had rushed eastward immediately on learning of their escape, and wasnow probably hovering right over New York. 

"Marvelous--marvelous!" declared Blake. "But that heat ray, Professor. That sounds bad. You are convinced it is as powerful as they makeout!"

"Positively! That blast they let go in the desert would have utterlydestroyed New York. "

"Hm! Yes, no doubt you're right. I fully realize how the fearfulmenace of this thing. Do you think the military authorities will beable to cope with it?"

"I don't know. Perhaps, if they are prompt enough. "

"And is there no other way--no scientific way?"

 * * * * *

Kendrick grew thoughtful. 

"I wonder, " he said at last. "There's just a possibility--somethingrunning through my mind--an experiment I'd like to make, if I had thefacilities of some large electrical laboratory. "

"You shall have them to-morrow!" Blake promised. "I'm one of thedirectors of Consolidated Electric. Their experimental laboratory inBrooklyn is the finest of its kind in America. I'll see that you havethe run of it. "

"That will be very kind, " said Kendrick. "But don't expect anything tocome from it, necessarily. It's just a theory I want to work out. "

A butler entered at this moment and announced dinner. 

"Well, theories are mighty these days!" beamed Blake, as they rose, clapping the younger man on the shoulder. "You go ahead with yourtheories--and I'll bring a few facts to bear. To-morrow noon I'llescore some military men and others of my friends over to thelaboratory to hear and see something of this menace direct. Meanwhile, and during this crisis, it will honor me to have you as my guest. "

"Our guest!" amended Marjorie, with a warm smile. 

 * * * * *

Next morning Blake motored Kendrick out to the Brooklyn Laboratory ofthe Consolidated Electric Utilities Corporation and installed himthere. 

Then he left--to return at noon with the promised delegation ofgenerals, admirals, statesmen and financiers. 

They were all frankly sceptical, though realizing that Henderson Blakewas not a man given to exaggeration. Nor did their scepticismaltogether vanish when Kendrick had ended his bizarre story with ademonstration of the invisibility device. 

Murmurs of amazement ran around the laboratory, it is true, but themore hard-headed of his spectators charged him with having inventedthe apparatus himself. Though they didn't come right out and say so, they seemed to imply that he was seeking publicity. 

Annoyedly, Kendrick tried to refute their charges. But even as he wassummoning words, refutation utter and complete came from the air. 

A low, humming vibration sounded, grew in volume till it filled theroom--and as suddenly ceased: The light of midday faded to twilight. 

"_The disc!_" gasped Kendrick, rushing to the west windows. 

They followed, tense with awe. And there, between earth and sun, itsmyriad towers and spires refracting a weird radiance, hovered thatvast flying city. 

"My God!" muttered a famous general, staring as though he had seen aghost. 

A great statesman opened his lips, but no words came. 

"Appalling! Incredible!" burst from others of that stunned assemblage. 

 * * * * *

Their comments were cut short by a broadcast voice, thin and clear, tremendously amplified, a voice Kendrick recognized at once as that ofCor. 

"People of America!" it said. "We of the planet Vada have come toconquer your country. You will be given forty-eight hours to lay downyour arms. If complete surrender has not been made by high noon, twodays from now, New York will be destroyed. "

The voice ceased. The humming recommenced--waned in volume till itdied away. Twilight turned once more to midday. 

Peering fixedly through the west windows of the laboratory, the littleassemblage saw the disc swallowed up in the clear blue sky. 

Then they turned, faced one another gravely. 

Outside, on the streets, confusion reigned. In newspaper plants, presses were whirling. In telegraph and cable offices, keys wereticking. From radio towers, waves were speeding. 

Within an hour, the nation and the world knew of this planetaryinvader and its staggering ultimatum. 

Naturally, the government at Washington refused to meet these shamefulterms. Military and naval forces were rushed to the threatenedmetropolis. The Atlantic Fleet steamed up from Hampton Roads underforced draught and assembled in the outer harbor. Thousands of planesgathered at Mitchell Field and other nearby aerodromes. 

 * * * * *

But where was the enemy? He must be miles up in space, Kendrick knew, as he toiled feverishly in the laboratory over his experiment after asleepless night. For had that flying city been nearer earth, it couldnot have maintained invisibility without that peculiar hummingvibration. 

Scout planes urged on by impatient squadron commanders, climbed tillthey reached their ceilings, searching in vain. They could encounternothing, see nothing of the invader. 

