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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science April
+1930, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Astounding Stories of Super-Science April 1930
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Harry Bates
+
+Release Date: July 12, 2009 [EBook #29390]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES, APRIL 1930 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Meredith Bach, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 20c
+
+ ASTOUNDING STORIES OF SUPER-SCIENCE
+
+ _On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month_
+
+  W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher
+  HARRY BATES, Editor
+  DOUGLAS M. DOLD, Consulting Editor
+
+
+The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees:
+
+  _That_ the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid; by leading
+  writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by the
+  Authors' League of America;
+
+  _That_ such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American
+  workmen;
+
+  _That_ each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit;
+
+  _That_ an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages.
+
+
+_The other Clayton magazines are:_
+
+ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE-NOVELS
+MONTHLY, WIDE WORLD ADVENTURES, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, FLYERS,
+RANGELAND LOVE STORY MAGAZINE, SKY-HIGH LIBRARY MAGAZINE, WESTERN
+ADVENTURES, MISS 1930, _and_ FOREST AND STREAM
+
+_More Than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand for
+Clayton Magazines._
+
+
+
+
+ VOL. II, No. 1                 CONTENTS                        APRIL, 1930
+
+
+ COVER DESIGN                              H. W. WESSOLOWSKI
+
+ _Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "Monsters of Moyen."_
+
+
+ THE MAN WHO WAS DEAD                      THOMAS H. KNIGHT               9
+
+ _As Jerry's Eyes Fell on the Creature's Head, He Shuddered--for the
+ Face Was Nothing but Bone, with Dull-brown Skin Stretched Taut over It.
+ A Skeleton That Was Alive!_
+
+
+ MONSTERS OF MOYEN                         ARTHUR J. BURKS               18
+
+ _"The Western World Shall be Next!" Was the Dread Ultimatum of the
+ Half-monster, Half-god Moyen._
+
+
+ VAMPIRES OF VENUS                         ANTHONY PELCHER               47
+
+ _Leslie Larner, an Entomologist Borrowed from the Earth, Pits Himself
+ Against the Night-flying Vampires That Are Ravaging the Inhabitants
+ of Venus._
+
+
+ BRIGANDS OF THE MOON                      RAY CUMMINGS                  60
+
+ _Out of Awful Space Tumbled the Space-ship Planetara Towards the
+ Moon, Her Officers Dead, With Bandits at Her Helm--and the Controls
+ Out of Order!_
+
+
+ THE SOUL SNATCHER                         TOM CURRY                    101
+
+ _From Twenty Miles Away Stabbed the "Atom-filtering" Rays to Allen
+ Baker in His Cell in the Death House._
+
+
+ THE RAY OF MADNESS                        CAPTAIN S. P. MEEK           112
+
+ _Dr. Bird Uncovers a Dastardly Plot, Amazing in its Mechanical
+ Ingenuity, Behind the Apparently Trivial Eye Trouble of the
+ President._
+
+
+ THE READERS' CORNER                       ALL OF US                    127
+
+ _A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories._
+
+
+Single Copies, 20 Cents (In Canada, 25 Cents) Yearly Subscription, $2.00
+
+Issued monthly by Publishers' Fiscal Corporation, 80 Lafayette St., New
+York, N. Y. W. M. Clayton, President; Nathan Goldmann, Secretary.
+Application for entry as second-class mail pending at the Post Office at
+New York, under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered as a Trade Mark
+in the U. S. Patent Office. Member Newsstand Group--Men's List. For
+advertising rates address E. R. Crowe & Co., Inc., 25 Vanderbilt Ave.,
+New York; or 225 North Michigan Ave., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+The Man Who Was Dead
+
+_By Thomas H. Knight_
+
+[Illustration: "_I was dead._"]
+
+  As Jerry's eyes fell on the creature's head, he shuddered--for the
+  face was nothing but bone, with dull-brown skin stretched taut over
+  it. A skeleton that was alive!
+
+
+It was a wicked night, the night I met the man who had died. A bitter,
+heart-numbing night of weird, shrieking wind and flying snow. A few
+black hours I will never forget.
+
+"Well, Jerry, lad!" my mother said to me as I pushed back from the table
+and started for my sheepskin coat and the lantern in the corner of the
+room. "Surely you're not going out a night like this? Goodness gracious,
+Jerry, it's not fit!"
+
+"Can't help it, Mother," I replied. "Got to go. You've never seen me
+miss a Saturday night yet, have you now?"
+
+"No. But then I've never seen a night like this for years either. Jerry,
+I'm really afraid. You may freeze before you even get as far as--"
+
+"Ah, come now, Mother," I argued. "They'd guy me to death if I didn't
+sit in with the gang to-night. They'd chaff me because it was too cold
+for me to get out. But I'm no pampered sissy, you know, and I want to
+see--"
+
+"Yes," she retorted bitingly, "I know. You want to go and bask in that
+elegant company. Our stove's just as good as the one down at that dirty
+old store," continued my persistent and anxious parent, "and it's
+certainly not very flattering to think that you leave us on a night like
+this to--Who'll be there, anyway?"
+
+"Oh, the usual five or six I suppose," I answered as I adjusted the wick
+of my lantern, hearing as I did the snarl and cut of the wind through
+the evergreens in the yard.
+
+"That black-whiskered sphinx, Hammersly, will he be there?"
+
+"Yes, he'll be there, I'm pretty sure."
+
+"Hm-m!" she exclaimed, her expression now carrying all the contempt for
+my judgment and taste she intended it should. "Button your coat up good
+around your neck, then, if you must go to see your precious Hammersly
+and the rest of them. Have you ever heard that man say anything yet?
+Does he speak at all, Jerry?" Then her gentle mind, not at all
+accustomed to hard thoughts or contemptuous remarks, quickly changed.
+"Funny thing about that fellow," she mused. "He's got something on his
+mind. Don't you think so, Jerry?"
+
+"Y-es, yes I do. And I've often wondered what it could be. He
+certainly's a queer stick. Got to admit that. Always brooding. Good
+fellow all right, and, for a 'sphinx' as you call him, likable. But I
+wonder what is eating him?"
+
+"What do you suppose it could be, Jerry boy?" questioned Mother
+following me to the door, the woman of her now completely forgetting her
+recent criticisms and, perhaps, the rough night her son was about to
+step into. "Do you suppose the poor chap has a--a--broken heart, or
+something like that? A girl somewhere who jilted him? Or maybe he loves
+someone he has no right to!" she finished excitedly, the plates in her
+hand rattling.
+
+"Maybe it's worse than that," I ventured. "P'r'aps--I've no right to say
+it--but p'r'aps, and I've often thought it, there's a killing he wants
+to forget, and can't!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I heard my mother's sharp little "Oh!" as I shut the door behind me and
+the warmth and comfort of the room away. Outside it was worse than the
+whistle of the wind through the trees had led me to expect. Black as
+pitch it was, and as cold as blazes. For the first moment or two,
+though, I liked the feel of the challenge of the night and the racing
+elements, was even a little glad I had added to the dare of the
+blackness the thought of Hammersly and his "killing." But I had not gone
+far before I was wishing I did not have to save my face by putting in an
+appearance at the store that night.
+
+Every Saturday night, with the cows comfortable in their warm barn, and
+my own supper over, I was in the habit of taking my place on the keg or
+box behind the red-hot stove in Pruett's store. To-night all the snow
+was being hurled clear of the fields to block the roads full between the
+old, zigzag fences. The wind met me in great pushing gusts, and while it
+flung itself at me I would hang against it, snow to my knees, until the
+blow had gone along, when I could plunge forward again. I was glad when
+I saw the lights of the store, glad when I was inside.
+
+They met me with mock applause for my pluck in facing the night, but for
+all their sham flattery I was pleased I had come, proud, I must admit,
+that I had been able to plough my heavy way through the drifts to reach
+them. I saw at a glance that my friends were all there, and I saw too
+that there was a strange man present.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A very tall man he was, gaunt and awkward as he leaned into the angle of
+the two counters, his back to a dusty show-case. He attracted my
+attention at once. Not merely because he appeared so long and pointed
+and skinny, but because, of all ridiculous things in that frozen
+country, he wore a hard derby hat! If he had not been such a queer
+character it would have been laughable, but as it was it was--creepy.
+For the man beneath that hard hat was about as queer a looking character
+as I have ever seen. I supposed he was a visitor at the store, or a
+friend of one of my friends, and that in a little while I would be
+introduced. But I was not.
+
+I took my place in behind the stove, feeling at once, though I am far
+from being unsociable usually, that the man was an intruder and would
+spoil the evening. But despite his cold, dampening presence we were soon
+at it, hammer and tongs, discussing the things that are discussed behind
+hospitable stoves in country stores on bad nights. But I could never
+lose sight of the fact that the stranger standing there, silent as the
+grave, was, to say the least, a queer one. Before long I was sure he was
+no friend or guest of anyone there, and that he not only cast a pall
+over me but over all of us. I did not like it, nor did I like him.
+Perhaps it would have been just as well after all, I thought, had I
+heeded my mother and stayed home.
+
+Jed Counsell was the one who, innocently enough, started the thing that
+changed the evening, that had begun so badly, into a nightmare.
+
+"Jerry," he said, leaning across to me, "thinkin' of you s'afternoon.
+Readin' an article about reincarnation. Remember we were arguin' it last
+week? Well, this guy, whoever he was I've forgot, believes in it. Says
+it's so. That people _do_ come back." With this opening shot Jed sat
+back to await my answer. I liked these arguments and I liked to bear my
+share in them, but now, instead of immediately answering the challenge,
+I looked around to see if any other of our circle were going to answer
+Jed. Then, deciding it was up to me, I shrugged off the strange feeling
+the man in the corner had cast over me, and prepared to view my
+opinions.
+
+"That's just that fellow's belief, Jed," I said. "And just as he's got
+his so have I mine. And on this subject at least I claim my opinion is
+as good as anybody's." I was just getting nicely started, and a little
+forgetting my distaste for the man in the corner, when the fellow
+himself interrupted. He left his leaning place, and came creaking across
+the floor to our circle around the store. I say he came "creaking" for
+as he came he did creak. "Shoes," I naturally, almost unconsciously
+decided, though the crazy notion was in my mind that the cracking I
+heard did sound like bones and joints and sinews badly in need of oil.
+The stranger sat his groaning self down among us, on a board lying
+across a nail keg and an old chair. Only from the corner of my eye did I
+see his movement, being friendly enough, despite my dislike, not to
+allow too marked notice of his attempt to be sociable seem inhospitable
+on my part. I was about to start again with my argument when Seth
+Spears, sitting closest to the newcomer, deliberately got up from the
+bench and went to the counter, telling Pruett as he went that he had to
+have some sugar. It was all a farce, a pretext, I knew. I've known Seth
+for years and had never known him before to take upon himself the buying
+for his wife's kitchen. Seth simply would not sit beside the man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At that I could keep my eyes from the stranger no longer, and the next
+moment I felt my heart turn over within me, then lie still. I have seen
+"walking skeletons" in circuses, but never such a man as the one who was
+then sitting at my right hand. Those side-show men were just lean in
+comparison to the fellow who had invaded our Saturday night club. His
+thighs and his legs and his knees, sticking sharply into his trousers,
+looked like pieces of inch board. His shoulders and his chest seemed as
+flat and as sharp as his legs. The sight of the man shocked me. I sprang
+to my feet thoroughly frightened. I could not see much of his face,
+sitting there in the dark as he was with his back to the yellow light,
+but I could make out enough of it to know that it was in keeping with
+the rest of him.
+
+In a moment or two, realizing my childishness, I had fought down my fear
+and, pretending that a scorching of my leg had caused my hurried
+movement, I sat down again. None of the others said a word, each waiting
+for me to continue and to break the embarrassing silence. Hammersly,
+black-whiskered, the "sphinx" as my mother had called him, watched me
+closely. Hating myself not a little bit for actually being the sissy I
+had boasted I was not, I spoke hurriedly, loudly, to cover my confusion.
+
+"No sir, Jed!" I said, taking up my argument. "When a man's dead, he's
+dead! There's no bringing him back like that highbrow claimed. The old
+heart may be only hitting about once in every hundred times, and if they
+catch it right at the last stroke they may bring it back then, but once
+she's stopped, Jed, she's stopped for good. Once the pulse has gone, and
+life has flickered out, it's out. And it doesn't come back in any form
+at all, not in this world!"
+
+I was glad when I had said it, thereby asserting myself and downing my
+foolish fear of the man whose eyes I felt burning into me. I did not
+turn to look at him but all the while I felt his gimlety eyes digging
+into my brain.
+
+Then he spoke. And though he sat right next to me his voice sounded like
+a moan from afar off. It was the first time we had heard this thing that
+once may have been a voice and that now sounded like a groan from a
+closely nailed coffin. He reached a hand toward my knee to enforce his
+words, but I jerked away.
+
+"So you don't believe a man can come back from the grave, eh?" he
+grated. "Believe that once a man's heart is stilled it's stopped for
+good, eh? Well, you're all wrong, sonny. All wrong! You believe these
+things. I _know_ them!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+His interference, his condescension, his whole hatefulness angered me. I
+could now no longer control my feeling. "Oh! You _know_, do you?" I
+sneered. "On such a subject as this you're entitled to _know_, are you?
+Don't make me laugh!" I finished insultingly. I was aroused. And I'm a
+big fellow, with no reason to fear ordinary men.
+
+"Yes, I know!" came back his echoing, scratching voice.
+
+"How do you know? Maybe you've been--?"
+
+"Yes, I have!" he answered, his voice breaking to a squeak. "Take a good
+look at me, gentlemen. A good look." He knew now that he held the center
+of the stage, that the moment was his. Slowly he raised an arm to remove
+that ridiculous hat. Again I jumped to my feet. For as his coat sleeve
+slipped down his forearm I saw nothing but bone supporting his hand. And
+the hand that then bared his head was a skeleton hand! Slowly the hat
+was lifted, but as quickly as light six able-bodied men were on their
+feet and half way to the door before we realized the cowardliness of it.
+We forced ourselves back inside the store very slowly, all of us rather
+ashamed of our ridiculous and childlike fear.
+
+But it was all enough to make the blood curdle, with that live, dead
+thing sitting there by our fire. His face and skull were nothing but
+bone, the eyes deeply sunk into their sockets, the dull-brown skin like
+parchment in its tautness, drawn and shriveled down onto the nose and
+jaw. There were no cheeks. Just hollows. The mouth was a sharp slit
+beneath the flat nose. He was hideous.
+
+"Come back and I'll tell you my yarn," he mocked, the slit that was his
+mouth opening a little to show us the empty, blackened gums. "I've been
+dead once," he went on, getting a lot of satisfaction from the weirdness
+of the lie and from our fear, "and _I_ came back. Come and sit down and
+I'll explain why I'm this living skeleton."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We came back slowly, and as I did I slipped my hand into my outside
+pocket where I had a revolver. I put my finger in on the trigger and got
+ready to use the vicious little thing. I was on edge and torn to pieces
+completely by the sight of the man, and I doubt not that had he made a
+move towards me my frayed nerves would have plugged him full of lead. I
+eyed my friends. They were in no better way than was I. Fright and
+horror stood on each face. Hammersly was worst. His hands were
+twitching, his eyes were like bright glass, his face bleached and drawn.
+
+"I've quite a yarn to tell," went on the skeleton in his awful voice.
+"I've had quite a life. A full life. I've taken my fun and my pleasure
+wherever I could. Maybe you'll call me selfish and greedy, but I always
+used to believe that a man only passed this way once. Just like you
+believe," he nodded to me, his neck muscles and jaws creaking. "Six
+years ago I came up into this country and got a job on a farm," he went
+on, settling into his story. "Just an ordinary job. But I liked it
+because the farmer had a pretty little daughter of about sixteen or
+seventeen and as easy as could be. You may not believe it, but you can
+still find dames green enough to fall for the right story.
+
+"This one did. I told her I was only out there for a time for my health.
+That I was rich back in the city, with a fine home and everything. She
+believed me. Little fool!" He chuckled as he said it, and my anger,
+mounting with his every devilish word, made the finger on the trigger in
+my pocket take a tighter crook to itself. "I asked her to skip with me,"
+the droning went on, "made her a lot of great promises, and she fell for
+it." His dry jaw bones clanked and chattered as if he enjoyed the
+beastly recital of his achievement, while we sat gaping at him,
+believing either that the man must be mad, or that we were the mad ones,
+or dreaming.
+
+"We slipped away one night," continued the beast. "Went to the city. To
+a punk hotel. For three weeks we stayed there. Then one morning I told
+her I was going out for a shave. I was. I got the shave. But I hadn't
+thought it worth while to tell her I wouldn't be back. Well, she got
+back to the farm some way, though I don't know--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"What!" I shouted, springing before him. "What! You mean you left her
+there! After you'd taken her, you left her! And here you sit crowing
+over it! Gloating! Boasting! Why you--!" I lived in a rough country.
+Associated with rough men, heard their vicious language, but seldom used
+a strong word myself. But as I stood over that monster, utterly hating
+the beastly thing, all the vile oaths and prickly language of the
+countryside, no doubt buried in some unused cell in my brain, spilled
+from my tongue upon him. When I had lashed him as fiercely as I was able
+I cried: "Why don't you come at me? Didn't you hear what I called you?
+You beast! I'd like to riddle you!" I shouted, drawing my gun.
+
+"Aw, sit down!" he jeered, waving his rattling hand at me. "You ain't
+heard a thing yet. Let me finish. Well, she got back to the farm some
+way or another, and something over a year later I wandered into this
+country again too. I never could explain just why I came back. It was
+not altogether to see the girl. Her father was a little bit of a man and
+I began to remember what a meek and weak sheep he was. I got it into my
+head that it'd be fun to go back to his farm and rub it in. So I came.
+
+"Her father was trying out a new corn planter right at the back door
+when I rounded the house and walked towards him. Then I saw, at once,
+that I had made a mistake. When he put his eyes on me his face went
+white and hard. He came down from the seat of that machine like a flash,
+and took hurried steps in the direction of a doublebarrelled gun
+leaning against the woodshed. They always were troubled with hawks and
+kept a gun handy. But there was an ax nearer to me than the gun was to
+him. I had to work fast but I made it all right. I grabbed that ax,
+jumped at him as he reached for the gun, and swung--once. His wife, and
+the girl too, saw it. Then I turned and ran."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The gaunt brute before us slowly crossed one groaning knee above the
+other. We were all sitting again now. The perspiration rolled down my
+face. I held my gun trained upon him, and, though I now believed he was
+totally mad, because of a certain ring of truth in that empty voice, I
+sat fascinated. I looked at Seth. His jaw was hanging loose, his eyes
+bulging. Hammersly's mouth was set in a tight clenched line, his eyes
+like fire in his blue, drawn face. I could not see the others.
+
+"The telephone caught me," continued our ghastly story-teller, "and in
+no time at all I was convicted and the date set for the hanging. When my
+time was pretty close a doctor or scientist fellow came to see me who
+said, 'Blaggett, you're slated to die. How much will you sell me your
+body for?' If he didn't say it that way he meant just that. And I said,
+'Nothing. I've no one to leave money to. What do you want with my body?'
+And he told me, 'I believe I can bring you back to life and health,
+provided they don't snap your neck when they drop you.' 'Oh, you're one
+of _those_ guys, are you?' I said then. 'All right, hop to it. If you
+can do it I'll be much obliged. Then I can go back on that farm and do a
+little more ax swinging!'" Again came his horrible chuckle, again I
+mopped my brow.
+
+"So we made our plans," he went on, pleased with our discomfiture and
+our despising of him. "Next day some chap came to see me, pretending he
+was my brother. And I carried out my part of it by cursing him at first
+and then begging him to give me decent burial. So he went away, and, I
+suppose, received permission to get me right after I was cut down.
+
+"There was a fence built around the scaffold they had ready for me and
+the party I was about to fling, and they had some militia there, too.
+The crowd seemed quiet enough till they led me out. Then their buzzing
+sounded like a hive of bees getting all stirred up. Then a few loud
+voices, then shouts. Some rocks came flying at me after that, and it
+looked to me as though the hanging would not be so gentle a party after
+all. I tell you I was afraid. I wished it was over.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The mob pushed against the fence and flattened it out, coming over it
+like waves over a beach. The soldiers fired into the air, but still they
+came, and I, I ran--up, onto the scaffold. It was safer!" As he said
+this he chuckled loudly. "I'll bet," he laughed, "that's the first time
+a guy ever ran into the noose for the safety of it! The mob came only to
+the foot of the scaffold though, from where they seemed satisfied to see
+the law take its course. The sheriff was nervous. So cut up that he only
+made a fling at tying my ankles, just dropped a rope around my wrists.
+He was like me, he wanted to get it over, and the crowd on its way. Then
+he put the rope around my neck, stepped back and shot the trap. Zamm! No
+time for a prayer--or for me to laugh at the offer!--or a last word or
+anything.
+
+"I felt the floor give, felt myself shoot through. Smack! My weight on
+the end of the rope hit me behind the ears like a mallet. Everything
+went black. Of course it would have been just my luck to get a broken
+neck out of it and give the scientist no chance to revive me. But after
+a second or two, or a minute, or it could have been an hour, the
+blackness went away enough to allow me to know I was hanging on the end
+of the rope, kicking, fighting, choking to death. My tongue swelled, my
+face and head and heart and body seemed ready to burst. Slowly I went
+into a deep mist that I knew then was _the_ mist, then--then--I was off
+floating in the air over the heads of the crowd, watching my own
+hanging!
+
+"I saw them give that slowly swinging carcass on the end of its rope
+time enough to thoroughly die, then, from my aerial, unseen watching
+place, I saw them cut it--me--down. They tried the pulse of the body
+that had been mine, they examined my staring eyes. Then I heard them
+pronounce me dead. The fools! I had known I was dead for a minute or two
+by that time, else how could my spirit have been gone from the shell and
+be out floating around over their heads?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He paused here as he asked his question, his head turning on its dry and
+creaking neck to include us all in his query. But none of us spoke. We
+were dreaming it all, of course, or were mad, we thought.
+
+"In just a short while," went on the skeleton, "my 'brother' came
+driving slowly in for my body. With no special hurry he loaded me onto
+his little truck and drove easily away. But once clear of the crowd he
+pushed his foot down on the gas and in five more minutes--with me
+hovering all the while alongside of him, mind you--floating along as
+though I had been a bird all my life--we turned into the driveway of a
+summer home. The scientific guy met him. They carried me into the house,
+into a fine-fitted laboratory. My dead body was placed on a table, a
+huge knife ripped my clothes from me.
+
+"Quickly the loads from ten or a dozen hypodermic syringes were shot
+into different parts of my naked body. Then it was carried across the
+room to what looked like a large glass bottle, or vase, with an opening
+in the top. Through this door I was lowered, my body being held upright
+by straps in there for that purpose. The door to the opening was then
+placed in position, and by means of an acetylene torch and some easily
+melting glass, the door was sealed tight.
+
+"So there stood my poor old body. Ready for the experiment to bring it
+back to life. And as my new self floated around above the scientist and
+his helper I smiled to myself, for I was sure the experiment would prove
+a failure, even though I now knew that the sheriff's haste had kept him
+from placing the rope right at my throat and had saved me a broken neck.
+I was dead. All that was left of me now was my spirit, or soul. And that
+was swimming and floating about above their heads with not an
+inclination in the world to have a thing to do with the husk of the man
+I could clearly see through the glass of the bell.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"They turned on a huge battery of ultra-violet rays then," continued the
+hollow droning of the man who had been hanged, "which, as the scientist
+had explained to me while in prison, acting upon the contents of the
+syringes, by that time scattered through my whole body, was to renew the
+spark of life within the dead thing hanging there. Through a tube, and
+by means of a valve entering the glass vase in the top, the scientist
+then admitted a dense white gas. So thick was it that in a moment or two
+my body's transparent coffin appeared to be full of a liquid as white as
+milk. Electricity then revolved my cage around so that my body was
+insured a complete and even exposure to the rays of the green and violet
+lamps. And while all this silly stuff was going on, around and around
+the laboratory I floated, confident of the complete failure of the whole
+thing, yet determined to see it through if for no other reason than to
+see the discomfiture and disappointment that this mere man was bound to
+experience. You see, I was already looking back upon earthly mortals as
+being inferior, and now as I waited for this proof I was all the while
+fighting off a new urge to be going elsewhere. Something was calling me,
+beckoning me to be coming into the full spirit world. But I wanted to
+see this wise earth guy fail.
+
+"For a little while conditions stayed the same within that glass. So
+thick was the liquid gas in there at first that I could see nothing.
+Then it began to clear, and I saw to my surprise that the milky gas was
+disappearing because it was being forced in by the rays from the lights
+in through the pores into the body itself. As though my form was sucking
+it in like a sponge. The scientist and his helper were tense and taut
+with excitement. And suddenly my comfortable feeling left me. Until then
+it had seemed so smooth and velvety and peaceful drifting around over
+their heads, as though lying on a soft, fleecy cloud. But now I felt a
+sudden squeezing of my spirit body. Then I was in an agony. Before I
+knew what I was doing my spirit was clinging to the outside of that
+twisting glass bell, clawing to get into the body that was coming back
+to life! The glass now was perfectly clear of the gas, though as yet
+there was no sign of life in the body inside to hint to the scientist
+that he was to be successful. But I knew it. For I fought desperately to
+break in through the glass to get back into my discarded shell of a body
+again, knowing I must get in or die a worse death than I had before.
+
+"Then my sharper eyes noted a slight shiver passing over the white thing
+before me, and the scientist must have seen it in the next second, for
+he sprang forward with a choking cry of delight. Then the lolling head
+inside lifted a bit. I--still desperately clinging with my spirit hands
+to the outside, and all the time growing weaker and weaker--I saw the
+breast of my body rise and fall. The assistant picked up a heavy steel
+hammer and stood ready to crash open the glass at the right moment. Then
+my once dead eyes opened in there to look around, while I, clinging and
+gasping outside, just as I had on the scaffold, went into a deeper,
+darker blackness than ever. Just before my spirit life died utterly I
+saw the eyes of my body realize completely what was going on, then--from
+the inside now--I saw the scientist give the signal that caused the
+assistant to crash away the glass shell with one blow of his hammer.
+
+"They reached in for me then, and I fainted. When I came back to
+consciousness I was being carefully, slowly revived, and nursed back to
+life by oxygen and a pulmotor."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The terrible creature telling us this tale paused again to look around.
+My knees were weak, my clothes wet with sweat.
+
+"Is that all?" I asked in a piping, strange voice, half sarcastic, half
+unbelieving, and wholly spellbound.
+
+"Just about," he answered. "But what do you expect? I left my friend the
+scientist at once, even though he did hate to see me go. It had been all
+right while he was so keen on the experiment himself and while he only
+half believed his ability to bring me back. But now that he'd done it,
+it kinda worried him to think what sort of a man he was turning loose of
+the world again. I could see how he was figuring, and because I had no
+idea of letting him try another experiment on me, p'r'aps of putting me
+away again, I beat it in a hurry.
+
+"That was five years ago. For five years I've lived with only just part
+of me here. Whatever it was trying to get back into that glass just
+before my body came to life--my spirit, I've been calling it--I've been
+without. It never did get back. You see, the scientist brought me back
+inside a shell that kept my spirit out. That's why I'm the skeleton you
+see I am. Something vital is missing."
+
+He stood up cracking and creaking before us, buttoning his loose coat
+about his angular body. "Well, boys," he asked lightly, "what do you
+think of that?"
+
+"I think you're a liar! A damn liar!" I cried. "And now, if you don't
+want me to fill you full of lead, get out of here and get out now! If I
+have to do it to you, there's no scientist this time to bring you back.
+When you go out you'll stay out!"
+
+"Don't worry," he grimaced back to me, waving a mass of bones that
+should have been a hand contemptuously at me, "I'm going. I'm headed for
+Shelton." He stalked the length of the floor and shut the door behind
+him. The beast had gone.
+
+"The dirty liar!" I cried. "I wish--yes--I wish I had an excuse to kill
+him. Just think of that being loose, will you? A brute who would think
+up such a yarn! Of course it's all absurd. All crazy. All a lie."
+
+"No. It's not a lie."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I turned to see who had spoken. Hammersly's voice was so unfamiliar and
+now so torn in addition that I could not have thought he had spoken, had
+he not been looking right at me, his glittering eyes challenging my
+assertion. Would wonders never cease? I asked myself. First this
+outrageous yarn, now Hammersly, the "sphinx," expressing an opinion,
+looking for an argument! Of course it must be that his susceptible and
+brooding brain had been turned a bit by the evening we had just
+experienced.
+
+"Why Hammersly! You don't believe it?" I asked.
+
+"I not only believe it, Jerry, but now it's my turn to say, as he did, I
+_know_ it! Jerry, old friend," he went on, "that devil told the truth.
+He was hanged. He was brought back to life; and Jerry--I was that
+scientist!"
+
+Whew! I fell back to a box again. My knees seemed to forsake me. Then I
+heard Hammersly talking to himself.
+
+"Five years it's been," he muttered. "Five years since I turned him
+loose again. Five years of agony for me, wondering what new devilish
+crimes he was perpetrating, wondering when he would return to that
+little farm to swing his ax again. Five years--five years."
+
+He came over to me, and without a word of explanation or to ask my
+permission he reached his hand into my pocket and drew out my revolver,
+and I did not protest.
+
+"He said he was headed for Shelton," went on Hammersly's spoken
+thoughts. "If I slip across the ice I can intercept him at Black's
+woods." Buttoning his coat closely, he followed the stranger out into
+the night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I was glad the moon had come up for my walk home, glad too when I had
+the door locked and propped with a chair behind me. I undressed in the
+dark, not wanting any grisly, sunken-eyed monster to be looking in
+through the window at me. For maybe, so I thought, maybe he was after
+all not headed for Shelton, but perhaps planning on another of his
+ghastly tricks.
+
+But in the morning we knew he had been going toward Shelton. Scientists,
+doctors, and learned men of all descriptions came out to our village to
+see the thing the papers said Si Waters had stumbled upon when on his
+way to the creamery that next morning.
+
+It was a skeleton, they said, only that it had a dry skin all over it. A
+mummy. Could not have been considered capable of containing life only
+that the snow around it was lightly blotched with a pale smear that
+proved to be blood, that had oozed out from the six bullet holes in the
+horrid chest. They never did solve it.
+
+There were five of us in the store that night. Five of us who know.
+Hammersly did what we all wanted to do. Of course his name is not really
+Hammersly, but it has done here as well as another. He is
+black-whiskered though, and he is still very much of a sphinx, but he'll
+never have to answer for having killed the man he once brought back to
+life. Hammersly's secret will go into five other graves besides his
+own.
+
+
+
+
+Monsters of Moyen
+
+_By Arthur J. Burks_
+
+[Illustration: "_Now," said Kleig hoarsely, "watch closely, for
+God's sake!_"]
+
+  "The Western World shall be next!" was the dread ultimatum of the
+  half-monster, half-god Moyen!
+
+
+_Foreword_
+
+
+In 1935 the mighty genius of Moyen gripped the Eastern world like a hand
+of steel. In a matter of months he had welded the Orient into an
+unbeatable war-machine. He had, through the sheer magnetism of a strange
+personality, carried the Eastern world with him on his march to conquest
+of the earth, and men followed him with blind faith as men in the past
+have followed the banners of the Thaumaturgists.
+
+A strange name, to the sound of which none could assign nationality.
+Some said his father was a Russian refugee, his mother a Mongol woman.
+Some said he was the son of a Caucasian woman lost in the Gobi and
+rescued by a mad lama of Tibet, who became father of Moyen. Some said
+that his mother was a goddess, his father a fiend out of hell.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But this all men knew about him: that he combined within himself the
+courage of a Hannibal, the military genius of a Napoleon, the ideals of
+a Sun Yat Sen; and that he had sworn to himself he would never rest
+until the earth was peopled by a single nation, with Moyen himself in
+the seat of the mighty ruler.
+
+Madagascar was the seat of his government, from which he looked across
+into United Africa, the first to join his confederacy. The Orient was a
+dependency, even to that forbidden land of the Goloks, where outlanders
+sometimes went, but whence they never returned--and to the wild Goloks
+he was a god whose will was absolute, to render obedience to whom was a
+privilege accorded only to the Chosen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a short year his confederacy had brought under his might the millions
+of Asia, which he had welded into a mighty machine for further conquest.
+
+And because the Americas saw the handwriting on the wall, they sent out
+to see the man Moyen, with orders to penetrate to his very side, as a
+spy, their most trusted Secret Agent--Prester Kleig.
+
+Only the ignorant believed that Moyen was mad. The military and
+diplomatic geniuses of the world recognized his genius, and resented it.
+
+But Prester Kleig, of the Secret Service of the Americas, one of the
+_few_ men whose headquarters were in the Secret Room in Washington, had
+reached Moyen.
+
+Now he was coming home.
+
+He came home to tell his people what Moyen was planning, and to admit
+that his investigations had been hampered at every turn by the uncanny
+genius of Moyen. Military plans had been guarded with unbelievable
+secrecy. War machines he knew to exist, yet had seen only those common
+to all the armies of the world.
+
+And now, twenty-four hours out of New York City, aboard the _S. S.
+Stellar_, Prester Kleig was literally willing the steamer to greater
+speed--and in far Madagascar the strange man called Moyen had given the
+ultimatum:
+
+"The Western World shall be next!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+_The Hand of Moyen._
+
+
+"Who is that man?" asked a young lady passenger of the steward, with the
+imperious inflection which tells of riches able to force obedience from
+menials who labor for hire.
+
+She pointed a bejeweled finger at the slender, soldierly figure which
+stood in the prow of the liner, like a figurehead, peering into the
+storm under the vessel's forefoot.
+
+"That gentleman, milady?" repeated the steward obsequiously. "That is
+Prester Kleig, head of the Secret Agents, Master of the Secret Room,
+just now returning from Madagascar, via Europe, after a visit to the
+realm of Moyen."
+
+A gasp of terror burst from the lips of the woman. Her cheeks blanched.
+
+"Moyen!" She almost whispered it. "Moyen! The half-god of Asia, whom men
+call mad!"
+
+"Not mad, milady. No, Moyen is not mad, save with a lust for power. He
+is the conqueror of the ages, already ruling more of the earth's
+population than any man has ever done before him--even Alexander!"
+
+But the young lady was not listening to stewards. Wealthy young ladies
+did not, save when asked questions dealing with personal service to
+themselves. Her eyes devoured the slender man who stood in the prow of
+the _Stellar_, while her lips shaped, over and over again, the dread
+name which was on the lips of the people of the world:
+
+"Moyen! Moyen!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Up in the prow, if Prester Kleig, who carried a dread secret in his
+breast, knew of the young lady's regard, he gave no sign. There were
+touches of gray at his temples, though he was still under forty. He had
+seen more of life, knew more of its terrors, than most men twice his
+age--because he had lived harshly in service to his country.
+
+He was thinking of Moyen, the genius of the misshapen body, the pale
+eyes which reflected the fires of a Satanic soul, set deeply in the
+midst of the face of an angel; and wondering if he would be able to
+arrive in time, sorry that he had not returned home by airplane.
+
+He had taken the _Stellar_ only because the peacefulness of ocean liner
+travel would aid his thoughts, and he required time to marshal them.
+Liner travel was now a luxury, as all save the immensely wealthy
+traveled by plane across the oceans. Now Prester Kleig was sorry, for
+any moment, he felt, Moyen might strike.
+
+He turned and looked back along the deck of the _Stellar_. His eyes
+played over the trimly gowned figure of the woman who questioned the
+steward, but did not really see her. And then....
+
+"Great God!" The words were a prayer, and they burst from the lips of
+Prester Kleig like an explosion. Passengers appeared from the lee of
+lifeboats. Officers on the bridge whirled to look at the man who
+shouted. Seamen paused in their labors to stare. Aloft in the
+crow's-nest the lookout lowered his eyes from scouring the horizon to
+stare at Prester Kleig--who was pointing.
+
+All eyes turned in the direction indicated.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Climbing into the sky, a mile off the starboard beam, was an airplane
+with a bulbous body and queerly slanted wings. It had neither wheels nor
+pontoons, and it traveled with unbelievable speed. It came on
+bullet-fast, headed directly for the side of the _Stellar_.
+
+"Lower the boats!" yelled Kleig. "Lower the boats! For God's sake lower
+the boats!"
+
+For Prester Kleig, in that casual turning, had seen what none aboard the
+_Stellar_, even the lookout above, had seen. The airplane, which had
+neither wheels nor pontoons, had risen, as Aphrodite is said to have
+risen, out of the waves! He had seen the wings come out of the bulbous
+body, snap backward into place, and the plane was in full flight the
+instant it appeared.
+
+Prester Kleig had no hope that his warning would be in time, but he
+would always feel better for having given it. As the captain debated
+with himself as to whether this lunatic should be confined as dangerous,
+the strange airplane nosed over and dived down to the sea, a hundred
+yards from the side of the _Stellar_. Just before it struck the water,
+its wings snapped forward and became part of the bulbous body of the
+thing, the whole of which shot like a bullet into the sea.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prester Kleig stood at the rail, peering out at the spot where the plane
+had plunged in with scarcely a splash, and his right hand was raised as
+though he gave a final, despairing signal.
+
+Of all aboard the _Stellar_, he only saw that black streak which, ten
+feet under water, raced like a bolt of lightning from the nose of the
+submerged but visible plane, straight as a die for the side of the
+_Stellar_. Just a black streak, no bigger than a small man's arm, from
+the nose of the plane to the side of the _Stellar_.
+
+From the crow's-nest came the startled, terrific voice of the lookout,
+in the beginning of a cry that must remain forever inarticulate.
+
+The world, in that blinding moment, seemed to rock on its foundations;
+to shatter itself to bits in a chaotic jumble of sound and of movement,
+shot through and through with lurid flames. Kleig felt himself hurled
+upward and outward, turned over and over endlessly....
+
+He felt the storm-tossed waters close over him, and knew he had struck.
+In the moment he knew--oblivion, deep, ebon and impenetrable, blotted
+out knowledge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+_The Half-Dream_
+
+
+A roaring, rushing river of chaotic sound, first. Jumbled sound to which
+Prester Kleig could give no adequate name. But as he tried to analyze
+its meanings, he was able to differentiate between sounds, and to
+discover the identity of some.
+
+The river of sound he decided to be the sound of a vibrational explosion
+of some sort--vibrational because it had that quivery quality which
+causes a feeling of uneasiness and fret, that feeling which makes one
+turn and look around to find the eyes boring into one's back--yet
+multiplied in its intensity an uncounted number of times.
+
+Other sounds which came through the chaotic river of sound were the
+terrified screaming of the men and women who were doomed. Lifeboats were
+never lowered, for the reason that with the disintegration of the
+_Stellar_, everything inanimate aboard her likewise disintegrated,
+dropping men and women, crew and passengers, into the freezing waters of
+the Atlantic.
+
+Prester Kleig dropped with them, only partially unconscious after the
+first icy plunge. He knew when he floated on the surface, for he felt
+himself lifted and hurled by the waves. In his half-dream he saw men and
+women being carried away into wave-shrouded darkness, clawing wildly at
+nothingness for support, clawing at one another, locking arms, and going
+down together.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The _Stellar_, in the merest matter of seconds, had become spoil of the
+sea, and her crew and passengers had vanished forever from the sight of
+men. Yet Prester Kleig lived on, knew that he lived on, and that there
+was an element, too strong to be disbelieved, of reality in his dream.
+
+There was a vibratory sense, too, as of the near activity of a noiseless
+motor. Noiseless motor! Where had he last thought of those two words?
+With what recent catastrophe were they associated? No, he could not
+recall, though he knew he should be able to do so.
+
+Then the sense of motion to the front was apparent--an unnumbered sense,
+rather than concrete feeling. Motion to front, influenced by the rising
+and falling motion of mountainous waves.
+
+So suddenly as to be a distinct shock, the wave motion ceased, though
+the forward motion--and _upward!_--not only continued but increased.
+
+That airplane of the bulbous body, the queerly slanted wings....
+
+But the glimmering of realization vanished as a sickishly sweet odor
+assailed his nostrils and sent its swift-moving tentacles upward to wrap
+themself soothingly about his brain. But the sense of flight,
+unbelievably swift, was present and recognizable, though all else eluded
+him. He had the impression, however, that it was intended that all save
+the most vagrant, most widely differentiated, impressions elude
+him--that he should acquire only half pictures, which would therefore be
+all the more terrible in retrospect.
+
+The only impressions which were real were those of motion to the front,
+and upward, and the sense of noiseless machinery, vibrating the whole,
+nearby.
+
+Then a distinct realization of the cessation of the sense of flying, and
+a return, though in lesser degree, of the rising and falling of waves.
+This latter sensation became less and less, though the feeling of
+traveling downward continued. Prester Kleig knew that he was going down
+into the sea again, down into it deeply.... Then that odor once more,
+and the elusive memory.
+
+Forward motion at last, in the depths, swift, forward motion, though
+Prester Kleig could not even guess at the direction. Just swift motion,
+and the mutter of voices, the giving of orders....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prester Kleig regained consciousness fully on the sands of the shore. He
+sat up stiffly, staring out to sea. A storm was raging, and the sea was
+an angry waste. No ship showed on the waters; the mad, tumbled sky above
+it was either empty of planes or they had climbed to invisibility above
+the clouds that raced and churned with the storm.
+
+Out of the storm, almost at Prester Kleig's feet, dropped a small
+airplane. Through the window a familiar face peered at Kleig. A
+helmeted, begoggled figure opened the door and stepped out.
+
+"Kleig, old man," said the flyer, "you gave me the right dope all right,
+but I'll swear there isn't a wireless tower within a hundred miles of
+this place! How did you manage it?"
+
+"Kane, you're crazy, or I am, or...." But Prester Kleig could not go on
+with the thought which had rushed through his brain with the numbing
+impact of a blow. He grasped the hand of Carlos Kane, of the Domestic
+Service, and the yellow flimsy Kane held out to him. It read simply:
+
+"Shipwrecked. Am ashore at--" There followed grid coordinate map
+readings. "Come at once, prepared to fly me to Washington." It was
+signed "Kleig."
+
+"Kane," said Kleig, "I did not send this message!"
+
+What more was there to be said? Horror looked out of the eyes of Prester
+Kleig, and was reflected in those of Carlos Kane. Both men turned,
+peering out across the tumbled welter of waters.