Thus passed a morning of growing tension. 

But by noon of that day, with a bare twenty-four hours left beforethe expiration of the ultimatum, the disc came down, showed itselfboldly. 

There followed stunning disasters. 

One salvo, and the ray shot down--the Atlantic Fleet, the pride ofAmerica, burst and melted in flaming hell. Squadrons of planes, carrying tons of bombs, frizzled like moths in the air. Mightyprojectiles hurled by land batteries were deflected off on wildtrajectories. 

Appalled, the nation and the world followed in lurid extras thesecrushing defeats. 

By nightfall of that day, all seemed lost. All opposition had beenobliterated. America must capitulate or perish. It had until the nextnoon to decide which. 

 * * * * *

Meanwhile, in that great Brooklyn laboratory, Kendrick was workingagainst time, besieged by frantic delegations of the nation's leaders. They knew now that their one hope lay in him. Was he succeeding? Wasthere even any hope?

Face haggard, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, he waved them away, went on with his work. 

"I will tell you--as soon as I know. "

That was all he would say. 

Followed a night that was the blackest in all history, though themyriad stars of heaven shone tauntingly brilliant in the summer sky. 

At length, as dawn was breaking. Kendrick paused in his labors. 

"There!" he said, grimly, surveying an apparatus that seemed toinvolve the entire facilities of the laboratory. "It is done! Nowthen--will it work?"

The delegation were called to witness the test. 

Henderson Blake was among them, as was Marjorie. She stepped forward, as he prepared to make the demonstration. 

"I _know_, somehow, you're going to be successful!" she murmured, pressing his hand, meeting his eyes with a smile of confidence. 

"I hope you're right--Marjorie!" he replied, letting slip the lastword almost unconsciously. 

Her face colored warmly as the stepped back and rejoined her father. 

Kendrick's heart was beating fast as he turned to his instruments. Howcould he fail, with faith like that behind him?--love, even, perhaps!He mustn't fail--nor would he, if his theories were sound. 

 * * * * *

Addressing the assemblage, he explained briefly the complicatedapparatus. 

"These towers, " he said, pointing to four steel structures about tenfeet high, arranged at the corners of a square roughly twenty feetacross, "are miniature radio masts. The area enclosed by them, we willassume, is the city of New York. That metal disc suspended above thearea represents the invader. It contains a miniature heat-generatorsuch as I was experimenting with recently in the Arizona desert. "

He paused, threw a switch. Somewhere in the laboratory a dynamo beganto whir. 

"I am now sending electro-magnetic waves from the four towers, " heresumed. "But instead of broadcasting them in every direction. I ambending them in concave cathode of force over the city. You maypicture this cathode as an invisible shield, if you choose, but it ismore than that. It it a reflector. If my theories are right, theradio-energetic ray I am about to project upon it from my miniaturedisc will be flung back to its source as though it had been a ray oflight falling on a mirror. The success of the experiment depends uponwhat the result will be. "

 * * * * *

Kendrick ceased, moved toward a rheostat. 

As he made ready to touch it, a breathless tension settled upon theassemblage. Upon the outcome of what was now to happen rested the fateof America--and the world. 

Calmly, though every fiber of his being was at breaking stress, theyoung scientist opened the rheostat. 

For an instant, the ray seared down--then, as it boomeranged back, thedisc burst into flame, dissolved, disintegrated. A thin dust, likecarbon, slowly settled to the laboratory floor. 

Cutting off the current from the radio towers, Kendrick faced them, alight of triumph in his tired eyes. 

"You see--it works, " he said. 

They saw. Beyond a doubt, it worked!

And what Kendrick saw, as his eyes met Marjorie's, made him forget hisfatigue. 

 * * * * *

The rest was a mad scramble of preparation. Only a few brief hoursremained, and much was to be done. 

The application of the principle that had just been demonstratedinvolved a hook-up from the Consolidated Electric laboratory withevery broadcasting station in the metropolitan area, power beingsupplied by commandeering every generating plant within a radius offifty miles. 

The city, moreover, had to be evacuated of all but the few bravehundreds who volunteered to stand by their posts at radio stations andgenerating plants. 

As for Kendrick, it was the busiest, most hectic morning he had everexperienced. Only the realization of a girl's love and a nation'strust enabled him to overcome the exhaustion of two sleepless nights. 