+
+Somewhere out there, tight-locked in the gloomy archives of the
+Atlantic, was the secret of the message which had brought Carlos Kane to
+Prester Kleig--and the agency which had sent it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+_Wings of To-morrow_
+
+
+As Prester Kleig climbed into the enclosed passenger pit of the
+monoplane--a Mayther--his ears seemed literally to be ringing with the
+drumming, mighty voice of Moyen. But now that voice, instead of merely
+speaking, rang with sardonic laughter. He had never heard the laughter
+of Moyen, but he could guess how it would sound.
+
+That airplane of the slanted wings, the bulbous, almost bulletlike
+fuselage, what of it? It was simple, as Kleig looked back at his
+memoried glimpse of it. The submarine was a metal fish made with human
+hands; the airplane aped the birds. The strange ship which had caused
+the destruction of the _Stellar_, was a combination fish and bird--which
+merely aped nature a bit further, as anyone who had ever traversed
+tropical waters would have instantly recognized.
+
+But what did it portend? What ghastly terrors of Moyen roamed the deeps
+of the Atlantic, of the Pacific, the oceans of the world? How close
+were some of these to the United States?
+
+The pale eyes of Moyen, he was sure, were already turned toward the
+West.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prester Kleig sighed as he seated himself beside Carlos Kane. Then Kane
+pressed one of the myriad of buttons on the dash, and Kleig lifted his
+eyes to peer through the skylight, to where that single press of a
+button had set in motion the intricate machinery of the helicopter.
+
+A four-bladed fan lifted on a slender pedestal, sufficiently high above
+the surface of the wing for the vanes to be free of the central
+propeller. Then, automatically, the vanes became invisible, and the
+Mayther lifted from the sandy beach as lightly, and far more straightly,
+than any bird.
+
+As the ship climbed away for the skies, and through the transparent
+floor the beach and the Atlantic fell away below the ship, a sigh of
+relief escaped Kleig. This was living! Up here one was free, if only for
+a moment, and the swift wind of flight brushed all cobwebs from the
+tired human brain. He watched the slender needle of the altimeter, as it
+moved around the face of the dial as steadily as the hands of a clock,
+around to thirty thousand, thirty-five, forty.
+
+Then Carlos Kane, every movement as effortless as the flight of the
+silvery winged Mayther, thrust forth his hand to the dash again, pressed
+another button. Instantly the propellers vanished into a blur as the
+vanes of the helicopter dropped down the slender staff and the vanes
+themselves fitted snugly into their appointed notches atop the wing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a second Carlos Kane glanced at the tiny map to the right of the
+dash, and set his course. It was a matter of moments only, but while
+Kane worked, Prester Kleig studied the instruments on the dash, for it
+had been months since he had flown, save for his recent half-dreamlike
+experience. There was a button which released the mechanism of the
+deadly guns, fired by compressed air, all operated from the noiseless
+motor, whose muzzles exactly cleared the tips of Mayther's wings, two
+guns to each wing, one on the entering edge, one on the trailing edge,
+fitted snugly into the adamant rigging.
+
+Four guns which could fire to right or left, twin streams of lead, the
+number of rounds governed only by the carrying power of the Mayther.
+Prester Kleig knew them all: the guns in the wings, the guns which fired
+through the three propellers, and the guns set two and two in the
+fuselage, to right and left of the pits, which could be fixed either up
+or down--all by the mere pressing of buttons. It was marvelous,
+miraculous, yet even as Kleig told himself that this was so, he felt,
+deep in the heart of him, that Moyen knew all about ships like these,
+and regarded them as the toys of children.
+
+Kane touched Kleig on the shoulder, signaling, indicating that the
+atmosphere in the pits had been regulated to their new height, and that
+they could remove their helmets and oxygen tanks without danger.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With a sigh Prester Kleig sat back, and the two friends turned to face
+each other.
+
+"You certainly look done in, Kleig," said Kane sympathetically. "You
+must have been through hell, and then some. Tell me about this Moyen;
+that is, if you think you care to talk about him."
+
+"Talk about him!" repeated Kleig. "Talk about him? It will be a relief!
+There has been nothing, and nobody, on my mind save Moyen for weary
+months on end. If I don't talk to someone about him, I'll go mad, if I'm
+not mad already. Moyen? A monster with the face of an angel! What else
+can one say about him? A devil and a saint, a brute whose followers
+would go with him into hell's fire, and sing him hosannas as they were
+consumed in agony! The greatest mob psychologist the world has ever
+seen. He's a genius, Kane, and unless something is done, the Western
+world, all the world, is doomed to sit at the feet, listen to the
+commands, of Moyen!
+
+"He isn't an Oriental; he isn't a European; he isn't negroid or Indian;
+but there is something about him that makes one thing of all of these,
+singly and collectively. His body is twisted and grotesque, and when one
+looks at his face, one feels a desire to touch him, to swear eternal
+fealty to him--until one looks into his pale eyes, eyes almost milky in
+their paleness--and gets the merest hint of the thoughts which actuate
+him. If he has a failing I did not find it. He does not drink,
+gamble...."
+
+"And women?" queried Kane, softly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kleig was madly in love with the sister of Kane, Charmion, and this
+thing touched him nearest the heart, because Charmion was one of her
+country's most famous beauties, about whom Moyen must already have
+heard.
+
+"Women?" repeated Kleig musingly, his black eyes troubled, haunted. "I
+scarcely know. He has no love for women, only because he has no capacity
+for any love save self-love. But when I think of him in this connection
+I seem to see Moyen, grown to monster proportions, sitting on a mighty
+throne, with nude women groveling at his feet, bathed in tears, their
+long hair in mantles of sorrow, hiding their shamed faces! That sounds
+wild, doesn't it? But it's the picture I get of Moyen when I think of
+Moyen and of women. Many women will love him, and have, perhaps. But
+while he has taken many, though I am only guessing here, he has given
+_himself_ to none. Another thing: His followers--well, he sets no limits
+to the lusts of his men, requiring only that every soldier be fit for
+duty, with a body strong for hardship. You understand?"
+
+Kane understood; and his face was very pale.
+
+"Yes," he said, his voice almost a whisper, "I understand, and as you
+speak of this man I seem to see a city in ruins, and hordes of men
+marching, bloodstained men entering houses ... from which, immediately
+afterward, come the screams of women ... terror-stricken women...."
+
+He shuddered and could not go on for the very horror of the vision that
+had come to him.
+
+But Kleig stared at him as though he saw a ghost.
+
+"Great God, Carl!" he gasped. "The same identical picture has been in my
+mind, not once but a thousand times! I wonder...."
+
+Was it an omen of the future for the West?
+
+Deep in his soul Prester Kleig fancied he could hear the sardonic
+laughter of the half-god, Moyen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A tiny bell rang inside the dash, behind the instruments. Kane had set
+direction finders, had pressed the button which signaled the
+Washington-control Station of the National Radio, thus automatically
+indicating the exact spot above land, by grid-coordinates, where the
+Mayther should start down for the landing.
+
+An hour later they landed on the flat roof of the new Capitol Building,
+sinking lightly to rest as a feather, nursed to a gentle landing by the
+whirring vanes of the helicopter.
+
+Prester Kleig, surrounded by uniformed guards who tried to shield him
+from the gaze of news-gatherers crowded there on the roof-top, hurried
+him to the stairway leading into the executive chambers, and through
+these to the Secret Chamber which only a few men knew, and into which
+not even Carlos Kane could follow Prester Kleig--yet.
+
+But one man, one news-gatherer, had caught a glimpse of the face of
+Kleig, and already he raced for the radio tower of his organization, to
+blazon to the Western world the fact that Kleig had come back.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+_A Nation Waits in Dread_
+
+
+As Prester Kleig, looking twice his forty years because of fatigue, and
+almost nameless terrors through which he had passed, went to his
+rendezvous, the news-gatherer, who shall here remain nameless, raced for
+the Broadcasting Tower.
+
+As Prester Kleig entered the Secret Room and at a signal all the many
+doors behind him, along that interminable stairway, swung shut and were
+tightly locked, the news-gatherer raced for the microphone and gave the
+"priority" signal to the operator. Millions of people would not only
+hear the words of the news-gatherer, but would see him, note the
+expressions which chased one another across his face. For television was
+long since an accomplished, everyday fact.
+
+"Prester Kleig, of this government's Secret Service, has just returned
+to the United Americas! Your informer has just seen him step from the
+monoplane of Carlos Kane, atop the Capitol Building, and repair at once
+to the Secret Room, closely guarded. But I saw his face, and though he
+is under forty, he seems twice that. And you know now what this country
+has only guessed at before--that he has seen Moyen. Moyen the half-man,
+half-god, the enigma of the ages. What does Prester Kleig think of this
+man? He doesn't say, for he dares not speak, yet. But your informer saw
+his face, and it is old and twisted with terror! And--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That ended the discourse of the news-gatherer, and it was many hours
+before the public really understood. For, with a new sentence but half
+completed, the picture of the news-gatherer faded blackly off the
+screens in a million homes, and his voice was blotted out by a humming
+that mounted to a terrific appalling shriek! Some terrible agency, about
+which people who knew their radio could only guess, had drowned out the
+words of the news-gatherer, leaving the public stunned and bewildered,
+almost groping before a feeling of terror which was all the more
+unbearable because none could give it a name.
+
+And the public had heard but a fraction of the truth--merely that Kleig
+had come back. It had been the intention of the government to deny the
+public even this knowledge, and it had; but knowledge of the denial
+itself was public property, which filled the hearts of men and women all
+through the Western Hemisphere with nameless dread. And over all this
+abode of countless millions hovered the shadow of Moyen.
+
+The government tried to correct the impression which the news-gatherer
+had given out.
+
+"Prester Kleig is back," said the radio, while the government speaker
+tried, for the benefit of those who could see him, to smile
+reassuringly. "But there is nothing to cause anyone the slightest
+concern. He has seen Moyen, yes, and has heard him speak, but still
+there is nothing to distress anyone, and the whole story will be given
+to you as soon as possible. Kleig has gone into the Secret Room, yes,
+but every operative of the government, when discussing business
+connected with diplomatic relations with foreign powers, is received in
+the Secret Room. No cause for worry!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was so easy to say that, and the speaker realized it, which was why
+he could but with difficulty make his smile seem reassuring.
+
+"Tell us the truth, and tell us quickly," might have been the voiceless
+cries of those who listened and saw the face and fidgeting form of the
+speaker. But the words were not spoken, because the people sensed a
+hovering horror, a dread catastrophe beyond the power of words to
+express--and so looked at one another in silence, their eyes wide with
+dread, their hearts throbbing to suffocation with nameless foreboding.
+
+So eyes were horror-haunted, and men walked, flew, and rode in fear and
+trembling--while, down in the Secret Room, Prester Kleig and a dozen old
+men, men wise in the ways of science and invention, wise in the ways of
+men and of beasts, of Nature and the Infinite Outside, decided the fate
+of the Nation.
+
+That Secret Room was closed to every one. Not even the news-gatherers
+could reach it; not even the all-seeing eye of the telephotograph
+emblazoned to the world its secrets.
+
+But _was_ it secret?
+
+Perhaps Moyen, the master mobster, smiled when he heard men say so, men
+who knew in their hearts that Moyen regarded other earthlings as
+earthlings regard children and their toys. Did the eyes of Moyen gaze
+even into the depths of the Secret Room, hundreds of feet below even the
+documentary-treasure vaults of the Capitol?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No one knew the answer to the question, but the radio, reporting the
+return of Kleig, had given the public a distorted vision of an embodied
+fear, and in its heart the public answered "Yes!" And what had drowned
+out the voice of the radio-reporter?
+
+No wonder that, for many hours, a nation waited in fear and trembling,
+eyes filled with dread that was nameless and absolute, for word from the
+Secret Room. Fear mounted and mounted as the hours passed and no word
+came.
+
+In that room Prester Kleig and the twelve old men, one of whom was the
+country's President, held counsel with the man who had come back. But
+before the spoken counsel had been held, awesome and awe-inspiring
+pictures had flashed across the screen, invented by a third of the old
+men, from which the world held no secrets, even the secrets of Moyen.
+
+With this mechanism, guarded at forfeit of the lives of a score of men,
+the men of the Secret Room could peer into even the most secret places
+of the world. The old men had peered, and had seen things which had
+blanched their pale cheeks anew. And when they had finished, and the
+terrible pictures had faded out, a voice had spoken suddenly, like an
+explosion, in the Secret Room.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, are you satisfied that resistance is futile?"
+
+Just the voice; but to one man in the Secret Room, and to the others
+when his numbing lips spoke the name, it was far more than enough. For
+not even the wisest of the great men could explain how, as they knew,
+having just seen him there, a man could be in Madagascar while his voice
+spoke aloud in the Secret Room, where even radio was barred!
+
+The name on the lips of Prester Kleig!
+
+"Moyen! Moyen!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+_Monsters of the Deep_
+
+
+"Gentlemen," said Prester Kleig as he entered the Secret Room, where sat
+the scientists and inventive geniuses of the Americas, "we haven't much
+time, and I shall waste but little of it. Moyen is ready to strike, if
+he hasn't already done so, as I believe. We will see in a matter of
+seconds. Professor Maniel, we shall need, first of all, your apparatus
+for returning the vibratory images of events which have transpired
+within the last thirty-six hours.
+
+"I wish to show those of you who failed to see it the sinking of the
+_Stellar_, on which I was a passenger and, I believe, the only
+survivor."
+
+Professor Maniel strangely mouse-like save for the ponderous dome of his
+forehead, stepped away from the circular table without a word. He had
+invented the machine in question, and he was inordinately proud of it.
+Through its use he could pick up the sounds, and the pictures, of events
+which had transpired down the past centuries, from the tinkling of the
+cymbals of Miriam to all the horror of the conflict men had called the
+Great War, simply by drawing back from the ether, as the sounds fled
+outward through space, those sounds and vibrations which he needed.
+
+His science was an exact one, more carefully exact even than the
+measurement of the speed of light, taking into consideration the
+dispersion of sound and movement, and the element of time.
+
+The interior of the Secret Room became dark as Maniel labored with his
+minute machinery. Only behind the screen on the wall in rear of the
+table was there light.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The voice of Maniel began to drone as he thought aloud.
+
+"There is a matter of but a few minutes difference in time between
+Washington and the last recorded location of the _Stellar_. The sinking
+occurred at ten-thirty last evening you say, Kleig? Ah, yes, I have it!
+Watch carefully, gentlemen!"
+
+So silent were the Secret Agents one could not even have heard the
+breathing of one of them, for on the screen, misty at first, but
+becoming moment by moment bolder of outline, was the face of a
+storm-tossed sea. The liner was slower in forming, and was slightly out
+of focus for a second or two.
+
+"Ah," said Professor Maniel. "There it is!"
+
+Through the sound apparatus came the roaring and moaning of a storm at
+sea. On the screen the _Stellar_ rose high on the waves, dropped into
+the trough, while spumes of black smoke spread rearward on the waters
+from her spouting funnels. Figures were visible on her decks, figures
+which seemed carved in bronze.
+
+In the prow, every expression on his face plainly visible, stood Prester
+Kleig himself, and as his picture appeared he was in the act of turning.
+
+"Now," said Kleig himself, there in the Secret Room, "look off to the
+left, gentlemen, a mile from the _Stellar_!"
+
+A rustling sound as the scientists shifted in their places.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They all saw it, and a gasp burst from their lips as though at a signal.
+For, as the _Stellar_ seemed about to plunge off the shadowed screen
+into the Secret Room, a flying thing had risen out of the sea--an
+airplane with a bulbous body and queerly slanting wings.
+
+At the same time, out of the mouth of the pictured figure of Prester
+Kleig, clear and agonized as the tones of a bell struck in frenzy, the
+words:
+
+"Great God! Lower the boats! Lower the boats! For God's sake lower the
+boats!"
+
+In the Secret Room the real Prester Kleig spoke again.
+
+"When the black streak leaves the nose of the plane, after it has
+submerged, Professor Maniel," said Kleig softly, "slow your mechanism so
+that we can see the whole thing in detail."
+
+There came a grunted affirmative from Professor Maniel.
+
+The nose of the pictured plane tilted over, diving down for the surface
+of the sea.
+
+"Now!" snapped Kleig. "Don't wait!"
+
+Instantly the moving pictures on the screen reduced their speed, and the
+plane appeared to stop its sudden seaward plunge and to drop down as
+lightly as a feather. The wings of the thing moved forward slowly,
+folding into the body of the dropping plane.
+
+"They fold forward," said Kleig quietly, "so that the speed of the plane
+in the take-off will snap them _backward_ into position for flying!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No one spoke, because the explanation was so obvious.
+
+Slowly the airplane went down to the surface of the sea, with scarcely a
+plume of spindrift leaping back after she had struck. She dropped to ten
+feet below the surface of the water, a hundred yards off the starboard
+beam of the _Stellar_, her blunt nose pointing squarely at the side of
+the doomed liner.
+
+"Now," said Kleig hoarsely, "watch closely, for God's sake!"
+
+The liner rose and fell slowly. Out of the nose of the plane, which had
+now become a tiny submarine, started a narrow tube of black, oddly like
+the sepia of a giant squid. Straight toward the side of the liner it
+went. Above the rail the Secret Agents could see the pictured form of
+Prester Kleig, hand upraised. The black streak reached the side of the
+_Stellar_.
+
+It touched the metal plates, spreading upon impact, growing, enlarging,
+to right and left, upward and downward, and where it touched the
+_Stellar_ the black of it seemed to erase that portion of the ship. In
+the slow motion every detail was apparent. At regular speed the blotting
+out of the _Stellar_ would have been instantaneous.
+
+Kleig saw himself rise slowly from the vanished rail, turning over and
+over, going down to the sea. He almost closed his eyes, bit his lips to
+keep back the cries of terror when he saw the others aboard the liner
+rise, turn over and over, and fly in all directions like jackstraws in a
+high wind.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The ship was erased from beneath passengers and crew, and passengers and
+crew fell into the sea. Out of the depths, from all directions, came the
+starving denizens of the sea--starving because liners now were so few.
+
+"That's enough of that, Professor," snapped Kleig. "Now jump ahead
+approximately eight hours, and see if you can pick up that aero-sub
+after it dropped me on the Jersey Coast."
+
+The picture faded out quickly, the screaming of doomed human beings,
+already hours dead, called back to apparent living by the genius of
+Maniel died away, and for a space the screen was blank.
+
+Then, the sea again, storm-tossed as before, shifting here and there as
+Maniel sought in the immensity of sea and sky for the thing he desired.
+
+"Two hundred miles south by east of New York City," he droned. "There it
+is, gentlemen!"
+
+They all saw it then, in full flight, eight thousand feet above the
+surface of the Atlantic, traveling south by east at a dizzy rate of
+speed.
+
+"Note," said Kleig, "that it keeps safely to the low altitudes, in order
+to escape the notice of regular air traffic."
+
+No one answered.
+
+The eyes of the Secret Agents were on that flashing, bulbous-bodied
+plane of the strange wings. It appeared to be heading directly for some
+objective which must be reached at top speed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For fifteen minutes the flight continued. Then the plane tilted over and
+dived, and at an altitude still of three thousand feet, the wings
+slashed forward, clicking into their notches in the sides of the bulbous
+body, with a sound like the ratchets on subway turnstiles, and, holding
+their breath, the Secret Agents watched it plummet down to the sea. It
+was traveling with terrific speed when it struck, yet it entered the
+water with scarcely a splash.
+
+Then, for the first time, an audible gasp, as that of one person, came
+from the lips of the Secret Agents. For now they could see the objective
+of the aero-sub. A monster shadow in the water, at a depth of five
+hundred feet. A shadow which, as Maniel manipulated his instruments,
+became a floating underwater fortress, ten times the size of any
+submarine known to the Americas.
+
+Sporting like porpoises about this held-in-suspension fortress were
+myriads of other aero-subs, maneuvering by squadrons and flights,
+weaving in and out like schools of fish. The plane which had bourne
+Prester Kleig churned in between two of the formations, and vanished
+into the side of the motionless monster of the deep.
+
+The striking of a deep sea bell, muted by tons and tons of water,
+sounded in the Secret Room.
+
+"Don't turn it off, Maniel," said Kleig. "There's more yet!"
+
+And there was, for the sound of the bell was a signal. The aero-subs,
+darting outward from the side of the floating fortress like fish darting
+out of seaweed, were plunging up toward the surface of the Atlantic.
+Breathlessly the Secret Agents watched them.
+
+They broke water like flying fish, and their wings shot backward from
+their notches in the myriad bulbous bodies to click into place in flying
+position as the scores of aero-subs took the air above the invisible
+hiding places of the mother submarine.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At eight thousand feet the aero-subs swung into battle formation and, as
+though controlled by word of command, they maneuvered there like one
+vast machine of a central control--beautiful as the flight of swallows,
+deadly as anything that flew.
+
+The Secret Agents swept the cold sweat from their brows, and sighs of
+terror escaped them all.
+
+At that moment came the voice, loud in the Secret Room, which Kleig at
+least immediately recognized:
+
+"Well, gentlemen, are you satisfied that resistance is futile?"
+
+And Kleig whispered the name, over and over again.
+
+"Moyen! Moyen!"
+
+It was Prester Kleig, Master of the Secret Room, who was the first to
+regain control after the nerve-numbing question which, asked in far
+Madagascar, was heard by the Agents in the Secret Room.
+
+"No!" he shouted. "No! No! Moyen, in the end we will beat you!"
+
+Only silence answered, but deep in the heart of Prester Kleig sounded a
+burst of sardonic laughter--the laughter of Moyen, half-god of Asia.
+Then the voice again:
+
+"The attack is beginning, gentlemen! Within an hour you will have
+further evidence of the might of Moyen!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+_Vanishing Ships_
+
+
+Prester Kleig, ordered to Madagascar from the Secret Room, had been
+merely an operative, honored above others in that he had been one of
+the few, at that time, ever to visit the Secret Room. Now, however,
+because he had walked closer to Moyen than anyone else, he assumed
+leadership almost by natural right, and the men who had once deferred to
+him took orders from him.
+
+"Gentlemen," he snapped, while the last words of Moyen still hung in the
+air of the Secret Room, "we must fight Moyen from here. The best brains
+in the United Americas are gathered here, and if Moyen can be
+beaten--_if_ he can be beaten--he will be beaten from the Secret Room!"
+
+A sigh from the lips of Professor Maniel. The President of the United
+Americas nodded his head, as though he too mutely gave authority into
+the hands of Prester Kleig. The other Secret Agents shifted slightly,
+but said nothing.
+
+"I have been away a year," said Kleig, "as you know, and many things
+have come into regular use since I left. Professor Maniel's machine for
+example, upon which he was working when I departed under orders. There
+will be further use for it in our struggle with Moyen. Professor, will
+you kindly range the ocean, beginning at once, and see how many of these
+monsters of Moyen we have to contend with?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Professor Maniel turned back to his instruments, which he fondled with
+gentle, loving hands.
+
+"We have nothing with which to combat the attacking forces of Moyen,"
+went on Kleig, "save antiquated airplanes, and such obsolete warships as
+are available. These will be mere fodder for the guns, or rays, or
+whatever it is that Moyen uses in his aero-subs. Thousands, perhaps
+millions, of human lives will be lost; but better this than that Moyen
+rule the West! Better this than that our women be given into the hands
+of this mob as spoils of war!"
+
+From the Secret Agents a murmur of assent.
+
+And then, that voice again, startling, clear, with the slightest
+suggestion of some Oriental accent, in the Secret Room.
+
+"Do not depend too much, gentlemen," it said, "upon your antiquated
+warships! See, I am merciful, in that I do not allow you to send them
+against me loaded with men to be slaughtered or drowned! Professor
+Maniel, I would ask you to turn that plaything of yours and gaze upon
+the fleet of obsolete ships anchored in Hampton Roads! In passing,
+Professor, I venture to guess that the secret of how I am able to talk
+with you gentlemen, here in your Secret Room, is no secret at all to
+you. Now look!"
+
+The Secret Agents gasped again, in consternation.
+
+From the white lips of mouselike Maniel came mumbled words, even as his
+hands worked with lightning speed.
+
+"His machine is simply a variation of my own. And, gentlemen,
+compatriots, with it he could as easily project himself, bodily, here
+into the room with us!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Something like a suppressed scream from one of the men present. A cold
+hand of ice about the heart of Prester Kleig. But the words of Professor
+Maniel were limned on the retina of his brain in letters of fire.
+Suppose Moyen _were_ to project himself into the Secret Room....
+
+But he would not. He was no fool, and even these Secret Agents, most of
+whom were old and no longer strong, would have torn him limb from limb.
+But those words of Maniel set whirling once more, and in a new
+direction, the thoughts of Prester Kleig.
+
+"Mr. President, gentlemen...." It was the voice of Professor Maniel.
+
+All eyes turned again to the screen upon which the professor worked his
+miracles, which today were commonplaces, which yesterday had been
+undreamed of. Every Secret Agent recognized the outlines of Hampton
+Roads, with Norfolk and its towering buildings in the background, and
+the obsolete warships riding silently at anchor in the roadstead.
+
+For three years they had been there, while a procrastinating Cabinet,
+Congress and Senate had debated their permanent disposal. They
+represented millions of dollars in money, and were utterly worthless.
+Prester Kleig, looking at them now, could see them putting out to sea,
+loaded with brave-visaged men, volunteering to go to sure destruction to
+feed the rapacity of Moyen's hordes. Men going out to sea in tubs,
+singing....
+
+But these ships were silent. No plumes of smoke from their funnels. Like
+floating mausoleums, filled with dead hopes, shells of past and departed
+glories.
+
+The beating of waves against their sides could plainly be heard. The
+anchor chains squeaked rustily in the hawse-holes. Wind sighed through
+regal, towering superstructures, and no man walked the decks of any one
+of them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With bated breath the Secret Agents watched.
+
+Why had Moyen bidden them turn their attention to these shells of
+erstwhile naval grandeur?
+
+This time no gasps broke from the lips of the Secret Agents. Not even
+the sound of breathing could be heard. Just the sighing of wind through
+the superstructures of a hundred ships, the whispering of waves against
+rusted bulkheads.
+
+Almost imperceptibly at first the towering dreadnought in the foreground
+began to move! Slowly, the water swirling about her, she backed away
+from her anchor, tightening the curve of the anchor chain! Water
+quivered about the point of the chain's contact with the waves!
+
+Quickly the eyes of the Secret Agents swept along the street of ships.
+The same backward motion, of dragging against their anchor chains, was
+visible at the bow of each warship!
+
+With not a soul aboard them, the ships were waking into strange and
+awesome life, dragging at their anchors, like hounds pulling at leashes
+to be free and away!
+
+"How are they doing it?" It was almost a whisper from the President.
+
+"Some electro-magnetic force, sir!" stated Prester Kleig. "Professor
+Blaine, that is your province! Please note what is happening, and advise
+us at once if you see how they are doing it!"
+
+A grunt of affirmation from surly, obese Professor Blaine.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All eyes turned back again to the miracle of the moving ships. One by
+one, with crashes which echoed and re-echoed through the Secret Room,
+the anchor chains of the dreadnoughts parted. The ends of them swung
+from the prows of the warships, while the severed portions splashed into
+the Roads, and the waters hid them from view.
+
+The great dreadnought in the foreground swung slowly about until her
+prow was pointed in the direction of the open sea, and though no sea was
+running, no smoke rose from her funnels, she got slowly, ponderously
+under way, and started out the Roads. Behind her, in formation, the
+other ships swung into line.
+
+In a matter of seconds, faster than any of these vessels had ever
+traveled before, they were racing in column for the open Atlantic. And
+from the sound apparatus came wails and shrieks of terror, the
+lamentations of men and women frightened as they had never been
+frightened before.
+
+The shores behind the moving column of ships was moment by moment
+growing blacker with people--a black sea of people, whose faces were
+white as chalk with terror.
+
+But on, out to sea, moved the column of brave ships.
+
+A new note entered into the picture, as from all sides airplanes of many
+makes swooped in, and swept back and forth over the moving ships, while
+hooded heads looked out of pits, and faces of pilots were aghast at
+what they saw.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A ghost column of ships, moving out to sea, speed increasing moment by
+moment unbelievably. Even now, five minutes after the first dreadnought
+had started seaward, the wake of each ship spread away on either hand in
+the two sides of a watery triangle whose walls were a dozen feet
+high--racing for the shores with all the sullen majesty of tidal waves.
+
+The crowds gave back, and their screams rose into the air in a
+frightened roar of appalling sound.
+
+Even now, so rapidly did the warships travel, many of the planes could
+throttle down, so that they flew directly above the heaving decks of the
+runaway warships.
+
+"Get word to them!" cried Prester Kleig suddenly. "Get word to them that
+if they follow the ships out to sea not a pilot will escape alive!"
+
+One of the Secret Agents rose and hurried from the Secret Room,
+traveling at top speed for the first of the many doors enroute to the
+broadcasting tower from which all the planes could be reached at once.
+Prester Kleig turned back to the magic screen of Maniel.
+
+The warships, water thrown aside by the lifting thrust of their forefeet
+in mountains that raced landward with ever-increasing fury, were
+clearing the Roads and swinging south by east, heading into the wastes
+of the Atlantic. As they cleared the land, and open water for unnumbered
+miles lay ahead, the speed of the mighty ships increased to a point
+where they rode as high on the water as racing launches, and the
+creaking and groaning of their rusty bolts and spars were a continual
+paean of protest in the sound apparatus accompanying the showing of the
+miracle on the screen.
+
+"They're heading straight for the spot where that super-submarine lies!"
+said the President, and no one answered him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prester Kleig, watching, was racing over in his mind what he could
+recall of his country's armament. Warships were useless, as was being
+proved here before his eyes. But there still remained airplanes, in
+countless numbers, which could be diverted from ocean travel and from
+routine business, to battle this menace of Moyen.
+
+But....
+
+He shuddered as he pictured in his mind's eye the meeting of his
+country's flower of flying manhood with the monsters of Moyen.
+
+His eyes, as he thought, were watching the racing of those ocean
+greyhounds, out to sea. They were now out of sight of land, and still
+some of the planes followed them.
+
+A half hour passed, and then....
+
+The American pilots, in obedience to the radio signals, turning back
+from this strange phenomenon of the ghost column of capital ships.
+
+Simultaneously, out of the sky dead ahead, dropped the first flight of
+Moyen's aero-subs.
+
+At the same moment the mysterious power which had dragged the ships to
+sea was withdrawn, and the warships, with no hands to guide them, swung
+whither they willed, and floated in as many directions as there were
+ships, under their forward momentum. There were a score of collisions,
+and some of the ships were in sinking condition even before the
+aero-subs began their labors.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The remaining ships floated high out of the water, because they carried
+no ballast, and from all sides the aero-subs of Moyen settled to the
+task of destruction--destruction which was simply a warning of what was
+to come: Moyen's manner of proving to the Americas the fact that he was
+all-powerful.
+
+"God, what fools!" cried Prester Kleig.
+
+The rearmost of the American aviators had looked back, had seen the
+first of the aero-subs drop down among the doomed ships. Instantly he
+turned out to sea again, signalling as he did so to the nearest other
+planes. And in spite of the radio warning a hundred planes answered that
+signal and swept back to investigate this new mystery.
+
+"They're going to death!" groaned the President.
+
+"Yes," said Kleig, softly, "but it saves us ordering others to death.
+Perhaps we may learn something of value as we watch them die!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+_Golden Oblivion_
+
+
+"This," said Prester Kleig, as coldly precise as a judge pronouncing
+sentence of death, "will precipitate the major engagement with Moyen's
+forces. The fools, to rush in like this, when they have been warned! But
+even so, they are magnificent!"
+
+The pilots of the aero-subs must instantly have noticed the return of
+the American pilots, for some of the aero-subs which had dropped to the
+ocean's surface rose again almost instantly, and swept into battle
+formation above the drifting hulks of the warships.
+
+The Americans were wary. They drew together like frightened chickens
+when a hawk hovers above them, and watched the activities of the
+aero-subs, every move of each one being at the same time visible and
+audible to the Secret Agents in the Capitol's Secret Room.
+
+The aero-subs which had submerged singled out their particular prey
+among the floating ships, and the Secret Agents, trying to see how each
+separate act of destruction was accomplished, watched the aero-sub in
+the foreground, which happened to be concentrating on the dreadnought
+which had led the ghost-march of the warships out to sea.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The aero-sub circled the swaying dreadnought as a shark circles a wreck,
+and through the walls of the aero-sub the watchers in the Secret Room
+could see the four-man crew of the thing. Grim faced men, men of the
+Orient they plainly were, coldly concentrating on the work in hand.
+Their faces were those of men who are merciless, even brutal, with
+neither heart nor compassion of any kind for weaker ones. One man
+maneuvered the aero-sub, while the other three concentrated on the
+apparatus in the nose of the hybrid vessel.
+
+"See," spoke Prester Kleig again, "if you can tell what manner of ray
+they use, and how it is projected. That's your province, General
+Munson!"
+
+From the particular Secret Agent named, who was expert for war in the
+membership of the Secret Room, came a short grunt of affirmation. A few
+murmured words.
+
+"I'll be able to tell more about it when I see how they operate when
+they are flying. That black streak under water ... well, I must see it
+out of the water, and then...."
+
+But here General Munson ended, for the aero-sub which they were
+especially watching had got into action against the dreadnought.
+
+The aero-sub was motionless and submerged just off the port bow of the
+dreadnought. The three men inside the aero-sub were working swiftly and
+efficiently with the complicated but minute machinery in the nose of
+their transport.
+
+"It can be controlled, then, this ray," said Munson, interrupting
+himself. "Watch!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From the nose of the aero-sub leaped, like a streak of black lightning,
+that ebon agency of death. It struck the prow of the battleship--and the
+prow, as far aft as the well-deck, simply vanished from sight,
+disintegrated! It was as though it had never been, and for a second, so
+swiftly had it happened, the water of the ocean held the impression that
+portion of the warship had made--as an explosive leaves a crater in the
+soil of earth!
+
+Then a drumming roar as the sea rushed in to claim its own. The roaring,
+as of a Niagara, as the waters claimed the ship, rushing down
+passageways into the hold, possessing the warship with all the
+invincible, speedy might of the sea.
+
+Mingled with this roaring was the shivering, vibratory sound which
+Prester Kleig had experienced in his half-dream. The sound was so
+intense that it fairly rocked the Secret Room to its furthermost cranny.
+
+For a second the dreadnought, wounded to death, seemed to shudder, to
+hesitate, then to move backward as though wincing from her death blow.
+It was the pound of the inrushing waters which did it. Then up came the
+stern of the mighty ship, as she started her last long plunge into the
+depths.
+
+But attention had swung to another warship, on the starboard beam of
+which another aero-sub had taken up position. Again the ebon streak of
+death from her blunt nose, smashing in and through the warship, directly
+amidships, cutting her in twain as though the black streak had been a
+pair of shears, the warship a strip of tissue paper.
+
+Up went the prow and the stern of this one, and together, the water
+separating the two parts as it rushed into the gap, the broken warship
+went down to its final resting place.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Abruptly Professor Maniel swung back to the American planes which had
+come back to investigate the activities of the aero-subs, and on the
+screen, in the midst of the battle formation into which the pilots had
+swept to hurriedly, the Secret Agents could see the faces of those
+pilots....
+
+White as chalk with fear, mouths open in gasping unbelief. One man, a
+pale-faced youth, was the first to recover. He stared around at his
+compatriots, and plainly through the sound apparatus in the Secret Room
+came his swift radio signals.
+
+"Attack! Who will follow me against these people?"
+
+His signals were very plain. So, too, were the answers of the other
+pilots, and the heart of Prester Kleig swelled with pride as he listened
+to the answering signals--and counted them, discovered that every last
+pilot there present elected to stay with this youngster, to avenge their
+country for this contemptuous insult which had been put upon her by the
+rape of Hampton Roads.
+
+Into swift formation they swept, and with these planes--all planes in
+use were required by franchise of operating companies to be equipped for
+the emergencies of war--swung into an echelon formation, the youthful
+pilot leading by mutual consent.
+
+They swept at full speed toward the warships, four of which had by this
+time been sent to destruction--one of which had appeared to vanish
+utterly in the space of a single heartbeat, so quickly that for a second
+or two the shape of its bilge, the bulge of its keel, was visible in the
+face of the deep--and openly challenged the aero-subs.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Muzzles of compressed air guns projected from the wing-tips of the
+planes. Buttons were pressed which elevated the muzzles of guns arranged
+to fire upward from either side the fighting pits, twin guns that were
+fired downward from the same central magazine--the only guns in use in
+the Americas which fired in opposite directions at the same time.
+
+But for a few moments the aero-subs refused combat. Their speed was
+terrific, dazzling. They eluded the thrusts, the dives and plunges of
+the American ships as easily as a swallow eludes the dive of a buzzard.
+
+It came to Prester Kleig, however, that the aero-subs were merely
+playing with the Americans; that when they elected to move, the planes
+would be blasted from the sky as easily as the warships were being
+erased from the surface of the Atlantic.
+
+One by one, as methodically as machines, the aero-sub pilots blasted the
+warships into nothingness. They had their orders, and they went about
+their performance with a rigidity of discipline which astounded the
+Secret Agents. They had been ordered to destroy the warships, and they
+were doing that first--would go on to completion of this task, no matter
+how many American planes buzzed about their ears.
+
+But one by one as the warships sank, the aero-subs which had either sunk
+or erased them made the surface and leaped into space with a snapping
+back of wings that was horribly businesslike as to sound, and climbed up
+to take part in the fight against the American planes, which must
+inevitably come.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last warship, cut squarely in two from stem to stern along her
+center, as though split thus by a bolt of lightning, fell apart like
+pieces of cake, and splashed down, sinking away while the spume of her
+disintegration rolled back from her fallen sides in white-crested waves.
+
+"It exemplifies the policies of Moyen," said Prester Kleig, "for his
+conquest of the world is a conquest of destruction."
+
+The last aero-sub took to the sky, and the Americans rushed into battle
+with fine disregard for what they knew must be certain death. They were
+not fools, exactly, and they had seen, but not understood, the manner in
+which those gallant old hounds of the sea had been erased from
+existence.
+
+But in they went, plunging squarely into the heart of the aero-subs'
+leading formation, which formation consisted of three aero-subs, flying
+a wing and wing formation.
+
+The young American signaled with upraised hand, and the American pilots
+made their first move. Every plane started rolling, at dazzling speed,
+on the axis of its fuselage, while bullets spewed from the guns that
+fired through the propellers.
+
+Bullets smashed into the leading aero-subs, with no apparent effect,
+though for a second it seemed that the central aero-sub of the leading
+formation hesitated for a moment in flight.
+
+Then, swift as had that black streak flashed from the nose of aero-subs
+submerged, a streak darted from the nose of the central aero-sub, and
+glistened in the sun like molten gold!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It touched the youngster who had called for volunteers for his attack
+against this strange enemy. It touched his plane--and the plane vanished
+instantly, while for a fraction of a second the pilot was visible in his
+place, in the posture of sitting, hand on a row of buttons which did not
+exist, head forward slightly as he aimed guns that had vanished.
+
+Then the pilot, still living, apparently unhurt, plunged down eight
+thousand feet to the sea. The water geysered up as he struck, then
+closed over the spot, and the gallant American youngster had become the
+first victim in battle of the monsters of Moyen.
+
+Victim of a slender lancet of what seemed to be golden lightning.
+
+"He could have killed the pilot aloft there," came quietly from Munson,
+"but he chose to pull his plane away from around him! Their control of
+the ray is miraculous!"
+
+As though to confirm the statement of Munson, the leading aero-sub
+struck again, a second plane. The plane vanished, but from the spot
+where it had flown, not even a bit of metal or of man sufficiently large
+to be seen by the delicate recording instruments of Maniel dropped out
+of the sky.
+
+The ray of gold was a ray of oblivion if the minions of Moyen willed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+_Charmion_
+
+
+"Prester Kleig," came suddenly into the Secret Room the voice of far
+distant Moyen, "you will at once make a change in your rules regarding
+the admission of other than Secret Agents to the Secret Room. You will
+at once see that Charmion Kane, sister of your friend, is allowed to
+enter!"
+
+"God Almighty!" A cry of agony from the lips of Prester Kleig. He had
+not forgotten Charmion, but simply had had to move so swiftly that he
+had put her out of his mind. For a year he had not seen her, and an hour
+or two more could not matter greatly.
+
+"And her brother Carlos," went on the voice, "see that he, too, is
+admitted. I wish, for certain reasons, that Charmion come unharmed
+through the direct attack I am about to make against your country. I
+confess that, save for this ability to speak to you, I am unable to work
+any damage to the Secret Room, which is therefore the safest place for
+Charmion Kane! Carlos Kane is being spared because he is her brother!"
+
+There was no mistaking the import of this sinister command from Moyen.
+He had singled out Charmion, the best beloved of Prester Kleig, for his
+attentions, and that he was sure of the success of his attack against
+the United Americas was proved by the calm assurance of his voice, and
+the fact that, concentrating on the attack as he must be, he still found
+time for a thought of Charmion Kane.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The hand of ice which had seldom been absent from the heart of Kleig
+since he had first seen and heard the voice of Moyen gripped him anew.
+Blood pounded maddeningly in his temples. Cold sweat bathed his body.
+
+But the rest of the Secret Agents, save to freeze into immobility when
+the hated voice spoke, gave no sign. They had worries of their own, for
+no instructions had been given that they bring their own loved ones into
+the sanctuary of the Secret Room.
+
+As though answering the thoughts of the others, the hated voice spoke
+again.
+
+"I regret that I cannot arrange for sanctuary for the loved ones of all
+of you, for you are gallant antagonists; why save the few, when the many
+must perish? For I know you will not surrender, however much I have
+proved to you that I am invincible. But Charmion Kane must be saved."
+
+"God!" whispered Kleig. "God!"
+
+Then spoke General Munson.
+
+"I think this ray which the Moyenites use is a variation of the
+principle used in the intricate machinery of Professor Maniel, though
+how they render it visible I do not know. But it doesn't matter, and may
+be only a blind! You'll note that when the black streak, or the golden
+ray, strikes anything that thing instantly disintegrates. A certain
+pitch of resonance will break a pane of glass. It's a matter of
+vibration, solely, wherein the molecules composing any object animate or
+inanimate, are hurled in all directions instantaneously.
+
+"Professor Maniel's apparatus, the Vibration-Retarder, is able to
+recapture the vibrations, speeding outward endlessly through space, and
+to reconstruct, and _draw back_ to visibility the objects destroyed by
+this visible vibratory ray, whatever it is. This problem, then, falls
+into the province of Professor Maniel!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Through the heart and soul of Prester Kleig there suddenly flowed a
+great surge of hope.
+
+"General Munson, if you will operate the machinery of the
+Vibration-Retarder, I wish to talk with Professor Maniel!"