At length, a little before eleven, all was in readiness. Just twoquestions troubled the young scientist's mind. Had the people of thedisc learned of their preparations to counter the attack? And wouldthe improvised broadcasting apparatus of the area stand the stupendousstrain that would be placed upon it if the ray came down?

The first of these questions was answered, staggeringly, at a quarterafter eleven. 

"Kendrick--oh, my God!" cried Blake, bursting into the laboratory. "Marjorie--they've got her again! Look! Read this!"

He thrust out a piece of paper. Kendrick took it, read:

 Your daughter will be my queen, after this noon. 

"Where'd you get it?" he gasped. 

"One of the invisible devils thrust it into my hand right out in thestreet, not five minutes ago, " Blake explained, trembling withanguish. "Do you realize what this means, Kendrick? She's on the discnow--and in a scant three-quarters of an hour. .. . "

"Yes, I realize!" his voice came grimly. "And I realize, too, thatthey don't know their fate. They'll stay. There's forty-five minutesyet. We can't abandon our defense against the ray, not even forMarjorie. But I'll go, I'll rescue her--or die with her!"

And even as Blake mutely reached out his hand to grip that of thedetermined young man who stood before him. Kendrick touched his wristmechanism and went invisible. 

 * * * * *

Once on the street, he pressed the escalator button as well--and bythe strength of the vibrations that followed, he knew he must be veryclose within that mysterious lifting zone. 

Running west a block, he found it growing stronger. 

Fairly racing now, he continued on toward the river, progressunhampered in the deserted streets. Suddenly, with a thrill ofexultation, he felt himself swept up, whirled away toward that greatshimmering hulk against the sun. 

"What hope?" he was thinking. "What possible hope?" And the answercame: Cor!

Reaching the disc, he switched out the escalator influence andhastened across the city to that monumental structure of jade-greenstone. 

The mighty little dwarf would be up there in his glittering mosaicapartment, or in his pinnacle laboratory, perhaps, ready to pull thelever that would release that stupendous blast of heat. 

Gaining the jewelled door of the monarch's quarters at last, afterescaping detection by a hair's breadth more than once, he pressed thebutton outside, just as the guard had done that first time. 

In response, the door opened--and there stood Cor. 

 * * * * *

He stood there an instant, that is, while the expression on hisleathery face went from inquiry to alarm. Then, as Kendrick burst intothe room and shut the door, he went invisible. 

In that same instant, the young scientist's eyes beheld a sight thatcaused his heart to leap. There sat Marjorie, bound in a chair, anexpression half of hope, half of dejection, on her face. 

"It's I--Gordon!" he called. "Take courage!"

"Oh, I prayed so you'd come--and you came!" she murmured as her facelighted. Then, tensely, she added, "The door--look out!"

Kendrick wheeled, and just in time. The door was opening. 

"Not so fast!" he called, lunging. 

His hands gripped the dwarf, yanked him back, throttled him before hecould emit a cry, pushed the door shut. 

Cor struggled like a madman, but it was futile. Kendrick's hands cutinto his throat like a vice. After a moment or two, he gasped, relaxed. 

Releasing his grip then, Kendrick felt for his wrist, stripped off hisbracelet--whereupon the dwarf became visible. His face wasputty-white. He was either dead or unconscious. 

Restoring his own visibility then, he advanced to Marjorie, swiftlyfreed her. 

"Take this!" he said, handing her Cor's bracelet. 

She slipped it on. 

"Now let's tie him and get out of here. He may be dead, but we can'ttake any chances. "

 * * * * *

The dwarf wasn't dead, however, for he groaned and opened his eyes asthey lifted him into the chair. 

"You win, Professor--but it avails you nothing!" He smiledmaliciously. "My capture, my death even, will not prevent the ray. Theorders have been given. It will be projected sharp at twelve. You butgo to your doom!"

"That, " said Kendrick, "is a matter of opinion. "

Swiftly they bound him, gagged him. 

"And now, " he added, "we wish you good day--and such fate as youdeserve!"

Then, turning to Marjorie:

"Your hand again!"

There was a new tenderness in its soft warmth that thrilled him. 

They touched their buttons, went invisible. 

Silently, then, they stole from the apartment. Swiftly they made theirway down to the concourse, raced across the city to the amber court, descended to the trap-door. 