+
+Instantly, efficiently, without a word in reply to the eager command of
+Prester Kleig, General Munson relieved Professor Maniel at the apparatus
+which Maniel called the Vibration-Retarder, his invention which he had
+combined with audible teleview to complete this visual miracle of the
+Secret Room. Professor Maniel stepped to where Prester Kleig was
+sitting.
+
+Prester Kleig put fingers to his lips for silence, and an expression of
+surprise crossed the wrinkled dead-white face of the Professor.
+
+Before Kleig could speak, however, there came a signal from somewhere
+outside the Secret Room, a signal which said that the doors were being
+opened and that a personage was coming. The Secret Agents looked at one
+another in surprise, for every man who had a right to be inside the
+Secret Room was already present.
+
+"I know," said Kleig, his face a mask of terror. "It is Charmion and
+Carlos Kane! Moyen, the devil, has managed to make sure of obedience to
+his orders!"
+
+The Secret Agents turned back to the screen, upon which the view of the
+first aerial brush of the American flyers with the minions of Moyen, in
+their aero-subs, was drawing to a terrible close.
+
+For, as the aero-sub commanders had played with the warships, which had
+no human beings aboard them, so now did they play with the planes of the
+Americas.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One American flyer, startled into a frenzy by the fate of his fellows,
+put his helicopter into action, and leaped madly out of the midst of the
+battle. Instantly an aero-sub zoomed, skyward after him. Again that
+golden streak of light from the nose of an aero-sub, and the helicopter
+vanes and the slender staff upon whose tip they whirled vanished, shorn
+short off above the vane-grooves in the top of the wing!
+
+The plane dropped away, fluttering like a falling leaf for a moment,
+before the aviator started his three propellers again.
+
+A cheer broke from the lips of Prester Kleig as he watched. The
+commander of that particular aero-sub, apparently contemptuous of this
+flyer who had tried to cut out of the fight, allowed him to fall away
+unmolested--and the American, driven berserk by the casual, contemptuous
+treatment accorded him by this strange enemy, zoomed the second his
+propellers whirred into top-speed action, and raced up the sky toward
+the belly of the aero-sub.
+
+"If only the aero-sub has a blind spot!" cried Prester Kleig.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In that instant a roaring crash sounded in the Secret Room as the
+American plane, going full speed, crashed, propellers foremost, into the
+belly of the aero-sub.
+
+And the aero-sub, whose brothers had seemed until this moment
+invincible, did not escape the wrath of the American--though the
+American went into oblivion with it!
+
+For, welded together, American plane and aero-sub started the eight
+thousand feet plunge downward to the sea!
+
+"Watch!" shrieked Munson. "Watch!"
+
+As the aero-sub and the plane plunged down through the formation of
+fighters, the aero-sub pilots saw it, and they fled in wild dismay and
+at top speed from their falling compatriot. Why? For a moment it was not
+apparent. And then it was.
+
+For out of the body of the doomed aero-subs came sheets of golden flame!
+Not the flames of fire, but the golden sheen of that streak which the
+aero-subs had used against the American planes already out of the fight!
+The American flyer had crashed into the container, whatever it was, that
+harnessed the agency through which the minions of Moyen had destroyed
+the _Stellar_, and the battleships raped from Hampton Roads!
+
+"It is liquid, then!" shrieked Munson.
+
+And it seemed to be. For a second the golden mantle, strange,
+awe-inspiring, bathed and rendered invisible the aero-sub and the plane
+which had slain her. Then the golden flame vanished utterly,
+instantly--and in the air where it had been there was nothing! The
+aero-sub was gone, and the plane whose mad charge had erased her.
+
+"Her own death dealing agency destroyed her!" shrieked Munson. "And the
+other aero-subs cut away from the fight to save themselves, because they
+too carry death and destruction within them!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Then the inner door of the Secret Room opened and two people entered.
+One of them, a dazzling beauty with glorious black hair and the tread of
+a princess, a picture of perfection from jeweled sandals to coiffured
+hair, was Charmion Kane. Behind her came her brother, whose face was
+chalky white. But Charmion, as she crossed to Kleig and kissed him,
+while her eyes were luminous with love, held her head proudly high,
+imperious.
+
+"I know," she said softly to Kleig, "and I am not afraid! I know you
+will prevent it!"
+
+Kleig waved the two to chairs and turned again to Professor Maniel.
+
+On a piece of paper he wrote swiftly, using a mode of shorthand known
+only to the Secret Agents.
+
+"Professor," he wrote feverishly, "can you reverse the process used in
+your Vibration-Retarder? Tell me with your eyes, for Moyen may even know
+this writing, and I am sure he hears what we say here, may even be able
+to see us?"
+
+Professor Maniel started and stared deeply into the eyes of Prester
+Kleig. His face grew thoughtful. He brushed his slender hand over the
+massive dome of his brow. Hope burned high in the heart of Prester
+Kleig.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Then, despite Kleig's instructions to answer merely by the expression in
+his eyes, Professor Maniel leaned forward and wrote quickly on the piece
+of paper Kleig had used.
+
+"Two hours!"
+
+Nothing else, no explanations; but Prester Kleig knew. Maniel believed
+he could do it, but he needed two hours in which to perfect his theory
+and make it workable. Kleig knew that had he been able to do it in two
+years, or two decades, it still would have been in the nature of a
+miracle.
+
+But two hours....
+
+And Moyen had said that he was preparing to attack at once.
+
+In two hours Moyen, unless the Americas fought against him with every
+resource at their command, could depopulate half the Western World.
+Kleig looked back to the screen.
+
+There was not a single American plane in the sky above the graveyard of
+those vanished warships. And the aero-subs, swift flying as the wind,
+were racing back to the mother ship, scores of miles away.
+
+Munson worked with the Vibration-Retarder, the Sound-and-Vision devices,
+ranging the sea off the coast to either side of that huge, suspended
+fortress which was the mother submarine of the aero-subs.
+
+Gasps of terror, though the sight was not unexpected, broke from the
+lips of every person in the Secret Room.
+
+For super-monsters of Moyen were moving to the attack.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+_Flowers of Martyrdom_
+
+
+For a minute the Secret Agents were appalled by the air of might of the
+deep-sea monsters of Moyen, brought bodily, almost into the Secret Room
+by the activities of General Munson at the Sound-and-Vision apparatus.
+
+Off the coast, miles away, yet looming moment by moment larger,
+indicating the deceptively swift speed of the monsters, were scores of
+the great under-water fortresses, traveling toward the coast of the
+United Americas in a far-flung formation, each submarine separated from
+its neighbor to right and left by something like a hundred miles, easy
+cruising radius for the little aero-subs carried inside the monsters.
+
+That each submarine did carry such spawn of Satan was plainly seen, for
+as the great submarines moved landward, scores of aero-subs sported
+gleefully about the mother ships. There was no counting the number of
+them.
+
+Two hours Maniel needed for his labors, which meant that for two hours
+the flower of the country's manhood must try to hold in check the mighty
+hordes of Moyen.
+
+"Somewhere there," stated Prester Kleig, "in one or the other of those
+monsters, is Moyen himself. I know that since he wished Charmion saved
+for his attentions! Do your work with your apparatus, Munson, while I go
+out to the radio tower to broadcast an appeal for volunteers.
+Charmion--Carlos...."
+
+But Prester Kleig found that he could not continue. Not that it was
+necessary, for Charmion and Carlos knew what was in his mind. Charmion
+was a lady of vast intelligence, from whom life's little ironies had not
+been hidden--and Kane and Kleig had already discussed the activities of
+Moyen where women were concerned.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prester Kleig hurried to the Central Radio Tower, and as he passed
+through each of the many doors leading out to the roof of the new
+Capitol Building the guards at the doors left to form a guard for him,
+at this moment the most precious man in the country, because he knew
+best the terrible trials which faced her.
+
+The country was in turmoil. It seemed almost impossible that a whole day
+had passed since Prester Kleig had returned and entered the Secret Room.
+In the meantime a fleet of battleships had been drawn by some mysterious
+agency out to sea from Hampton Roads, and a fleet of fighting planes
+which had followed the ghost column outward had not returned.
+
+News-gatherers had spread the stories, distorted and garbled, across the
+western continents, and throughout the western confederacy men, women
+and children lived in the throes of the greatest fear that had ever
+gripped them. Fear held them most because they could not give the cause
+of their fear a name--save one....
+
+Moyen.... And the name was on the lips of everyone, and frenzied woman
+stilled their squalling babes with its mention.
+
+No word yet from the Secret Room, but Prester Kleig had scarcely
+appeared from it than someone started the radio signal which informed
+the frenzied, waiting world of the west that information, exact if
+startling, would now be forthcoming.
+
+In millions of homes, in thousands of high-flying planes, listeners
+tuned in at the clear-all hum.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prester Kleig wasted no time in preliminaries.
+
+"Prester Kleig speaking. We are threatened by Moyen, with scores of
+monster submarines, each a mother ship for scores of aero-subs,
+combinations of airplanes and miniature submarines. They are moving up
+on our eastern coast, from some secret base which we have not yet
+located. They are equipped with death dealing instruments of which we
+have but the most fragmentary knowledge, and for two hours I must call
+upon all flyers to combat the menace; until the Secret Agents,
+especially Professor Maniel, have had opportunity to counteract the
+minions of Moyen.
+
+"Flyers of the United Americas! In the name of our country I ask that
+volunteers gather on the eastern coast, each flyer proceeding at once to
+the nearest coast-landing, after dropping all passengers. Your
+commanders have already been named by your various organizations, as
+required by franchise, and orders for the movement of the entire winged
+armada will come from this station. However, the orders will simply be
+this: Hold Moyen's forces at bay for a period of two hours! And know
+that many of you go to certain death, and make your own decisions as to
+whether you shall volunteer!"
+
+This ended, Prester Kleig, excitement mounting high, hurried back to the
+Secret Room.
+
+Now the public knew, and as the American public is given to doing, it
+steadied down when it knew the worst. Fear of the unknown had changed
+the public into a myriad-souled beast gone berserk. Now that knowledge
+was exact men grew calm of face, determined, and women assumed the
+supporting role which down the ages has been that of brave women,
+mothers of men.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A period of silence for a time after Prester Kleig's pronouncement.
+
+As he entered the first door leading into the Secret Room, Carlos Kane
+met and passed him with a smile.
+
+"You called for winged volunteers, did you not, Kleig?" he asked
+quietly.
+
+Kleig nodded. "You are going?" he said.
+
+"Yes. It is my duty."
+
+No other words were necessary, as the men shook hands. Prester Kleig
+going on to the Secret Room, Carlos Kane going out to join the mighty
+armada which must fight against the minions of Moyen.
+
+The words of Prester Kleig were heard by the pilots of the sky-lanes.
+The passenger pits, equipped with self-opening parachutes which dropped
+jumpers in series of long falls in order to acquire swift but accurate
+and safe landing--they opened at intervals in long falls of two thousand
+feet, stayed the fall, then closed again, so that drops were almost
+continuous until the last four hundred feet--and pilots, swiftly making
+up their minds, dropped their passengers, banked their planes, and raced
+into the east.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All over the Americas pilots dropped their passengers and their loads if
+their franchises called for the carrying of freight, and banked about to
+take part in the first skirmish with the Moyenites.
+
+Dropping figures almost darkened the sky as passengers plunged downward
+after the startling signal from Washington. Flowers, which were the
+umbrellas of chutes, opened and closed like breathing winged orchids,
+letting their burdens safely to earth.
+
+And clouds and fleets of airplanes came in from all directions to land,
+in rows and rows which were endless, wing and wing, along the eastern
+coast.
+
+Prester Kleig had scarcely entered the Secret Room than the hated voice
+of Moyen again broke upon the ears of the machinelike Secret Agents.
+
+"This is madness, gentlemen! My people will annihilate yours!"
+
+But, since time for speech had passed, not one of the Secret Agents made
+answer or paid the slightest heed to the warning, though deep in the
+heart of each and every one was the belief that Moyen spoke no more than
+the truth.
+
+Too, there was a growing respect for the half-god of Asia, in that he
+was good enough to warn them of the holocaust which faced their country.
+
+By hundreds and thousands, wing and wing, airplanes dropped to the
+Atlantic coast at the closest point of contact, when the signal reached
+them. At high altitudes, planes crossing the Atlantic turned back and
+returned at top speed, dropping their passengers as soon as over land.
+That Moyen made no move to prevent the return of flyers out over the
+ocean, and now coming back, was an ominous circumstance.
+
+It seemed to show that he held the American flyers, all of them, in
+utter contempt.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prester Kleig regarded the time. It had been half an hour since Moyen
+had spoken of attack, half an hour since the monsters of the deep had
+started the inexorable move toward land. On the screen the submarines
+were bulking larger and larger as the moments fled, until it seemed to
+the Secret Agents that the great composite shadow of them already was
+sweeping inland from the coast.
+
+As the coast came close ahead of the monster subs the little aero-subs,
+to the surprise of the Secret Agents, all vanished into their respective
+mother ships.
+
+"But they have to use them," groaned Munson. "For their submarines are
+useless in frontal attack against our shores!"
+
+"I am not so sure of that," said Prester Kleig. "For I have a suspicion
+that those submarines have tractors under their keels, and that they can
+come out on land! If this is so the monsters can, guarded by
+armour-plate, penetrate to the very heart of our most populated areas
+before their aero-subs are released."
+
+None of the Secret Agents as yet had stopped to ponder how the monsters
+had reached their positions, and why Moyen was attacking from the east,
+when the Pacific side of the continents would have appeared to be the
+obvious point of attack, and would have obviated the necessity of long,
+secret under-sea journeys wherein discovery prematurely must have been
+one of the many worries of the submarine commanders.
+
+The mere fact of the presence of the monsters was enough. What had
+preceded their presence was unimportant, save that their presence, and
+their near approach to the shore undetected, further proved the
+executive and planning genius of Moyen.
+
+Two miles, on an average, off the eastern coast the submarines laid
+their eggs--the aero-subs, which darted from the sides of the mother
+ships in flights and squadrons, made the surface, and leaped into the
+sky.
+
+Five minutes later and the signal went forth to the phalanx of the
+volunteers.
+
+"Take off! Fly east and engage the enemy, and hold him in check, and the
+God of our fathers go with you!"
+
+One hour had passed since Moyen's ultimatum when the first vanguard of
+the American flyers, obeying the peremptory signal, took the air and
+darted eastward to meet the winged death-harbingers of Moyen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"_They Shall Not Pass!_"
+
+
+Prester Kleig's heartfelt desire, as the American flyers closed with the
+first of the aero-subs, was to go out with them and aid them in the
+attack against the Moyenites. But he knew, and it was a tacit thing,
+that he best served his country from the safe haven of the Secret Room.
+
+As he watched the scenes unfold on the screen of Maniel's genius, with
+occasional glances at the somewhat mysterious but profound and
+concentrated labors of Maniel, Charmion Kane rose from her place and
+came to his side.
+
+Wide-eyed as she watched the joining of battle, she stood there, her
+tiny hand encased in the tense one of Prester Kleig.
+
+"You would like to be out there," she murmured. "I know it! But your
+country needs you here--and I have already given Carlos!"
+
+Prester Kleig tightened his grip on her hand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was deep, silent understanding between these two, and Prester
+Kleig, in fighting against the Moyenites, realized, even above his
+realization that his labors were primarily for the benefit of his
+country, that he really matched wits with Moyen for the sake of
+Charmion. Had anyone asked him whether he would have sacrificed her for
+the benefit of his country, it would have been a difficult question to
+answer.
+
+He was glad that the question was never asked.
+
+"Yes, beloved," he whispered, "I would like to be out there, but the
+greatest need for me is here."
+
+But even so he felt as though he was betraying those intrepid flyers he
+was sending to sure death. Yet they had volunteered, and it was the only
+way.
+
+Maniel, a gnomelike little man with a Titan's brain, labored with his
+calculations, made swiftly concrete his theories, while at the
+Sound-and-Vision apparatus excitable General Munson ranged the aerial
+battlefield to see how the tide of battle ebbed and flowed.
+
+That neither side would either ask or give quarter was instantly
+apparent, for they rushed head-on to meet each other, those vast
+opposing winged armadas, at top speed, and not a single individual
+swerved from his course, though at least the Americans knew that death
+rode the skyways ahead.
+
+Then....
+
+The battle was joined. Moyen's forces were superior in armament. Their
+sky-steeds were faster, more readily maneuverable, though the flying
+forces of the Americas in the last five years had made vast strides in
+aviation. But what the Americans lacked in power they made up for in
+fearless courage.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The plan of battle seemed automatically to work itself out.
+
+The first vanguard of American planes came into contact with the forces
+of Moyen, and from the noses of countless aero-subs spurted that golden
+streak which the Secret Agents knew and dreaded.
+
+The first flight of planes, stretching from horizon to horizon, vanished
+from the sky with that dreadful surety which had marked the passing of
+the _Stellar_, and such of those warships as had felt the full force of
+the visible ray.
+
+From General Munson rose a groan of anguish. These convertible fighting
+planes had been the pride of the heart of the old warrior. To do him
+credit, however, it was the wanton, so terribly inevitable destruction
+of the flyers themselves which affected him. It was so final, so
+absolute--and so utterly impossible to combat.
+
+"Wait!" snapped Prester Kleig.
+
+For the intrepid flyers behind that vanguard which had vanished had
+witnessed the wholesale disintegration of the leading element of the
+vast armada, and the pilots realized on the instant that no headlong
+rush into the very noses of the aero-subs would avail anything.
+
+The vast American formation broke into a mad maelstrom of whirling,
+darting, diving planes. Every third plane plummeted downward, every
+second one climbed, and the remaining ships, even in the face of what
+had happened to the vanished first flight, held steadily to the front.
+
+In this mad, seemingly meaningless formation, they closed on the
+aero-subs. Without having seen the fight, the Americans were aping the
+action of that one nameless flyer who had charged the aero-sub that had
+been destroyed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kleig remembered. A score of ships had been destroyed utterly above the
+graveyard of dreadnoughts, yet only one aero-sub, and that quite by
+chance, had been marked off in the casualty column.
+
+Death rode the heavens as the American flyers went into action. For
+head-on fights, flyers went in at top speed, their planes whirling on
+the axes of fuselages, all guns going. Planes were armored against their
+own bullets, and they were not under the necessity of watching to see
+that they did not slay their own friends.
+
+Even so, bullets were rather ineffective against the aero-subs, whose
+apparently flimsy, almost transparent outer covering diverted the
+bullets with amazing ease.
+
+A whirling maelstrom of ships. The monsters of Moyen had drawn first
+blood, if the expression may be used in an action where no blood at all
+was drawn, but machines and men simply erased from existence.
+
+Hundreds of planes already gone when the second flight of ships closed
+with the aero-subs. Yellow streaks of death flashed from aero-sub
+nostrils, but even as aero-sub operators set their rays into motion the
+American flyers in head-on charge rolled, dived or zoomed, and kept
+their guns going.
+
+High above the first flight of aero-subs, behind which another flight
+was winging swiftly into action, American flyers tilted the noses of
+their planes over and dived under full power--to sure death by suicide,
+though none knew it there at the moment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+These aero-subs could not be driven from the sky by usual means, and
+could destroy American ships even before those planes could come to
+handgrips; but they, the flyers plainly believed, could be crashed out
+of the sky and so, never guessing what besides death in resulting
+crashes they faced, the flyers above the aero-subs, even as aero-subs in
+rear flashed in to prevent, dived down straight at the backs of the
+aero-subs.
+
+In a hundred places the dives of the Americans worked successfully, and
+American planes crashed full and true, full power on, into the backs of
+the "flying fish." In some aero-subs the container of the Moyen-dealing
+agency apparently remained untouched, and airplanes and aero-subs,
+welded together, plunged down the invisible skylanes into the sea.
+
+Under water, some of the aero-subs were seen to keep in motion, limping
+toward the nearest mother submarines.
+
+"I hope," said Prester Kleig, "the American flyers in such cases are
+already dead, for Moyen will be a maniac in his tortures. Munson, do you
+hurriedly examine the mother-subs and see if you can locate Moyen."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+However, only a scattered aero-sub here and there went down without the
+strange substance of the yellow ray being released. In most cases, upon
+the contact of plane with aero-sub, the aero-subs and planes were
+instantly blotted from view by the yellow, golden flames from the heart
+of the winged harbingers of Moyen.
+
+Golden flames, blinding in their brightness, dropping down, mere
+shapeless blotches, then fading out to nothingness in a matter of
+seconds--with aero-sub and airplane totally erased from action and from
+existence.
+
+The American flyers saw and knew now the manner of death they faced. Yet
+all along the battle front not an American tried to evade the issue and
+draw out of the fight. A sublime, inspiring exhibition of mass courage
+which had not been witnessed down the years since that general
+engagement which men of the time had called the Great War.
+
+Prester Kleig turned to look at Maniel. Drops of perspiration bathed the
+cheeks of the master scientist, but his eyes were glowing like coals of
+fire. His face was set in a white mask of concentration, and Prester
+Kleig knew that Maniel would find the answer to the thing he sought if
+such answer could be found.
+
+Would the American flyers be able to hold off the minions of Moyen until
+Maniel was ready? The fight out there above the waters was a terrible
+thing, and the Americans fought and died like men inspired, yet
+inexorably the winged armada of Moyen, preceded by those licking golden
+tongues, was moving landward.
+
+"Great God!" cried Munson. "Look!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was really no need for the order, for every Secret Agent saw as
+soon as did Munson. Under the sea, just off the coast, the mother-subs
+had touched their blunt nose against the upward shelving of the sea
+bottom--had touched bottom, and were slowly but surely following the
+underwater curve of the land, up toward the surface, like unbelievable
+antediluvian monsters out of some nightmare.
+
+"Yes," said Kleig quietly, "those monsters of Moyen can move on land,
+and the aero-subs can operate from them as easily on land as under
+water."
+
+Kleig regarded the time, whirled to look at Professor Maniel.
+
+One hour and forty minutes had passed since Maniel had begged for two
+hours in which to prepare some mode of effectively combatting the might
+of Moyen. Twenty minutes to go; yet the mother-subs would be ashore,
+dragging their sweating, monstrous sides out of the deep, within ten
+minutes!
+
+Ten minutes ashore and there was no guessing the havoc they could cause
+to the United Americas!
+
+"Hurry, Maniel! Hurry! Hurry!" said Prester Kleig.
+
+But he spoke the words to himself, though even had he spoken them aloud
+Maniel would not have heard. For Maniel, for two hours, had closed his
+mind to everything that transpired outside his own thoughts, devoted to
+foiling the power of Moyen.
+
+"I've found him!" snapped Munson.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He pointed with a shaking forefinger to one of the mother-subs crawling
+up the slant of the ocean bed, twisted one of the little nubs of the
+Sound-and-Vision apparatus, and the angelic face and Satanic eyes, the
+twisted body, of Moyen came into view.
+
+The face was calm with dreadful purpose, and Moyen stood in the heart of
+one of his monsters, his eyes turned toward the land. With a gasp of
+terror, dreadfully afraid for the first time, Prester Kleig turned and
+looked into the eyes of Charmion....
+
+"No," she said. "It will never happen. I have faith in you!"
+
+There were still ten minutes of the two hours left when the mother-subs
+broke water and started crawling inland, swiftly, surely, without
+faltering in the slightest as they changed their element from water to
+land.
+
+As though their appearance had been the signal, the aero-subs in action
+against the first line of American planes broke out of the one-sided
+fight and dived for their mother ships, while a mere handful of the
+American planes started back for home to prepare anew to continue the
+struggle.
+
+Prester Kleig gave the signal to the second monster armada which had
+remained in reserve.
+
+"Do everything in your power to halt the march of Moyen's amphibians!"
+
+Ten minutes to go, and Professor Maniel still labored like a Titan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+_Caucasia Falls Silent_
+
+
+As the scores of amphibian monsters came lumbering forth upon dry land
+it became instantly apparent why the aero-subs had returned to the
+mother ships. For a few moments, out of the water, the amphibians were
+almost helpless, with practically no way of attack or defense--as
+helpless as huge turtles turned legs up.
+
+But as each aero-sub entered its proper slot in the side of the mother
+amphibian, it was turned about and the nose thrust back into the
+opening, which closed down to fit tightly about the nose of the
+aero-sub, so that those flame-breathing monsters protruded from the
+sides of the amphibians in many places--transforming the amphibians into
+monsters with hundreds of golden, licking tongues!
+
+As, with each and every aero-sub in place, the amphibians started moving
+inland, Professor Maniel made his first move. With the tiny apparatus
+upon which he had been working, he stepped to the table before the
+Sound-and-Vision apparatus and spoke softly to his compatriots.
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "I have finished, and it will work effectively!"
+
+Though Maniel spoke softly, it was plain to be seen that he was proud of
+his accomplishment, which remained only to be attached to start
+performance.
+
+A matter of seconds....
+
+Yet during those seconds was the real might, the real power for utter
+devastation, of Moyen fully exposed!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The amphibians got under way as the airplanes of the Americas swept into
+the fight.
+
+From the sides of the monsters licked out those golden tongues of
+flame--and from the front.
+
+Half a dozen amphibians slipped into New York from the harbor side and
+started into the heart of the city. And between the time when Maniel had
+said he was ready and the moment when he made his first active move
+against Moyen, a half-dozen skyscrapers vanished into nothingness, the
+spots where they had stood swept as clear of debris as though the land
+had never been reclaimed from Nature!
+
+None was ever destined to know how many lives were lost in that first
+attack of the monsters of the golden, myriad tongues; but the monsters
+struck in the midst of a working day when the skyscrapers were filled
+with office workers.
+
+And resolve struck deep into the hearts of the Secret Agents: if Moyen
+were turned back, he must be made to pay for the slaughter.
+
+A matter of seconds....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Then a moment of deathly silence as Munson gave way at the screen for
+the gnomelike little Professor Maniel.
+
+"Now, gentlemen!" snapped Maniel. "If my theory is correct,"
+manipulating instruments with lightning speed as he talked, "the
+reversion of the principle of my Vibration-Retarder--which captures
+vibrations speeding outward from the earth and transforms them once
+again into sound and pictures audible and visible to the human ear--this
+apparatus will disintegrate the monsters as our boats and planes were
+disintegrated!
+
+"In this I have even been compelled to manipulate in the matter of
+time! I must not only defeat and annihilate the minions of Moyen, but
+must work from a mathematical absurdity, so that at the moment of impact
+that moment itself must become part of the past, sufficiently remote to
+remove the monsters at such distance from the earth that not even the
+mighty genius of Moyen can return them!"
+
+The whirring, gentle as the whirring of doves' wings. In the center of
+the picture on the screen were those half-dozen amphibians laying waste
+Manhattan. Maniel set his intricate, delicate machinery into motion.
+
+Instantly the amphibians there seemed to become misty, shadowy, and to
+lift out of Manhattan up above the roof-tops of skyscrapers still
+remaining, nebulous and wraithlike as ghost-shrouds--yet swinging
+outward from the earth with speed almost too swift for the eye to
+detect.
+
+But where the amphibians had rested there stood, reclined--in all sorts
+of postures, surprising and even a bit ridiculous--the men of Moyen who
+had operated the monsters of Moyen!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From the Central Radio tower went forth a mighty voice of command to the
+planes which had been engaging the aero-subs off the coast.
+
+"Slay! Slay!"
+
+Down flashed the planes of the Americas, and their guns were blazing,
+inaudibly, but none the less deadly of aim and of purpose, straight into
+the midst of the men of Moyen who had thus been left marooned and almost
+helpless with the vanishing of their amphibians.
+
+And, noting how they fell in strangled, huddled heaps before the
+vengeful fire of the American planes, the Secret Agents sighed, and
+Maniel, his face alight with the pride of accomplishment, switched to
+another point along the coast.
+
+And as a new group of the monsters of Moyen came into view, and Maniel
+bent to his labors afresh, the hated voice of the master mobster broke
+once more in the Secret Room.
+
+"Enough, Kleig! Enough! We will surrender to save lives! I stipulate
+only that my own life be spared!"
+
+To which Prester Kleig made instant reply.
+
+"Did you offer us choice of surrender? Did you spare the lives of our
+people which, with your control of your golden rays, you could easily
+have done? No! Nor will we spare lives, least of all the life of Moyen!"
+
+The whirring again, as of the whirring of doves' wings. More metal
+monsters, even as golden tongues spewed forth from their many sides,
+vanished from view, leaping skyward, while the operators of them were
+left to the mercies of the remaining airmen of the Americans.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Voicelessly the word went forth:
+
+"Slay! Slay!"
+
+It was Charmion who begged for mercy for the vanquished as, one by one,
+as surely as fate, the monsters with their contained aero-subs were
+blotted out, leaving pilots and operators behind them. Down upon these
+dropped the airmen of the West, slaying without mercy....
+
+"Please, lover!" Charmion whispered. "Spare them!"
+
+"Even...?" he began, thinking of Moyen, who would have taken Charmion.
+He felt her shudder as she read his mind, understood what he would have
+asked.
+
+"There he is!" came softly from Munson.
+
+An amphibian had just been disintegrated, had just climbed mistily,
+swiftly, into invisibility in the skies. And there in the midst of the
+conquerors left behind, his angel's face set in a moody mask, his pale
+eyes awful with fear, his misshapen body sagging, terrible in its
+realization of failure, was Moyen!
+
+Even as Kleig prepared to give the mercy signal, a plane dived down on
+the group about Moyen, and the Secret Agents could see the hand of the
+pilot, lifted high, as though he signaled.
+
+The plane was a Mayther! The pilot was Carlos Kane!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Just as Kane went into action, and the noiseless bullets from his ship
+crashed into that twisted body, causing it to jump and twitch with the
+might of them, Prester Kleig gave the signal.
+
+Even as the figure of Moyen crashed to the soil and the man's soul
+quitted its mortal casement, Kleig commanded:
+
+"Spare all who surrender! Make them prisoners, to be used to repair the
+damage they have done to our country! Guards will be instantly placed
+over the amphibians and the aero-subs--for the day may come when we
+shall need to know their secrets!"
+
+And, as men, hands lifted high in token of surrender, quitted the now
+motionless amphibians, and flyers dropped down to make them prisoners,
+Maniel sighed, pressed various buttons on his apparatus, and the mad
+scene of carnage they had witnessed for hours faded slowly out, and
+darkness and silence filled the Secret Room.
+
+But darkness is the joy of lovers, and in the midst of silence that was
+almost appalling by contrast, Kleig and Charmion were received into each
+other's arms.
+
+
+                   +---------------------------+
+                   |    Everyone Is Invited    |
+                   |    _To "Come Over in_     |
+                   |  'THE READERS' CORNER'"!  |
+                   +---------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+Vampires of Venus
+
+_By Anthony Pelcher_
+
+[Illustration: _He seized a short knife and threw himself forward._]
+
+  Leslie Larner, an entomologist borrowed from the Earth, pits himself
+  against the night-flying vampires that are ravaging the inhabitants
+  of Venus.
+
+
+It was as if someone had thrown a bomb into a Quaker meeting, when
+adventure suddenly began to crowd itself into the life of the studious
+and methodical Leslie Larner, professor of entomology.
+
+Fame had been his since early manhood, when he began to distinguish
+himself in several sciences, but the adventure and thrills he had longed
+for had always fallen to the lot of others.
+
+His father, a college professor, had left him a good working brain and
+nothing else. Later his mother died and he was left with no relatives in
+the world, so far as he knew. So he gave his life over to study and hard
+work.
+
+Still youthful at twenty-five, he was hoping that fate would "give him
+a break." It did.
+
+He was in charge of a Government department having to do with Oriental
+beetles, Hessian flies, boll weevils and such, and it seemed his life
+had been just one bug after another. He took creeping, crawling things
+seriously and believed that, unless curbed, insects would some day crowd
+man off the earth. He sounded an alarm, but humanity was not disturbed.
+So Leslie Larner fell back on his microscope and concerned himself with
+saving cotton, wheat and other crops. His only diversion was fishing for
+the elusive rainbow trout.
+
+He managed to spend a month each year in the Colorado Rockies angling
+for speckled beauties.
+
+Larner was anything but a clock-watcher, but on a certain bright day in
+June he was seated in his laboratory doing just that.
+
+"Just five minutes to go," he mused.
+
+It was just 4:25 P. M. He had finished his work, put his affairs in
+order, and in five minutes would be free to leave on a much needed and
+well earned vacation. His bags were packed and at the station. His
+fishing tackle, the pride of his young life, was neatly rolled in oiled
+silk and stood near at hand.
+
+"I'll just fill my calabash, take one more quiet smoke, and then for the
+mountains and freedom," he told himself. He settled back with his feet
+on his desk. He half closed his eyes in solid comfort. Then the bomb
+fell and exploded.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+B-r-r-r-r!
+
+The buzzer on his desk buzzed and his feet came off the desk and hit the
+floor with a thud. His eyes popped open and the calabash was immediately
+laid aside.
+
+That buzzer usually meant business, and it would be his usual luck to
+have trouble crash in on him just as he was on the edge of a rainbow
+trout paradise.
+
+A messenger was ushered into the room by an assistant. The boy handed
+him an envelope, said, "No answer," and departed.
+
+Larner tore open the envelope lazily. He read and then re-read its
+contents, while a look of puzzled surprise disturbed his usually placid
+countenance. He spread the sheet of paper out on his desk, and for the
+tenth time he read:
+
+    Confidential.
+
+    Memorize this address and destroy this paper:
+
+    Tula Bela, 1726 88th Street, West, City of Hesper, Republic of
+    Pana, Planet Venus.
+
+    Will meet you in the Frying Pan.
+
+That was all. It was enough. Larner lost his temper. He crumpled the
+paper and tossed it in the waste basket. He was not given to profanity,
+but he could say "Judas Priest" in a way that sizzled.
+
+"Judas Priest!" he spluttered. "Anyone who would send a man a crazy
+bunch of nonsense like that, at a time like this, ought to be snuffed
+out like a beetle!
+
+"'Meet you in the Frying Pan,'" he quoted. Then he happened to recall
+something. "By golly, there is a fishing district in Colorado known as
+the Frying Pan. That's not so crazy, but the planet Venus part surely is
+cuckoo."
+
+He fished the paper out of the waste basket, found the envelope, placed
+the strange message within and put it in his inside coat pocket. Then he
+seized his suitcase and fishing tackle, and, rushing out, hailed a taxi.
+Not long after he was on his way west by plane.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the country unrolled under him he retrieved the strange note from his
+pocket. He read it again and again. Then he examined the envelope. It
+was an ordinary one of good quality, designed for business rather than
+social usage. The note paper appeared quite different. It was unruled,
+pure white, and of a texture which might be described as pebbly. It was
+strongly made, and of a nature unlike any paper Larner had ever seen
+before. It appeared to have been made from a fiber rather than a pulp.
+
+"Wonder who wrote it?" Larner asked himself. "It is beautiful
+handwriting, masculine yet artistic. Wonder where he got the Frying Pan
+idea? At any rate, I'm not going to the Frying Pan this year--I'm
+camping on Tennessee Creek, in Lake County, Colorado. The country there
+is more beautiful and restful.
+
+"But this street address on the planet Venus. Seems to me I read
+somewhere that Marconi had received mysterious signals that he believed
+came from the planet Venus. Hesper, Hesper ... it sounds familiar,
+somehow. Wonder if there could be anything to it?"
+
+Something impelled him to follow out the instructions in the note. He
+spent the next few hours repeating the address over and over again. When
+he was satisfied that he had memorized it thoroughly, he tore the
+strange paper into bits and sent it fluttering earthward like a tiny
+snowstorm.
+
+Larner was not a gullible individual, but neither was he unimaginative.
+He was scientist enough to know that "the impossibilities of to-day are
+the accomplishments of to-morrow." So while not convinced that the note
+was a serious communication, still his mind was open.
+
+The weird address insisted on creeping into his mind and driving out
+other thoughts, even those of his speckled playfellows, the rainbow
+trout.
+
+"I've a notion to change my plans and go from Denver to the Frying Pan,"
+he cogitated. Then he thought, "No, I won't take it that seriously."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Anyone who knows the Colorado Rockies knows paradise. There is no more
+beautiful country on the globe. Lake County, where Larner had chosen
+his fishing grounds, has as its seat the old mining camp of Leadville.
+It has been visited and settled more for its gold mines than the golden
+glow of its sunsets above the clouds, but the gold of the sunsets is
+eternal, while the gold of the mines is fading quickly away.
+
+Leadville, with its 5,000 inhabitants, nestles above the clouds, at an
+altitude of more than 10,000 feet. Mount Massive with its three peaks
+lies back of the town in panorama and rises to a height of some 14,400
+feet. In the rugged mountains thereabouts are hundreds of lakes fed by
+wild streams and bubbling crystal springs. All these lakes are above the
+clouds.
+
+Winter sees the whole picture decorated with bizarre snowdrifts from
+twenty to forty feet deep, but spring comes early. The beautiful
+columbines and crocuses bloom before the snow is all off the ground in
+the valleys. The lands up to 12,000 feet altitude are carpeted with a
+light green grass and moss. Giant pines and dainty aspens, with their
+silvery bark and pinkish leaves blossom forth and whisper, while the
+eternal snows still linger in the higher rocky cliffs and peaks above.
+
+Indian-paint blooms its blood red in contrast to the milder colorings.
+Blackbirds and bluebirds chatter and chipmunks chirp. The gold so hard
+to find in the mines glares from the skies. The hills cuddle in banks of
+snowy clouds, and above all a pure clear blue sky sweeps. The lakes and
+streams abound with rainbow trout, the gamest of any fresh water fish.
+It is indeed a paradise for either poet or sportsman.
+
+In any direction near to Leadville a man can find Heaven and recreation
+and rest.
+
+Finding himself on Harrison Avenue, the main street of the county seat,
+Larner, after renewing some old acquaintanceships, started west in a
+flivver for Tennessee Creek. The flivver is a modern adjustment. Until
+a few years ago the only means of traversing these same hills was by
+patient, sure-footed donkeys, which carried the pack while the wayfarer
+walked along beside.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first day's fishing was good. Trout seemed to greet him cheerily and
+sprang eagerly to the fray. They bit at any sort of silken fly he cast.
+
+The site chosen by Larner for his camp was in a mossy clearing separated
+from the stream by a fringe of willows along the creek. Then came a
+border of aspens backed by a forest of silver-tipped firs.
+
+It was ideal and his eyes swept the scene with satisfaction. Then he
+began whittling bacon to grease his pan for frying trout over the open
+fire.
+
+Suddenly he heard a rustle in the aspens, and, looking up, beheld a
+picture which made his eyes bulge. A man and a woman, garbed seemingly
+in the costumes of another world, walked toward him. Neither were more
+than five feet tall but were physically perfect, and marvelously
+pleasing to the eye. There was little difference in their dress.
+
+Both wore helmets studded with what Larner believed to be sapphires. He
+learned later they were diamonds. Their clothing consisted of tight
+trouserlike garments surmounted by tunics of some white pelt resembling
+chamois save for color. A belt studded with precious stones encircled
+their waists. Artistic laced sandals graced their small firm feet.
+
+Their skin was a pinkish white. Their every feature was perfection plus,
+and their bodies curved just enough wherever a curve should be. The
+woman was daintier and more fully developed, and her features were even
+more finely chiseled than the man. Otherwise it would have been
+difficult to distinguish their sex.
+
+Larner took in these details subconsciously, for he was awed beyond
+expression. All he could do was to stand seemingly frozen, half bent
+over the campfire with his frying pan in his hand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The man spoke.
+
+"I hope we did not startle you," he said. "I thought my note would
+partly prepare you for this meeting. We expected to find you in the
+Frying Pan district. When you did not appear there we tuned our radio
+locator to your heart beats and in that way located you here. It was
+hardly a second's space-flying time from where we were."
+
+Larner said nothing. He could only stand and gape.
+
+"I do not wonder that you are surprised," said the strange little man.
+"I will explain that I am Nern Bela, of the City of Hesper, on the
+planet Venus. This is my sister Tula. We greet you in the interest of
+the Republic of Pana, which embraces all of the planet you know as
+Venus."
+
+When Larner recovered his breath, he lost his temper.
+
+"I don't know what circus you escaped from, but I crave solitude and I
+have no time to be bothered with fairy tales," he said with brutal
+bruskness.
+
+Expressions of hurt surprise swept the countenances of his visitors.
+
+The man spoke again:
+
+"We are just what we assert we are, and our finding you was made
+necessary by a condition which grieves the souls of all the 900,000,000
+inhabitants of Venus. We have come to plead with you to come with us and
+use your scientific knowledge to thwart a scourge which threatens the
+lives of millions of people."
+
+There was a quiet dignity about the man and an air of pride about the
+woman which made Larner stop and think, or try to. He rubbed his hand
+over his brow and looked questioningly at the pair.
+
+"If you are what you say you are, how did you get here?" he asked.
+
+"We came in a targo, a space-flying ship, capable of doing 426,000 miles
+an hour. This is just 1200 times as fast as 355 miles an hour, the
+highest speed known on earth. Come with us and we will show you our
+ship." They looked at him appealingly, and both smiled a smile of
+wistful friendliness.
+
+Larner, without a word, threw down his frying pan and followed them
+through the aspens. The brother and sister walking ahead of him gave his
+eyes a treat. He surveyed the perfect form of the girl. Her perfection
+was beyond his ken.
+
+"They certainly are not of this world," he mused.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few hundred yards farther on there was a beach of pebbles, where the
+stream had changed its course. On this plot sat a gigantic spherical
+machine of a glasslike material. It was about 300 feet in diameter and
+it was tapered on two sides into tees which Larner rightly took to be
+lights.
+
+"This is a targo, our type of space-flyer," said Nern Bela. "It is
+capable of making two trips a year between Venus and the earth. We have
+visited this planet often, always landing in some mountain or jungle
+fastness as heretofore we did not desire earth-dwellers to know of our
+presence."
+
+"Why not?" asked Larner, his mouth agape and his eyes protruding. His
+mind was so full of questions that he fairly blurted his first one.
+
+"Because," said Bela, slowly and frankly, "because our race knows no
+sickness and we feared contagion, as your race has not yet learned to
+control its being."
+
+"Oh," said Lamer thoughtfully. He realized that humans of the earth,
+whom he had always regarded as God's most perfect beings, were not so
+perfect after all.
+
+"How do you people control your being, as you express it?" he asked.
+
+"It is simple," was the reply. "For ninety centuries we have ceased to
+breed imperfection, crime and disease. We deprived no one of the
+pleasures of life, but only the most perfect mental and physical
+specimens of our people cared to have children. In other words, while we
+make no claim to controlling our sex habits, we do control results."
+
+"Oh," said Larner again.