It must be nearly twelve, Kendrick knew. He couldn't look at hiswatch, for it as well as himself was invisible. Indeed, even as theystood there, poised for the plunge, a faint whistle rose from below. 

Marjorie trembled. 

"Steady!" he spoke. "Some of them always blow a minute or two before. Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

"Then press your button--jump!"

Even as they leapt, the sickening thought came that perhaps theescalator ray was no longer running. But the fear was unwarranted. They were caught up, whirled gently downward. 

Moving along laterally, as they descended, they were able to landwithout difficulty in the middle of a deserted street near theConsolidated Electric laboratory. 

"Thank heaven!" she sighed, as their feet touched solid ground. Theypressed off both buttons, becoming visible once more. 

"Echo!" he agreed. "So let's--"

 * * * * *

But Kendrick never completed that sentence--for now whistles all overthe metropolitan area, rising from the generating plants, announcedthe ominous hour. 

It was high noon. The ultimatum had expired. 

Lifting tense faces to the disc, they waited. Would that stupendousray be hurled back upon itself? Or would it sear through theirmakeshift defense, plunging them and the whole great metropolis intooblivion?

Suddenly, cataclysmically, the answer came. 

There burst a withering whirlwind from the disc. It struck that mightyconcave cathode of interlaced waves above the city. There followed aninstant's clash of titanic forces. Then the cathode triumphed, hurledit back. 

Rocked by a concussion as of two worlds in impact, blinded by a glarethat made the sunlight seem feeble in comparison. Marjorie andKendrick clung together, while the disc grew into a satellite ofcalcium fire in the sky. 

Presently, as the conflagration waned, they opened their eyes. Gravely, but with deep thanksgiving, they searched each other's faces. In them they read deep understanding, too, and a new hope. 

"I think we'd better go and find father, " she said at length, quietly. 

"I think so too!" he agreed. 

As they headed toward the laboratory, a fine, powdery dust, likevolcanic ash was falling. 

It continued to fall until the city streets were covered to a depth ofan inch or more. 

Thus passed the menace of Vada. 

[Advertisement: NO ONE MUST FORGET

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ASTOUNDING STORIES

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The Readers' Corner

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_To the Rescue_

 Dear Editor:

 I hope you can see fit to print this letter in the July issue of Astounding Stories. This letter is written in defence of Ray Cummings and in reply to the letter of C. Harry Jaeger, 2900 Jordan Road, Oakland, California. 

 Following is an extract of Mr. Jaeger's letter: "Also I like my authors to make an original contribution to whatever theory of science they develop fictionally. This, Ray Cummings does not do in his very interesting story, "Phantoms of Reality. " His beginning is palpably borrowed from Francis Flagg's story, "The Blue Dimension, " which appeared in a Science Fiction magazine in 1927. " Another paragraph is devoted to explaining his claim. He claims that Cummings' method of transporting his characters from one dimension or planet to another is practically copied from Flagg's story. The method, that is, not the narration. I hope to prove that if any borrowing was done, it was done by Flagg. Incidentally, Flagg's story "The Blue Dimension" was printed in 1928, not 1927, as Mr. Jaeger says. 

 I have in my possession a story by Ray Cummings named "Into the Fourth Dimension" and published in another magazine during the last month of 1926 and first ones of 1927. And in this story--printed two years before Flagg's story--Cummings uses almost the same apparatus of passing from one dimension to another as is used in "Phantoms of Reality. " I will not discuss whether this procedure is to be approved or not. 

 This letter is not to be construed as an attack on Mr. Jaeger, or Mr. Flagg, or on either of the two stories under discussion. 

 If Mr. Jaeger will let me know I will send him Ray Cumming's story "Into the Fourth Dimension, " as clipped from the magazines. 

 I write this letter to the magazine, instead of Mr. Jaeger, so that if any one was misled by Mr. Jaeger's well meant but mistaken criticism they will be straightened out. --Donald Coneyon, Petoskey, Michigan. 

_A Wish for Success_

 Dear Editor:

 I have read both of your first issues. I am writing to say that I wish you success with your new magazine, which I know will succeed. 

 Also to say I wish you would get more of the "Carnes and Dr. Bird Stories" by Captain S. P. Meek, for I think everybody, including myself, likes them. I also enjoyed "Creatures of the Light. "--Thomas D. Taylor, 415 So. 7th St. , Boise, Idaho. 