+
+Nern Bela led the way to a door which opened into the side of the
+space-flyer near its base. "We have a crew of four men and four women,"
+he said. "They handle the entire ship, with my sister and I in command,
+making six souls aboard in all."
+
+"Why men and women?" thought Larner.
+
+As if in answer to his thought Bela said:
+
+"On the earth the two sexes have struggled for sex supremacy. This has
+thrown your civilization out of balance. On Venus we have struggled for
+sex equality and have accomplished it. This is a perfect balance. Man
+and women engage in all endeavor and share all favors and rewards
+alike."
+
+"In war, too?" asked Larner.
+
+"There has not been war on Venus for 600,000 years," said Bela. "There
+is only the one nation, and the people all live in perfect accord. Our
+only trouble in centuries is a dire peril which now threatens our
+people, and it is of this that I wish to talk to you more at length."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They were standing close to the targo. Larner was struck by the peculiar
+material of which it was constructed. There was a question in his eyes,
+and Nern Bela answered it:
+
+"The metal is duranium; it is metalized quartz. It is frictionless,
+conducts no current or ray except repulsion and attraction ray NTR69X6
+by which it is propelled. It is practically transparent, lighter than
+air and harder than a diamond. It is cast in moulds after being melted
+or, rather, fused.
+
+"We use cold light which we produce by forcing oxygen through air tubes
+into a vat filled with the fat of a deep sea fish resembling your whale.
+You are aware, of course, that that is exactly how cold light is
+produced by the firefly, except for the fact that the firefly uses his
+own fat."
+
+Larner was positively fascinated. He smoothed the metal of the targo in
+appreciation of its marvelous construction, but he longed most to see
+the curious light giving mechanism, for this was closer to his own line
+of entomology. He had always believed that the light giving organs of
+fireflys and deep-sea fishes could be reproduced mechanically.
+
+The interior of the ship resembled in a vague way that of an ocean
+liner. It was controlled by an instrument board at which a man and a
+girl sat. They did not raise their heads as the three people entered.
+
+When called by Bela and his sister, who seemed to give commands in
+unison, the crew assembled and were presented to the visitor.
+
+"Earth-dwellers are not the curiosity to us that we seem to be to you,"
+said Tula Bela, speaking for the first time and smiling sweetly.
+
+Larner was too engrossed to note the remark further than to nod his
+head. He was lost in contemplation of these strange people, all garbed
+exactly alike and all surpassingly lovely to look upon.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An odor of food wafted from the galley, and Larner remembered he was
+hungry, with the hunger of health. He had swung his basket of fish over
+his shoulder when he left his campfire, and Tula took it from him.
+
+"Would you like to have our chef prepare them for you?" she said, as she
+caught his hungry glance at his day's catch. This time Larner answered
+her.
+
+"If you will pardon me," he said awkwardly. "Really I am famished."
+
+"You will not miss your fish dinner," said the girl.
+
+"I believe there is enough for all of us," said Larner. "I caught twenty
+beauties. I never knew fish to bite like that. Why, they--" and he was
+off on a voluminous discourse on a favorite subject.
+
+Those assembled listened sympathetically. Then Tula took the fish, and
+soon the aroma of broiling trout mingled with the other entrancing
+galley odors.
+
+After a dinner at which some weird yet satisfying viands were served and
+much unusual conversation indulged in, Nern Bela led the way to what
+appeared to be the captain's quarters. The crew and their visitor sat
+down to discuss a subject which proved to be of such a terrifying nature
+as to scar human souls.
+
+"People on Venus," said Nern, as his eyes took on a worried expression,
+"are unable to leave their homes after nightfall due to some strange
+nocturnal beast which attacks them and vampirishly drains all blood from
+their veins, leaving the dead bodies limp and empty."
+
+"What? How?" questioned Larner leaning far forward over the conference
+table.
+
+The others nodded their heads, and in the eyes of the women there was
+terror. Larner could not but believe this.
+
+"The beasts, or should I say insects, are as large as your horses and
+they fly, actually fly, by night, striking down humans, domestic animals
+and all creatures of warm blood. How many there are we have no means of
+knowing, and we cannot find their hiding and breeding places. They are
+not native to our planet, and where they come from we cannot imagine.
+They are actually monstrous flys, or bugs, or some form of insects."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Larner was overcome by incredulity and showed it. "Insects as big as
+horses?" he questioned and he could hardly suppress a smile.
+
+"Believe us, in the name of the God of us all," insisted Nern. "They
+have a mouth which consists of a large suction disk, in the center of
+which is a lancelike tongue. The lance is forced into the body at any
+convenient point, and the suction disk drains out the blood. If we only
+knew their source! They attack young children and the aged, up to five
+hundred years, alike."
+
+"What! Five hundred years?" exploded Larner again.
+
+"I should have explained," said Nern, simply, "that Venus dwellers, due
+to our advanced knowledge of sanitation and health conversation, live
+about 800 years and then die invariably of old age. The only unnatural
+cause of death encountered is this giant insect. Accidents do occur, but
+they are rare. There are no deliberate killings on Venus."
+
+Larner did not answer. He only pondered. The more he ran over the
+strange happenings of the last week in his mind the more he believed he
+was dreaming. His thoughts took a strange turn: "Why do these vain
+people go around dressed in jeweled ornaments?"
+
+Nern again anticipated a question. "Diamonds, gold and many of what you
+call precious stones are common on Venus," he volunteered. "Talc and
+many other things are more valuable."
+
+"Talc?"
+
+"Yes, we use an immense quantity of it. We have a wood that is harder
+than your steel. We build machinery with it. We cannot use oil to
+lubricate these wooden shafts and bearings as it softens the wood, so
+all parts exposed to friction are sprayed constantly by a gust of talc
+from a blower.
+
+"You use talc mostly for toilet purposes. We use it for various
+purposes. There is little left on Venus, and it is more valuable to us
+than either gold or diamonds. We draw on your planet now for talc. You
+dump immense quantities. We just shipped one hundred 1,000-ton globes of
+it from the Cripple Creek district, and the district never missed it. We
+drew most of it from your mine dumps."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nern tried not to look bored as he explained more in detail: "We brought
+100 hollow spheres constructed of duranium. We suspended these over the
+Cripple Creek district at an altitude of 10,000 feet above the earth's
+surface. Because of the crystal glint of duranium they were invisible to
+earth dwellers at that height. Then we used a suction draft at night,
+drawing the talc from the earth, filling one drum after another. This is
+done by tuning in a certain selective attraction that attracts only
+talc. It draws it right out of your ground in tiny particles and
+assembles it in the transportation drums as pure talc. On the earth, if
+noticed at all, it would have been called a dust storm.
+
+"The drums, when loaded with talc, are set to attract the proper
+planetary force and they go speeding toward Venus at the rate of 426,000
+miles an hour. They are prevented from colliding with meteors by an
+automatic magnetic device. This is controlled by magnetic force alone,
+and when the targo gets too close to a meteor it changes its course
+instantly. The passenger targo we ride in acts similarly. And now may I
+return to the subject of the vampires of Venus?"
+
+"Pardon my ignorance," said Larner, and for the first time in his life
+he felt very ignorant indeed.
+
+"I know little more than I have told you," said Nern, rather hopelessly.
+"Our knowledge of your world, your people and your language comes from
+our listening in on you and observing you without being observed or
+heard. This might seem like taking an advantage of you, were it not for
+the fact that we respect confidences, and subjugate all else to science.
+We have helped you at times, by telepathically suggesting ideas to your
+thinkers.
+
+"We would have given you all our inventions in this way, gladly, but in
+many instances we were unable to find minds attuned to accept such
+advanced ideas. We have had the advantage of you because our planet is
+so many millions of years older than your own." There was a plaintive
+note in Nern's voice as he talked.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"But now we are on our knees to you, so to speak. We do not know
+everything and, desperately, we need the aid of a man of your caliber.
+In behalf of the distraught people of Venus, I am asking you bluntly to
+make a great sacrifice. Will you face the dangers of a trip to Venus and
+use your knowledge to aid us in exterminating these creatures of hell?"
+There was positive pleading in his voice, and in the eyes of his
+beautiful sister there were tears.
+
+"But what would my superiors in the Government Bureau think?" feebly
+protested Larner, "I could not explain...."
+
+"You have no superiors in your line. Our Government needs you at this
+time more than any earthly government. Your place here is a fixture. You
+can always return to it, should you live. We are asking you to face a
+horrible death with us. You can name your own compensation, but I know
+you are not interested so much in reward.
+
+"Now, honestly, my good professor, there is no advantage to be gained by
+explanation. Just disappear. In the name of God and in the interests of
+science and the salvation of a people who are at your mercy, just drop
+out of sight. Drop out of life on this planet. Come with us. The cause
+is worthy of the man I believe you to be."
+
+"I will go," said Larner, and his hosts waited for no more. An instant
+later the targo shot out into interstellar space.
+
+"How do you know what course to follow?" asked Larner after a reasonable
+time, when he had recovered from his surprise at the sudden take-off.
+
+"We do not need to know. Our machine is tuned to be attracted by the
+planetary force of Venus alone. We could not go elsewhere. A repulsion
+ray finds us as we near Venus and protects us against too violent a
+landing. We will land on Venus like a feather about three months from
+to-night."
+
+The time of the journey through outer space was of little moment save
+for one incident. Larner and the other travelers were suddenly and
+rather rudely jostled about the rapidly flying craft.
+
+Larner lost his breath but not his speech. "What happened?" he inquired.
+
+"We just automatically dodged a meteor," explained Nern.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Most of the time of the trip was spent by Larner in listening to
+explanations of customs and traditions of the people of the brightest
+planet in the universe.
+
+There was a question Larner had desired to ask Nern Bela, yet he
+hesitated to do so. Finally one evening during the journey to Venus,
+when the travelers had been occupying themselves in a scientific
+discussion of comparative evolution on the two planets, Larner saw his
+opportunity.
+
+"Why," he asked rather hesitatingly, "did the people of Venus always
+remain so small? Why did you not strive more for height? The Japanese,
+who are the shortest in stature of earth people, always wanted to be
+tall."
+
+"Without meaning any offense," replied Nern, "I must say that it is
+characteristic of earth dwellers to want something without knowing any
+good reason why they want it. It is perfectly all right for you people
+to be tall, but for us it is not so fitting. You see, Venus is smaller
+than the earth. Size is comparative. You think we are not tall because
+you are used to taller people. Comparatively we are tall enough. In
+proportion to the size of our planet we are exactly the right size. We
+keep our population at 900,000,000, and that is the perfectly exact
+number of people who can live comfortably on our planet."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Arriving on Venus, Larner was assigned a laboratory and office in one of
+the Government buildings. It was a world seemingly made of glass.
+Quartz, of rose, white and crystal coloring, Larner found, was the
+commonest country rock of the planet. In many cases it was shot full of
+splinters of gold which the natives had not taken the trouble to
+recover. This quartz was of a terrific hardness and was used in
+building, paving, and public works generally. The effect was
+bewildering. It was a world of shimmering crystal.
+
+The atmosphere of Venus had long puzzled Larner. While not an astronomer
+in the largest sense of the word, yet he had a keen interest in the
+heavens as a giant puzzle picture, and he had given some spare time to
+the study.
+
+He knew that from all indications Venus had a most unusual atmosphere.
+He had read that the atmosphere was considerably denser than that of the
+earth, and that its presence made observation difficult. The actual
+surface of the planet he knew could hardly be seen due, either to this
+atmosphere, or seemingly perpetual cloud banks.
+
+He had read that the presence of atmosphere surrounding Venus is
+indicated to earthly astronomers, during the planet's transit, by rings
+of light due to the reflection and scattering of collected sunlight by
+its atmosphere.
+
+Astronomers on earth, he knew, had long been satisfied of the presence
+of great cloud banks, as rocks and soils could not have such high
+reflecting power. He knew that like the moon, Venus, when viewed from
+the earth, presents different phases from the crescent to the full or
+total stage.
+
+Looking up at the sky from the quartz streets of Venus, Larner beheld,
+in sweeping grandeur, massed cloud banks, many of them apparently rain
+clouds.
+
+Nern noted his skyward gaze, and said:
+
+"We have accomplished meteorological control. Those clouds were brought
+under control when we conquered interplanetary force, and what you call
+gravity. We form them and move them at will. They are our rain factory.
+We make rain when and where we will. This insures our crops and makes
+for health and contentment.
+
+"The air, you will note, is about the same or a little more moist than
+the earth air at sea level. This is due to the planet's position nearer
+the sun.
+
+"We have been striving for centuries to make the air a little drier and
+more rare, but we have not succeeded yet. The heavy content of
+disintegrated quartz in our soil makes moisture very necessary for our
+crops, so our moist atmosphere is evidently a provision of providence.
+We are used to breathing this moist air, and when I first visited the
+earth I was made uncomfortable by your rarified atmosphere. Now I can
+adjust myself to breathing the air of either planet. However, I find
+myself drinking a great deal more water on earth than on Venus."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In this fairyland which had enjoyed centuries of peace, health and
+accord, stark terror now reigned. In some instances the finely-bred,
+marvellously intelligent people were in a mental condition bordering on
+madness.
+
+This was especially true in the farming districts, where whole herds of
+lats had been wiped out. Lats, Larner gleaned, were a common farm animal
+similar to the bovine species on earth, only more wooly. On these
+creatures the Venus dwellers depended for their milk and dairy supplies,
+and for their warmer clothing, which was made from the skin. The hair
+was used for brushes, in the building trades, and a thousand ways in
+manufacturing.
+
+Besides the domestic animals hundreds of people continued to meet death,
+and only a few of the flying vampires had been hunted down. The giant
+insects were believed to breed slowly as compared to earth insects,
+their females producing not more than ten eggs, by estimate, after which
+death overtook the adult. In spite of this they were reported to be
+increasing.
+
+In the Government building Larner was placed in touch with all the
+Government scientists of Venus. His nearest collaborator was one Zorn
+Zada, most profound scientist of the planet. The two men, with a score
+of assistants, worked elbow to elbow on the most gigantic scientific
+mystery in the history of two planets.
+
+A specimen of the dread invader was mounted and studied by the
+scientists, who were so engrossed in their work that they hardly took
+time to eat. As for sleep, there was little of it. Days were spent in
+research and nights in hunting the monsters. This hunting was done by
+newly recruited soldiers and scientists. The weapons used were a short
+ray-gun of high destructive power which disintegrated the bodies of the
+enemies by atomic energy blasts. The quarry was wary, however, and
+struck at isolated individuals rather than massed fighting lines.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Seated at his work-bench Larner asked Zorn Zada what had become of Nern
+Bela. In his heart he had a horrible lurking fear that the beautiful
+Tula Bela might fall before a swarm of the strange vampires, but he did
+not voice this anxiety.
+
+"Nern and his sister are explorers and navigators," was the reply. "They
+have been assigned to carry you anywhere on this or any other planet
+where your work may engage you. They await your orders. They are too
+valuable as space-navigators to be placed in harm's way."
+
+Breathing a sigh of relief, Larner bent to his labors.
+
+"What other wild animals or harmful insects have you on this planet?" he
+asked Zorn.
+
+"I get your thought," replied the first scientist of Venus. "You are
+seeking a natural enemy to this deadly flying menace, are you not?"
+
+"Yes," admitted Larner.
+
+"All insects left on Venus with this one exception are beneficial," said
+Zorn. "There are no wild animals, and no harmful insects. All animals,
+insects and birds have been domesticated and are fed by their keepers.
+We get fabrics from forms of what you call spiders and other
+web-builders and cocoon spinners. All forms of birds, beasts and
+crawling and flying things have been brought under the dominion of man.
+We will have to seek another way out than by finding an enemy parasite."
+
+"Where do you think these insect invaders came from?" asked Larner.
+
+"You have noticed they are unlike anything you have on earth in
+anatomical construction," said the savant. "They partake of the general
+features of Coleoptera (beetles), in that they wear a sheath of armor,
+yet their mouth parts are more on the order of the Diptera (flys). I
+regard them more as a fly than a beetle, because most Coleoptera are
+helpful to humanity while practically all, if not all, Diptera are
+malignant.
+
+"As to their original habitat, I believe they migrated here from some
+other planet."
+
+"They could not fly through space," said Larner.
+
+"No, that is the mystery of it," agreed Zorn. "How they got here and
+where they breed are the questions that we have to answer."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Long days passed on Venus. Long days and sleepless nights. The big
+insects were hunted nightly by men armed with ray-guns, and nightly the
+blood-sucking monsters took their toll of humanity and animals.
+
+Finally Larner and Zorn determined to capture one of the insects alive,
+muzzle its lance and suction pad, and give it sufficient freedom to find
+its way back to its hiding place. By following the shackled monster the
+scientists hoped to find the breeding grounds.
+
+All the provinces of the planet joined in the drive. Men turned out in
+automatic vehicles, propelled by energy gathered from the atmosphere.
+They came on foot and in aircraft. Mobilization was at given points and,
+leading the van, were Zorn and Larner and their confreres in the targo
+of Nern and Tula Bela. The great army of Venus carried giant
+searchlights and was armed with deadly ray-guns.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Headquarters of the vast Army of Offense was in the targo of the Belas.
+Larner was in supreme command. Just before the big army set out to scour
+the planet to seek the breeding place of the monsters Larner issued a
+bulletin that set all Venus by the ears.
+
+Addressed to President Vole Vesta of the Republic of Pana and the good
+people of Venus, it read:
+
+    As is generally known, it has been the habit of the nation's
+    space-flying merchantmen to visit the sunlit side of the planet
+    Mercury to obtain certain rare woods and other materials not found
+    on this planet.
+
+    One side of Mercury, as is known, is always turned from the sun and
+    is in a condition of perpetual night. In this perpetual darkness
+    and dampness, where many rivers flow into warm black swamps, the
+    vampires have bred for centuries. Conditions were ideal for their
+    growth, and so through the ages they evolved into the monsters we
+    have encountered lately on Venus.
+
+    During some comparatively recent visit to Mercury the grubs of
+    these insects have found their way abroad a vegetation-laden targo
+    left standing near the edge of the black swamps of Mercury. These
+    grubs were thus transported to Venus and underwent their natural
+    metamorphosis here. Reaching adult stage, they have found some
+    place to hide and breed, and thus is explained the origin of the
+    vampires of Venus.
+
+This was widely read and discussed and was finally accepted as the means
+of the invasion of peaceful, beautiful Venus by a horror that might well
+have originated in hell.
+
+However, this did not reveal the breeding grounds, or remove the
+nation-wide scourge of the horrible winged vampires, so the mobilization
+of all the forces of the planet continued.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As day followed day the hordes of fighting Venus dwellers grew in the
+concentration camps. In the targo of the Belas, Larner, brain-weary and
+body-racked as he was with overwork, found a grain of happiness in being
+in the presence of Nern and his beautiful, petite sister.
+
+With Zorn, Larner was supervising the construction of a big net of
+strongly woven wire mesh, in which it was hoped to catch one of the
+vampires. It was decided to bait the trap with a fat female lat.
+
+Zorn, Larner and the Belas fared forth from the concentration camp
+followed by a company of soldiers carrying the big net. Tula with her
+own hand led the fat lat heifer. His eyes were filled with commiseration
+for the poor animal.
+
+Thousands of soldiers and citizenry, in fighting array, watched the
+departure of the little group.
+
+In a glade the trap was set and the net arranged to fall over the
+monster once it attacked the calf. From a thicket, in utter darkness,
+Zorn and Larner and the two Belas waited for the possible catch. The
+whole nation stood awaiting the order to advance.
+
+On the fourth night the vigil was rewarded in a manner frightful to
+relate.
+
+A clumsy flutter of giant wings broke the stillness.
+
+The four waiting forms in the thicket rejoiced, believing the fat lat
+was about to be attacked.
+
+Onward came the approaching horror. The measured flap, flap of its
+armored wings drawing nearer and nearer. Then, horror--horrors!
+
+A feminine scream rent the air. Cries loud and shrill arose above a
+hysterical feminine cry for help.
+
+The monster had chosen Tula Bela for its prey!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Zorn exploded an alarm bomb. A compressed air siren brought the army
+forward on the run. Giant floodlights began to light up the scene. The
+blood of Larner and Nern froze.
+
+The monster had borne the girl to the ground. Its frightful lance and
+cupper was upraised to strike. Larner was the nearest and the quickest
+to act. He grabbed for his ray-gun, swung at his belt. It was gone! In
+horror he remembered he had left it at the base. He seized a short knife
+and threw himself forward, rolling his body between that of the girl and
+the descending lance and cupper.
+
+As the lance pierced his shoulder Larner, in one wild gesture of frenzy,
+drove his knife through the soft, yielding flesh of the vampire's organ
+of suction.
+
+Protected by no bony structure the snout of the monster was amputated.
+
+The terrible creature had been disarmed of his most formidable weapon,
+but he continued to fight. Larner felt the spikes on the monster's legs
+tear at his flesh.
+
+"Don't kill the thing," he shouted. "Bring on the net. For the love of
+God bring on the net!" Then he lost consciousness.
+
+It was daylight when Larner, somewhat weakened from loss of blood,
+regained consciousness.
+
+The beautiful Tula Bela was leaning over him.
+
+She whispered comforting words to him in a language he did not fully
+understand. She whispered happy exclamations in words he did not know
+the meaning of, but the tone was unmistakably those of a sweetheart
+towards her lover.
+
+Finally, in answer to a true scientist's question in his eyes, she said
+in English:
+
+"They caught the thing alive. They await your order to advance."
+
+"Let us be on our way," said Larner, and he started to arise.
+
+"You are hardly strong enough," said Tula.
+
+"Believe me, I am all right," insisted Larner, and after several trials
+he got to his feet. His constitution was naturally strong and his will
+was stronger, so he fought back all feelings of weakness and soon
+announced himself ready to go ahead with the project at hand. For speed
+was all important, and the young professor found himself unable to
+remain inactive.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He rejoiced when Zorn told him that the big insect that had attacked
+Tula Bela had been captured alive and had been kept well nourished by
+lat's blood injected into its stomach.
+
+With Zorn Larner went to inspect the hideous monstrosity and found it in
+leash and straining. It was ready to be used to lead the way back to its
+breeding place.
+
+Its wings shackled, the lumbering insect floundered on its way straight
+north. Ponderously and half blindly it crawled as the searchlights'
+glare was kept far enough in advance to keep from blinding the monster.
+
+True to instinct it finally brought up at early dawn under a high cliff
+of smoky quartz. Here, in the great crevices, the drove of diabolical
+vampires were hiding.
+
+As the light struck their dens, they attempted clumsily to take wing,
+but a interlacing network of devastating disintegrating rays from the
+ray-guns shattered their bodies to dust, which was borne away by the
+wind.
+
+The next few months were spent in combing the quartz crags of Venus for
+similar infested areas, but only the one breeding nest was found. The
+scourge had been conquered in its first and only stronghold.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So ended the greatest reign of terror in the history of Venus.
+
+Leslie Larner was given a vote of thanks, and riches were showered upon
+him by the good people of the sky's brightest star.
+
+His modesty was characteristic, and he insisted that his part in saving
+humanity on the planet had been small.
+
+Passage back to earth was offered him, but Nern and Tula Bela urged him
+to say and live his life on Venus. This he finally agreed to do.
+
+"If I returned," he said, "I would always be tempted to tell my
+experiences while away, and there is not a jury in the world which would
+account me sane after I had once spoken."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That the story of Larner's adventure reached earth dwellers at all is
+due to the fact that Nern Bela on a subsequent visit to the earth
+narrated it to a Colorado quartz miner. This miner, a bronzed and
+bearded prospector for gold, stumbled on the targo in a mountain
+fastness, and there was nought to do but make him welcome and pledge him
+to secrecy.
+
+The miner surveyed the crystal targo in rapt wonderment and said: "And
+to think I am the only earth man who ever viewed such a craft!"
+
+"No," answered Nern Bela, "there is one other." And then the stirring
+story of Leslie Larner's life on Venus was told.
+
+
+
+
+SAFE FLYING IN FOGS
+
+The outstanding development in aviation recently, and one of the most
+significant so far in aviation history was the "blind" flight of Lieut.
+James H. Doolittle, daredevil of the Army Air Corps, at Mitchel Field,
+L. I., which led Harry P. Guggenheim, President of the Daniel Guggenheim
+Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, Inc. to announce that the problem
+of fog-flying, one of aviation's greatest bugbears, had been solved at
+last.
+
+There has been "blind flying" done in the past but never before in the
+history of aviation has any pilot taken off, circled, crossed,
+re-crossed the field, then landed only a short distance away from his
+starting point while flying under conditions resembling the densest fog,
+as Lieut. "Jimmy" Doolittle has done, in his Wright-motored "Husky"
+training-plane. It was something uncanny to contemplate.
+
+The "dense fog" was produced artificially by the simple device of making
+the cabin of the plane entirely light-proof. Once seated inside, the
+flyer, with his co-pilot, Lieut. Benjamin Kelsey, also of Mitchel Field,
+were completely shut off from any view of the world outside. All they
+had to depend on were three new flying instruments, developed during the
+past year in experiments conducted over the full-flight laboratory
+established by the Fund at Mitchel Field.
+
+The chief factors contributing to the solution of the problem of blind
+flying consist of a new application of the visual radio beacon, the
+development of an improved instrument for indicating the longitudinal
+and lateral position of an airplane, a new directional gyroscope, and a
+sensitive barometric altimeter, so delicate as to measure the altitude
+of an airplane within a few feet of the ground.
+
+Thus, instead of relying on the natural horizon for stability, Lieut.
+Doolittle uses an "artificial horizon" on the small instrument which
+indicates longitudinal and lateral position in relation to the ground at
+all time. He was able to locate the landing field by means of the
+direction-finding long-distance radio beacon. In addition, another
+smaller radio beacon had been installed, casting a beam fifteen to
+twenty miles in either direction, which governs the immediate approach
+to the field.
+
+To locate the landing field the pilot watches two vibrating reeds, tuned
+to the radio beacon, on a virtual radio receiver on his instrument
+board. If he turns to the right or left of his course the right or left
+reed, respectively, begins doing a sort of St. Vitus dance. If the reeds
+are in equilibrium the pilot knows it is clear sailing straight to his
+field.
+
+The sensitive altimeter showed Lieut. Doolittle his altitude and made it
+possible for him to calculate his landing to a distance of within a few
+feet from the ground.
+
+Probably the strangest device of all that Lieut. Doolittle has been
+called upon to test in Mr. Guggenheim's war against fog is a sort of
+heat cannon that goes forth to combat like a fire-breathing dragon of
+old. Like the enemies of the dragon, the fog is supposed to curl up and
+die before the scorching breath of the "hot air artillery" although the
+fundamental principle behind the device is a great deal more scientific
+than such an explanation sounds. It is, in brief, based on the known
+fact that fog forms only in a very narrow temperature zone which lies
+between the saturation and precipitation points of the atmosphere. If
+the air grows a little colder the fog turns into rain and falls; if it
+is warmed very slightly the mist disappears and the air is once more
+normally clear, although its humidity is very close to the maximum.
+
+
+
+
+Brigands of the Moon
+
+(The Book of Gregg Haljan)
+
+PART TWO OF A FOUR-PART NOVEL
+
+_By Ray Cummings_
+
+[Illustration: _I turned back to look at the Planetara._]
+
+  Out of awful space tumbled the Space-ship _Planetara_ towards the
+  Moon, her officers _dead_, with bandits at her helm--and the
+  controls out of order!
+
+
+My name, Gregg Haljan. My age, twenty-five years. My occupation, at the
+time my narrative begins, in 2075, was third officer of the
+Interplanetary Space-ship _Planetara_.
+
+Thus I introduce myself to you. For this is a continuation of the book
+of Gregg Haljan, and of necessity I am the chief actor therein. I shall
+recapitulate very briefly what has happened so far:
+
+Unscrupulous Martian brigands were scheming for Johnny Grantline's
+secret radium-ore treasure, dug out of the Moon and waiting there to be
+picked up by the _Planetara_ on her return trip from Mars.
+
+The _Planetara_ left, bound for Mars, some ten days away. Suspicious
+interplanetary passengers were aboard: Miko and Moa, a brother and a
+sister of Mars; Sir Arthur Coniston, a mysterious Englishman; Ob Hahn, a
+Venus mystic. And small, effeminate George Prince and his sister, Anita.
+Love, I think, was born instantly between Anita and me. I found all too
+soon that Miko, the sinister giant from Mars, also desired her.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+As we neared the Moon we received Grantline's secret message: "Stop for
+ore on your return voyage. Success beyond wildest hopes!" But I soon
+discovered that an eavesdropper in an invisible cloak had overheard it!
+
+Soon afterwards Miko accidentally murdered a person identified as Anita
+Prince.
+
+Then, in the confusion that resulted, Miko struck his great blow. The
+crew of the _Planetara_, secretly in his pay, rose up and killed the
+captain and all the officers but Snap Dean, the radio-helio operator,
+and myself.
+
+I was besieged in the chart-room. George Prince leaped in upon me--and
+put his arms around me. I looked at him closer--only to discover it was
+Anita, disguised as her brother! It was her brother, George, who had
+been killed! George had been in the brigands' confidence--thus Anita was
+able to spy for us.
+
+Quickly we plotted. I would surrender to her, Anita Prince, whom the
+brigands thought was George Prince. Together we might possibly be able,
+with Snap's help, to turn the tide, and reclaim the _Planetara_.
+
+I was taken to my stateroom and locked there until Miko the brigand
+leader should come to dispose of me. But I cared not what had
+happened--Anita was alive!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+_The Brigand Leader_
+
+
+The giant Miko stood confronting me. He slid my cubby door closed behind
+him. He stood with his head towering close against my ceiling. His cloak
+was discarded. In his leather clothes, and with his clanking
+sword-ornament, his aspect carried the swagger of a brigand of old. He
+was bareheaded; the light from one of my tubes fell upon his grinning,
+leering gray face.
+
+"So, Gregg Haljan? You have come to your senses at last. You do not wish
+me to write my name upon your chest? I would not have done that to Dean;
+he forced me. Sit back."
+
+I had been on my bunk. I sank back at the gesture of his huge hairy arm.
+His forearm was bare now; the sear of a burn on it was plain to be seen.
+He remarked my gaze.
+
+"True. You did that, Haljan, in Great-New York. But I bear you no
+malice. I want to talk to you now."
+
+He cast about for a seat, and took the little stool which stood by my
+desk. His hand held a small cylinder of the Martian paralyzing ray; he
+rested it beside him on the desk.
+
+"Now we can talk."
+
+I remained silent. Alert. Yet my thoughts were whirling. Anita was
+alive. Masquerading now as her brother. And, with the joy of it, came a
+shudder. Above everything, Miko must not know.
+
+"A great adventure we are upon, Haljan."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My thoughts came back. Miko was talking with an assumption of friendly
+comradeship. "All is well--and we need you, as I have said before. I am
+no fool. I have been aware of everything that went on aboard this ship.
+You, of all the officers, are most clever at the routine mathematics. Is
+that so?"
+
+"Perhaps," I said.
+
+"You are modest." He fumbled at a pocket of his jacket, produced a
+scroll-sheaf. I recognized it: Blackstone's figures; the calculation
+Blackstone roughly made of the elements of the asteroid we had passed.
+
+"I am interested in these," Miko went on. "I want you to verify them.
+And this." He held up another scroll. "This is the calculation of our
+present position. And our course. Hahn claims he is a navigator. We have
+set the ship's gravity plates--see, like this--"
+
+He handed me the scrolls; he watched me keenly as I glanced over them.
+
+"Well?" I said.
+
+"You are sparing of words, Haljan. By the devils of the airways, I could
+make you talk! But I want to be friendly."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I handed him back the scrolls. I stood up; I was almost within reach of
+his weapon, but with a sweep of his great arm he abruptly knocked me
+back to my bunk.
+
+"You dare?" Then he smiled. "Let us not come to blows!"
+
+"No," I said. I returned his smile. In truth, physical violence could
+get me nothing in dealing with this fellow. I would have to try guile.
+And I saw now that his face was flushed and his eyes unnaturally bright.
+He had been drinking alcolite; not enough to befuddle him--but enough to
+make him triumphantly talkative.
+
+"Hahn may not be much of a mathematician," I suggested. "But there is
+your Sir Arthur Coniston." I managed a sarcastic grin. "Is that his
+name?"
+
+"Almost. Haljan, will you verify these figures?"
+
+"Yes. But why? Where are we going?"
+
+He laughed. "You are afraid I will not tell you! Why should I not? This
+great adventure of mine is progressing perfectly. A tremendous stake,
+Haljan. A hundred millions of dollars in gold-leaf; there will be
+fabulous riches for us all, when that radium ore is sold for a hundred
+million in gold-leaf."
+
+"But where are we going?"
+
+"To that asteroid," he said abruptly. "I must get rid of these
+passengers. I am no murderer."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With half a dozen killings in the recent fight this was hardly
+convincing. But he was obviously wholly serious. He seemed to read my
+thoughts.
+
+"I kill only when necessary. We will land upon the asteroid. A perfect
+place to maroon the passengers. Is it not so? I will give them the
+necessities of life. They will be able to signal. And in a month or so,
+when we are safely finished with our adventure, a police ship no doubt
+will rescue them."
+
+"And then, from the asteroid," I suggested, "we are going--"
+
+"To the Moon, Haljan. What a clever guesser you are! Coniston and Hahn
+are calculating our course. But I have no great confidence in them. And
+so I want you."
+
+"You have me."
+
+"Yes. I have you. I would have killed you long ago--I am an impulsive
+fellow--but my sister restrained me."
+
+He gazed at me slyly. "Moa seems strangely to like you, Haljan."
+
+"Thanks," I said. "I'm flattered."
+
+"She still hopes I may really win you to join us," he went on.
+"Gold-leaf is a wonderful thing; there would be plenty for you in this
+affair. And to be rich, and have the love of a woman like Moa...."
+
+He paused. I was trying cautiously to gauge him, to get from him all the
+information I could. I said, with another smile, "That is premature, to
+talk of Moa. I will help you chart your course. But this venture, as you
+call it, is dangerous. A police-ship--"
+
+"There are not many," he declared. "The chances of us encountering one
+is very slim." He grinned at me. "You know that as well as I do. And we
+now have those code pass-words--I forced Dean to tell me where he had
+hidden them. If we should be challenged, our pass-word answer will
+relieve suspicion."
+
+"The _Planetara_," I objected, "being overdue at Ferrok-Shahn, will
+cause alarm. You'll have a covey of patrol-ships after you."
+
+"That will be two weeks from now," he smiled. "I have a ship of my own
+in Ferrok-Shahn. It lies there waiting now, manned and armed. I am
+hoping that, with Dean's help, we may be able to flash it a signal. It
+will join us on the Moon. Fear not for the danger, Haljan. I have great
+interests allied with me in this thing. Plenty of money. We have planned
+carefully."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He was idly fingering his cylinder; his gaze roved me as I sat docile on
+my bunk. "Did you think George Prince was a leader of this? A mere boy.
+I engaged him a year ago--his knowledge of ores is valuable."
+
+My heart was pounding, but I strove not to show it. He went on calmly.
+
+"I told you I am impulsive. Half a dozen times I have nearly killed
+George Prince, and he knows it." He frowned. "I wish I had killed him,
+instead of his sister. That was an error."
+
+There was a note of real concern in his voice. Did he love Anita Prince?
+It seemed so.
+
+He added, "That is done--nothing can change it. George Prince is helpful
+to me. Your friend Dean is another. I had trouble with him, but he is
+docile now."
+
+I said abruptly, "I don't know whether your promise means anything or
+not, Miko. But George Prince said you would use no more torture."
+
+"I won't. Not if you and Dean obey me."
+
+"You tell Dean I have agreed to that. You say he gave you the code-words
+we took from Johnson?"
+
+"Yes. There was a fool! That Johnson! You blame me, Haljan, for the
+killing of Captain Carter? You need not. Johnson offered to try and
+capture you. Take you alive. He killed Carter because he was angry at
+him. A stupid, vengeful fool! He is dead, and I am glad of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My mind was on Miko's plans. I ventured. "This treasure on the Moon--did
+you say it was on the Moon?"
+
+"Don't be an idiot," he retorted. "I know as much about Grantline as you
+do."
+
+"That's very little."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Perhaps you know more, Miko. The Moon is a big place. Where, for
+instance, is Grantline located?"
+
+I held my breath. Would he tell me that? A score of questions--vague
+plans--were in my mind. How skilled at mathematics were these brigands?
+Miko, Hahn, Coniston--could I fool them? If I could learn Grantline's
+location on the Moon, and keep the _Planetara_ away from it. A pretended
+error of charting. Time lost--and perhaps Snap could find an opportunity
+to signal Earth, get help.
+
+Miko answered my question as bluntly as I asked it. "I don't know where
+Grantline is located. But we will find out. He will not suspect the
+_Planetara_. When we get close to the Moon, we will signal and ask him.
+We can trick him into telling us. You think I do not know what is on
+your mind, Haljan? There is a secret code of signals arranged between
+Dean and Grantline. I have forced Dean to confess it. Without torture!
+Prince helped me in that. He persuaded Dean not to defy me. A very
+persuasive fellow, George Prince. More diplomatic than I am, I give him
+credit."
+
+I strove to hold my voice calm. "If I should join you, Miko--my word, if
+I ever gave it, you would find dependable--I would say George Prince is
+very valuable to us. You should rein your temper. He is half your
+size--you might some time, without intention do him injury."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He laughed. "Moa says so. But have no fear--"
+
+"I was thinking," I persisted, "I'd like to have a talk with George
+Prince."
+
+Ah, my pounding, tumultuous heart! But I was smiling calmly. And I
+tried to put into my voice a shrewd note of cupidity. "I really know
+very little about this treasure, Miko. If there were a million or two of
+gold-leaf in it for me--"
+
+"Perhaps there would be."
+
+"I was thinking. Suppose you let me have a talk with Prince? I have some
+knowledge of radium ores. His skill and mine--a calculation of what
+Grantline's treasure may really be. You don't know; you are only
+assuming."
+
+I paused. Whatever may have been in Miko's mind I cannot say. But
+abruptly he stood up. I had left my bunk, but he waved me back.
+
+"Sit down. I am not like Moa. I would not trust you just because you
+protested you would be loyal." He picked up his cylinder. "We will talk
+again." He gestured to the scrolls he had left upon my desk. "Work on
+those. I will judge you by the results."
+
+He was no fool, this brigand leader.
+
+"Yes," I agreed. "You want a true course now to the asteroid?"
+
+"Yes. I will get rid of these passengers. Then we will plan further. Do
+your best, Haljan--no error! By the Gods, I warn you I can check up on
+you!"
+
+I said meekly, "Very well. But you ask Prince if he wants my
+calculations of Grantline's ore-body."
+
+I shot Miko a foxy look as he stood by my door. I added, "You think you
+are clever. There is plenty you don't know. Our first night out from the
+Earth--Grantline's signals--didn't it ever occur to you that I might
+have some figures on his treasure?"
+
+It startled him. "Where are they?"
+
+I tapped my forehead. "You don't suppose I was foolish enough to record
+them. You ask Prince if he wants to talk to me. A high thorium content
+in ore--you ask Prince. A hundred millions, or two hundred. It would
+make a big difference, Miko."
+
+"I will think about it." He backed out and sealed the door upon me once
+again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But Anita did not come. I verified Hahn's figures, which were very
+nearly correct. I charted a course for the asteroid; it was almost the
+one which had been set.
+
+Coniston came for my results. "I say, we are not so bad as navigators,
+are we? I think we're jolly good, considering our inexperience. Not bad
+at all, eh?"
+
+"No."
+
+I did not think it wise to ask him about Prince.
+
+"Are you hungry, Haljan?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes."
+
+A steward came with a meal. The saturnine Hahn stood at my door with a
+weapon upon me while I ate. They were taking no chances--and they were
+wise not to.
+
+The day passed. Day and night, all the same of aspect here in the starry
+vault of Space. But with the ship's routine it was day.
+
+And then another time of sleep. I slept, fitfully, worrying, trying to
+plan. Within a few hours we would be nearing the asteroid.
+
+The time of sleep was nearly passed. My chronometer marked five A. M. of
+our original Earth starting time. The seal of my cubby door hissed. The
+door slowly, opened.
+
+Anita!
+
+She stood there with her cloak around her. A distance away on the
+shadowed deck-space Coniston was loitering.
+
+"Anita!" I whispered it.
+
+"Gregg, dear!"
+
+She turned and gestured to the watching brigand. "I will not be long,
+Coniston."
+
+She came in and half closed the door upon us, leaving it open enough so
+that we could make sure that Coniston did not advance.
+
+I stepped back where he could not see us.
+
+"Anita!"
+
+She flung herself into my opened arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+_The Masquerader_
+
+
+A moment when beyond all thought of the nearby brigand--or the
+possibility of an eavesdropping ray trained now upon my little cubby--a
+moment while Anita and I held each other; and whispered those things
+which could mean nothing to the world, but which were all the world to
+us.
+
+Then it was she whose wits brought us back from the shining fairyland of
+our love, into the sinister reality of the _Planetara_.
+
+"Gregg, if they are listening--"
+
+I pushed her away. This brave little masquerader! Not for my life, or
+for all the lives on the ship, would I consciously have endangered her.
+
+"But the ore," I said aloud. "There was, in Grantline's message--See
+here, Prince."
+
+Coniston was too far away on the deck to hear us. Anita went to my door
+again and waved at him reassuringly. I put my ear to the door opening,
+and listened at the space across the grid of the ventilator over my
+bunk. The hum of a vibration would have been audible at those two
+points. But there was nothing.
+
+"It's all right," I whispered. "Anita--not you who was killed! I can
+hardly realize it now. Not you whom they buried yesterday morning."
+
+We stood and whispered, and she clung to me--so small beside me. With
+the black robe thrown aside, it seemed that I could not miss the curves
+of her woman's figure. A dangerous game she was playing. Her hair had
+been cut short to the base of her neck, in the fashion of her dead
+brother. Her eyelashes had been clipped; the line of her brows altered.
+And now, in the light of my ray tube as it shone upon her earnest face,
+I could remark other changes. Glutz, the little beauty specialist, was
+in this secret. With plastic skill he had altered the set of her jaw
+with his wax--put masculinity there.
+
+She was whispering: "It was--was poor George whom Miko shot."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I had now the true version of what had occurred. Miko had been forcing
+his wooing upon Anita. George Prince was a weakling whose only good
+quality was a love for his sister. Some years ago he had fallen into
+evil ways. Been arrested, and then discharged from his position with the
+Federated Radium Corporation. He had taken up with evil companions in
+Great-New York. Mostly Martians. And Miko had met him. His technical
+knowledge, his training with the Federated Corporation, made him
+valuable to Miko's enterprise. And so Prince had joined the brigands.
+
+Of all this, Anita had been unaware. She had never liked Miko. Feared
+him. And it seemed that the Martian had some hold upon her brother,
+which puzzled and frightened Anita.
+
+Then Miko had fallen in love with her. George had not liked it. And that
+night on the _Planetara_, Miko had come and knocked upon Anita's door.
+Incautiously she opened it; he forced himself in. And when she repulsed
+him, struggled with him, George had been awakened.
+
+She was whispering to me now. "My room was dark. We were all three
+struggling. George was holding me--the shot came--and I screamed."
+
+And Miko had fled, not knowing whom his shot had hit in the darkness.
+
+"And when George died, Captain Carter wanted me to impersonate him. We
+planned it with Dr. Frank, to try and learn what Miko and the others
+were doing. Because I never knew that poor George had fallen into such
+evil things."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I could only hold her thankfully in my arms. The lost
+what-might-have-been seemed coming back to us.
+
+"And they cut my hair, Gregg, and Glutz altered my face a little, and I
+did my best. But there was no time--it came upon us so quickly."
+
+And she whispered, "But I love you, Gregg. I want to be the first to say
+it: I love you--I love you."
+
+But we had the sanity to try and plan.
+
+"Anita, when you go back, tell Miko we discussed radium ores. You'll
+have to be careful, clever. Don't say too much. Tell him we estimate the
+treasure at a hundred and thirty millions."
+
+I told her what Miko had vouchsafed me of his plans. She knew all that.
+And Snap knew it. She had had a few moments alone with Snap. Gave me now
+a message from him:
+
+"We'll pull out of this, Gregg."
+
+With Snap she had worked out a plan. There were Snap and I; and Shac and
+Dud Ardley, upon whom we could doubtless depend. And Dr. Frank. Against
+us were Miko and his sister; and Coniston and Hahn. Of course there were
+the members of the crew. But we were numerically the stronger when it
+came to true leadership. Unarmed and guarded now. But if we could break
+loose--recapture the ship....
+
+I sat listening to Anita's eager whispers. It seemed feasible. Miko did
+not altogether trust George Prince; Anita was now unarmed.
+
+"But I can make opportunity! I can get one of their ray cylinders, and
+an invisible cloak equipment."
+
+That cloak--it had been hidden in Miko's room when Carter searched for
+it in A20--was now in the chart-room by Johnson's body. It had been
+repaired now; Anita thought she could get possession of it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We worked out the details of the plan. Anita would arm herself, and come
+and release me. Together, with a paralyzing ray, we could creep aboard
+the ship, overcome these brigands one by one. There were so few of the
+leaders. With them felled, and with us in control of the turret and the
+helio-room we could force the crew to stay at their posts. There were,
+Anita said, no navigators among Miko's crew. They would not dare oppose
+us.
+
+"But it should be done at once, Anita. In a few hours we will be at the
+asteroid."
+
+"Yes. I will go now--try and get the weapons."
+
+"Where is Snap?"
+
+"Still in the helio-room. One of the crew guards him."
+
+Coniston was roaming the ship; he was still loitering on the deck,
+watching our door. Hahn was in the turret. The morning watch of the crew
+were at their posts in the hull-corridors; the stewards were preparing a
+morning meal. There were nine members of subordinates altogether, Anita
+had calculated. Six of them were in Miko's pay; the other three--our own
+men who had not been killed in the fighting--had joined the brigands.
+
+"And Dr. Frank, Anita?"
+
+He was in the lounge. All the passengers were herded there, with Miko
+and Moa alternating on guard.
+
+"I will arrange it with Venza," Anita whispered swiftly. "She will tell
+the others. Dr. Frank knows about it now. He thinks it can be done."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The possibility of it swept me anew. The brigands were of necessity
+scattered singly about the ship. One by one, creeping under cover of an
+invisible cloak, I could fell them, and replace them without alarming
+the others. My thoughts leaped to it. We would strike down the guard in
+the helio-room. Release Snap. At the turret we could assail Hahn, and
+replace him with Snap.
+
+Coniston's voice outside broke in upon us. "Prince."
+
+He was coming forward. Anita stood in the doorway. "I have the figures,
+Coniston. By God, this Haljan is with us! And clever! We think it will
+total a hundred and thirty millions. What a stake!"
+
+She whispered, "Gregg, dear--I'll be back soon. We can do it--be ready."
+
+"Anita--be careful of yourself! If they should suspect you...."
+
+"I'll be careful. In an hour, Gregg, or less, I'll come back. All right,
+Coniston. Where is Miko? I want to see him. Stay where you are, Haljan!
+All in good time Miko will trust you with your liberty. You'll be rich
+like us all, never fear."
+
+She swaggered out upon the deck, waved at the brigand, and banged my
+cubby door in my face.
+
+I sat upon my bunk. Waiting. Would she come back? Would she be
+successful?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+_In the Blue-lit Corridor_
+
+
+She came. I suppose it was no more than an hour: it seemed an eternity
+of apprehension. There was the slight hissing of the seal of my door.
+The panel slid. I had leaped from my bunk where in the darkness I was
+lying tense.
+
+"Prince?" I did not dare say, "Anita."
+
+"Gregg."
+
+Her voice. My gaze swept the deck as the panel opened. Neither Coniston
+nor anyone else was in sight, save Anita's dark-robed figure which came
+into my room.
+
+"You got it?" I asked her in a low whisper.
+
+I held her for an instant, kissed her. But she pushed me away with quick
+hands.
+
+"Gregg, dear--"
+
+She was breathless. My kisses, and the tenseness of what lay before us
+were to blame.
+
+"Gregg, see, I have it. Give us a little light--we must hurry!"
+
+In the blue dimness I saw that she was holding one of the Martian
+cylinders. The smallest size; it would paralyze, but not kill.
+
+"Only one, Anita?"
+
+"Yes. I had it before, but Miko took it from me. It was in his room. And
+this--"
+
+The invisible cloak. We laid it on my grid, and I adjusted its
+mechanism. A cloak of the reflecting-absorbing variety.[A]
+
+
+  [A] The principle of this invisible cloak involves the use of an
+  electronized fabric. All color is absorbed. The light rays reflected to
+  the eye of the observer thus show an image of empty blackness. There is
+  also created about the cloak a magnetic field which by natural laws
+  bends the rays of light from objects behind it. This principle of the
+  natural bending of light when passing through a magnetic field was first
+  recognized by Albert Einstein, a scientist of the Twentieth century. In
+  the case of this invisible cloak, the bending light rays, by making
+  visible what was behind the cloak's blackness, thus destroyed its solid
+  black outline and gave a pseudo-invisibility which was fairly effective
+  under favorable conditions.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I donned it, and drew its hood, and threw on its current.
+
+"All right, Anita?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Can you see me?"
+
+"No." She stepped back a foot or two further. "Not from here. But you
+must let no one approach too close."
+
+Then she came forward, put out her hand, fumbled until she found me.
+
+It was our plan to have me follow her out. Anyone observing us would see
+only the robed figure of the supposed George Prince, and I would escape
+notice.
+
+The situation about the ship was almost unchanged. Anita had secured the
+weapon and the cloak and slipped away to my cubby without being
+observed.
+
+"You're sure of that?"
+
+"I think so, Gregg. I was careful."
+
+Moa was now in the lounge, guarding the passengers. Hahn was asleep in
+the chart-room; Coniston was in the turret. Coniston would be off duty
+presently, Anita said, with Hahn taking his place. There were look-outs
+in the forward and stern watch-towers, and a guard upon Snap in the
+helio-room.
+
+"Is he inside the room, Anita?"
+
+"Snap? Yes."
+
+"No--the guard."
+
+"No. He was sitting upon the spider bridge at the door."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+This was unfortunate. That guard could see all the deck clearly. He
+might be suspicious of George Prince wandering around; it would be
+difficult to get near enough to assail him. This cylinder, I knew, had
+an effective range of only some twenty feet.
+
+Anita and I were swiftly whispering. It was necessary now to decide
+exactly what we were to do; once under observation outside, there must
+be no hesitation, no fumbling.
+
+"Coniston is sharpest, Gregg. He will be the hardest to get near."
+
+The languid-spoken Englishman was the one Anita most feared. His alert
+eyes seemed to miss nothing. Perhaps he was suspicious of this George
+Prince--Anita thought so.
+
+"But where is Miko?" I whispered.
+
+The brigand leader had gone below a few moments ago, down into the
+hull-corridor. Anita had seized the opportunity to come to me.
+
+"We can attack Hahn in the chart-room first," I suggested. "And get the
+other weapons. Are they still there?"
+
+"Yes. But Gregg, the forward deck is very bright."
+
+We were approaching the asteroid. Already its light like a brilliant
+moon was brightening the forward deck-space. It made me realize how much
+haste was necessary.
+
+We decided to go down into the hull-corridors. Locate Miko. Fell him,
+and hide him. His non-appearance back on deck would very soon throw the
+others into confusion, especially now with our impending landing upon
+the asteroid. And under cover of this confusion we would try and release
+Snap.
+
+We had been arguing no more than a minute or two. We were ready. Anita
+slid my door wide. She stepped through, with me soundlessly scurrying
+after her. The empty, silent deck was alternately dark with
+shadow-patches and bright with blobs of starlight. A sheen of the Sun's
+corona was mingled with it; and from forward came the radiance of the
+asteroid's mellow silver glow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Anita turned to seal my door; within my faintly humming cloak I stood
+beside her. Was I invisible in this light? Almost directly over us,
+close under the dome, the look-out sat in his little tower. He gazed
+down at Anita.
+
+Amidships, high over the cabin superstructure, the helio-room hung dark
+and silent. The guard on its bridge was visible. He, too, looked down.
+
+A tense instant. Then I breathed again. There was no alarm. The two
+guards answered Anita's gesture.
+
+Anita said aloud into my empty cubby: "Miko will come for you presently,
+Haljan. He told me to tell you that he wants you at the turret controls
+to land us on the asteroid."
+
+She finished sealing my door and turned away; started forward along the
+deck. I followed. My steps were soundless in my elastic-bottomed shoes.
+Anita swaggered with a noisy tread. Near the door of the smoking room a
+small incline passage led downward. We went into it.
+
+The passage was dimly blue-lit. We descended its length, came to the
+main corridor, which ran the length of the hull. A vaulted metal
+passage, with doors to the control rooms opening from it. Dim lights
+showed at intervals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The humming of the ship was more apparent here. It drowned the slight
+humming of my cloak. I crept after Anita; my hand under the cloak
+clutched the ray weapon.
+
+A steward passed us. I shrank aside to avoid him.
+
+Anita spoke to him. "Where is Miko, Ellis?"
+
+"In the ventilator-room, Mr. Prince. There was difficulty with the air
+renewal."
+
+Anita nodded, and moved on. I could have felled that steward as he
+passed me. Oh, if I only had, how different things might have been!
+
+But it seemed needless. I let him go, and he turned into a nearby door
+which led to the galley.
+
+Anita moved forward. If we could come upon Miko alone. Abruptly she
+turned, and whispered, "Gregg, if other men are with him, I'll draw him
+away. You watch your chance."
+
+What little things may overthrow one's careful plans! Anita had not
+realized how close to her I was following. And her turning so
+unexpectedly caused me to collide with her sharply.
+
+"Oh!" She exclaimed it involuntarily. Her outflung hand had unwittingly
+gripped my wrist, caught the electrode there. The touch burned her, and
+close-circuited my robe. There was a hiss. My current burned out the
+tiny fuses.
+
+My invisibility was gone! I stood, a tall black-hooded figure, revealed
+to the gaze of anyone who might be near!
+
+The futile plans of humans! We had planned so carefully! Our
+calculations, our hopes of what we could do, came clattering now in a
+sudden wreckage around us.
+
+"Anita, run!"
+
+If I were seen with her, then her own disguise would probably be
+discovered. That above everything would be disaster!
+
+"Anita, get away from me! I must try it alone!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I could hide somewhere, repair the cloak perhaps. Or, since now I was
+armed, why could I not boldly start an assault?
+
+"Gregg, we must get you back to your cubby!" She was clinging to me in a
+panic.
+
+"No! You run! Get away from me! Don't you understand? George Prince has
+no business here with me! They'd kill you!"
+
+Or worse--- Miko would discover it was Anita, not George Prince.
+
+"Gregg, let's get back to the deck."
+
+I pushed at her. Both of us in sudden confusion.
+
+From behind me there came a shout. That accursed steward! He had
+returned, to investigate perhaps what George Prince was doing in this
+corridor. He heard our voices; his shout in the silence of the ship
+sounded horribly loud. The white-clothed shape of him was in the nearby
+doorway. He stood stricken in surprise at seeing me. And then turned to
+run.
+
+I fired my paralyzing cylinder through my cloak. Got him! He fell. I
+shoved Anita violently.
+
+"Run! Tell Miko to come--tell him you heard a shout! He won't suspect
+you!"
+
+"But Gregg--"
+
+"You mustn't be found out! You're our only hope, Anita! I'll hide, fix
+the cloak, or get back to my cubby. We'll try it again."
+
+It decided her. She scurried down the corridor. I whirled the other way.
+The steward's shout might not have been heard.
+
+Then realization flashed to me. That steward would be revived. He was
+one of Miko's men: for two voyages he had been a spy upon the
+_Planetara_. He would be revived and tell what he had seen and heard.
+Anita's disguise would be revealed.
+
+A cold-blooded killing I do protest went against me. But it was
+necessary. I flung myself upon him. I beat his skull with the metal of
+my cylinder.
+
+I stood up. My hood had fallen back from my head. I wiped my bloody
+hands on my useless cloak. I had smashed the cylinder.
+
+"Haljan!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Anita's voice! A sharp note of horror and warning. I became aware that
+in the corridor, forty feet down its dim length, Miko had appeared, with
+Anita behind him. His rifle-bullet-projector was leveled. It spat at me.
+But Anita had pulled at his arm.
+
+The explosive report was sharply deafening in the confined space of the
+corridor. With a spurt of flame the leaden pellet struck over my head
+against the vaulted ceiling.
+
+Miko was struggling with Anita. "Prince, you idiot!"
+
+"Miko, don't! It's Haljan! Don't kill him--"
+
+The turmoil brought members of the crew. From the shadowed oval near me
+they came running. I flung the useless cylinder at them. But I was
+trapped in the narrow passage.
+
+I might have fought my way out. Or Miko might have shot me. But there
+was the danger that, in her horror, Anita would betray herself.
+
+I backed against the wall. "Don't kill me! See, I will not fight!"
+
+I flung up my arms. And the crew, emboldened, and courageous under
+Miko's gaze, leaped on me and bore me down.
+
+The futile plans of humans! Anita and I had planned so carefully, and in
+a few brief minutes of action it had come only to this!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+_A Woman of Mars_
+
+
+"So, Gregg Haljan, you are not as loyal as you pretend!"
+
+Miko was livid with suppressed anger. They had stripped the cloak from
+me, and flung me back in my cubby. Miko was now confronting me; at the
+door Moa stood watching. And Anita was behind her. I sat outwardly
+defiant and sullen on my bunk. But I was alert and tense, fearful still
+of what Anita's emotion might betray her into doing.
+
+"Not so loyal," Miko repeated. "And a fool! Do you think I am such a
+child you can escape me!"
+
+He swung around. "How did he get out of here? Prince, you came in here!"
+
+My heart was wildly thumping. But Anita retorted with a touch of spirit:
+
+"I came to tell him what you commanded. To check Hahn's latest
+figures--and to be ready to take the controls when we go into the
+asteroid's atmosphere."
+
+"Well, how did he get out?"
+
+"How should I know?" she parried. Little actress! Her spirit helped to
+allay my fear. She held her cloak close around her in the fashion they
+had come to expect from the George Prince who had just buried his
+sister. "How should I know, Miko? I sealed his door."
+
+"But did you?"
+
+"Of course he did," Moa put in.
+
+"Ask your look-outs," said Anita. "They saw me--I waved to them just as
+I sealed the door."
+
+I ventured, "I have been taught to open doors." I managed a sly,
+lugubrious smile. "I shall not try it again, Miko."
+
+Nothing had been said about my killing of the steward. I thanked my
+constellations now that he was dead. "I shall not try it again," I
+repeated.
+
+A glance passed between Miko and his sister. Miko said abruptly, "You
+seem to realize that it is not my purpose to kill you. And you presume
+upon it."
+
+"I shall not again." I eyed Moa. She was gazing at me steadily. She
+said, "Leave me with him, Miko...." She smiled. "Gregg Haljan, we are no
+more than twenty thousand miles from the asteroid now. The calculations
+for retarding are now in operation."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was what had taken Miko below, that and trouble with the ventilating
+system, which was soon rectified. But the retarding of the ship's
+velocity when nearing a destination required accurate manipulation.
+These brigands were fearful of their own skill. That was obvious. It
+gave me confidence. I was really needed. They would not harm me. Except
+for Miko's impulsive temper, I was in no danger from them--not now,
+certainly.
+
+Moa was saying, "I think I may make you understand, Gregg. We have
+tremendous riches within our grasp."
+
+"I know it," I added with sudden thought. "But there are many with whom
+to divide this treasure...."
+
+Miko caught my intended implication. "By the infernal, this fellow may
+have felt he could seize the treasure for himself! Because he is a
+navigator!"
+
+Moa said vehemently, "Do not be an idiot, Gregg! You could not do it!
+There will be fighting with Grantline."
+
+My purpose was accomplished. They seemed to see me a willing outlaw like
+themselves. As though it were a bond between us. And they could win me.
+
+"Leave me with him," said Moa.
+
+Miko acquiesced. "For a few minutes only." He proffered a heat-ray
+cylinder, but she refused it.
+
+"I am not afraid of him."
+
+Miko swung on me. "Within an hour we will be nearing the atmosphere.
+Will you take the controls?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He set his heavy jaw. His eyes bored into me. "You're a strange fellow,
+Haljan. I can't make you out. I am not angry now. Do you think, when I
+am deadly serious, that I mean what I say?"
+
+His calm words set a sudden shiver over me. I checked my smile.
+
+"Yes," I said.
+
+"Well then, I will tell you this: not for all of Prince's well-meaning
+interference, or Moa's liking for you, or my own need of your skill,
+will I tolerate more trouble from you. The next time--I will kill you.
+Do you believe me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That is all I want to say. You kill my men, and my sister says I must
+not hurt you. I am not a child to be ruled by a woman!"
+
+He held his huge fist before my face. "With these fingers I will twist
+your neck! Do you believe it?"
+
+"Yes." I did indeed.
+
+He swung on his heel. "If Moa wants to try and put sense into your
+head--I hope she does. Bring him to the lounge when you are finished,
+Moa. Come, Prince--Hahn will need us." He chuckled grimly. "Hahn seems
+to fear we will plunge into this asteroid like a wild comet gone
+suddenly tangent!"
+
+Anita moved aside to let him through the door. I caught a glimpse of her
+set white face as she followed him down the deck.
+
+Then Moa's bulk blocked the doorway. She faced me.
+
+"Sit where you are, Gregg." She turned and closed the door upon us. "I
+am not afraid of you. Should I be?"
+
+"No," I said.
+
+She came and sat down beside me. "If you should attempt to leave this
+room, the stern look-out has orders to bore you through."
+
+"I have no intention of leaving the room," I retorted. "I do not want to
+commit suicide."
+
+"I thought you did. You seem minded in such a fashion. Gregg, why are
+you so foolish?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I remained silent.
+
+"Why?" she demanded.
+
+I said carefully, "This treasure--you are many who will divide it. You
+have all these men on the _Planetara_. And in Ferrok-Shahn, others, no
+doubt."
+
+I paused. Would she tell me? Could I make her talk of that other brigand
+ship which Miko had said was waiting on Mars? I wondered if he had been
+able to signal it. The distance from here to Mars was great; yet upon
+other voyages Snap's signals had gotten through. My heart sank at the
+thought. Our situation here was desperate enough. The passengers soon
+would be cast upon the asteroid: there would be left only Snap, Anita
+and myself. We might recapture the ship, but I doubted it now. My
+thoughts were turning to our arrival upon the Moon. We three might,
+perhaps, be able to thwart the attack upon Grantline, hold the brigands
+off until help from the Earth might come.
+
+But with another brigand ship, fully manned and armed, coming from Mars,
+the condition would be immeasurably worse. Grantline had some twenty
+men, and his camp, I knew, would be reasonably fortified. I knew, too,
+that Johnny Grantline would fight to his last man.
+
+Moa was saying, "I would like to tell you our plans, Gregg."
+
+Her gaze was on my face. Keen eyes, but they were luminous now--an
+emotion in them sweeping her. But outwardly she was calm, stern-lipped.
+
+"Well, why don't you tell me?" I said. "If I am to help you...."
+
+"Gregg, I want you with us. Don't you understand? We are not many. My
+brother and I are guiding this affair. With your help, I would feel
+differently."
+
+"The ship at Ferrok-Shahn--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My fears were realized. She said, "I think our signals reached it. Dean
+tried, and Coniston was checking him."
+
+"You think the ship is coming?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Where will it join us?"
+
+"At the Moon. We will be there in thirty hours. Your figures gave that,
+did they not, Gregg?"
+
+"Yes. And the other ship--how fast is it?"
+
+"Quite fast. In eight days--or nine, perhaps--it will reach the Moon."
+
+She seemed willing enough to talk. There was indeed, no particular
+reason for reticence; I could not, she naturally felt, turn the
+knowledge to account.
+
+"Manned--" I prompted.
+
+"About forty men."
+
+"And armed? Long range projectors?"
+
+"You ask very avid questions, Gregg!"
+
+"Why should I not? Don't you suppose I'm interested?" I touched her.
+"Moa, did it ever occur to you, if once you and Miko trusted me--which
+you don't--I might show more interest in joining you?"
+
+The look on her face emboldened me. "Did you ever think of that, Moa?
+And some arrangement for my share of this treasure? I am not like
+Johnson, to be hired for a hundred pounds of gold-leaf."
+
+"Gregg, I will see that you get your share. Riches, for you--and me."
+
+"I was thinking, Moa, when we land at the Moon to-morrow--where is our
+equipment?"
+
+The Moon, with its lack of atmosphere, needed special equipment. I had
+never heard Carter mention what apparatus the _Planetara_ was carrying.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Moa laughed. "We have located air-suits and helmets--a variety of
+suitable apparatus, Gregg. But we were not foolish enough to leave
+Great-New York on this voyage without our own arrangements. My brother,
+and Coniston and Prince--all of us shipped crates of freight consigned
+to Ferrok-Shahn--and Rankin had special baggage marked 'theatrical
+apparatus.'"
+
+I understood it now. These brigands had boarded the _Planetara_ with
+their own Moon equipment, disguised as freight and personal baggage.
+Shipped in bond, to be inspected by the tax officials of Mars.
+
+"It is on board now. We will open it when we leave the asteroid, Gregg.
+We are well equipped."
+
+She bent toward me. And suddenly her long lean fingers were gripping my
+shoulders.
+
+"Gregg, look at me!"
+
+I gazed into her eyes. There was passion there; and her voice was
+suddenly intense.
+
+"Gregg, I told you once a Martian girl goes after what she wants. It is
+you I want--"
+
+Not for me to play like a cad upon a woman's emotions! "Moa, you flatter
+me."
+
+"I love you." She held me off, gazing at me. "Gregg--"
+
+I must have smiled. And abruptly she released me.
+
+"So you think it amusing?"
+
+"No. But on Earth--"
+
+"We are not on the Earth. Nor am I of the Earth!" She was gauging me
+keenly. No note of pleading was in her voice; a stern authority; and the
+passion was swinging to anger.
+
+"I am like my brother: I do not understand you, Gregg Haljan. Perhaps
+you think you are clever? It seems stupidity, the fatuousness of man!"
+
+"Perhaps," I said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was a moment of silence. "Gregg, I said I loved you. Have you no
+answer?"
+
+"No." In truth, I did not know what sort of answer it would be best to
+make. Whatever she must have read in my eyes, it stirred her to fury.
+Her fingers with the strength of a man in them, dug into my shoulders.
+Her gaze searched me.
+
+"You think you love someone else? Is that it?"
+
+That was horribly startling; but she did not mean it just that way. She
+amended with caustic venom: "That little Anita Prince! You thought you
+loved her! Was that it?"
+
+"No!"
+
+But I hardly deceived her. "Sacred to her memory! Her ratlike little
+face--soft voice like a purring, sniveling cat! Is that what you're
+remembering, Gregg Haljan?" she sneered.
+
+I tried to laugh. "What nonsense!"
+
+"Is it? Then why are you cold under my touch? Am I--a girl descended
+from the Martian flame-workers--impotent now to awaken a man?"
+
+A woman scorned! In all the Universe there could be no more dangerous an
+enemy. An incredible venom shot from her eyes.
+
+"That miserable mouselike creature! Well for her that my brother killed
+her."
+
+It struck me cold. If Anita was unmasked, beyond all the menace of
+Miko's wooing, I knew that the venom of Moa's jealousy was a greater
+danger.
+
+I said sharply, "Don't be simple, Moa!" I shook off her grip. "You
+imagine too much. You forget that I am a man of the Earth and you a girl
+of Mars."
+
+"Is that reason why we should not love?"
+
+"No. But our instincts are different. Men of the Earth are born to the
+chase."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I was smiling. With thought of Anita's danger I could find it readily in
+my heart to dupe this Amazon.
+
+"Give me time, Moa. You attract me."
+
+"You lie!"
+
+"Do you think so?" I gripped her arm with all the power of my fingers.
+It must have hurt her, but she gave no sign; her gaze clung to me
+steadily.
+
+"I don't know what to think, Gregg Haljan...."
+
+I held my grip. "Think what you like. Men of Earth have been known to
+kill the thing they love."
+
+"You want me to fear you?"
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+She smiled scornfully. "That is absurd."
+
+I released her. I said earnestly, "I want you to realize that if you
+treat me fairly, I can be of great advantage to this venture. There will
+be fighting--I am fearless."
+
+Her venomous expression was softening. "I think that is true, Gregg."
+
+"And you need my navigating skill. Even now I should be in the turret."
+
+I stood up. I half expected she would stop me, but she did not. I added,
+"Shall we go?"
+
+She stood beside me. Her height brought her face level with mine.
+
+"I think you will cause no more trouble, Gregg?"
+
+"Of course not. I am not wholly witless."
+
+"You have been."
+
+"Well, that is over." I hesitated. Then I added, "A man of Earth does
+not yield to love when there is work to do. This treasure--"
+
+I think that of everything I said, this last most convinced her.
+
+She interrupted, "That I understand." Her eyes were smoldering. "When it
+is over--when we are rich--then I will claim you, Gregg."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She turned from me. "Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes. No! I must get that sheet of Hahn's last figures."
+
+"Are they checked?"
+
+"Yes." I picked the sheet up from my desk. "Hahn is fairly accurate,
+Moa."
+
+"A fool nevertheless. An apprehensive fool."
+
+A comradeship seemed coming between us. It was my purpose to establish
+it.
+
+"Are we going to maroon Dr. Frank with the passengers?" I asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But he may be of use to us." I wanted Dr. Frank kept aboard. I still
+felt that there was a chance for us to recapture the ship.
+
+But Moa shook her head decisively. "My brother has decided not. We will
+be well rid of Dr. Frank. Are you ready, Gregg?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+She opened the door. Her gesture reassured the look-out, who was alertly
+watching the stern watch-tower.
+
+"Come, Gregg."
+
+I stepped out, and followed her forward along the deck, which now was
+bright with the radiance of the nearby asteroid.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+_Marooned on an Asteroid_
+
+
+A fair little world. I had thought so before; and I thought so now as I
+gazed at the asteroid hanging so close before our bow. A huge, thin
+crescent, with the Sun off to one side behind it. A silver crescent,
+tinged with red. From this near viewpoint, all of the little globe's
+disc was visible. The shadowed portion lay dimly red, mysteriously; the
+sunlit crescent--widening visibly is we approached--was gleaming silver.
+Inky moonlike shadows in the hollows, brilliant light upon the mountain
+heights. The seas lay in gray patches. The convexity of the disc was
+sharply defined. So small a world! Fair and beautiful, shrouded with
+clouded areas.
+
+"Where is Miko?"
+
+"In the lounge, Gregg."
+
+"Can we stop there?"
+
+Moa turned into the lounge archway. Strange, tense scene. I saw Anita at
+once. Her robed figure lurked in an inconspicuous corner; her eyes were
+upon me as Moa and I entered, but she did not move. The thirty-odd
+passengers were huddled in a group. Solemn, white-faced men, frightened
+women. Some of them were sobbing. One Earth-woman--a young widow--sat
+holding her little girl, and wailing with uncontrolled hysteria. The
+child knew me. As I appeared now, with my gold-laced white coat over my
+shoulders, the little child seemed to see in my uniform a mark of
+authority. She left her mother and ran to me.
+
+"You, please--you will help us? My moms is crying."
+
+I sent her gently back. But there came upon me then a compassion for
+these innocent passengers, fated to have embarked upon this ill-starred
+voyage. Herded here in this cabin, with brigands like pirates of old
+guarding them. Waiting now to be marooned on an uninhabited asteroid
+roaming in space. A sense of responsibility swept me. I swung upon Miko.
+He stood with a nonchalant grace, lounging against the wall with a
+cylinder dangling in his hand. He anticipated me.
+
+"So, Haljan--she put some sense into your head? No more trouble? Then
+get into the turret. Moa, stay there with him. Send Hahn here. Where is
+that ass Coniston? We will be in the atmosphere shortly."
+
+I said, "No more trouble from me, Miko. But these passengers--what
+preparation are you making for them on the asteroid?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He stared in surprise. Then he laughed. "I am no murderer. The crew is
+preparing food, all we can spare. And tools. They can build themselves
+shelter--they will be picked up in a few weeks."
+
+Dr. Frank was here. I caught his gaze, but he did not speak. On the
+lounge couches there still lay the quarter-score bodies. Rankin, who
+had been killed by Blackstone in the fight; a man passenger killed; a
+woman and a man wounded.
+
+Miko added, "Dr. Frank will take his medical supplies--he will care for
+the wounded. There are other bodies among the crew." His gesture was
+deprecating. "I have not buried them. We will put them ashore; easier
+that way."
+
+The passengers were all eyeing me. I said:
+
+"You have nothing to fear. I will guarantee you the best equipment we
+can spare. You will give them apparatus with which to signal?" I
+demanded of Miko.
+
+"Yes. Get to the turret."
+
+I turned away, with Moa after me. Again the little girl ran forward.
+
+"Come--speak to my moms! She is crying."
+
+It was across the cabin from Miko. Coniston had appeared from the deck;
+it created a slight diversion. He joined Miko.
+
+"Wait," I said to Moa. "She is afraid of you. This is humanity."
+
+I pushed Moa back. I followed the child. I had seen that Venza was
+sitting with the child's weeping mother. This was a ruse to get word
+with me.
+
+I stood before the terrified woman while the little girl clung to my
+legs.
+
+I said gently, "Don't be so frightened. Dr. Frank will take care of you.
+There is no danger--you will be safer on the asteroid than here on the
+ship."
+
+I leaned down and touched her shoulder. "There is no danger."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I was between Venza and the open cabin. Venza whispered swiftly, "When
+we are landing, Gregg, I want you to make a commotion--anything--just as
+the women passengers go ashore."
+
+"Why? No, of course you will have food, Mrs. Francis."
+
+"Never mind! An instant. Just confusion. Go, Gregg--don't speak now!"
+
+I raised the child. "You take care of mother." I kissed her.
+
+From across the cabin Miko's sardonic voice made me turn. "Touching
+sentimentality, Haljan! Get to your post in the turret!"
+
+His rasping note of annoyance brooked no delay. I set the child down. I
+said, "I will land us in an hour. Depend on it."
+
+Hahn was at the controls when Moa and I reached the turret.
+
+"You will land us safely, Haljan?" he demanded anxiously.
+
+I pushed him away. "Miko wants you in the lounge."
+
+"You take command here?"
+
+"Of course, Hahn. I am no more anxious for a crash than you."
+
+He sighed with relief. "That is true. I am no expert at atmospheric
+entry, Haljan--nor Coniston, nor Miko."
+
+"Have no fear. Sit down, Moa."
+
+I waved to the look-out in the forward watch-tower, and got his routine
+gesture. I rang the corridor bells, and the normal signals came promptly
+back.
+
+"It's correct, Hahn. Get away with you." I called after him. "Tell Miko
+that things are all right here."
+
+Hahn's small dark figure, lithe as a leopard in his tight fitting
+trousers and jacket with his robe now discarded, went swiftly down the
+spider incline and across the deck.
+
+"Moa, where is Snap? By the infernal, if he has been injured!--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Up on the helio-room bridge the brigand guard still sat. Then I saw that
+Snap was out there sitting with him. I waved from the turret window, and
+Snap's cheery gesture answered me. His voice carried down through the
+silver moonlight: "Land us safely, Gregg. These weird amateur
+navigators!"
+
+Within the hour I had us dropping into the asteroid's atmosphere. The
+ship heated steadily. The pressure went up. It kept me busy with the
+instruments and the calculations. But my signals were always promptly
+answered from below. The brigand crew did its part efficiently.
+
+At a hundred and fifty thousand feet I shifted the gravity plates to the
+landing combinations, and started the electronic engines.
+
+"All safe, Gregg?" Moa sat at my elbow; her eyes, with what seemed a
+glow of admiration in them, followed my busy routine activities.
+
+"Yes. The crew works well."
+
+The electronic streams flowed out like a rocket tail behind us. The
+_Planetara_ caught their impetus. In the rarified air, our bow lifted
+slightly, like a ship riding a gentle ground swell. At a hundred
+thousand feet we sailed gently forward, hull down to the asteroid's
+surface, cruising to seek a landing space.
+
+A little sea was now beneath us. A shadowed sea, deep purple in the
+night down there. Occasional green-verdured islands showed, with the
+lines of white surf marking them. Beyond the sea, a curving coastline
+was visible. Rocky headlines, behind which mountain foothills rose in
+serrated, verdured ranks. The sunlight edged the distant mountains; and
+presently this rapidly turning little world brought the sunlight
+forward.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was day beneath us. We slid gently downward. Thirty thousand feet
+now, above a sparkling blue ocean. The coastline was just ahead: green
+with a lush, tropical vegetation. Giant trees, huge-leaved. Long
+dangling vines; air plants, with giant pods and vivid orchidlike
+blossoms.
+
+I sat at the turret window, staring through my glasses. A fair little
+world, yet obviously uninhabited. I could fancy that all this was
+newly-sprung vegetation. This asteroid had whirled in from the cold of
+the interplanetary space far outside our Solar System. A few years
+ago--as time might be measured astronomically, it was no more than
+yesterday--this fair landscape was congealed white and bleak, with a
+sweep of glacial ice. But the seeds of life miraculously were here. The
+miracle of life! Under the warming, germinating sunlight, the verdure
+sprung.
+
+"Can you find landing space, Gregg?"
+
+Moa's question brought back my wandering fancies. I saw an upland glade,
+a level spread of ferns with the forest banked around it. A cliff-height
+nearby, frowning down at the sea.
+
+"Yes. I can land us there." I showed her through the glasses. I rang the
+sirens, and we spiraled, descending further. The mountain tops were now
+close beneath us. Clouds were overhead, white masses with blue sky
+behind them. A day of brilliant sunlight. But soon, with our forward
+cruising, it was night. The sunlight dropped beneath the sharply convex
+horizon; the sea and the land went purple.
+
+A night of brilliant stars; the Earth was a blazing blue-red point of
+light. The heavens visibly were revolving; in an hour or so it would be
+daylight again.
+
+On the forward deck now Coniston had appeared, commanding half a dozen
+of the crew. They were carrying up caskets of food and the equipment
+which was to be given the marooned passengers. And making ready the
+disembarking incline, loosening the seals of the side-dome windows.
+
+Sternward on the deck, by the lounge oval, I could see Miko standing.
+And occasionally the roar of his voice at the passengers sounded.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My vagrant thought flung back into Earth's history. Like this, ancient
+travelers of the surface of the sea were herded by pirates to walk the
+plank, or put ashore, marooned upon some fair desert island of the
+tropic Spanish main.
+
+Hahn came mounting our turret incline. "All is well, Gregg Haljan?"
+
+"Get to your work," Moa told him sharply. "We land in an hour-quadrant."
+
+He retreated, joining the bustle and confusion which now was beginning
+on the deck. It struck me--could I turn that confusion to account? Would
+it be possible, now at the last moment, to attack these brigands? Snap
+still sat outside the helio-room doorway. But his guard was alert, with
+upraised projector. And that guard, I saw, in his position high
+amidships, commanded all the deck.
+
+And I saw too, as the passengers now were herded in a line from the
+lounge oval, that Miko had roped and bound all of the men. And a
+clanking chain connected them. They came like a line of convicts,
+marching forward, and stopped on the open deck-space near the base of
+the turret. Dr. Frank's grim face gazed up at me.
+
+Miko ordered the women and children in a group beside the chained men.
+His words to them reached me: "You are in no danger. When we land, be
+careful. You will find gravity very different--this is a very small
+world."
+
+I flung on the landing lights; the deck glowed with the blue radiance;
+the search-beams shot down beside our hull. We hung now a thousand feet
+above the forest glade. I cut off the electronic streams. We poised,
+with the gravity-plates set at normal, and only a gentle night-breeze to
+give us a slight side drift. This I could control with the lateral
+propeller rudders.
+
+For all my busy landing routine, my mind was on other things. Venza's
+swift words back there in the lounge. I was to create a commotion while
+the passengers were landing. Why? Had she and Dr. Frank, perhaps, some
+last minute desperate purposes?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I determined I would do what she said. Shout, or mis-order the lights.
+That would be easy. But to what advantage?
+
+I was glad it was night--I had, indeed, calculated our descent so that
+the landing would be in darkness. But to what purpose? These brigands
+were very alert. There was nothing I could think of to do which would
+avail us anything more than a possible swift death under Miko's anger.
+
+"Well done, Gregg!" said Moa.
+
+I cut off the last of the propellers. With scarcely a perceptible jar,
+the _Planetara_ grounded, rose like a feather and settled to rest in the
+glade. The deep purple night with stars overhead was around us. I hissed
+out our interior air through the dome and hull-ports, and admitted the
+night-air of the asteroid. My calculations--of necessity mere
+mathematical approximations--proved fairly accurate. In temperature and
+pressure there was no radical change as the dome-windows slid back.
+
+We had landed. Whatever Venza's purpose, her moment was at hand. I was
+tense. But I was aware also, that beside me Moa was very alert. I had
+thought her unarmed. She was not. She sat back from me; in her hand was
+a small thin knife-blade.
+
+She murmured tensely, "You have done your part, Gregg. Well and
+skillfully done. Now we will sit here quietly and watch them land."
+
+Snap's guard was standing, keenly watching. The look-outs in the forward
+and stern towers were also armed; I could see them both gazing keenly
+down at the confusion of the blue-lit deck.
+
+The incline went over the hull-side and touched the ground.
+
+"Enough!" Miko roared. "The men first. Hahn, move the women back!
+Coniston, pile those caskets to the side. Get out of the way, Prince."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Anita was down there. I saw her at the edge of the group of women. Venza
+was near her.
+
+Miko shoved her. "Get out of the way, Prince. You can help Coniston.
+Have the things ready to throw off."
+
+Five of the steward-crew were at the head of the incline. Miko shouted
+up at me:
+
+"Haljan, hold our shipboard gravity normal."
+
+"Yes," I responded.
+
+I had done so. Our magnitizers had been adjusted to the shifting
+calculations of our landing. They were holding now at intensities, so
+that upon the _Planetara_ no change from fairly normal Earth-gravity
+was apparent. I rang a tentative inquiry signal; the operator in the
+hull-magnetizer control answered that he was at his post.
+
+The line of men were first to descend. Dr. Frank led them. He flashed a
+look of farewell up at me and Snap as he went down the incline with the
+chained men passengers after him.
+
+Motley procession! Twenty odd, dishevelled, half-clothed men of three
+worlds. The changing, lightening gravity on the incline caught them. Dr.
+Frank bounded up to the rail under the impetus of his step: caught and
+held himself, drew himself back. The line swayed. In the dim, blue-lit
+glare it seemed unreal, crazy. A grotesque dream of men descending a
+plank.
+
+They reached the forest glade. Stood swaying, afraid at first to move.
+The purple night crowded them; they stood gazing at this strange world,
+their new prison.
+
+"Now the women."
+
+Miko was shoving the women to the head of the incline. I could feel
+Moa's steady gaze upon me. Her knife-blade gleamed in the turret light.
+
+She murmured again, "In a few minutes you can ring us away, Gregg."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I felt like an actor awaiting his cue in the wings of some turgid drama
+the plot of which he did not know. Venza was near the head of the
+incline. Some of the women and children were on it. A woman screamed.
+Her child had slipped from her hand, bounded up over the rail, and
+fallen. Hardly fallen--floated down to the ground, with flailing arms
+and legs, landing in the dark ferns, unharmed. Its terrified wail came
+up.
+
+There was a confusion on the incline. Venza, still on the deck, seemed
+to send a look of appeal to the turret. My cue?
+
+I slid my hand to the light switchboard. It was near my knees. I pulled
+a switch. The blue-lit deck beneath the turret went dark.
+
+I recall an instant of horrible, tense silence, and in the gloom beside
+me I was aware of Moa moving. I felt a thrill of instinctive fear--would
+she plunge that knife into me?
+
+The silence of the darkened deck was broken with a confusion of sounds.
+A babble of voices; a woman passenger's scream; shuffling of feet; and
+above it all, Miko's roar:
+
+"Stand quiet! Everyone! No movement!"
+
+On the descending incline there was chaos. The disembarking women were
+clinging to the gang-rail; some of them had evidently surged over it and
+fallen. Down on the ground in the purple-shadowed starlight I could
+vaguely see the chained line of men. They too were in confusion, trying
+to shove themselves toward the fallen women.
+
+Miko roared:
+
+"Light those tubes! Gregg Haljan! By the Almighty, Moa, are you up
+there? What is wrong? The light-tubes--"
+
+Dark drama of unknown plot! I wonder if I should try and leave the
+turret. Where was Anita? She had been down there on the deck when I
+flung out the lights.
+
+I think twenty seconds would have covered it all. I had not moved. I
+thought, "Is Snap concerned with this?"
+
+Moa's knife could have stabbed me. I felt her lunge against me; and
+suddenly I was gripping her, twisting her wrist. But she flung the knife
+away. Her strength was almost the equal of my own. Her hand went for my
+throat, and with the other hand she was fumbling.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The deck abruptly sprang into light again. Moa had found the switch and
+threw it back.