_No Kick Any More_

 Dear Editor:

 I have been a reader of Astounding Stories ever since you started it, and I guess I'm getting too particular as I don't get the kick out of it any more that I did out of the first issues. That is, I don't get the kick out of ALL of the stories as I did at first. However, "Murder Madness" sure is a hot one. Why not print a story by Sax Rohmer, H. G. Wells, or some of them?--H. Elsworth Jones, Box 340, R. R. 6, Battle Creek, Mich. 

_Via Postcard_

 Dear Editor:

 Astounding Stories is an astounding magazine. It has really astounding stories. It couldn't be better. There's hardly room for improvement. May Astounding Stories be more astounding yet. I like it!--Monroe Hood Stinson, 1742, 12th Ave. , Oakland, California. 

_Only Fiction!_

 Dear Editor:

 I have just finished a story in the February, 1930, issue of Astounding Stories entitled "Into Space, " by Sterner St. Paul. 

 I would like to know if it is a true story, if the actions described in it really happened, or is it merely a story of fiction. --Dan S. Scherrer, Shawneetown, Ill. 

_Perhaps--Soon_

 Dear Editor:

 I have just finished reading your new magazine, Astounding Stories. It is the best magazine I have ever read. Keep up the good work and you will find me a constant reader. I have only one suggestion to make: Let Astounding Stories come out every other Thursday. --Harold Kulko, 433 Palmer E. , Detroit, Michigan. 

_More Preferences_

 Dear Editor:

 I have read with great interest the second issue of Astounding Stories and note your invitation for readers to express themselves. 

 I enjoyed the whole magazine, finding the literary quality surprisingly high. Especially good were "Spawn of the Stars, " and "Creatures of the Light. " Harl Vincent's tale was the best of his I have read; and Captain Meek's are always good. "The Corpse on the Grating, " however, was merely Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" done over, and not half so well. 

 As for the sort of tales I like, here they are in order of preference:

 1. Tales of weird mystery--Merritt's "Moon Pool" and his others; Taine's "White Lily. "

 2. Interplanetary Adventure--"A Columbus of Space, " by Serviss; "The Skylark of Space, " by Smith. 

 3. "Different stories, " that defy classification, based on new ideas of science--most of Wells' short stories are examples. 4. Detective, Fourth Dimension, and air adventure--only well done. --Jack Williamson, Box 661 Canyon, Texas. 

_A Brick or Two_

 Dear Editor:

 For the last three years we have been reading any and all of the various Science Fiction magazines which have appeared upon the market. We therefore feel that we are as well qualified as anyone to offer the criticism and advice that follows. 

 First, the stories. We feel that it would be a good idea to get your stories from the same authors whose work has been and is being accepted by the other magazines in this field. In one case you have already done this, and I consider his stories to be the best in each issue. I believe that you will be forced to do this eventually, anyhow, because the people who read this magazine will naturally be readers of the others also, and will therefore, be used to the standards set by those publications. Then, you should have someone who is well qualified to pass upon the science in the stories. 

 Second, the cover design and the pictures at the beginning of each story. Up to this time the cover and inside pictures have contained many mistakes. The cover of the March issue was especially atrocious. In the first place a voyager in outer space would find it jet black and studded with stars, instead of blue and apparently empty, except for a few tremendously oversize planets, a moon with entirely too many craters, and a total eclipse of the sun with a very much distorted corona visible beside the earth. Illustrations by your cover artist also appear in another publication, but these are much superior to the ones in Astounding Stories. Here also a scientific advisor would be welcome. 

 Third, I think it would be a good idea to have a department in which readers could write their opinions of the stories and suggest improvements in the conduct of the magazine. 

 Fourth, I think there should be a scientific editorial in each issue by some eminent scientist. This is also a feature in the other magazines. 

 We hope that you take these criticisms and suggestions, as they were offered, in good faith. We also hope that the circulation will increase as the magazine becomes better. --George L. Williams and Harry Heillisan, 5714 Howe St. , Pittsburgh, Pa. 

"_Wonderful_"

 Dear Editor:

 I received your magazine last week, Astounding Stories, and I think it is wonderful. I am very glad that I subscribed for it. I can hardly wait to get the latest one which I hoped to receive to-day and was very much disappointed when it did not arrive. I hope you will consider a quarterly or at least an annual in the near future. 