+
+"Gregg!"
+
+She fought me as I tried to reach the switch. I saw down on the deck
+Miko gazing up at us. Moa panted, "Gregg--stop! If he--sees you doing
+this, he'll kill you--"
+
+The scene down there was almost unchanged. I had answered my cue. To
+what purpose? I saw Anita near Miko. The last of the women were on the
+plank.
+
+I had stopped struggling with Moa. She sat back, panting; and then she
+called: "Sorry, Miko. It will not happen again."
+
+Miko was in a towering rage. But he was too busy to bother with me; his
+anger swung on those nearest him. He shoved the last of the women
+violently at the incline. She bounded over. Her body, with the
+gravity-pull of only a few Earth-pounds, sailed in an arc and dropped to
+the sward near the swaying line of men.
+
+Miko swung back. "Get out of my way!" A sweep of his huge arm knocked
+Anita sidewise. "Prince, damn you, help me with those boxes!"
+
+The frightened stewards were lifting the boxes, square metal
+storage-chests each as long as a man, packed with food, tools, and
+equipment.
+
+"Here, get out of my way, all of you!"
+
+My breath came again; Anita nimbly retreated before Miko's angry rush.
+He dashed at the stewards. Three of them held a box. He took it from
+them; raised it at the top of the incline. Poised it over his head an
+instant, with his massive arms like gray pillars beneath it. And flung
+it. The box catapulted, dropped; and then, passing the Planetara's
+gravity area, it sailed in a long flat arc over the forest glade and
+crashed into the purple underbrush.
+
+"Give me another!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The stewards pushed another at him. Like an angry Titan, he flung it.
+And another. One by one the chests sailed out and crashed.
+
+"There is your food--go pick it up! Haljan, make ready to ring us away!"
+
+On the deck lay the dead body of Rance Rankin, which the stewards had
+carried out. Miko seized it, flung it.
+
+"There! Go to your last resting place!"
+
+And the other bodies. Balch Blackstone, Captain Carter, Johnson--Miko
+flung them. And the course masters and those of our crew who had been
+killed; the stewards appeared with them; Miko unceremoniously cast them
+off.
+
+The passengers were all on the ground now. It was dim down there. I
+tried to distinguish Venza, but could not. I could see Dr. Frank's
+figure at the end of the chained line of men. The passengers were gazing
+in horror at the bodies hurtling over them.
+
+"Ready, Haljan?"
+
+Moa prompted me. "Tell him yes!"
+
+I called, "Yes!" Had Venza failed in her unknown purpose? It seemed so.
+On the helio-room bridge Snap and his guard stood like silent statues in
+the blue-lit gloom.
+
+The disembarkation was over.
+
+"Close the ports," Miko commanded.
+
+The incline came folding up with a clatter. The port and dome-windows
+slid closed. Moa hissed against my ear:
+
+"If you want life, Gregg Haljan, you will start your duties!"
+
+Venza had failed. Whatever it was, it had come to nothing. Down in the
+purple forest, disconnected now from the ship, the last of our friends
+stood marooned. I could distinguish them through the blur of the closed
+dome--only a swaying, huddled group was visible. But my fancy pictured
+this last sight of them--Dr. Frank, Venza, Shac and Dud Ardley.
+
+They were gone. There were left only Snap, Anita, and myself.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I was mechanically ringing us away. I heard my sirens sounding down
+below, with the answering clangs here in the turret. The _Planetara's_
+respiratory controls started; the pressure equalizers began operating,
+and the gravity plates shifted into lifting combinations.
+
+The ship was hissing and quivering with it, combined with the grating of
+the last of the dome ports. And Miko's command:
+
+"Lift, Haljan."
+
+Hahn had been mingled with the confusion of the deck, though I had
+hardly noticed him; Coniston had remained below, with the crew answering
+my signals. Hahn stood now with Miko, gazing down through a deck window.
+Anita was alone at another.
+
+"Lift, Haljan."
+
+I lifted us gently, bow first, with a repulsion of the bow plates. And
+started the central electronic engine. Its thrust from our stern moved
+us diagonally over the purple forest trees.
+
+The glade slid downward and away. I caught a last vague glimpse of the
+huddled group of marooned passengers, staring up at us. Left to their
+fate, alone on this deserted little world.
+
+With the three engines going we slid smoothly upward. The forest
+dropped, a purple spread of tree-tops, edged with starlight and
+Earth-light. The sharply curving horizon seemed following us up. I swung
+on all the power. We mounted at a forty degree angle, slowly circling,
+with a bank of clouds over us to the side and the shining little sea
+beneath.
+
+"Very good, Gregg." In the turret light Moa's eyes blazed at me. "I do
+not know what you meant by darkening the deck-lights." Her fingers dug
+at my shoulders. "I will tell my brother it was an error."
+
+I said, "An error--yes."
+
+"An error? I don't know what it was. But you have me to deal with now.
+You understand? I will tell my brother so. You said, 'On Earth a man may
+kill the thing he loves.' A woman of Mars may do that! Beware of me,
+Gregg Haljan."
+
+Her passion-filled eyes bored into me. Love? Hate? The venom of a woman
+scorned--a mingling of turgid emotions....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I twisted away from her grip and ignored her; she sat back, silently
+watching my busy activities; the calculations of the shifting conditions
+of gravity, pressures, temperatures; a checking of the score or more of
+instruments on the board before me.
+
+Mechanical routine. My mind went to Venza, back there on the asteroid.
+The wandering little world was already shrinking to a convex surface
+beneath us. Venza, with her last unknown play, gone to failure. Had I
+failed my cue? Whatever my part, it seemed now that I must have horribly
+mis-acted it.
+
+The crescent Earth was presently swinging over our bow. We rocketed out
+of the asteroid's shadow. The glowing, flaming Sun appeared, making a
+crescent of the Earth. With the glass I could see our tiny Moon,
+visually seeming to hug the limb of its parent Earth.
+
+We were away upon our course for the Moon. My mind flung ahead.
+Grantline with his treasure, unsuspecting this brigand ship. And
+suddenly, beyond all thought of Grantline and his treasure, there came
+to me a fear for Anita. In God's truth I had been, so far, a very
+stumbling inept champion--doomed to failure with everything I tried. It
+swept me, so that I cursed my own incapacity. Why had I not contrived to
+have Anita desert at the asteroid? Would it not have been far better for
+her there? Taking her chance for rescue with Dr. Frank, Venza and the
+others?
+
+But no! I had, like an inept fool, never thought of that! Had left her
+here on board at the mercy of these outlaws.
+
+And I swore now that, beyond everything, I would protect her.
+
+Futile oath! If I could have seen ahead a few hours! But I sensed the
+catastrophe. There was a shudder within me as I sat in that turret,
+docilely guiding us out through the asteroid's atmosphere, heading us
+upon our course for the Moon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+_In the Zed-light Glow_
+
+
+"Try again. By the infernal, Snap Dean, if you do anything to balk us!"
+
+Miko scanned the apparatus with keen eyes. How much technical knowledge
+of signaling instruments did this brigand leader have? I was tense and
+cold with apprehension as I sat in a corner of the helio-room, watching
+Snap. Could Miko be fooled? Snap, I knew, was trying to fool him.
+
+The Moon spread close beneath us. My log-chart, computed up to thirty
+minutes past, showed us barely some thirty thousand miles over the
+Moon's surface. The globe lay in quadrature beneath our bow quarter--a
+huge quadrant spreading across the black starry vault of the lower
+heavens. A silver quadrant. The sunset caught the Lunar mountains, flung
+slanting shadows over the empty Lunar plains. All the disc was plainly
+visible. The mellow Earth-light glowed serene and pale to illumine the
+Lunar night.
+
+The _Planetara_ was bathed in silver. A brilliant silver glare swept the
+forward deck, clean white and splashed with black shadows. We had partly
+circled the Moon, so as now to approach it from the Earthward side. I
+had worked with extreme concentration through the last few hours,
+plotting the trajectory of our curving sweep, setting the gravity plates
+with constantly shifting combinations. And with it a necessity for the
+steady retarding of our velocity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Miko for a time was at my elbow in the turret. I had not seen Coniston
+and Hahn of recent hours. I had slept, awakened refreshed, and had a
+meal. Coniston and Hahn remained below, one or the other of them always
+with the crew to execute my sirened orders. Then Coniston came to take
+my place in the turret, and I went with Miko to the helio-room.
+
+"You are skilful, Haljan." A measure of grim approval was in Miko's
+voice. "You evidently have no wish to try and fool me in this
+navigation."
+
+I had not, indeed. It is delicate work at best, coping with the
+intricacies of celestial mechanics upon a semicircular trajectory with
+retarding velocity, and with a make-shift crew we could easily have
+come upon real difficulty.
+
+We hung at last, hull-down, facing the Earthward hemisphere of the Lunar
+disc. The giant ball of the Earth lay behind and above us--the Sun over
+our stern quarter. With forward velocity almost checked, we poised, and
+Snap began his signals to the unsuspecting Grantline.
+
+My work momentarily was over. I sat watching the helio-room. Moa was
+here, close beside me; I felt always her watchful gaze, so that even the
+play of my expression needed reining.
+
+Miko worked with Snap. Anita too was here. To Miko and Moa it was the
+somber, taciturn George Prince, shrouded always in his black mourning
+cloak, disinclined to talk; sitting alone, brooding and cowardly sullen.
+
+Miko repeated, "By the infernal, if you try to fool me, Snap Dean!"
+
+The small metal room, with its grid floor and low-arched ceiling, glared
+with moonlight through its windows. The moving figures of Snap and Miko
+were aped by the grotesque, misshapen shadows of them on the walls. Miko
+gigantic--a great, menacing ogre. Snap small and alert--a trim, pale
+figure in his tight-fitting white trousers, broad-flowing belt, and
+white shirt open at the throat. His face was pale and drawn from lack of
+sleep and the torture to which Miko had subjected him. But he grinned at
+the brigand's words, and pushed his straggling hair closer under the red
+eyeshade.
+
+"I'm doing my best, Miko--you can believe it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The room over long periods was deadly silent, with Miko and Snap bending
+watchfully at the crowded banks of instruments. A silence in which my
+own pounding heart seemed to echo. I did not dare look at Anita, nor she
+at me. Snap was trying to signal Earth, not the Moon! His main helios
+were set in the reverse. The infra-red waves, flung from the bow
+window, were of a frequency which Snap and I believed that Grantline
+could not pick up. And over against the wall, close beside me and
+seemingly ignored by Snap, there was a tiny ultra-violet sender. Its
+faint hum and the quivering of its mirrors had so far passed unnoticed.
+
+Would some Earth-station pick it up? I prayed so. There was a thumb nail
+mirror here which could bring an answer. I prayed that it might swing.
+
+Would some Earth telescope be able to see us? I doubted it. The pinpoint
+of the _Planetara's_ infinitesimal bulk would be beyond them.
+
+Long silences, broken only by the faint hiss and murmur of Snap's
+instruments.
+
+"Shall I try the 'graphs, Miko?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+I helped him with the spectroheliograph. At every level the plates
+showed us nothing save the scarred and pitted Moon-surface. We worked
+for an hour. There was nothing. Bleak cold night on the Moon here
+beneath us. A touch of fading sunlight upon the Apennines. Up near the
+South Pole, Tycho with its radiating open rills stood like a grim dark
+maw.
+
+Miko bent over a plate. "Something here? Is there?"
+
+An abnormality upon the frowning ragged cliffs of Tycho? We thought so.
+But then it seemed not.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another hour. No signal came from Earth. If Snap's calls were getting
+through we had no evidence of it. Abruptly Miko strode at me from across
+the room. I went cold and tense; Moa shifted, alert to my every
+movement. But Miko was not interested in me. A sweep of his clenched
+fist knocked the ultra-violet sender and its coils and mirrors in a
+tinkling crash to the grid at my feet.
+
+"We don't need that, whatever it is!"
+
+He rubbed his knuckles where the violet waves had tinged them, and
+turned grimly back to Snap.
+
+"Where are your Gamma ray mirrors? If the treasure is exposed--"
+
+This Martian's knowledge was far greater than we believed. He grinned
+sardonically at Anita. "If our treasure is on this hemisphere, Prince,
+we should pick up Gamma rays? Don't you think so? Or is Grantline so
+cautious it will all be protected?"
+
+Anita spoke in a careful, throaty drawl. "The Gamma rays came plain
+enough when we passed here on the way out."
+
+"You should know," grinned Miko. "An expert eavesdropper, Prince--I will
+say that for you. Come Dean, try something else. By God, if Grantline
+does not signal us, I will be likely to blame you--my patience is
+shortening. Shall we go closer, Haljan?"
+
+"I don't think it would help," I said.
+
+He nodded. "Perhaps not. Are we checked?"
+
+"Yes." We were poised, very nearly motionless. "If you wish an advance,
+I can ring it. But we need a surface destination now."
+
+"True, Haljan." He stood thinking. "Would a zed-ray penetrate those
+crater-cliffs? Tycho, for instance, at this angle?"[B]
+
+"It might," Snap agreed. "You think he may be on the Northern inner side
+of Tycho?"
+
+"He may be anywhere," said Miko shortly.
+
+"If you think that," Snap persisted, "suppose we swing the _Planetara_
+over the South Pole. Tycho, viewed from there--"
+
+"And take another quarter-day of time?" Miko sneered. "Flash on your
+zed-ray; help him hook it up, Haljan."
+
+
+  [B] An allusion to the use of the zed-ray light for making
+  spectro-photographs of what might be behind obscuring rock masses,
+  similar to the old-style X-ray.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I moved to the lens-box of the spectroheliograph. It seemed that Snap
+was very strangely reluctant: Was it because he knew that the Grantline
+camp lay concealed on the north inner wall of Tycho's giant ring? I
+thought so. But Snap flashed a queer look at Anita. She did not see it,
+but I did. And I could not understand it.
+
+My accursed, witless incapacity! If only I had taken warning!
+
+"Here," commanded Miko. "A score of 'graphs with the zed-ray. I tell you
+I will comb this surface if we have to stay here until our ship comes
+from Ferrok-Shahn to join us!"
+
+The Martian brigands were coming. Miko's signals had been answered. In
+ten days the other brigand ship, adequately manned and armed, would be
+here.
+
+Snap helped me connect the zed-ray. He did not dare even to whisper to
+me, with Moa hovering always so close. And for all Miko's sardonic
+smiling, we knew that he would tolerate nothing from us now. He was
+fully armed, and so was Moa.
+
+I recall that Snap several times tried to touch me significantly. Oh, if
+only I had taken warning!
+
+We finished our connecting. The dull gray point of zed-ray gleamed
+through the prisms, to mingle with the moonlight entering the main lens.
+I stood with the shutter trip.
+
+"The same interval, Snap?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Beside me, I was aware of a faint reflection of the zed-light--a gray
+Cathedral shaft crossing the helio-room and falling upon the opposite
+wall. An unreality there, as the zed-light faintly strove to penetrate
+the metal room-side.
+
+I said, "Shall I make the exposure?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Snap nodded. But that 'graph was never made. An exclamation from Moa
+made us all turn. The Gamma mirrors were quivering! Grantline had picked
+our signals! With what undoubtedly was an intensified receiving
+equipment which Snap had not thought Grantline able to use, he had
+caught our faint zed-rays, which Snap was sending only to deceive Miko.
+And Grantline had recognized the _Planetara_, and had released his
+occulting screens surrounding the radium ore. The Gamma rays were here,
+unmistakable!
+
+And upon their heels came Grantline's message. Not in the secret system
+he had arranged with Snap, but unsuspectingly in open code. I could read
+the swinging mirror, and so could Miko.
+
+And Miko decoded it triumphantly aloud:
+
+"_Surprised but pleased your return. Approach Mid-Northern hemisphere,
+region of Archimedes, forty thousand toises[C] off nearest Apennine
+range._"
+
+The message broke off. But even its importance was overshadowed. Miko
+stood in the center of the helio-room, triumphantly reading the
+light-indicator. Its beam swung on the scale, which chanced to be almost
+directly over Anita's head. I saw Miko's expression change. A look of
+surprise, amazement came to him.
+
+"Why--"
+
+He gasped. He stood staring. Almost stupidly staring for an instant. And
+as I regarded him with fascinated horror, there came upon his heavy gray
+face a look of dawning comprehension. And I heard Snap's startled intake
+of breath. He moved to the spectroheliograph, where the zed-ray
+connections were still humming.
+
+But with a leap Miko flung him away. "Off with you! Moa, watch him!
+Haljan, don't move!"
+
+
+  [C] About fifty miles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Again Miko stood staring. Oh dear God, I saw now that he was staring at
+Anita!
+
+"Why George Prince! How strange you look!"
+
+Anita did not move. She was stricken with horror: she shrank back
+against the wall, huddled in her cloak. Miko's sardonic voice came
+again:
+
+"How strange you look. Prince!" He took a step forward. He was grim and
+calm. Horribly calm. Deliberate. Gloating--like a great gray monster in
+human form toying with a fascinated, imprisoned bird.
+
+"Move just a little Prince. Let the zed-ray light fall more fully."
+
+Anita's head was bare. That pale, Hamletlike face. Dear God, the
+zed-light reflection lay gray and penetrating upon it!
+
+Miko took another step. Peering. Grinning. "How amazing, George Prince!
+Why, I can hardly believe it!"
+
+Moa was armed with an electronic cylinder. For all her amazement--what
+turgid emotions sweeping her I can only guess--she never took her eyes
+from Snap and me.
+
+"Back! Don't move, either of you!" She hissed it at us.
+
+Then Miko leaped at Anita like giant gray leopard pouncing.
+
+"Away with that cloak, Prince!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I stood cold and numbed. And realization came at last. The faint
+zed-light glow had fallen by chance upon Anita's face. Penetrated the
+flesh; exposed, faintly glowing, the bone-line of her jaw. Unmasked the
+waxen art of Glutz.
+
+And Miko had seen it.
+
+"Why George, how surprising! Away with that cloak!"
+
+He seized her wrist, drew her forward, beyond the shaft of zed-light,
+into the brilliant light of the Moon. And ripped her cloak from her. The
+gentle curves of her woman's figure were so unmistakable!
+
+And as Miko gazed at them, all his calm triumph swept away.
+
+"Why, Anita!"
+
+I heard Moa mutter: "So that is it?" A venomous flashing look--a shaft
+from me to Anita and back again. "So that is it?"
+
+"Why, _Anita_!"
+
+Miko's great arms gathered her up as though she were a child. "So I have
+you back; from the dead delivered back to me!"
+
+"Gregg!" Snap's warning, and his grip over my shoulders brought me a
+measure of sanity. I had tensed to spring. I stood quivering, and Moa
+thrust her weapon against my face. The helio mirrors were swaying again
+with another message from Grantline. But it came ignored by us all.
+
+In the glare of moonlight by the forward window, Miko held Anita, his
+great hands pawing her with triumphant possessive caresses.
+
+"So, little Anita, you are given back to me."
+
+Against her futile struggles he held her.
+
+Dear God, if only I had had the wit to have prevented this!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+_The Grantline Camp_
+
+
+In the mid-northern hemisphere upon the Earthward side of the Moon, the
+giant crater of Archimedes stood brooding in silent majesty. Grim, lofty
+walls, broken, pitted and scarred, rising precipitous to the upper
+circular rim. Night had just fallen. The sunlight clung to the
+crater-heights; it tinged with flame the jagged peaks of the Apennine
+Mountains which rose in tiers at the horizon; and it flung great inky
+shadows over the intervening lowlands.
+
+Northward, the Mare Imbrium stretched mysterious and purple, its million
+rills and ridges and crater holes flattened by distance and the
+gathering darkness into a seeming level surface. The night slowly
+deepened. The dead-black vault of the sky blazed with its brilliant
+starry gems. The gibbous Earth hung high above the horizon, motionless,
+save for the invisible pendulum sway over the tiny arc, of its
+libration: widening to quadrature, casting upon the bleak naked Lunar
+landscape its mellow Earth-glow.
+
+Slow, measured process, this coming of the Lunar night! For an Earth-day
+the sunset slowly faded on the Apennines; the poised Earth widened a
+little further--an Earth-day of time, with the Earth-disc visibly
+rotating, the faint tracery of its oceans and continents passing in
+slow, majestic review.
+
+Another Earth-day interval. Then another. And another. Full night now
+enveloped Archimedes. Splotches of Earth-light and starlight sheen
+slowly shifted as the night advanced.
+
+Between the great crater and the nearby mountains, the broken,
+pseudo-level lowlands lay wan in the Earth-light. A few hundred miles,
+as distance would be measured upon Earth. A million million rills were
+here. Valleys and ridges, ravines, sharp-walled canyons, cliffs and
+crags--tiny craters like pock-marks.
+
+Naked, gray porous rock everywhere. This denuded landscape! Cracked and
+scarred and tumbled, as though some inexorable Titan torch had seared
+and crumbled and broken it, left it now congealed like a wind-lashed sea
+abruptly frozen into immobility.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Moonlight upon Earth so gently shines to make romantic a lover's smile!
+But the reality of the Lunar night is cold beyond human rationality.
+Cold and darkly silent. Grim desolation. Awesome. Majestic. A frowning
+majesty that even to the most intrepid human beholder is inconceivably
+forbidding.
+
+And there were humans here now. On this tumbled plain, between
+Archimedes and the mountains, one small crater amid the million of its
+fellows was distinguished this night by the presence of humans. The
+Grantline camp! It huddled in the deepest purple shadows on the side of
+a bowl-like pit, a crudely circular orifice with a scant two miles
+across its rippling rim. There was faint light here to mark the presence
+of the living intruders. The blue-glow radiance of Morrell tube-lights
+under a spread of glassite.
+
+The Grantline camp stood mid-way up one of the inner cliff-walls of the
+little crater. The broken, rock-strewn floor, two miles wide, lay five
+hundred feet below the camp. Behind it, the jagged precipitous cliff
+rose another five hundred to the heights of the upper rim. A broad
+level shelf hung midway up the cliff, and upon it Grantline had built
+his little group of glassite dome shelters. Viewed from above there was
+the darkly purple crater floor, the upflung circular rim where the
+Earth-light tinged the spires and crags with yellow sheen; and on the
+shelf, like a huddled group of birds nests, Grantline's domes clung and
+gazed down upon the inner valley.
+
+Intricate task, the building of these glassite shelters! There were
+three. The main one stood close at the brink of the ledge. A quadrangle
+of glassite walls, a hundred feet in length by half as wide, and a scant
+ten feet high to its flat-arched dome roof. Built for this purpose in
+Great-New York, Grantline had brought his aluminite girders and braces
+and the glassite panels in sections.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The air here on the Moon surface was negligible--a scant one
+five-thousandth of the atmospheric pressure at the sea-level on Earth.
+But within the glassite shelter, a normal Earth-pressure must be
+maintained. Rigidly braced double walls to withstand the explosive
+tendency, with no external pressure to counteract it. A tremendous
+necessity for mechanical equipment had burdened Grantline's small
+ship to its capacity. The chemistry of manufactured air, the
+pressure equalizers, renewers, respirators, the lighting and
+temperature-maintenance systems--all the mechanics of a space-flyer were
+here.
+
+And within the glassite double walls, there was necessity for a constant
+circulation of the Erentz temperature insulating system.[D]
+
+There was this main Grantline building, stretching low and rectangular
+along the front edge of the ledge. Within it were living rooms, messroom
+and kitchen. Fifty feet behind it, connected by a narrow passage of
+glassite, was a similar, though smaller structure. The mechanical
+control rooms, with their humming, vibrating mechanisms were here. And
+an instrument room with signaling apparatus, senders, receivers,
+mirror-grids and audiphones of several varieties; and an
+electro-telescope, small but modern, with dome overhead like a little
+Earth observatory.
+
+From this instrument building, beside the connecting pedestrian passage,
+wire cables for light, and air-tubes and strings and bundles of
+instrument wires ran to the main structure--gray snakes upon the
+porous, gray Lunar rock.
+
+The third building seemed a lean-to banked against the cliff-wall, a
+slanting shed-wall of glassite fifty feet high and two hundred in
+length. Under it, for months Grantline's borers had dug into the cliff.
+Braced tunnels were here, penetrating back and downward into this vein
+of radio-active rock.
+
+
+  [D] An intricate system of insulation against extremes of temperature,
+  developed by the Erentz Kinetic Energy Corporation in the twenty-first
+  century. Within the hollow double shell of a shelter-wall, or an
+  explorer's helmet-suit, or a space-flyer's hull, an oscillating
+  semi-vacuum current was maintained--an extremely rarified air,
+  magnetically charged, and maintained in rapid oscillating motion. Across
+  this field the outer cold, or heat, as the case might be, could
+  penetrate only with slow radiation. This Erentz system gave the most
+  perfect temperature insulation known in its day. Without it,
+  interplanetary flight would have been impossible.
+
+  And it served a double purpose. Developed at first for temperature
+  insulation only, the Erentz system surprisingly brought to light one of
+  the most important discoveries made in the realm of physics of the
+  century. It was found that any flashing, oscillating current, whether
+  electronic, or the semi-vacuum of rarified air--or even a thin sheet of
+  whirling fluid--gave also a pressure-insulation. The kinetic energy of
+  the rapid movement was found to absorb within itself the latent energy
+  of the unequal pressure.
+
+  (The intricate postulates and mathematical formulae necessary to
+  demonstrate the operation of the physical laws involved would be out of
+  place here.)
+
+  The _Planetara_ was so equipped, against the explosive tendency of its
+  inner air-pressures when flying in the near-vacuum of space. In the case
+  of Grantline's glassite shelters, the latent energy of his room interior
+  air pressure went largely into a kinetic energy which in practical
+  effect resulted only in the slight acceleration of the vacuum current,
+  and thus never reached the outer wall. The Erentz engineers claimed for
+  their system a pressure absorption of 97.4%, leaving, in Grantline's
+  case, only 2.6% of room pressure to be held by the building's aluminite
+  bracers.
+
+  It may be interesting to note in this connection that without the Erentz
+  system as a basis, the great sub-sea developments on Earth and Mars of
+  the twenty-first century would also have been impossible. Equipped with
+  a fluid circulation device of the Erentz principle within its double
+  hull, the first submarine was able to penetrate the great ocean deeps,
+  withstanding the tremendous ocean pressures at depths of four thousand
+  fathoms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The work was over now. The borers had been dismantled and packed away.
+At one end of the cliff the mining equipment lay piled in a litter.
+There was a heap of discarded ore where Grantline had carted and dumped
+it after his first crude refining process had yielded it as waste. The
+ore-slag lay like gray powder-flakes strewn down the cliff. Tracks and
+ore-carts along the ledge stood discarded, mute evidence of the weeks
+and months of work these helmeted miners had undergone, struggling upon
+this airless, frowning world.
+
+But now all that was finished. The radio-active ore was sufficiently
+concentrated. It lay--this treasure--in a seventy-foot pile behind the
+glassite lean-to, with a cage of wires over it and an insulation barrage
+guarding its Gamma rays from escaping to mark its presence.
+
+The ore-shelter was dark; the other two buildings were lighted. And
+there were small lights mounted at intervals about the camp and along
+the edge of the ledge. A spider ladder, with tiny platforms some twenty
+feet one above the other, hung precariously to the cliff-face. It
+descended the five hundred feet to the crater floor; and, behind the
+camp, it mounted the jagged cliff-face to the upper rim-height, where a
+small observatory platform was placed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Such was the outer aspect of the Grantline Treasure Camp near the
+beginning of this Lunar night, when, unbeknown to Grantline and his
+score of men, the _Planetara_ with its brigands was approaching. The
+night was perhaps a sixth advanced. Full night. No breath of cloud to
+mar the brilliant starry heavens. The quadrant Earth hung poised like a
+giant mellow moon over Grantline's crater. A bright Earth, yet no air
+was here on this Lunar surface to spread its light. Only a glow,
+mingling with the spots of blue tube-light on the poles along the cliff,
+and the radiance from the lighted buildings.
+
+The crater floor was dimly purple. Beyond the opposite upper rim, from
+the camp-height, the towering top of distant Archimedes was visible.
+
+No evidence of movement showed about the silent camp. Then a pressure
+door in an end of the main building opened its tiny series of locks. A
+bent figure came out. The lock closed. The figure straightened and gazed
+about the camp. Grotesque, bloated semblance of a man! Helmeted, with
+rounded dome-hood suggestion of an ancient sea diver, yet goggled and
+trunked like a gas-masked fighter of the twentieth century war.
+
+He stooped presently and disconnected metal weights which were upon his
+shoes.[E]
+
+Then he stood erect again, and with giant strides bounded along the
+cliff. Fantastic figure in the blue-lit gloom! A child's dream of crags
+and rocks and strange lights with a single monstrous figure in
+seven-league boots.
+
+He went the length of the ledge with his twenty-foot strides, inspected
+the lights, and made adjustments. Came back, and climbed with agile,
+bounding leaps up the spider ladder to the dome on the crater top. A
+light flashed on up there. Then it was extinguished.
+
+The goggled, bloated figure came leaping down after a moment.
+Grantline's exterior watchman making his rounds. He came back to the
+main building. Fastened the weights on his shoes. Signaled within.
+
+The lock opened. The figure went inside.
+
+It was early evening, after the dinner hour and before the time of
+sleep, according to the camp routine Grantline was maintaining. Nine P.
+M. of Earth Eastern-American time, recorded now upon his Earth
+chronometer. In the living room of the main building Johnny Grantline
+sat with a dozen of his men dispersed about the room, whiling away as
+best they could the lonesome hours.
+
+
+  [E] Within the Grantline buildings it was found more convenient to use a
+  gravity normal to Earth. This was maintained by the wearing of
+  metal-weighted shoes and metal-loaded belt. The Moon-gravity is normally
+  approximately one-sixth the gravity of Earth.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"All as usual. This cursed Moon! When I get home--if ever I do get
+home--"
+
+"Say your say, Wilks. But you'll spend your share of the gold-leaf and
+thank your constellations that you had your chance!"
+
+"Let him alone! Come on, Wilks, take a hand here. This game is no good
+with three."
+
+The man who had been outside flung his hissing helmet recklessly to the
+floor and unsealed his suit. "Here, get me out of this. No, I won't
+play. I can't play your cursed game with nothing at stake!"
+
+"Commissioner's orders."
+
+A laugh went up at the sharp look Johnny Grantline flung from where he
+sat reading in a corner of the room.
+
+"Commander's orders. No gambling gold-leafers tolerated here."
+
+"Play the game, Wilks." Grantline said quietly. "We all know it's
+infernal doing nothing."
+
+"He's been struck by Earth-light," another man laughed. "Commander, I
+told you not to let that guy Wilks out at night."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A rough but good-natured lot of men. Jolly and raucous by nature in
+their leisure hours. But there was too much leisure here now. Their
+mirth had a hollow sound. In older times, explorers of the frozen polar
+zones had to cope with inactivity, loneliness and despair. But at least
+they were on their native world. The grimness of the Moon was eating
+into the courage of Grantline's men. An unreality here. A weirdness.
+These fantastic crags. The deadly silence. The nights, almost two weeks
+of Earth-time in length, congealed by the deadly frigidity of Space. The
+days of black sky, blaring stars and flaming Sun, with no atmosphere to
+diffuse the daylight. Days of weird blending sheen of illumination with
+most of the Sun's heat radiating so swiftly from the naked Lunar surface
+that the outer temperature still was cold. And day and night, always the
+familiar beloved Earth-disc hanging poised up near the zenith. From
+thinnest crescent to full Earth, and then steadily back again to
+crescent.
+
+All so abnormal, irrational, disturbing to human senses. With the mining
+work over, an irritability grew upon Grantline's men. And perhaps since
+the human mind is so wonderful, elusive a thing, there lay upon these
+men an indefinable sense of impending disaster. Johnny Grantline felt
+it. He thought about it now as he sat in the room corner watching Wilks
+being forced into the plaget-game, and he found it strong within him.
+Unreasonable, ominous depression! Barring the accident which had
+disabled his little space-ship when they reached this small crater hole,
+his expedition had gone well. His instruments, and the information he
+had from the former explorers, had picked up the ore-vein with a scant
+month of search.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The vein had now been exhausted; but the treasure was here. Nothing was
+left but to wait for the _Planetara_. The men were talking of that now.
+
+"She ought to be well mid-way from here to Ferrok-Shahn by now. When do
+you figure she'll be back here, and signal us?"
+
+"Twenty days. Give her another five now to Mars, and five in port.
+That's ten. We'll pick her signals in three weeks, mark me."
+
+"Three weeks! Just give me three weeks of reasonable sunrise and sunset!
+This cursed Moon! You mean, Williams, next daylight."
+
+"Hah! He's inventing a Lunar language. You'll be a Moon-man yet, if you
+live here long enough."
+
+Olaf Swenson, the big blond fellow from the Scandia fiords, came and
+flung himself down by Grantline.
+
+"Ay tank they bane without not enough to do, Commander. If the ore yust
+would not give out--"
+
+"Three weeks--it isn't very long, Ollie."
+
+"No. Maybe not."
+
+From across the room somebody was saying, "If the _Comet_ hadn't smashed
+on us, damn me but I'd ask the Commander to let some of us take her
+back. The discarded equipment could go."
+
+"Shut up, Billy. She is smashed."
+
+The little _Comet_, cruising in search of the ore, had come to grief
+just as the ore was found. It lay now on the crater floor with its nose
+bashed into an upflung spire of rock. Wrecked beyond repair. Save for
+the pre-arrangement with the _Planetara_, the Grantline party would have
+been helpless here on the Moon. Knowledge of that--although no one ever
+suspected but that the _Planetara_ would come safely--served to add to
+the men's depression. They were cut off, virtually helpless on a strange
+world. Their signalling devices were inadequate even to reach Earth.
+Grantline's power batteries were running low.[F] He could not attempt
+wide-flung signals without jeopardizing the power necessary for the
+routine of his camp in the event of the _Planetara_ being delayed. Nor
+was his electro-telescope adequate to pick small objects at any great
+distance.[G]
+
+All of Grantline's effort, in truth, had gone into equipment for the
+finding and gathering of the treasure. The safety of the expedition had
+to that extent been neglected.
+
+Swenson was mentioning that now.
+
+"You all agreed to it," Johnny said shortly. "Every man here voted that,
+above everything, what we wanted was to get the radium."
+
+
+  [F] The Gravely storage tanks--the power used by the Grantline
+  expedition--were heavy and bulky affairs. Economy of space on the Comet
+  allowed but few of them.
+
+  [G] Electro-telescopes of most modern use and power were too large and
+  used too much power to be available to Grantline.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A dynamic little fellow, this Johnny Grantline. Short of temper
+sometimes, but always just, and a perfect leader of men. In stature he
+was almost as small as Snap. But he was thick-set, with a smooth shaven,
+keen-eyed, square-jawed face, and a shock of brown tousled hair. A man
+of thirty-five, though the decision of his manner, the quiet dominance
+of his voice, mode him seem older. He stood up now, surveying the
+blue-lit glassite room with its low ceiling close overhead. He was
+bowlegged; in movement he seemed to roll with a stiff-legged gait like
+some sea captain of former days on the deck of his swaying ship.
+Queer-looking figure! Heavy flannel shirt and trousers, boots heavily
+weighted, and bulky metal-loaded belt strapped about his waist.
+
+He grinned at Swenson. "When we divide this treasure, everyone will be
+happy, Ollie."
+
+The treasure was estimated by Grantline to be the equivalent of ninety
+millions in gold-leaf. A hundred and ten millions in the gross as it now
+stood, with twenty millions to be deducted by the Federated Refiners for
+reducing it to the standard purity of commercial radium. Ninety
+millions, with only a million and a half to come off for expedition
+expenses, and the _Planetara_ Company's share another million. A nice
+little stake.
+
+Grantline strode across the room with his rolling gait.
+
+"Cheer up, boys. Who's winning there? I say, you fellows--"
+
+An audiphone buzzer interrupted him, a call from the duty man in the
+instrument room of the nearby building.
+
+Grantline clicked the receiver. The room fell into silence. Any call was
+unusual--nothing ever happened here in the camp.
+
+The duty man's voice sounded over the room.
+
+"Signals coming! Not clear. Will you come over, Commander?"
+
+Signals!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was never Grantline's way to enforce needless discipline. He offered
+no objection when every man in the camp rushed through the connecting
+passages. They crowded the instrument room where the tense duty man sat
+bending over his helio receivers. The mirrors were swaying.
+
+The duty man looked up and met Grantline's gaze.
+
+"I ran it up to the highest intensity. Commander. We ought to get
+it--not let it pass."
+
+"Low scale, Peter?"
+
+"Yes. Weakest infra-red. I'm bringing it up, even though it uses too
+much of our power." The duty man was apologetic.
+
+"Get it," said Grantline shortly.
+
+"I had a swing a minute ago. I think it's the _Planetara_."
+
+"_Planetara!_" The crowding group of men chorused it. How could it be
+the _Planetara_?
+
+But it was. The call presently came in clear. Unmistakably the
+_Planetara_, turned back now from her course to Ferrok-Shahn.
+
+"How far away, Peter?"
+
+The duty man consulted the needles of his dial scale. "Close! Very weak
+infra-red. But close. Around thirty thousand miles, maybe. It's Snap
+Dean calling."
+
+The _Planetara_ here within thirty thousand miles! Excitement and
+pleasure swept the room. The _Planetara's_ coming had for so long been
+awaited so eagerly!
+
+The excitement communicated to Grantline. It was unlike him to be
+incautious; yet now with no thought save that some unforeseen and
+pleasing circumstance had brought the _Planetara_ ahead of time;
+incautious Grantline certainly was.
+
+"Raise the ore-barrage."
+
+"I'll go! My suit is here."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A willing volunteer rushed out to the ore-shed. The Gamma rays, which in
+the helio-room of the _Planetara_ came so unwelcome to Snap and me, were
+loosed.
+
+"Can you send, Peter?" Grantline demanded.
+
+"Yes, with more power."
+
+"Use it."
+
+Johnny dictated the message of his location which we received. In his
+incautious excitement he ignored the secret code.
+
+An interval passed. The ore was occulted again. No message had come from
+us--just Snap's routine signal in the weak infra-red, which we hoped
+Grantline would not get.
+
+The men crowding Grantline's instrument room waited in tense silence.
+Then Grantline tried the telescope. Its current weakened the lights with
+the drain upon the distributors, and cooled the room with a sudden
+deadly chill as the Erentz insulating system slowed down.
+
+The duty man looked suddenly frightened. "You'll bulge out our walls,
+Commander. The internal pressure--"
+
+"We'll chance it."
+
+They picked up the image of the _Planetara_! It came from the telescope
+and shone clear on the grid--the segment of star-field with a tiny,
+cigar-shaped blob. Clear enough to be unmistakable. The _Planetara_!
+Here now over the Moon, almost directly overhead, poised at what the
+altimeter scale showed to be a fraction under thirty thousand miles.
+
+The men gazed in awed silence. The _Planetara_ coming....
+
+But the altimeter needle was motionless. The _Planetara_ was hanging
+poised.
+
+A sudden gasp went about the room. The men stood with whitening faces,
+gazing at the _Planetara's_ image. And at the altimeter needle. It was
+moving. The _Planetara_ was descending. But not with an orderly swoop.
+
+The image showed the ship clearly. The bow tilted up, then dipped down.
+But then in a moment it swung up again. The ship turned partly over.
+Righted itself. Then swayed again, drunkenly.
+
+The watching men were stricken into horrified silence. The _Planetara's_
+image momentarily, horribly, grew larger. Swaying. Then turning
+completely over, rotating slowly end over end.
+
+The _Planetara_, out of control, was falling!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+_The Wreck of the_ Planetara
+
+
+On the _Planetara_, in the helio-room, Snap and I stood with Moa's
+weapon upon us. Miko held Anita. Triumphant. Possessive. Then as she
+struggled, a gentleness came to this strange Martian giant. Perhaps he
+really loved her. Looking back on it, I sometimes think so.
+
+"Anita, do not fear me." He held her away from him. "I would not harm
+you. I want your love." Irony came to him. "And I thought I had killed
+you! But it was only your brother."
+
+He partly turned. I was aware of how alert was his attention. He
+grinned. "Hold them, Moa--don't let them do anything foolish. So, Anita,
+you were masquerading to spy upon me? That was wrong of you." He was
+again ironic.
+
+Anita had not spoken. She held herself tensely away from Miko; she had
+flashed me a look--just one. What horrible mischance to have brought
+this catastrophe!
+
+The completion of Grantline's message had come unnoticed by us all.
+
+"Look! Grantline again!" Snap said abruptly.
+
+But the mirrors were steadying. We had no recording-tape apparatus; the
+rest of the message was lost. The mirrors pulsed and then steadied.
+
+No further message came. There was an interval while Miko waited. He
+held Anita in the hollow of his great arm.
+
+"Quiet, little bird. Do not fear me. I have work to do, Anita--this is
+our great adventure. We will be rich, you and I. All the luxuries three
+worlds can offer, all for us when this is over. Careful, Moa! This
+Haljan has no wit."
+
+Well could he say it! I, who had been so witless to let this come upon
+us! Moa's weapon prodded me. Her voice hissed at me with all the venom
+of a reptile enraged. "So that was your game, Gregg Haljan! And I was so
+graceless to admit love for you!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Snap murmured in my ear, "Don't move, Gregg! She's reckless."
+
+She heard it. She whirled on him. "We have lost George Prince, it seems.
+Well, we will survive without his ore knowledge. And you, Dean--and this
+Haljan--mark me, I will kill you both if you cause trouble!"
+
+Miko was gloating. "Don't kill them yet, Moa. What was it Grantline
+said? Near the crater of Archimedes? Ring us down, Haljan! We'll land."
+
+He signaled the turret. Gave Coniston the Grantline message, and
+audiphoned it below to Hahn. The news spread about the ship. The bandits
+were jubilant.
+
+"We'll land now, Haljan. Ring us down. Come, Anita and I will go with
+you to the turret."
+
+I found my voice. "To what destination?"
+
+"Near Archimedes. The Apennine side. Keep well away from the Grantline
+camp. We will probably sight it as we descend."
+
+There was no trajectory needed. We were almost over Archimedes now. I
+could drop us with a visible, instrumental course. My mind was whirling
+with a confusion of thoughts. What could we do? What could we dare
+attempt to do? I met Snap's gaze.
+
+"Ring us down, Gregg," he said quietly.
+
+I nodded. I pushed Moa's weapon away. "You don't need that. I obey
+orders."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We went to the turret. Moa watched me and Snap, a grim, cold Amazon. She
+avoided looking at Anita, whom Miko helped down the ladders with a
+strange mixture of courtierlike grace and amused irony. Coniston gazed
+at Anita with falling jaw.
+
+"I say! Not George Prince? The girl--"
+
+"No time for argument now," Miko commanded. "It's the girl, masquerading
+as her brother. Get below, Coniston. Haljan takes us down."
+
+The astounded Englishman continued gazing at Anita. "I mean to say,
+where to on the Moon? Not to encounter Grantline at once, Miko? Our
+equipment is not ready."
+
+"Of course not. We will land well away. He won't be suspicious--we can
+signal him again after we land. We will have time to plan, to assemble
+the equipment. Get below, I told you."
+
+The reluctant Coniston left us. I took the controls. Miko, still holding
+Anita as though she were a child, sat beside me. "We will watch him,
+little Anita. A skilled fellow at this sort of work."
+
+I rang my signals for the shifting of the gravity plates. The answer
+should have come from below within a second or two. But it did not. Miko
+regarded me with his great bushy eyebrows upraised.
+
+"Ring again, Haljan."
+
+I duplicated. No answer. The silence was frightening. Ominous.
+
+Miko muttered, "That accursed Hahn. Ring again!"
+
+I sent the imperative emergency demand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No answer. A second or two. Then all of us in the turret were startled.
+Transfixed. From below came a sudden hiss. It sounded in the turret: it
+came from shifting-room call-grid. The hissing of the pneumatic valves
+of the plate-shifters in the lower control room. The valves were
+opening; the plates automatically shifting into neutral, and
+disconnecting!
+
+An instant of startled silence. Miko may have realized the significance
+of what had happened. Certainly Snap and I did. The hissing ceased. I
+gripped the emergency plate-shifter switch which hung over my head. Its
+disc was dead! The plates were dead in neutral. In the positions they
+were only placed while in port! And their shifting mechanisms were
+imperative!
+
+I was on my feet. "Snap! Good God, we're in neutral!"
+
+Miko, if he had not realized it before, was aware if it now. The
+Moon-disc moved visibly as the _Planetara_ lurched. The vault of the
+heavens was slowly swinging.
+
+Miko ripped out a heavy oath. "Haljan! What is this?"
+
+He stood up, still holding Anita. But there was nothing that he could do
+in this emergency. "Haljan--what--"
+
+The heavens turned with a giant swoop. The Moon was over us. It swung in
+dizzying arc. Overhead, then back past our stern; under us, then
+appearing over our bow.
+
+The _Planetara_ had turned over. Upending. Rotating, end over end.
+
+For a moment or two I think all of us in that turret stood and clung.
+The Moon-disc, the Earth, Sun and all the stars were swinging past our
+windows. So horribly dizzying. The _Planetara_ seemed lurching and
+tumbling. But it was an optical effect only. I stared with grim
+determination at my feet. The turret seemed to steady.
+
+Then I looked again. That horrible swoop of all the heavens! And the
+Moon, as it went past, seemed expanded. We were falling! Out of control,
+with the Moon-gravity pulling us inexorably down!
+
+"That accursed Hahn--" Miko, stricken with his lack of knowledge of
+these controls, was wholly confused.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A moment only had passed. My fancy that the Moon-disc was enlarged was
+merely the horror of my imagination. We had not fallen far enough yet
+for that.
+
+But we were falling. Unless I could do something, we would crash upon
+the Lunar surface.
+
+Anita, killed in this _Planetara_ turret. The end of everything for us.
+
+Action came to me. I gasped, "Miko, you stay here! The controls are
+dead! You stay here--hold Anita."
+
+I ignored Moa's weapon which she was still clutching mechanically. Snap
+thrust her away.
+
+"Sit back! Let us alone! We're falling! Don't you understand?"
+
+This deadly danger, to level us all! No longer were we captors and
+captured. Not brigands for this moment. No thought of Grantline's
+treasure! Trapped humans only! Leveled by the common, instinct of
+self-preservation. Trapped here together, fighting for our lives.
+
+Miko gasped. "Can you--check us? What happened?"
+
+"I don't know. I'll try."
+
+I stood clinging. This dizzying whirl! From the audiphone grid
+Coniston's voice sounded.
+
+"I say, Haljan, something's wrong! Hahn doesn't signal."
+
+The look-out in the forward tower was clinging to his window. On the
+deck below our turret a member of the crew appeared, stood lurching for
+a moment, then shouted, and turned and ran, swaying, aimless. From the
+lower hull-corridors our grids sounded with the tramping of running
+steps. Panic among the crew was spreading over the ship. A chaos below
+decks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I pulled at the emergency switch again. Dead....
+
+But down below there was the manual controls.
+
+"Snap, we must get down. The signals."
+
+"Yes."
+
+Coniston's voice came like a scream from the grid. "Hahn is dead--the
+controls are broken! Hahn is dead!"
+
+We barely heard him. I shouted, "Miko--hold Anita! Come on, Snap!"
+
+We clung to the ladders. Snap was behind me. "Careful, Gregg! Good God!"
+
+This dizzying whirl. I tried not to look. The deck under me was now a
+blurred kaleidoscope of swinging patches of moonlight and shadow.
+
+We reached the deck. Ran, swaying, lurching.
+
+It seemed that from the turret Anita's voice followed us. "Be careful!"
+
+Within the ship our senses steadied. With the rotating, reeling, heavens
+shut out, there were only the shouts and tramping steps of the
+panic-stricken crew to mark that anything was amiss. That, and a
+pseudo-sensation of lurching caused by the pulsing of gravity--a pull
+when the Moon was beneath our hull to combine its force with our
+magnetizers; a lightening when it was overhead. A throbbing, pendulum
+lurch--that was all.
+
+We ran down to the corridor incline. A white-faced member of the crew,
+came running up.
+
+"What's happened? Haljan, what's happened?"
+
+"We're falling!" I gripped him. "Get below. Come on with us!"
+
+But he jerked away from me. "Falling?"
+
+A steward came running. "Falling? My God!"
+
+Snap swung at them. "Get ahead of us! The manual controls--our only
+chance--we need all you men at the compressor pumps!"
+
+But it was an instinct to try and get on deck, as though here below we
+were rats caught in a trap. The men tore away from me and ran. Their
+shouts of panic resounded through the dim, blue-lit corridors.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Coniston came lurching from the control room. "I say--falling! Haljan,
+my God, look at him!"
+
+Hahn was sprawled at the gravity-plate switchboard. Sprawled,
+head-down. Dead. Killed by something? Or a suicide?
+
+I bent over him. His hands gripped the main switch. He had ripped it
+loose. And his left hand had reached and broken the fragile line of
+tubes that intensified the current of the pneumatic plate-shifters. A
+suicide? With his last frenzy determined to kill us all?
+
+Then I saw that Hahn had been killed! Not a suicide! In his hand he
+gripped a small segment of black fabric, a piece torn from an invisible
+cloak? Was it?
+
+The questions were swept away by the necessity for action. Snap was
+rigging the hand-compressors. If he could get the pressure back in the
+tanks....
+
+I swung on Coniston. "You armed?"
+
+"Yes." He was white-faced and confused, but not in a panic. He showed me
+his heat-ray cylinder. "What do you want me to do?"
+
+"Round up the crew. Get all you can. Bring them here to man these
+pumps."
+
+He dashed away. Snap shouted after him. "Kill them down if they argue!"
+
+Miko's voice sounded from the turret call grid: "Falling! Haljan, you
+can see it now! Check us!"
+
+I did not answer that. I pumped with Snap.
+
+Desperate moments. Or was it an hour? Coniston brought the men. He stood
+over them with menacing weapon.
+
+We had all the pumps going. The pressure rose a little in the tanks.
+Enough to shift a bow-plate. I tried it. The plate slowly clicked into a
+new combination. A gravity repulsion just in the bow-tip.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I signaled Miko. "Have we stopped swinging?"
+
+"No. But slower."
+
+I could feel it, that lurch of the gravity. But not steady now. A limp.
+The tendency of our bow was to stay up.
+
+"More pressure, Snap."
+
+"Yes."
+
+One of the crew rebelled, tried to bolt from the room. "God, we'll
+crash, caught in here!"
+
+Coniston shot him down.
+
+I shifted another bow-plate. Then two in the stern. The stern-plates
+seemed to move more readily than the others.
+
+"Run all the stern-plates," Snap advised.
+
+I tried it. The lurching stopped. Miko called. "We're bow down.
+Falling!"
+
+But not falling free. The Moon-gravity pull upon us was more than half
+neutralized.
+
+"I'll go up, Snap, and try the engines. You don't mind staying down?
+Executing my signals?"
+
+"You idiot!" He gripped my shoulders. His eyes were gleaming, his face
+haggard, but his pale lips twitched with a smile.
+
+"Maybe it's good-by, Gregg. We'll fall--fighting."
+
+"Yes. Fighting. Coniston, you keep the pressure up."
+
+With the broken set-tubes it took nearly all the pressure to maintain
+the few plates I had shifted. One slipped back to neutral. Then the
+pumps gained on it, and it shifted again.
+
+I dashed up to the deck. Ah, the Moon was so close now! So horribly
+close! The deck shadows were still. Through the forward bow windows the
+Moon surface glared up at us.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I reached the turret. The _Planetara_ was steady. Pitched bow-down, half
+falling, half sliding like a rocket downward. The scarred surface of the
+Moon spread wide under us.
+
+These last horrible minutes were a blur. And there was always Anita's
+face. She left Miko. Faced with death, he sat clinging. Ignoring her,
+Moa, too, sat apart. Staring--
+
+And Anita crept to me. "Gregg, dear one. The end...."
+
+I tried the electronic engines from the stern, setting them in the
+reverse. The streams of their light glowed from the stern, forward
+along our hull, and flared down from our bow toward the Lunar surface.
+But no atmosphere was here to give resistance. Perhaps the electronic
+streams checked our fall a little. The pumps gave us pressure, just in
+the last minutes, to slide a few of the hull-plates. But our bow stayed
+down. We slid, like a spent rocket falling.
+
+I recall the horror of that expanding Lunar surface. The maw of
+Archimedes yawning. A blob. Widening to a great pit. Then I saw it was
+to one side. Rushing upward.
+
+A phantasmagoria of uprushing crags. Black and gray. Spires tinged with
+Earth-light.
+
+"Gregg, dear one--good-by."
+
+Her gentle arms around me. The end of everything for us. I recall
+murmuring, "Not falling free, Anita. Some hull-plates are set."
+
+My dials showed another plate shifting, checking us a little further.
+Good old Snap.
+
+I calculated the next best plate to shift. I tried it. Slid it over.
+Good old Snap....
+
+Then everything faded but the feeling of Anita's arms around me.
+
+"Gregg, dear one--"
+
+The end of everything for us....
+
+There was an up-rush of gray-black rock.
+
+An impact....
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+_The Hiss of Death_
+
+
+I opened my eyes to a dark blur of confusion. My shoulder hurt--a pain
+shooting through it. Something lay like a weight on me. I could not seem
+to move my left arm. Very queer! Then I moved it, and it hurt. I was
+lying twisted: I sat up. And with a rush, memory came. The crash was
+over. I am not dead. Anita--
+
+She was lying beside me. There was a little light here in this silent
+blur--a soft, mellow Earth-light filtering in the window. The weight on
+me was Anita. She lay sprawled, her head and shoulders half way across
+my lap.
+
+Not dead! Thank God, not dead! She moved. Her arms went around me, and I
+lifted her. The Earth-light glowed on her pale face; but her eyes opened
+and she faintly smiled.
+
+"It's past, Anita! We've struck, and we're still alive."
+
+I held her as though all life's turgid danger were powerless to touch
+us.
+
+But in the silence my floating senses were brought back to reality by a
+faint sound forcing itself upon me. A little hiss. The faintest
+murmuring breath like a hiss. Escaping air!
+
+I cast off her clinging arms. "Anita, this is madness!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For minutes we must have been lying there in the heaven of our embrace.
+But air was escaping! The _Planetara's_ dome was broken--or cracked--and
+our precious air was hissing out.
+
+Full reality came to me at last. I was not seriously injured. I found
+that I could move freely. I could stand. A twisted shoulder, a limp left
+arm, but they were better in a moment.
+
+And Anita did not seem to be hurt. Blood was upon her. But not her
+blood.
+
+Beside Anita, stretched face down on the turret grid, was the giant
+figure of Miko. The blood lay in a small pool against his face. A
+widening pool.
+
+Moa was here. I thought her body twitched; then was still. This
+soundless wreckage! In the dim glow of the wrecked turret with its two
+motionless, broken human figures, it seemed as though Anita and I were
+ghouls prowling. I saw that the turret had fallen over to the
+_Planetara's_ deck. It lay dashed against the dome-side.
+
+The deck was aslant. A litter of wreckage. A broken human figure
+showed--one of the crew, who at the last must have come running up. The
+forward observation tower was down on the chart-room roof: in its metal
+tangle I thought I could see the legs of the tower look-out.
+
+So this was the end of the brigands' adventure! The _Planetara's_ last
+voyage! How small and futile are human struggles! Miko's daring
+enterprise--so villainous, inhuman--brought all in a few moments to this
+silent tragedy. The _Planetara_ had fallen thirty thousand miles. But
+why? What had happened to Hahn? And where was Coniston, down in this
+broken hull?
+
+And Snap. I thought suddenly of Snap.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I clutched at my wandering wits. This inactivity was death. The escaping
+air hissed in my ears. Our precious air, escaping away into the vacant
+desolation of the Lunar emptiness. Through one of the twisted, slanting
+dome-windows a rocky spire was visible. The _Planetara_ lay bow-down,
+wedged in a jagged cradle of Lunar rock. A miracle that the hull and
+dome had held together.
+
+"Anita, we must get out of here!"
+
+I thought I was fully alert now. I recalled that the brigands had spoken
+of having partly assembled their Moon equipment. If only we could find
+suits and helmets!
+
+"We must get out," I repeated. "Get to Grantline's camp."
+
+"Their helmets are in the forward storage room, Gregg. I saw them
+there."
+
+She was staring at the fallen Miko and Moa. She shuddered and turned
+away and gripped me. "In the forward storage room, by the port of the
+emergency lock-exit."
+
+If only the exit locks would operate! We must get out of here, but find
+Snap first. Good old Snap! Would we find him lying dead?
+
+We climbed from the slanting, fallen turret, over the wreckage of the
+littered deck. It was not difficult, a lightness was upon us. The
+_Planetara's_ gravity-magnetizers were dead: this was only the light
+Moon-gravity pulling us.
+
+"Careful, Anita. Don't jump too freely."
+
+We leaped along the deck. The hiss of the escaping pressure was like a
+clanging gong of warning to tell us to hurry. The hiss of death so
+close!
+
+"Snap--" I murmured.
+
+"Oh, Gregg. I pray we may find him alive--!"
+
+"And get out. We've got to rush it. Get out and find the Grantline
+camp."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But how far? Which way? I must remember to take food and water. If the
+helmets were equipped with admission ports. If we could find Snap. If
+the exit locks would work to let us out.
+
+With a fifteen foot leap we cleared a pile of broken deck chairs. A man
+lay groaning near them. I went back with a rush. Not Snap! A steward. He
+had been a brigand, but he was a steward to me now.
+
+"Get up! This is Haljan. Hurry, we must get out of here. The air is
+escaping!"
+
+But he sank back and lay still. No time to find if I could help him:
+there were Anita and Snap to save.
+
+We found a broken entrance to one of the descending passages. I flung
+the debris aside and cleared it. Like a giant of strength with only this
+Moon-gravity holding me, I raised a broken segment of the superstructure
+and heaved it back.
+
+Anita and I dropped ourselves down the sloping passage. The interior of
+the wrecked ship was silent and dim. An occasional passage light was
+still burning. The passage and all the rooms lay askew. Wreckage
+everywhere: but the double-dome and hull-shell had withstood the shock.
+Then I realized that the Erentz system was slowing down. Our heat, like
+our air, was escaping, radiating away, a deadly chill settling upon
+everything. And our walls were bulging. The silence and the deadly chill
+of death would soon be here in these wrecked corridors. The end of the
+_Planetara_. I wondered vaguely if the walls would explode.
+
+We prowled like ghouls. We did not see Coniston. Snap had been by the
+shifter-pumps. We found him in the oval doorway. He lay sprawled. Dead?
+No, he moved. He sat up before we could get to him. He seemed confused,
+but his senses clarified with the movement of our figures over him.
+
+"Gregg! Why, Anita!"
+
+"Snap! You're all right? We struck--the air is escaping."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He pushed me away. He tried to stand. "I'm all right. I was up a minute
+ago. Gregg, it's getting cold. Where is she? I had her here--she wasn't
+killed. I spoke to her."
+
+Irrational!
+
+"Snap!" I held him, shook him. "Snap, old fellow!"
+
+He said, normally. "Easy, Gregg. I'm all right now."
+
+Anita gripped him. "Who, Snap?"
+
+"She! There she is."
+
+Another figure was here! On the grid-floor by the door oval. A figure
+partly shrouded in a broken invisible cloak and hood. An invisible
+cloak! I saw a white face with opened eyes regarding me. The face of a
+girl.
+
+Venza!
+
+I bent down. "You!"
+
+Anita cried, "Venza!"
+
+Venza here? Why--how--my thoughts swept away. Venza here, dying? Her
+eyes closed. But she murmured to Anita. "Where is he? I want him."
+
+Dying? I murmured impulsively, "Here I am, Venza dear." Gently, as one
+would speak with gentle sympathy to humor the dying. "Here I am, Venza."
+
+But it was only the confusion of the shock upon her. And it was upon us
+all. She pushed at Anita. "I want him." She saw me. This whimsical Venus
+girl! Even here as we gathered, all of us blurred by the shock, confused
+in the dim, wrecked ship with the chill of death coming--even here she
+could make a jest. Her pale lips smiled.
+
+"You, Gregg. I'm not hurt--I don't think I'm hurt." She managed to get
+herself up on one elbow. "Did you think I wanted you with my dying
+breath? Why, what conceit! Not you, Handsome Haljan! I was calling
+Snap."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He was down to her. "We're all right, Venza. It's over. We must get out
+of the ship--the air is escaping."
+
+We gathered in the oval doorway. We fought the confusion of panic.
+
+"The exit port is this way."
+
+Or was it? I answered Snap, "Yes, I think so."
+
+The ship suddenly seemed a stranger to me. So cold. So vibrationless.
+Broken lights. These slanting, wrecked corridors. With the ventilating
+fans stilled, the air was turning fetid. Chilling. And thinning, with
+escaping pressure, rarifying so that I could feel the grasp of it in my
+lungs and the pin-pricks of my burning cheeks.
+
+We started off. Four of us, still alive in this silent ship of death. My
+blurred thoughts tried to cope with it all. Venza here. I recalled how
+she had bade me create a diversion when the women passengers were
+landing on the asteroid. She had carried out her purpose! In the
+confusion she had not gone ashore. A stowaway here. She had secured the
+cloak. Prowling, to try and help us, she had come upon Hahn. Had seized
+his ray-cylinder and struck him down, and been herself knocked
+unconscious by his dying lunge, which also had broken the tubes and
+wrecked the _Planetara_. And Venza, unconscious, had been lying here
+with the mechanism of her cloak still operating, so that we did not see
+her when we came and found why Hahn did not answer my signals.
+
+"It's here, Gregg."
+
+Snap and I lifted the pile of Moon equipment. We located four suits and
+helmets and the mechanisms to operate them.
+
+"More are in the chart-room," Anita said.
+
+But we needed no others. I robed Anita, and showed her the mechanisms.
+
+"Yes. I understand."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Snap was helping Venza. We were all stiff from the cold; but within the
+suits and their pulsing currents, the blessed warmth came again.
+
+The helmets had admission ports through which food and drink could be
+taken. I stood with my helmet ready. Anita, Venza and Snap were bloated
+and grotesque beside me. We had found food and water here, assembled in
+portable cases which the brigands had prepared. Snap lifted them, and
+signed to me he was ready.
+
+My helmet shut out all sounds save my own breathing, my pounding heart,
+and the murmur of the mechanism. The blessed warmth and pure air were
+good.
+
+We reached the hull port-locks. They operated! We went through in the
+light of the head-lamps over our foreheads.
+
+I closed the locks after us. An instinct to keep the air in the ship for
+the other trapped humans lying there.
+
+We slid down the sloping side of the _Planetara_. We were unweighted,
+irrationally agile with the slight gravity. I fell a dozen feet and
+landed with barely a jar.
+
+We were out on the Lunar surface. A great sloping ramp of crags
+stretched down before us. Gray-black rock tinged with Earth-light. The
+Earth hung amid the stars in the blackness overhead like a huge section
+of glowing yellow ball.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+This grim, desolate, silent landscape! Beyond the ramp, fifty feet below
+us, a tumbled naked plain stretched away into blurred distance. But I
+could see mountains off there. Behind us the towering, frowning
+rampart-wall of Archimedes loomed against the sky.
+
+I had turned to look back at the _Planetara_. She lay broken, wedged
+between spires of upstanding rock. A few of her lights still gleamed.
+The end of the _Planetara_!
+
+The three grotesque figures of Anita, Venza and Snap had started off.
+Hunchback figures with the tanks mounted on their shoulders. I bounded
+and caught them. I touched Snap. We made audiphone contact.
+
+"Which way do you think?" I demanded.
+
+"I think this way, down the ramp. Away from Archimedes, toward the
+mountains. It shouldn't be too far."
+
+"You run with Venza. I'll hold Anita."
+
+He nodded. "But we must keep together, Gregg."
+
+We could soon run freely. Down the ramp, out over the tumbled plain.
+Bounding, grotesque leaping strides. The girls were more agile, more
+skilful. They were soon leading us. The Earth-shadows of their figures
+leaped beside them. The _Planetara_ faded into the distance behind us.
+Archimedes stood back there. Ahead, the mountains came closer.
+
+An hour perhaps. I lost count of time. Occasionally we stopped to rest.
+Were we going toward the Grantline camp? Would they see our tiny waving
+headlights?
+
+Another interval. Then far ahead of us on the ragged plain, lights
+showed! Moving tiny spots of light! Headlights on helmeted figures!
+
+We ran, monstrously leaping. A group of figures were off there.
+Grantline's party? Snap gripped me.
+
+"Grantline! We're safe, Gregg! Safe!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He took his bulb-light from his helmet: we stood in a group while he
+waved it. A semaphore signal.
+
+"_Grantline?_"
+
+And the answer came. "_Yes. You, Dean?_"
+
+Their personal code. No doubt of this--it was Grantline, who had seen
+the _Planetara_ fall and had come to help us.
+
+I stood then with my hand holding Anita. And I whispered, "It's
+Grantline! We're safe, Anita, my darling!"
+
+Death had been so close! Those horrible last minutes on the _Planetara_
+had shocked us, marked us.
+
+We stood trembling. And Grantline and his men came bounding up.
+
+A helmeted figure touched me. I saw through the helmet-pane the visage
+of a stern-faced, square-jawed, youngish man.
+
+"Grantline? Johnny Grantline?"
+
+"Yes," said his voice at my ear-grid. "I'm Grantline. You're Haljan?
+Gregg Haljan?"
+
+They crowded around us. Gripped us to hear our explanations.
+
+Brigands! It was amazing to Johnny Grantline. But the menace was over
+now, over as soon as Grantline had realized its existence. As though the
+wreck of the _Planetara_ were foreordained by an all-wise Providence,
+the brigands' adventure had come to tragedy.
+
+We stood for a time discussing it. Then I drew apart, leaving Snap with
+Grantline. And Anita joined me. I held her arm so that we had audiphone
+contact.
+
+"Anita, mine."
+
+"Gregg, dear one."
+
+Murmured nothings which mean so much to lovers!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As we stood in the fantastic gloom of the Lunar desolation, with the
+blessed Earth-light on us, I sent up a prayer of thankfulness. Not that
+a hundred millions of treasure were saved. Not that the attack upon
+Grantline had been averted. But only that Anita was given back to me. In
+moments of greatest emotion the human mind individualizes. To me, there
+was only Anita.
+
+Life is very strange! The gate to the shining garden of our love seemed
+swinging wide to let us in. Yet I recall that a vague fear still lay on
+me. A premonition?
+
+I felt a touch on my arm. A bloated helmet visor was thrust near my own.
+I saw Snap's face peering at me.
+
+"Grantline thinks we should return to the _Planetara_. Might find some
+of them alive."
+
+Grantline touched me. "It's only humanity."
+
+"Yes," I said.
+
+We went back. Some ten of us--a line of grotesque figures bounding with
+slow, easy strides over the jagged, rock-strewn plain. Our lights danced
+before us.
+
+The _Planetara_ came at last into view. My ship. Again that pang swept
+me as I saw her. This, her last resting place. She lay here in her open
+tomb, shattered, broken, unbreathing. The lights on her were
+extinguished. The Erentz system had ceased to pulse--the heart of the
+dying ship, for a while beating faintly, but now at rest.
+
+We left the two girls with some of Grantline's men at the admission
+port. Snap, Grantline and I, with three others, went inside. There still
+seemed to be air, but not enough so that we dared remove our helmets.
+
+It was dark inside the wrecked ship. The corridors were black; the hull
+control-rooms were dimly illumined with Earth-light straggling through
+the windows.
+
+This littered tomb! Already cold and silent with death. We stumbled over
+a fallen figure. A member of the crew.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Grantline straightened from examining him.
+
+"Dead."
+
+Earth-light fell on the horrible face. Puffed flesh, bloated red from
+the blood which had oozed from its pores in the thinning air. I looked
+away.
+
+We prowled further. Hahn lay dead in the pump-room.
+
+The body of Coniston should have been near here. We did not see it.
+
+We climbed up to the slanting littered deck. The dome had not exploded,
+but the air up here had almost all hissed away.
+
+Again Grantline touched me. "That the turret?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+No wonder he asked! The wreckage was all so formless.
+
+We climbed after Snap into the broken turret room. We passed the body of
+that steward who just at the end had appealed to me and I had left
+dying. The legs of the forward look-out still poked grotesquely up from
+the wreckage of the observatory tower where it lay smashed down against
+the roof of the chart-room.
+
+We shoved ourselves into the turret. What was this? No bodies here! The
+giant Miko was gone! The pool of his blood lay congealed into a frozen
+dark splotch on the metal grid.
+
+And Moa was gone! They had not been dead. Had dragged themselves out of
+here, fighting desperately for life. We would find them somewhere around
+here.
+
+But we did not. Nor Coniston. I recalled what Anita had said: other
+suits and helmets had been here in the nearby chart-room. The brigands
+had taken them, and food and water doubtless, and escaped from the ship,
+following us through the lower admission ports only a few minutes after
+we had gone out.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We made careful search of the entire ship. Eight of the bodies which
+should have been here were missing: Miko, Moa, Coniston, and five of the
+steward-crew.
+
+We did not find them outside. They were hiding near here, no doubt, more
+willing to take their chances than to yield now to us. But how, in all
+this Lunar desolation, could we hope to locate them?
+
+"No use," said Grantline. "Let them go. If they want death--well, they
+deserve it."
+
+But we were saved. Then, as I stood there, realization leaped at me.
+Saved? Were we not indeed fatuous fools?
+
+In all these emotion-swept moments since we had encountered Grantline,
+memory of that brigand ship coming from Mars had never once occurred to
+Snap or me!
+
+I told Grantline now. His eyes through the visor stared at me blankly.
+
+"What!"
+
+I told him again. It would be here in eight days. Fully manned and
+armed.
+
+"But Haljan, we have almost no weapons! All my _Comet's_ space was taken
+with mining equipment and the mechanisms for my camp. I can't signal
+Earth! I was depending on the _Planetara_!"
+
+It surged upon us. The brigand menace past? We were blindly
+congratulating ourselves on our safety! But it would be eight days or
+more before in distant Ferrok-Shahn the non-arrival of the _Planetara_
+would cause any real comment. No one was searching for us--no one was
+worried over us.
+
+No wonder the crafty Miko was willing to take his chances out here in
+the Lunar wilds! His ship, his reinforcements, his weapons were coming
+rapidly!
+
+And we were helpless. Almost unarmed. Marooned here on the Moon with our
+treasure!
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+               +-------------------------------------+
+               |         ASTOUNDING STORIES          |
+               |       _Appears on Newsstands_       |
+               |  THE FIRST THURSDAY IN EACH MONTH.  |
+               +-------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+The Soul-Snatcher
+
+_By Tom Curry_
+
+[Illustration: _He began to twist and turn, as though torn by some
+invisible force._]
+
+  From twenty miles away stabbed the "atom-filtering" rays to Allen
+  Baker in his cell in the death house.
+
+
+The shrill voice of a woman stabbed the steady hum of the many machines
+in the great, semi-darkened laboratory. It was the onslaught of weak
+femininity against the ebony shadow of Jared, the silent negro servant
+of Professor Ramsey Burr. Not many people were able to get to the famous
+man against his wishes; Jared obeyed orders implicitly and was generally
+an efficient barrier.
+
+"I will see him, I will," screamed the middle-aged woman. "I'm Mrs. Mary
+Baker, and he--he--it's his fault my son is going to die. His fault.
+_Professor! Professor Burr!_"
+
+Jared was unable to keep her quiet.
+
+Coming in from the sunlight, her eyes were not yet accustomed to the
+strange, subdued haze of the laboratory, an immense chamber crammed full
+of equipment, the vista of which seemed like an apartment in hell.
+Bizarre shapes stood out from the mass of impedimenta, great stills
+which rose full two stories in height, dynamos, immense tubes of colored
+liquids, a hundred puzzles to the inexpert eye.
+
+The small, plump figure of Mrs. Baker was very out of place in this
+setting. Her voice was poignant, reedy. A look at her made it evident
+that she was a conventional, good woman. She had soft, cloudy golden
+eyes and a pathetic mouth, and she seemed on the point of tears.
+
+"Madam, madam, de doctor is busy," whispered Jared, endeavoring to shoo
+her out of the laboratory with his polite hands. He was respectful, but
+firm.
+
+She refused to obey. She stopped when she was within a few feet of the
+activity in the laboratory, and stared with fear and horror at the
+center of the room, and at its occupant, Professor Burr, whom she had
+addressed during her flurried entrance.
+
+The professor's face, as he peered at her, seemed like a disembodied
+stare, for she could see only eyes behind a mask of lavender gray glass
+eyeholes, with its flapping ends of dirty, gray-white cloth.
+
+She drew in a deep breath--and gasped, for the pungent fumes, acrid and
+penetrating, of sulphuric and nitric acids, stabbed her lungs. It was
+like the breath of hell, to fit the simile, and aptly Professor Burr
+seemed the devil himself, manipulating the infernal machines.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Acting swiftly, the tall figure stepped over and threw two switches in a
+single, sweeping movement. The vermillion light which had lived in a
+long row of tubes on a nearby bench abruptly ceased to writhe like so
+many tongues of flame, and the embers of hell died out.
+
+Then the professor flooded the room in harsh gray-green light, and
+stopped the high-pitched, humming whine of his dynamos. A shadow picture
+writhing on the wall, projected from a lead-glass barrel, disappeared
+suddenly, the great color filters and other machines lost their
+semblance of horrible life, and a regretful sigh seemed to come from the
+metal creatures as they gave up the ghost.
+
+To the woman, it had been entering the abode of fear. She could not
+restrain her shudders. But she bravely confronted the tall figure of
+Professor Burr, as he came forth to greet her.
+
+He was extremely tall and attenuated, with a red, bony mask of a face
+pointed at the chin by a sharp little goatee. Feathery blond hair,
+silvered and awry, covered his great head.
+
+"Madam," said Burr in a gentle, disarmingly quiet voice, "your manner of
+entrance might have cost you your life. Luckily I was able to deflect
+the rays from your person, else you might not now be able to voice your
+complaint--for such seems to be your purpose in coming here." He turned
+to Jared, who was standing close by. "Very well, Jared. You may go.
+After this, it will be as well to throw the bolts, though in this case I
+am quite willing to see the visitor."
+
+Jared slid away, leaving the plump little woman to confront the famous
+scientist.
+
+For a moment, Mrs. Baker stared into the pale gray eyes, the pupils of
+which seemed black as coal by contrast. Some, his bitter enemies,
+claimed that Professor Ramsey Burr looked cold and bleak as an iceberg,
+others that he had a baleful glare. His mouth was grim and determined.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Yet, with her woman's eyes, Mrs. Baker, looking at the professor's bony
+mask of a face, with the high-bridged, intrepid nose, the passionless
+gray eyes, thought that Ramsey Burr would be handsome, if a little less
+cadaverous and more human.
+
+"The experiment which you ruined by your untimely entrance," continued
+the professor, "was not a safe one."
+
+His long white hand waved toward the bunched apparatus, but to her to
+the room seemed all glittering metal coils of snakelike wire, ruddy
+copper, dull lead, and tubes of all shapes. Hell cauldrons of unknown
+chemicals seethed and slowly bubbled, beetle-black bakelite fixtures
+reflected the hideous light.
+
+"Oh," she cried, clasping her hands as though she addressed him in
+prayer, "forget your science, Professor Burr, and be a man. Help me.
+Three days from now my boy, my son, whom I love above all the world, is
+to die."
+
+"Three days is a long time," said Professor Burr calmly. "Do not lose
+hope: I have no intention of allowing your son, Allen Baker, to pay the
+price for a deed of mine. I freely confess it was I who was responsible
+for the death of--what was the person's name?--Smith, I believe."
+
+"It was you who made Allen get poor Mr. Smith to agree to the
+experiments which killed him, and which the world blamed on my son," she
+said. "They called it the deed of a scientific fiend, Professor Burr,
+and perhaps they are right. But Allen is innocent."
+
+"Be quiet," ordered Burr, raising his hand. "Remember, madam, your son
+Allen is only a commonplace medical man, and while I taught him a little
+from my vast store of knowledge, he was ignorant and of much less value
+to science and humanity than myself. Do you not understand, can you not
+comprehend, also, that the man Smith was a martyr to science? He was no
+loss to mankind, and only sentimentalists could have blamed anyone for
+his death. I should have succeeded in the interchange of atoms which we
+were working on, and Smith would at this moment be hailed as the first
+man to travel through space in invisible form, projected on radio waves,
+had it not been for the fact that the alloy which conducts the three
+types of sinusoidal failed me and burned out. Yes, it was an error in
+calculation, and Smith would now be called the Lindbergh of the Atom but
+for that. Yet Smith has not died in vain, for I have finally corrected
+this error--science is but trial and correction of error--and all will
+be well."
+
+"But Allen--Allen must not die at all!" she cried. "For weeks he has
+been in the death house: it is killing me. The Governor refuses him a
+pardon, nor will he commute my son's sentence. In three days he is to
+die in the electric chair, for a crime which you admit you alone are
+responsible for. Yet you remain in your laboratory, immersed in your
+experiments, and do nothing, nothing!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The tears came now, and she sobbed hysterically. It seemed that she was
+making an appeal to someone in whom she had only a forlorn hope.
+
+"Nothing?" repeated Burr, pursing his thin lips. "Nothing? Madam, I have
+done everything. I have, as I have told you, perfected the experiment.
+It is successful. Your son has not suffered in vain, and Smith's name
+will go down with the rest of science's martyrs as one who died for the
+sake of humanity. But if you wish to save your son, you must be calm.
+You must listen to what I have to say, and you must not fail to carry
+out my instructions to the letter. I am ready now."
+
+Light, the light of hope, sprang in the mother's eyes. She grasped his
+arm and stared at him with shining face, through tear-dipped eyelashes.
+
+"Do--do you mean it? Can you save him? After the Governor has refused
+me? What can you do? No influence will snatch Allen from the jaws of the
+law: the public is greatly excited and very hostile toward him."
+
+A quiet smile played at the corners of Burr's thin lips.
+
+"Come," he said. "Place this cloak about you. Allen wore it when he
+assisted me."
+
+The professor replaced his own mask and conducted the woman into the
+interior of the laboratory.
+
+"I will show you," said Professor Burr.
+
+She saw before her now, on long metal shelves which appeared to be
+delicately poised on fine scales whose balance was registered by
+hair-line indicators, two small metal cages.
+
+Professor Burr stepped over to a row of common cages set along the wall.
+There was a small menagerie there, guinea pigs--the martyrs of the
+animal kingdom--rabbits, monkeys, and some cats.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The man of science reached in and dragged out a mewing cat, placing it
+in the right-hand cage on the strange table. He then obtained a small
+monkey and put this animal in the left-hand cage, beside the cat. The
+cat, on the right, squatted on its haunches, mewing in pique and looking
+up at its tormentor. The monkey, after a quick look around, began to
+investigate the upper reaches of its new cage.
+
+Over each of the animals was suspended a fine, curious metallic
+armament. For several minutes, while the woman, puzzled at how this
+demonstration was to affect the rescue of her condemned son, waited
+impatiently, the professor deftly worked at the apparatus, connecting
+wires here and there.
+
+"I am ready now," said Burr. "Watch the two animals carefully."
+
+"Yes, yes," she replied, faintly, for she was half afraid.
+
+The great scientist was stooping over, looking at the balances of the
+indicators through microscopes.
+
+She saw him reach for his switches, and then a brusk order caused her to
+turn her eyes back to the animals, the cat in the right-hand cage, the
+monkey at the left.
+
+Both animals screamed in fear, and a sympathetic chorus sounded from the
+menagerie, as a long purple spark danced from one gray metal pole to the
+other, over the cages on the table.
+
+At first, Mrs. Baker noticed no change. The spark had died, the
+professor's voice, unhurried, grave, broke the silence.
+
+"The first part of the experiment is over," he said. "The ego--"
+
+"Oh, heavens!" cried the woman. "You've driven the poor creatures mad!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She indicated the cat. That animal was clawing at the top bars of its
+cage, uttering a bizarre, chattering sound, somewhat like a monkey. The
+cat hung from the bars, swinging itself back and forth as on a trapeze,
+then reached up and hung by its hind claws.
+
+As for the monkey, it was squatting on the floor of its cage, and it
+made a strange sound in its throat, almost a mew, and it hissed several
+times at the professor.
+
+"They are not mad," said Burr. "As I was explaining to you, I have
+finished the first portion of the experiment. The ego, or personality of
+one animal has been taken out and put into the other."
+
+She was unable to speak. He had mentioned madness: was he, Professor
+Ramsey Burr, crazy? It was likely enough. Yet--yet the whole thing, in
+these surroundings, seemed plausible. As she hesitated about speaking,
+watching with fascinated eyes the out-of-character behavior of the two
+beasts, Burr went on.
+
+"The second part follows at once. Now that the two egos have
+interchanged, I will shift the bodies. When it is completed, the monkey
+will have taken the place of the cat, and vice versa. Watch."
+
+He was busy for some time with his levers, and the smell of ozone
+reached Mrs. Baker's nostrils as she stared with horrified eyes at the
+animals.
+
+She blinked. The sparks crackled madly, the monkey mewed, the cat
+chattered.
+
+Were her eyes going back on her? She could see neither animal
+distinctly: they seemed to be shaking in some cosmic disturbance, and
+were but blurs. This illusion--for to her, it seemed it must be
+optical--persisted, grew worse, until the quaking forms of the two
+unfortunate creatures were like so much ectoplasm in swift motion,
+ghosts whirling about in a dark room.
+
+Yet she could see the cages quite distinctly, and the table and even the
+indicators of the scales. She closed her eyes for a moment. The acrid
+odors penetrated to her lungs, and she coughed, opening her eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Now she could see clearly again. Yes, she could see a monkey, and it was
+climbing, quite naturally about its cage; it was excited, but a monkey.
+And the cat, while protesting mightily, acted like a cat.
+
+Then she gasped. Had her mind, in the excitement, betrayed her? She
+looked at Professor Burr. On his lean face there was a smile of triumph,
+and he seemed to be awaiting her applause.
+
+She looked again at the two cages. Surely, at first the cat had been in
+the right-hand cage, and the monkey in the left! And now, the monkey was
+in the place where the cat had been and the cat had been shifted to the
+left-hand cage.
+
+"So it was with Smith, when the alloys burned out," said Burr. "It is
+impossible to extract the ego or dissolve the atoms and translate them
+into radio waves unless there is a connection with some other ego and
+body, for in such a case the translated soul and body would have no
+place to go. Luckily, for you, madam, it was the man Smith who was
+killed when the alloys failed me. It might have been Allen, for he was
+the second pole of the connection."
+
+"But," she began faintly, "how can this mad experiment have anything to
+do with saving my boy?"
+
+He waved impatiently at her evident denseness. "Do you not understand?
+It is so I will save Allen, your son. I shall first switch our egos, or
+souls, as you say. Then switch the bodies. It must always take this
+sequence; why, I have not ascertained. But it always works thus."
+
+Mrs. Baker was terrified. What she had just seen, smacked of the
+blackest magic--yet a woman in her position must grasp at straws. The
+world blamed her son for the murder of Smith, a man Professor Burr had
+made use of as he might a guinea pig, and Allen must be snatched from
+the death house.
+
+"Do--do you mean you can bring Allen from the prison here--just by
+throwing those switches?" she asked.
+
+"That is it. But there is more to it than that, for it is not magic,
+madam; it is science, you understand, and there must be some physical
+connection. But with your help, that can easily be made."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Professor Ramsey Burr, she knew, was the greatest electrical engineer
+the world had ever known. And he stood high as a physicist. Nothing
+hindered him in the pursuit of knowledge, they said. He knew no fear,
+and he lived on an intellectual promontory. He was so great that he
+almost lost sight of himself. To such a man, nothing was impossible.
+Hope, wild hope, sprang in Mary Baker's heart, and she grasped the bony
+hand of the professor and kissed it.
+
+"Oh, I believe, I believe," she cried. "You can do it. You can save
+Allen. I will do anything, anything you tell me to."
+
+"Very well. You visit your son daily at the death house, do you not?"
+
+She nodded; a shiver of remembrance of that dread spot passed through
+her.
+
+"Then you will tell him the plan and let him agree to see me the night
+preceding the electrocution. I will give him final instructions as to
+the exchange of bodies. When my life spirit, or ego, is confined in your
+son's body in the death house, Allen will be able to perform the feat of
+changing the bodies, and your son's flesh will join his soul, which will
+have been temporarily inhabiting my own shell. Do you see? When they
+find me in the cell where they suppose your son to be, they will be
+unable to explain the phenomenon; they can do nothing but release me.
+Your son will go here, and can be whisked away to a safe place of
+concealment."
+
+"Yes, yes. What am I to do besides this?"
+
+Professor Burr pulled out a drawer near at hand, and from it extracted a
+folded garment of thin, shiny material.