 I wish you success with this magazine, and hope you will forgive my writing you so often in reference to your magazine--Louis Wentzler, 1935, Woodbine St. , Brooklyn, New York. 

--_But We Made Our Bow Only Last January!_

 Dear Editor:

 Last month my boy brought one copy of this magazine home, and I want to ask you if you would send me the copies from last January, 1929, up to December, 1929. If you charge no more than $3. 00 would you send them C. O. D. ? Do you have the issues for 1928, too?

 I never knew there was a magazine like that on the market. I never bought one because most of them are no good, and when one has children one has to be doubly careful. 

 But this magazine is just right. No silly love stories and mushy stuff in them. It sure keeps your mind from unpleasant things. We can get them from the newsstand but I would like to subscribe for them. 

 Keep up the good work and please send me the last year's copies and let me know if I could get 1928, too. --Mrs. M. Ristan, 4684, No. Broadway, Denver, Colorado. 

"_Best One Yet_"

 Dear Editor:

 The April issue is the best one you have put out yet. Arthur J. Burks is GOOD. I hope to see much of him in the future. "Brigands of the Moon, " by Ray Cummings, is getting better with each instalment. The stories of Dr. Bird are always interesting. I would like to see one in each issue, if you could arrange for it. 

 As long as the other readers like the size of Astounding stories, I will, too, but please cut all edges smooth like the latest issue of Five Novels Monthly. I would like to see a full-page illustration with each story, and if possible by Wesso. 

 I am glad that you are starting another serial in the May issue of Astounding Stories. I like serials and I hope that you will always have two in each issue. 

 Your schedule for the May issue looks good, and I'm sure it will be, with such authors as Murray Leinster, Victor Rousseau, Ray Cummings, Harl Vincent and Sewell P. Wright. 

 I am still waiting for a different colored cover. --Jack Darrow, 4225, N. Spaulding Ave. , Chicago, Illinois. 

_An Enthusiastic Reader_

 Dear Editor:

 As a reader of long standing of Science Fiction I feel I am qualified to make some remarks and give my opinion of the wonderful Astounding Stories magazine lately put out. Although I read three other Science Fiction magazines none of them have aroused in me such a wonderful enthusiasm as Astounding Stories. Before I forget it I want to mention that I read two quarterlies also. 

 The reason, or rather reasons, for my enthusiasm I will now enumerate. (1) The stories are wonderful. (2) The binding is very strong and efficient. (3) The print is just right, and soothing to the eyes of one who reads much. The paper is good, and the size and price of the magazine is just right. The covers are excellent, and with the addition of "The Readers' Corner" the magazine becomes absolutely perfect. Truly a wonderful start. See that it is kept up. The only thing that can still spoil the magazine is poor stories. Science Fiction stories that contain no science. 

 In "Vampires of Venus" the plot was rather weak. Even if the Venerians knew nothing of entomology, they should have brains enough to get rid of the vampires the way Leslie Larner did without having to call an Earthman to help them. Another thing: the Venerians kept only insects that were not harmful to the crops. On Earth there are such insects who help the farmer by eating harmful insects. If the harmful insects were exterminated--an almost impossible and gigantic task--the harmless insects would change their diet and become harmful too. And it seems funny, too, that such a highly civilized planet as Venus should still depend on domesticated animals for food, drink and clothing instead of manufacturing what they need synthetically. 

 The April cover on your magazine was wonderful. 

 Before I close I wish to say a word about the Science Correspondence Club of which I am a proud member. There is little to say, however, after reading Conrad Ruppert's letter in the April issue. The membership has increased to over 300 now, numbering among them quite a number of famous scientists and authors. All I can say is that I hope every scientifically inclined person of whatever nationality, creed, color or sex they may be, will join this wonderful and rapidly progressing club. I will now close thanking the publishers of Astounding Stories for issuing such a wonderful magazine--Stan Osowski, E2, Railroad St. , Central Falls, R. I. 

_But--Conniston Was An Impostor!_

 Dear Editor:

 I read with interest Mr. Ray Cummings' story, "Brigands of the Moon, " in the March number of Astounding Stories. The tale was a worthy one from the pen of so clever a writer. I do think, however, that the author might have left out the point about Sir Arthur Conniston, an English gentleman, turning traitor. This sort of thing is hardly calculated to bring about a friendly feeling between England and America, the two greatest countries in the world. I have the greatest admiration for the United States, and though we may have a little fun at each other's expense, there is no ill feeling meant, but I really hope you will not publish any other story like that one. --An Englishman, Montreal, Canada. 

_Likes the Romance_

 Dear Editor:

 I have just finished my second copy of Astounding Stories and I wish to say I have enjoyed every story. 

 For some time I have been a reader of Science Fiction, but none will compare to Astounding Stories. These stories seem to have the proper amount of romance in them to make them really interesting, and it adds the proper touch. 

 I have no criticism to make. May I wish you a great success with this magazine--Frank I. Sontag, 825 Prescott Ave. , Scranton, Pa. 

_High Praise_

 Dear Editor:

 Allow me to congratulate you upon the establishment of "The Readers' Corner. " I do not know which was the first issue of your delightful magazine, but I have been buying it regularly for quite a few months. 

 I may not be an experienced critic, but it can be easily seen by anyone that this magazine is one of the best on sale. I, for one, enjoy your stories more than any other stories I have ever read. 

 I have just finished the second part of the four-part serial entitled "Brigands of the Moon. " I thing Ray Cummings is the best author I have ever met up with in stories. The drawings are fine, the print is excellent, but I think the paper could be improved. But by no means change the size of your little magazine. The size is just right. 

 In your April issue I read in "The Readers' Corner" about a Science Correspondence Club. Believe me when I say I'm sending immediately for an application blank. I think the idea of this club is excellent. 

 Truly you have contributed a great gift to Science Fiction readers in offering this magazine to the receptive public. --Theodore L. Page, 2361 Los Angeles Ave. , Pittsburgh, Pa. 

"_Don't Do It!_"

 Dear Editor:

 This afternoon I saw Astounding Stories for the first time and immediately grabbed a copy, as I have read others of the Clayton group, and moreover am a Science Fiction fan. 

 The newsstand has no back numbers, and I simply must have the March 1930 issue, as I wish to read "Brigands of the Moon, " so here is 25¢, in stamps to cover purchase price and cost of mailing me a copy of that issue. 

 Have you a complete file since Vol. 1, No. 1? If so, what is the cost including charges? I'm sorry that I missed this magazine before, but you can rest assured that I'll miss no more. 

 In the "Readers' Corner" I notice a call from Stephen Takacs for a change in size. DON'T DO IT! The size and shape are O. K. , and to make it the awkward size of most magazines (including two of the Science Fiction magazines that I am now a confirmed reader of), would not improve it a bit. 

 You have two of my favorite authors in the April number; no, I see it is three--Burks, Cummings and Meek. They are O. K. , but don't forget a few others, such as Burroughs, Verrill, Hamilton, Coblentz, Keller, Quinn, Williamson, Leinster, Repp, Vincent, Flagg--oh, why continue; you certainly know all the good authors of OUR kind of fiction; try them all. Of course, the other Science Fiction magazines that I take are full of stories by my favorites, but you can get stories by them too. 

 From this one issue that I have read I can see only praise for your publication. Here's to a long life and a happy one. 

 Don't forget to send me the March issue as fast as the mail can get it here--Robert J. Hyatt, 1353 Kenyon St. , N. W. , Washington D. C. 

"_Worst Ever Read_"

 Dear Editor:

 Since you invite criticism as well as praise, I am impelled to state that by far the worst story I ever read in any Science Fiction magazine was "Vampires of Venus, " by Anthony Pelcher, which appeared in your April issue. It was so idiotic, so flat and inane, that it might have passed for a burlesque rather than a straight story, were it not painfully evident that the author was serious. The yarn was unworthy of Astounding Stories and did not belong in this magazine. 

 The other stories, except for an amateurish attempt called "The Man Who Was Dead, " were deeply engrossing and of unusual merit. --Sears Langell, 1214 Boston Road, New York. 

"_The Readers' Corner_"

All Readers are extended a sincere and cordial invitation to "comeover in 'The Readers' Corner'" and join in our monthly discussion ofstories, authors, scientific principles and possibilities--everythingthat's of common interest in connection with our Astounding Stories. 

Although from time to time the Editor may make a comment or so, thisis a department primarily for _Readers_, and we want you to make fulluse of it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explanations, roses, brickbats, suggestions--everything's welcome here; so "come over in'The Readers' Corner'" and discuss it with all of us!

--_The Editor. _

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