+
+"This is metal cloth coated with the new alloy," he said, in a matter of
+fact tone. He rummaged further, saying as he did so, "I expected you
+would be here to see me, and I have been getting ready for your visit.
+All is prepared, save a few odds and ends which I can easily clean up in
+the next two days. Here are four cups which Allen must place under each
+leg of his bed, and this delicate little director coil you must take
+especial pains with. It is to be slipped under your son's tongue at the
+time appointed."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She was staring at him still, half in fear, half in wonder, yet she
+could not feel any doubt of the man's miraculous powers. Somehow, while
+he talked to her and rested those cold eyes upon her, she was under the
+spell of the great scientist. Her son, before the trouble into which he
+had been dragged by the professor, had often hinted at the abilities of
+Ramsey Burr, given her the idea that his employer was practically a
+necromancer, yet a magician whose advanced scientific knowledge was
+correct and explainable in the light of reason.
+
+Yes, Allen had talked to her often when he was at home, resting from his
+labors with Professor Burr. He had spoken of the new electricity
+discovered by the famous man, and also told his mother that Burr had
+found a method of separating atoms and then transforming them into a
+form of radio-electricity so that they could be sent in radio waves, to
+designated points. And she now remembered--the swift trial and
+conviction of Allen on the charge of murder had occupied her so deeply
+that she had forgotten all else for the time being--that her son had
+informed her quite seriously that Professor Ramsey Burr would soon be
+able to transport human beings by radio.
+
+"Neither of us will be injured in any way by the change," said Burr
+calmly. "It is possible for me now to break up human flesh, send the
+atoms by radio-electricity, and reassemble them in their proper form by
+these special transformers and atom filters."
+
+Mrs. Baker took all the apparatus presented her by the professor. She
+ventured the thought that it might be better to perform the experiment
+at once, instead of waiting until the last minute, but this Professor
+Burr waved aside as impossible. He needed the extra time, he said, and
+there was no hurry.
+
+She glanced about the room, and her eye took in the giant switches of
+copper with their black handles; there were others of a gray-green metal
+she did not recognize. Many dials and meters, strange to her, confronted
+the little woman. These things, she felt with a rush of gratitude toward
+the inanimate objects, would help to save her son, so they interested
+her and she began to feel kindly toward the great machines.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Would Professor Burr be able to save Allen as he claimed? Yes, she
+thought, he could. She would make Allen consent to the trial of it, even
+though her son had cursed the scientist and cried he would never speak
+to Ramsey Burr again.
+
+She was escorted from the home of the professor by Jared, and going out
+into the bright, sunlit street, blinked as her eyes adjusted themselves
+to the daylight after the queer light of the laboratory. In a bundle she
+had a strange suit and the cups; her purse held the tiny coil, wrapped
+in cotton.
+
+How could she get the authorities to consent to her son having the suit?
+The cups and the coil she might slip to him herself. She decided that a
+mother would be allowed to give her son new underwear. Yes, she would
+say it was that.
+
+She started at once for the prison. Professor Burr's laboratory was but
+twenty miles from the cell where her son was incarcerated.
+
+As she rode on the train, seeing people in everyday attire, commonplace
+occurrences going on about her, the spell of Professor Burr faded, and
+cold reason stared her in the face. Was it nonsense, this idea of
+transporting bodies through the air, in invisible waves? Yet, she was
+old-fashioned; the age of miracles had not passed for her. Radio, in
+which pictures and voices could be sent on wireless waves, was
+unexplainable to her. Perhaps--
+
+She sighed, and shook her head. It was hard to believe. It was also hard
+to believe that her son was in deadly peril, condemned to death as a
+"scientific fiend."
+
+Here was her station. A taxi took her to the prison, and after a talk
+with the warden, finally she stood there, before the screen through
+which she could talk to Allen, her son.
+
+"Mother!"
+
+Her heart lifted, melted within her. It was always thus when he spoke.
+"Allen," she whispered softly.
+
+They were allowed to talk undisturbed.
+
+"Professor Burr wishes to help you," she said, in a low voice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Her son, Allen Baker, M. D., turned eyes of misery upon her. His ruddy
+hair was awry. This young man was imaginative and could therefore suffer
+deeply. He had the gift of turning platitudes into puzzles, and his
+hazel eyes were lit with an elfin quality, which, if possible, endeared
+him the more to his mother. All his life he had been the greatest thing
+in the world to this woman. To see him in such straits tore her very
+heart. When he had been a little boy, she had been able to make joy
+appear in those eyes by a word and a pat; now that he was a man, the
+matter was more difficult, but she had always done her best.
+
+"I cannot allow Professor Burr to do anything for me," he said dully.
+"It is his fault that I am here."
+
+"But Allen, you must listen, listen carefully. Professor Burr can save
+you. He says it was all a mistake, the alloy was wrong. He has not come
+forward before, because he knew he would be able to iron out the trouble
+if he had time, and thus snatch you from this terrible place."
+
+She put as much confidence into her voice as she could. She must, to
+enhearten her son. Anything to replace that look of suffering with one
+of hope. She would believe, she did believe. The bars, the great masses
+of stone which enclosed her son would be as nothing. He would pass
+through them, unseen, unheard.
+
+For a time, Allen spoke bitterly of Ramsey Burr, but his mother pleaded
+with him, telling him it was his only chance, and that the deviltry
+Allen suspected was imaginary.
+
+"He--he killed Smith in such an experiment," said Allen. "I took the
+blame, as you know, though I only followed his instructions. But you say
+he claims to have found the correct alloys?"
+
+"Yes. And this suit, you must put it on. But Professor Burr himself will
+be here to see you day after to-morrow, the day preceding the--the--"
+She bit her lip, and got out the dreaded word, "the electrocution. But
+there won't be any electrocution, Allen; no, there cannot be. You will
+be safe, safe in my arms." She had to fight now to hold her belief in
+the miracle which Burr had promised. The solid steel and stone dismayed
+her brain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The new alloy seemed to interest Allen Baker. His mother told him of the
+exchange of the monkey and the cat, and he nodded excitedly, growing
+more and more restive, and his eyes began to shine with hope and
+curiosity.
+
+"I have told the warden about the suit, saying it was something I made
+for you myself," she said, in a low voice. "You must pretend the coil
+and the cups are things you desire for your own amusement. You know,
+they have allowed you a great deal of latitude, since you are educated
+and need diversion."
+
+"Yes, yes. There may be some difficulty, but I will overcome that. Tell
+Burr to come. I'll talk with him and he can instruct me in the final
+details. It is better than waiting here like a rat in a trap. I have
+been afraid of going mad, mother, but this buoys me up."
+
+He smiled at her, and her heart sang in the joy of relief.
+
+How did the intervening days pass? Mrs. Baker could not sleep, could
+scarcely eat, she could do nothing but wait, wait, wait. She watched the
+meeting of her son and Ramsey Burr, on the day preceding the date set
+for the execution.
+
+"Well, Baker," said Burr nonchalantly, nodding to his former assistant.
+"How are you?"
+
+"You see how I am," said Allen, coldly.
+
+"Yes, yes. Well, listen to what I have to say and note it carefully.
+There must be no slip. You have the suit, the cups and the director
+coil? You must keep the suit on, the cups go under the legs of the cot
+you lie on. The director under your tongue."
+
+The professor spoke further with Allen, instructing him in scientific
+terms which the woman scarcely comprehended.
+
+"To-night, then at eleven-thirty," said Burr, finally. "Be ready."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Allen nodded. Mrs. Baker accompanied Burr from the prison.
+
+"You--you will let me be with you?" she begged.
+
+"It is hardly necessary," said the professor.
+
+"But I must. I must see Allen the moment he is free, to make sure he is
+all right. Then, I want to be able to take him away. I have a place in
+which we can hide, and as soon as he is rescued he must be taken out of
+sight."
+
+"Very well," said Burr, shrugging. "It is immaterial to me, so long as
+you do not interfere with the course of the experiment. You must sit
+perfectly still, you must not speak until Allen stands before you and
+addresses you."
+
+"Yes, I will obey you," she promised.
+
+Mrs. Baker watched Professor Ramsey Burr eat his supper. Burr himself
+was not in the least perturbed; it was wonderful, she thought, that he
+could be so calm. To her, it was the great moment, the moment when her
+son would be saved from the jaws of death.
+
+Jared carried a comfortable chair into the laboratory and she sat in it,
+quiet as a mouse, in one corner of the room.
+
+It was nine o'clock, and Professor Burr was busy with his preparations.
+She knew he had been working steadily for the past few days. She gripped
+the arms of her chair, and her heart burned within her.
+
+The professor was making sure of his apparatus. He tested this bulb and
+that, and carefully inspected the curious oscillating platform, over
+which was suspended a thickly bunched group of gray-green wire, which
+was seemingly an antenna. The numerous indicators and implements seemed
+to be satisfactory, for at quarter after eleven Burr gave an exclamation
+of pleasure and nodded to himself.
+
+Burr seemed to have forgotten the woman. He spoke aloud occasionally,
+but not to her, as he drew forth a suit made of the same metal cloth as
+Allen must have on at this moment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The tension was terrific, terrific for the mother, who was awaiting the
+culmination of the experiment which would rescue her son from the
+electric chair--or would it fail? She shuddered. What if Burr were mad?
+
+But look at him, she was sure he was sane, as sane as she was.
+
+"He will succeed," she murmured, digging her nails into the palms of her
+hands. "I _know_ he will."
+
+She pushed aside the picture of what would happen on the morrow, but a
+few hours distant, when Allen, her son, was due to be led to a legal
+death in the electric chair.
+
+Professor Burr placed the shiny suit upon his lank form, and she saw him
+put a duplicate coil, the same sort of small machine which Allen
+possessed, under his tongue.
+
+The Mephistophelian figure consulted a matter-of-fact watch; at that
+moment, Mrs. Baker heard, above the hum of the myriad machines in the
+laboratory, the slow chiming of a clock. It was the moment set for the
+deed.
+
+Then, she feared the professor was insane, for he suddenly leaped to the
+high bench of the table on which stood one of the oscillating platforms.
+
+Wires led out from this, and Burr sat gently upon it, a strange figure
+in the subdued light.
+
+Professor Burr, however, she soon saw, was not insane. No, this was part
+of it. He was reaching for switches near at hand, and bulbs began to
+glow with unpleasant light, needles on indicators swung madly, and at
+last, Professor Burr kicked over a giant switch, which seemed to be the
+final movement.
+
+For several seconds the professor did not move. Then his body grew
+rigid, and he twisted a few times. His face, though not drawn in pain,
+yet twitched galvanically, as though actuated by slight jabs of
+electricity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The many tubes fluoresced, flared up in pulsing waves of violet and
+pink: there were gray bars of invisibility or areas of air in which
+nothing visible showed. There came the faint, crackling hum of machinery
+rather like a swarm of wasps in anger. Blue and gray thread of fire spat
+across the antenna. The odor of ozone came to Mrs. Baker's nostrils,
+and the acid odors burned her lungs.
+
+She was staring at him, staring at the professor's face. She half rose
+from her chair, and uttered a little cry.
+
+The eyes had changed, no longer were they cold, impersonal, the eyes of
+a man who prided himself on the fact that he kept his arteries soft and
+his heart hard; they were loving, soft eyes.
+
+"Allen," she cried.
+
+Yes, without doubt, the eyes of her son were looking at her out of the
+body of Professor Ramsey Burr.
+
+"Mother," he said gently. "Don't be alarmed. It is successful. I am
+here, in Professor Burr's body."
+
+"Yes," she cried, hysterically. It was too weird to believe. It seemed
+dim to her, unearthly.
+
+"Are you all right, darling?" she asked timidly.
+
+"Yes. I felt nothing beyond a momentary giddy spell, a bit of nausea and
+mental stiffness. It was strange, and I have a slight headache. However,
+all is well."
+
+He grinned at her, laughed with the voice which was not his, yet which
+she recognized as directed by her son's spirit. The laugh was cracked
+and unlike Allen's whole-hearted mirth, yet she smiled in sympathy.
+
+"Yes, the first part is a success," said the man. "Our egos have
+interchanged. Soon, our bodies will undergo the transformation, and then
+I must keep under cover. I dislike Burr--yet he is a great man. He has
+saved me. I suppose the slight headache which I feel is one bequeathed
+me by Burr. I hope he inherits my shivers and terrors and the neuralgia
+for the time being, so he will get some idea of what I have undergone."
+
+He had got down from the oscillating platform, the spirit of her son in
+Ramsey's body.
+
+"What--what are you doing now?" she asked.
+
+"I must carry out the rest of it myself," he said. "Burr directed me
+when we talked yesterday. It is more difficult when one subject is out
+of the laboratory, and the tubes must be checked."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He went carefully about his work, and she saw him replacing four of the
+tubes with others, new ones, which were ready at hand. Though it was the
+body of Ramsey Burr, the movements were different from the slow, precise
+work of the professor, and more and more, she realized that her son
+inhabited the shell before her.
+
+For a moment, the mother thought of attempting to dissuade her son from
+making the final change; was it not better thus, than to chance the
+disintegration of the bodies? Suppose something went wrong, and the
+exchange did not take place, and her son, that is, his spirit, went back
+to the death house?
+
+Midnight struck as he worked feverishly at the apparatus, the long face
+corrugated as he checked the dials and tubes. He worked swiftly, but
+evidently was following a procedure which he had committed to memory,
+for he was forced to pause often to make sure of himself.
+
+"Everything is O. K.," said the strange voice at last. He consulted his
+watch. "Twelve-thirty," he said.
+
+She bit her lip in terror, as he cried, "Now!" and sprang to the table
+to take his place on the metallic platform, which oscillated to and fro
+under his weight. The delicate grayish metal antenna, which, she knew,
+would form a glittering halo of blue and gray threads of fire, rested
+quiescent above his head.
+
+"This is the last thing," he said calmly, as he reached for the big
+ebony handled switch. "I'll be myself in a few minutes, mother."
+
+"Yes, son, yes."
+
+The switch connected, and Allen Baker, in the form of Ramsey Burr,
+suddenly cried out in pain. His mother leaped up to run to his side, but
+he waved her away. She stood, wringing her hands, as he began to twist
+and turn, as though torn by some invisible force. Eery screams came
+from the throat of the man on the platform, and Mrs. Baker's cries of
+sympathy mingled with them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The mighty motors hummed in a high-pitched, unnatural whine, and
+suddenly Mrs. Baker saw the tortured face before her grow dim. The
+countenance of the professor seemed to melt, and then there came a dull,
+muffled thud, a burst of white-blue flame, the odor of burning rubber
+and the tinkle of broken glass.
+
+Back to the face came the clarity of outline, and still it was Professor
+Ramsey Burr's body she stared at.
+
+Her son, in the professor's shape, climbed from the platform, and looked
+about him as though dazed. An acrid smoke filled the room, and burning
+insulation assailed the nostrils.
+
+Desperately, without looking at her, his lips set in a determined line,
+the man went hurriedly over the apparatus again.
+
+"Have I forgotten, did I do anything wrong?" she heard his anguished
+cry.
+
+Two tubes were burned out, and these he replaced as swiftly as possible.
+But he was forced to go all over the wiring, and cut out whatever had
+been short-circuited so that it could be hooked up anew with uninjured
+wire.
+
+Before he was ready to resume his seat on the platform, after half an
+hour of feverish haste, a knock came on the door.
+
+The person outside was imperative, and Mrs. Baker ran over and opened
+the portal. Jared, the whites of his eyes shining in the dim light,
+stood there. "De professah--tell him dat de wahden wishes to talk with
+him. It is very important, ma'am."
+
+The body of Burr, inhabited by Allen's soul, pushed by her, and she
+followed falteringly, wringing her hands. She saw the tall figure snatch
+at the receiver and listen.
+
+"Oh, God," he cried.
+
+At last, he put the receiver back on the hook, automatically, and sank
+down in a chair, his face in his hands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Baker went to him quickly. "What is it, Allen?" she cried.
+
+"Mother," he said hoarsely, "it was the warden of the prison. He told me
+that Allen Baker had gone temporarily insane, and claimed to be
+Professor Ramsey Burr in my body."
+
+"But--but what is the matter?" she asked. "Cannot you finish the
+experiment, Allen? Can't you change the two bodies now?"
+
+He shook his head. "Mother--they electrocuted Ramsey Burr in my body at
+twelve forty-five to-night!"
+
+She screamed. She was faint, but she controlled herself with a great
+effort.
+
+"But the electrocution was not to be until morning," she said.
+
+Allen shook his head. "They are allowed a certain latitude, about twelve
+hours," he said. "Burr protested up to the last moment, and begged for
+time."
+
+"Then--then they must have come for him and dragged him forth to die in
+the electric chair while you were attempting the second part of the
+change," she said.
+
+"Yes. That was why it failed. That's why the tubes and wires burned out
+and why we couldn't exchange bodies. It began to succeed, then I could
+feel something terrible had happened. It was impossible to complete the
+Beta circuit, which short-circuited. They took him from the cell, do you
+see, while I was starting the exchange of the atoms."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a time, the mother and her boy sat staring at one another. She saw
+the tall, eccentric figure of Ramsey Burr before her, yet she saw also
+the soul of her son within that form. The eyes were Allen's, the voice
+was soft and loving, and his spirit was with her.
+
+"Come, Allen, my son," she said softly.
+
+"Burr paid the price," said Allen, shaking his head. "He became a martyr
+to science."
+
+The world has wondered why Professor Ramsey Burr, so much in the
+headlines as a great scientist, suddenly gave up all his experiments and
+took up the practice of medicine.
+
+Now that the public furor and indignation over the death of the man
+Smith has died down, sentimentalists believe that Ramsey Burr has
+reformed and changed his icy nature, for he manifests great affection
+and care for Mrs. Mary Baker, the mother of the electrocuted man who had
+been his assistant.
+
+
+                +--------------------------------------+
+                |             BY NO MEANS              |
+                |   _Miss the Opening Installment of   |
+                |  the Extraordinary Four-Part Novel_  |
+                |            MURDER MADNESS            |
+                |         _By Murray Leinster_         |
+                |                                      |
+                |     _Starting In Our Next Issue_     |
+                +--------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+The Ray of Madness
+
+_By Captain S. P. Meek_
+
+[Illustration: "_That's the one," he exclaimed. "Hold the glass there
+for a moment._"]
+
+  Dr. Bird discovers a dastardly plot, amazing in its mechanical
+  ingenuity, behind the apparently trivial eye trouble of the
+  President.
+
+
+A knock sounded at the door of Dr. Bird's private laboratory in the
+Bureau of Standards. The famous scientist paid no attention to the
+interruption but bent his head lower over the spectroscope with which he
+was working. The knock was repeated with a quality of quiet insistence
+upon recognition. The Doctor smothered an exclamation of impatience and
+strode over to the door and threw it open to the knocker.
+
+"Oh, hello, Carnes," he exclaimed as he recognized his visitor. "Come in
+and sit down and keep your mouth shut for a few minutes. I am busy just
+now but I'll be at liberty in a little while."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"There's no hurry, Doctor," replied Operative Carnes of the United
+States Secret Service as he entered the room and sat on the edge of the
+Doctor's desk. "I haven't got a case up my sleeve this time; I just came
+in for a little chat."
+
+"All right, glad to see you. Read that latest volume of the
+_Zeitschrift_ for a while. That article of Von Beyer's has got me
+guessing, all right."
+
+Carnes picked up the indicated volume and settled himself to read. The
+Doctor bent over his apparatus. Time and again he made minute
+adjustments and gave vent to muttered exclamations of annoyance at the
+results he obtained. Half an hour later he rose from his chair with a
+sigh and turned to his visitor.
+
+"What do you think of Von Beyer's alleged discovery?" he asked the
+operative.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"It's too deep for me, Doctor," replied the operative. "All that I can
+make out of it is that he claims to have discovered a new element named
+'lunium,' but hasn't been able to isolate it yet. Is there anything
+remarkable about that? It seems to me that I have read of other new
+elements being discovered from time to time."
+
+"There is nothing remarkable about the discovery of a new element by the
+spectroscopic method," replied Dr. Bird. "We know from Mendeleff's
+table that there are a number of elements which we have not discovered
+as yet, and several of the ones we know were first detected by the
+spectroscope. The thing which puzzles me is that so brilliant a man as
+Von Beyer claims to have discovered it in the spectra of the moon. His
+name, lunium, is taken from Luna, the moon."
+
+"Why not the moon? Haven't several elements been first discovered in the
+spectra of stars?"
+
+"Certainly. The classic example is Lockyer's discovery of an orange line
+in the spectra of the sun in 1868. No known terrestrial element gave
+such a line and he named the new element which he deduced helium, from
+Helos, the sun. The element helium was first isolated by Ramsey some
+twenty-seven years later. Other elements have been found in the spectra
+of stars, but the point I am making is that the sun and the stars are
+incandescent bodies and could be logically expected to show the
+characteristic lines of their constituent elements in their spectra. But
+the moon is a cold body without an atmosphere and is visible only by
+reflected light. The element, lunium, may exist in the moon, but the
+manifestations which Von Beyer has observed must be, not from the moon,
+but from the source of the reflected light which he spectro-analyzed."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"You are over my depth, Doctor."
+
+"I'm over my own. I have tried to follow Von Beyer's reasoning and I
+have tried to check his findings. Twice this evening I thought that I
+caught a momentary glimpse on the screen of my fluoroscope of the
+ultra-violet line which he reports as characteristic of lunium, but I am
+not certain. I haven't been able to photograph it yet. He notes in his
+article that the line seems to be quite impermanent and fades so rapidly
+that an accurate measurement of its wave-length is almost impossible.
+However, let's drop the subject. How do you like your new assignment?"
+
+"Oh, it's all right. I would rather be back on my old work."
+
+"I haven't seen you since you were assigned to the Presidential detail.
+I suppose that you fellows are pretty busy getting ready for Premier
+McDougal's visit?"
+
+"I doubt if he will come," replied Carnes soberly. "Things are not
+exactly propitious for a visit of that sort just now."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird sat back in his chair in surprise.
+
+"I thought that the whole thing is arranged. The press seems to think
+so, at any rate."
+
+"Everything is arranged, but arrangements may be cancelled. I wouldn't
+be surprised to hear that they were."
+
+"Carnes," replied Dr. Bird gravely, "you have either said too much or
+too little. There is something more to this than appears on the surface.
+If it is none of my business, don't hesitate to tell me so and I'll
+forget what you have said, but if I can help you any, speak up."
+
+Carnes puffed meditatively at his pipe for a few minutes before
+replying.
+
+"It's really none of your business. Doctor," he said at length, "and yet
+I know that a corpse is a chatterbox compared to you when you are told
+anything in confidence, and I really need to unload my mind. It has been
+kept from the press so far; but I don't know how long it can be kept
+muzzled. In strict confidence, the President of the United State acts
+as though he were crazy."
+
+"Quite a section of the press has claimed that for a long time," replied
+Dr. Bird, with a twinkle in his eye.
+
+"I don't mean crazy in that way, Doctor, I mean _really_ crazy. Bugs!
+Nuts! Bats in his belfry!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird whistled softly.
+
+"Are you sure, Carnes?" he asked.
+
+"As sure as may be. Both of his physicians think so. They were
+non-committal for a while, especially as the first attack waned and he
+seemed to recover, but when his second attack came on more violently
+than the first and the President began to act queerly, they had to take
+the Presidential detail into their confidence. He has been quietly
+examined by some of the greatest psychiatrists in the country, but none
+of them have ventured on a positive verdict as to the nature of the
+malady. They admit, of course, that it exists, but they won't classify
+it. The fact that it is intermittent seems to have them stopped. He was
+bad a month ago but he recovered and became, to all appearances, normal
+for a time. About a week ago he began to show queer symptoms again and
+now he is getting worse daily. If he goes on getting worse for another
+week, it will have to be announced so that the Vice-President can take
+over the duties of the head of the government."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"What are the symptoms?"
+
+"The first we noticed was a failing of his memory. Coupled with this was
+a restlessness and a habit of nocturnal prowling. He tosses continually
+on his bed and mutters and at times leaps up and rages back and forth in
+his bedchamber, howling and raging. Then he will calm down and compose
+himself and go to sleep, only to wake in half an hour and go through the
+same performance. It is pretty ghastly for the men on night guard."
+
+"How does he act in the daytime?"
+
+"Heavy and lethargic. His memory becomes a complete blank at times and
+he talks wildly. Those are the times we must guard against."
+
+"Overwork?" queried the Doctor.
+
+"Not according to his physicians. His physical health is splendid and
+his appetite unusually keen. He takes his exercise regularly and suffers
+no ill health except for a little eye trouble."
+
+Dr. Bird leaped to his feet.
+
+"Tell me more about this eye trouble, Carnes," he demanded.
+
+"Why, I don't know much about it, Doctor. Admiral Clay told me that it
+was nothing but a mild opthalmia which should yield readily to
+treatment. That was when he told me to see that the shades of the
+President's study were partially drawn to keep the direct sunlight out."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Opthalmia be sugared! What do his eyes look like?"
+
+"They are rather red and swollen and a little bloodshot. He has a
+tendency to shut them while he is talking and he avoids light as much as
+possible. I hadn't noticed anything peculiar about it."
+
+"Carnes, did you ever see a case of snow blindness?"
+
+The operative looked up in surprise.
+
+"Yes, I have. I had it myself once in Maine. Now that you mention it,
+his case does look like snow blindness, but such a thing is absurd in
+Washington in August."
+
+Dr. Bird rummaged in his desk and drew out a book, which he consulted
+for a moment.
+
+"Now, Carnes," he said, "I want some dates from you and I want them
+accurately. Don't guess, for a great deal may depend on the accuracy of
+your answers. When was this mental disability on the part of the
+President first noticed?"
+
+Carnes drew a pocket diary from his coat and consulted it.
+
+"The seventeenth of July," he replied. "That is, we are sure, in view
+of later developments, that that was the date it first came on. We
+didn't realize that anything was wrong until the twentieth. On the night
+of the nineteenth the President slept very poorly, getting up and
+creating a disturbance twice, and on the twentieth he acted so queerly
+that it was necessary to cancel three conferences."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird checked off the dates on the book before him and nodded.
+
+"Go on," he said, "and describe the progress of the malady by days."
+
+"It got progressively worse until the night of the twenty-third. The
+twenty-fourth he was no worse, and on the twenty-fifth a slight
+improvement was noticed. He got steadily better until, by the third or
+fourth of August, he was apparently normal. About the twelfth he began
+to show signs of restlessness which have increased daily during the past
+week. Last night, the nineteenth, he slept only a few minutes and Brady,
+who was on guard, says that his howls were terrible. His memory has been
+almost a total blank today and all of his appointments were cancelled,
+ostensibly because of his eye trouble. If he gets any worse, it probably
+will be necessary to inform the country as to his true condition."
+
+When Carnes had finished, Dr. Bird sat for a time in concentrated
+thought.
+
+"You did exactly right in coming to me, Carnes," he said presently. "I
+don't think that this is a job for a doctor at all--I believe that it
+needs a physicist and a chemist and possibly a detective to cure him.
+We'll get busy."
+
+"What do you mean, Doctor?" demanded Carnes. "Do you think that some
+exterior force is causing the President's disability?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I think nothing, Carnes," replied the Doctor grimly, "but I intend to
+know something before I am through. Don't ask for explanations: this is
+not the time for talk, it is the time for action. Can you get me into
+the White House to-night?"
+
+"I doubt it, Doctor, but I'll try. What excuse shall I give? I am not
+supposed to have told you anything about the President's illness."
+
+"Get Bolton, your chief, on the phone and tell him that you have talked
+to me when you shouldn't have. He'll blow up, but after he is through
+exploding, tell him that I smell a rat and that I want him down here at
+once with _carte blanche_ authority to do as I see fit in the White
+House. If he makes any fuss about it, remind him of the fact that he has
+considered me crazy several times in the past when events showed that I
+was right. If he won't play after that, let me talk to him."
+
+"All right, Doctor," replied Carnes as he picked up the scientist's
+telephone and gave the number of the home of the Chief of the Secret
+Service. "I'll try to bully him out of it. He has a good deal of
+confidence in your ability."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Half an hour later the door of Dr. Bird's laboratory opened suddenly to
+admit Bolton.
+
+"Hello, Doctor," exclaimed the Chief, "what the dickens have you got on
+your mind now? I ought to skin Carnes alive for talking out of turn, but
+if you really have an idea, I'll forgive him. What do you suspect?"
+
+"I suspect several things, Bolton, but I haven't time to tell you what
+they are. I want to get quietly into the White House as promptly as
+possible."
+
+"That's easy," replied Bolton, "but first I want to know what the object
+of the visit is."
+
+"The object is to see what I can find out. My ideas are entirely too
+nebulous to attempt to lay them out before you just now. You've never
+worked directly with me on a case before, but Carnes can tell you that I
+have my own methods of working and that I won't spill my ideas until I
+have something more definite to go on than I have at present."
+
+"The Doctor is right, Chief," said Carnes. "He has an idea all right,
+but wild horses won't drag it out of him until he's ready to talk.
+You'll have to take him on faith, as I always do."
+
+Bolton hesitated a moment and then shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Have it your own way, Doctor," he said. "Your reputation, both as a
+scientist and as an unraveller of tangled skeins, is too good for me to
+boggle about your methods. Tell me what you want and I'll try to get
+it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I want to get into the White House without undue prominence being given
+to my movements, and listen outside the President's door for a short
+time. Later I will want to examine his sleeping quarters carefully and
+to make a few tests. I may be entirely wrong in my assumptions, but I
+believe that there is something there that requires my attention."
+
+"Come along," said Bolton. "I'll get you in and let you listen, but the
+rest we'll have to trust to luck on. You may have to wait until
+morning."
+
+"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," replied the Doctor. "I'll
+get a little stuff together that we may need."
+
+In a few moments he had packed some apparatus in a bag and, taking up it
+and an instrument case, he followed Bolton and Carnes down the stairs
+and out onto the grounds of the Bureau of Standards.
+
+"It's a beautiful moon, isn't it?" he observed.
+
+Carnes assented absently to the Doctor's remark, but Bolton paid no
+attention to the luminous disc overhead, which was flooding the
+landscape with its mellow light.
+
+"My car is waiting," he announced.
+
+"All right, old man, but stop for a moment and admire this moon,"
+protested the Doctor. "Have you ever seen a finer one?"
+
+"Come on and let the moon alone," snorted Bolton.
+
+"My dear man, I absolutely refuse to move a step until you pause in your
+headlong devotion to duty and pay the homage due to Lady Luna. Don't
+you realize, you benighted Christian, that you are gazing upon what has
+been held to be a deity, or at least the visible manifestation of deity,
+for ages immemorial? Haven't you ever had time to study the history of
+the moon-worshipping cults? They are as old as mankind, you know. The
+worship of Isis was really only an exalted type of moon worship. The
+crescent moon, you may remember, was one of her most sacred emblems."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bolton paused and looked at the Doctor suspiciously.
+
+"What are you doing--pulling my leg?" he demanded.
+
+"Not at all, my dear fellow. Carnes, doesn't the sight of the glowing
+orb of night influence you to pious meditation upon the frailty of human
+life and the insignificance of human ambition?"
+
+"Not to any very great degree," replied Carnes dryly.
+
+"Carnesy, old dear, I fear that you are a crass materialist. I am
+beginning to despair of ever inculcating in you any respect for the
+finer and subtler things of life. I must try Bolton. Bolton, have you
+ever seen a finer moon? Remember that I won't move a step until you have
+carefully considered the matter and fully answered my question."
+
+Bolton looked first at the Doctor, then at Carnes, and finally he looked
+reluctantly at the moon.
+
+"It's a fine one," he admitted, "but all full moons look large on clear
+nights at this time of the year."
+
+"Then you _have_ studied the moon?" cried Dr. Bird with delight. "I was
+sure--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He broke off his speech suddenly and listened. From a distance came the
+mournful howl of a dog. It was answered in a moment by another howl from
+a different direction. Dog after dog took up the chorus until the air
+was filled with the melancholy wailing of the animals.
+
+"See, Bolton," remarked the Doctor, "even the dogs feel the chastening
+influence of the Lady of Night and repent of the sins of their youth and
+the follies of their manhood, or should one say doghood? Come along. I
+feel that the call of duty must tear us away from the contemplation of
+the beauties of nature."
+
+He led the way to Bolton's car and got in without further words. A
+half-hour later, Bolton led the way into the White House. A word to the
+secret service operative on guard at the door admitted him and his
+party, and he led the way to the newly constructed solarium where the
+President slept. An operative stood outside the door.
+
+"What word, Brady?" asked Bolton in a whisper.
+
+"He seems worse, sir. I doubt if he has slept at all. Admiral Clay has
+been in several times, but he didn't do much good. There, listen! The
+President is getting up again."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From behind the closed door which confronted them came sounds of a
+person rising from a bed and pacing the floor, slowly at first, and then
+more and more rapidly, until it was almost a run. A series of groans
+came to the watchers and then a long drawn out howl. Bolton shuddered.
+
+"Poor devil!" he muttered.
+
+Dr. Bird shot a quick glance around.
+
+"Where is Admiral Clay?" he asked.
+
+"He is sleeping upstairs. Shall I call him?"
+
+"No. Take me to his room."
+
+The President's naval physician opened the door in response to Bolton's
+knock.
+
+"Is he worse?" he demanded anxiously.
+
+"I don't think so, Admiral," replied Bolton. "I want to introduce you to
+Dr. Bird of the Bureau of Standards. He wants to talk with you about the
+case."
+
+"I am honored, Doctor," said the physician as he grasped the scientist's
+outstretched hand. "Come in. Pardon my appearance, but I was startled
+out of a doze when you knocked. Have a chair and tell me how I can serve
+you."
+
+Dr. Bird drew a notebook from his pocket.
+
+"I have received certain dates in connection with the President's malady
+from Operative Carnes," he said, "and I wish you to verify them."
+
+"Pardon me a moment, Doctor," interrupted the Admiral, "but may I ask
+what is your connection with the matter? I was not aware that you were a
+physician or surgeon."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Dr. Bird is here by the authority of the secret service," replied
+Bolton. "He has no connection with the medical treatment of the
+President, but permit me to remind you that the secret service is
+responsible for the safety of the President and so have a right to
+demand such details about him as are necessary for his proper
+protection."
+
+"I have no intention in obstructing you in the proper performance of
+your duties, Mr. Bolton," began the Admiral stiffly.
+
+"Pardon me, Admiral," broke in Dr. Bird, "it seems to me that we are
+getting started wrong. I suspect that certain exterior forces are more
+or less concerned in this case and I have communicated my suspicions to
+Mr. Bolton. He in turn brought me here in order to request from you your
+cooperation in the matter. We have no idea of demanding anything and are
+really seeking help which we believe that you can give us."
+
+"Pardon me, Admiral," said Bolton. "I had no intention of angering you."
+
+"I am at your service, gentlemen," replied Admiral Clay. "What
+information did you wish, Doctor?"
+
+"At first merely a verification of the history of the case as I have
+it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird read the notes he had taken down from Carnes and the Admiral
+nodded agreement.
+
+"Those dates are correct," he said.
+
+"Now, Admiral, there are two further points on which I wish
+enlightenment. The first is the opthalmia which is troubling the
+patient."
+
+"It is nothing to be alarmed about as far as symptoms go, Doctor,"
+replied the Admiral. "It is a rather mild case of irritation, somewhat
+analogous to granuloma, but rather stubborn. He had an attack several
+weeks ago and while it did not yield to treatment as readily as I could
+have wished, it did clear up nicely in a couple of weeks and I was quite
+surprised at this recurrent attack. His sight is in no danger."
+
+"Have you tried to connect this opthalmia with his mental aberrations?"
+
+"Why no, Doctor, there is no connection."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"I am certain. The slight pain which his eyes give him could never have
+such an effect upon the mind of so able and energetic a man as he is."
+
+"Well, we'll let that pass for the moment. The other question is this:
+has he any form of skin trouble?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Admiral looked up in surprise.
+
+"Yes, he has," he admitted. "I had mentioned it to no one, for it really
+amounts to nothing, but he has a slight attack of some obscure form of
+dermatitis which I am treating. It is affecting only his face and
+hands."
+
+"Please describe it."
+
+"It has taken the form of a brown pigmentation on the hands. On the face
+it causes a slight itching and subsequent peeling of the affected
+areas."
+
+"In other words, it is acting like sunburn?"
+
+"Why, yes, somewhat. It is not that, however, for he has been exposed to
+the sun very little lately, on account of his eyes."
+
+"I notice that he is sleeping in the new solarium which was added last
+winter to the executive mansion. Can you tell me with what type of glass
+it is equipped?"
+
+"Yes. It is not equipped with glass at all, but with fused quartz."
+
+"When did he start to sleep there?"
+
+"As soon as it was completed."
+
+"And all the time the windows have been of fused quartz?"
+
+"No. They were glazed at first, but the glass was removed and the fused
+quartz substituted at my suggestion about two months ago, just before
+this trouble started."
+
+"Thank you, Admiral. You have given me several things to think about. My
+ideas are a little too nebulous to share as yet but I think that I can
+give you one piece of very sound advice. The President is spending a
+very restless night. If you would remove him from the solarium and get
+him to lie down in a room which is glazed with ordinary glass, and pull
+down the shades so that he will be in the dark, I think that he will
+pass a better night."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Admiral Clay looked keenly into the piercing black eyes of the Doctor.
+
+"I know something of you by reputation, Bird," he said slowly, "and I
+will follow your advice. Will you tell me why you make this particular
+suggestion?"
+
+"So that I can work in that solarium to-night without interruption,"
+replied Dr. Bird. "I have some tests which I wish to carry out while it
+is still dark. If my results are negative, forget what I have told you.
+If they yield any information, I will be glad to share it with you at
+the proper time. Now get the President out of that solarium and tell me
+when the coast is clear."
+
+The Admiral donned a dressing gown and stepped out of the room. He
+returned in fifteen minutes.
+
+"The solarium is at your disposal, Doctor," he announced. "Shall I
+accompany you?"
+
+"If you wish," assented Dr. Bird as he picked up his apparatus and
+strode out of the room.
+
+In the solarium he glanced quickly around, noting the position of each
+of the articles of furniture.
+
+"I presume that the President always sleeps with his head in this
+direction?" he remarked, pointing to the pillow on the disturbed bed.
+
+The Admiral nodded assent. Dr. Bird opened the bag which he had packed
+in his laboratory, took out a sheet of cardboard covered with a metallic
+looking substance, and placed it on the pillow. He stepped back and
+donned a pair of smoked glasses, watching it intently. Without a word he
+took off the glasses and handed them to the Admiral. The Admiral donned
+them and looked at the pillow. As he did so an exclamation broke from
+his lips.
+
+"That plate seems to glow," he said in an astonished voice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird stepped forward and laid his hand on the pillow. He was wearing
+a wrist watch with a radiolite dial. The substance suddenly increased
+its luminescence and began to glow fiercely, long luminous streamers
+seeming to come from the dial. The Doctor took away his hand and
+substituted a bottle of liquid for the plate on the pillow. Immediately
+the bottle began to glow with a phosphorescent light.
+
+"What on earth is it?" gasped Carnes.
+
+"Excitation of a radioactive fluid," replied the Doctor. "The question
+is, what is exciting it. Somebody get a stepladder."
+
+While Bolton was gone after the ladder, the Doctor took from his bag
+what looked like an ordinary pane of glass.
+
+"Take this, Carnes," he directed, "and start holding it over each of
+those panes of quartz which you can reach. Stop when I tell you to."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The operative held the glass over each of the panes in succession, but
+the Doctor, who kept his eyes covered with the smoked glasses and
+fastened on the plate which he had replaced on the pillow, said nothing.
+When Bolton arrived with the ladder, the process went on. One end and
+most of the front of the solarium had been covered before an exclamation
+from the Doctor halted the work.
+
+"That's the one," he exclaimed. "Hold the glass there for a moment."
+
+Hurriedly he removed the plate from the pillow and replaced the phial of
+liquid. There was only a very feeble glow.
+
+"Good enough," he cried. "Take away the glass, but mark that pane, and
+be ready to replace it when I give the word."
+
+From the instrument case he had brought he took out a spectroscope. He
+turned back the mattress and mounted it on the bedstead.
+
+"Cover that pane," he directed.
+
+Carnes did so, and the Doctor swung the receiving tube of the instrument
+until it pointed at the covered pane. He glanced into the eyepiece, and
+then held a tiny flashlight for an instant opposite the third tube.
+
+"Uncover that pane," he said.
+
+Carnes took down the glass plate and the Doctor gazed into the
+instrument. He made some adjustments.
+
+"Are you familiar with spectroscopy, Admiral?" he asked.
+
+"Somewhat."
+
+"Take a squint in here and tell me what you see."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Admiral applied his eye to the instrument and looked long and
+earnestly.
+
+"There are some lines there, Doctor," he said, "but your instrument is
+badly out of adjustment. They are in what should be the ultra-violet
+sector, according to your scale."
+
+"I forgot to tell you that this is a fluoroscopic spectroscope designed
+for the detection of ultra-violet lines," replied Dr. Bird. "Those lines
+you see are ultra-violet, made visible to the eye by activation of a
+radioactive compound whose rays in turn impinge on a zinc blende sheet.
+Do you recognize the lines?"
+
+"No, I don't."
+
+"Small wonder; I doubt whether there are a dozen people who would. I
+have never seen them before, although I recognize them from descriptions
+I have read. Bolton, come here. Sight along this instrument and through
+that plate of glass which Carnes is holding and tell me what office that
+window belongs to."
+
+Bolton sighted as directed up at the side of the State, War and Navy
+Building.
+
+"I can't tell exactly at this time of night, Doctor," he said, "but I'll
+go into the building and find out."
+
+"Do so. Have you a flashlight?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Flash it momentarily out of each of the suspected windows in turn until
+you get an answering flash from here. When you do, flash it out of each
+pane of glass in the window until you get another flash from here. Then
+come back and tell me what office it is. Mark the pane so that we can
+locate it again in the morning."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"It is the office of the Assistant to the Adjutant General of the Army,"
+reported Bolton ten minutes later.
+
+"What is there in the room?"
+
+"Nothing but the usual desks and chairs."
+
+"I suspected as much. The window is merely a reflector. That is all that
+we can do for to-night, gentlemen. Admiral, keep your patient quiet and
+in a room with _glass_ windows, preferably with the shades drawn, until
+further notice. Bolton, meet me here with Carnes at sunrise. Have a
+picked detail of ten men standing by where we can get hold of them in a
+hurry. In the mean time, get the Chief of Air Service out of bed and
+have him order a plane at Langley Field to be ready to take off at 6
+A. M. He is not to take off, however, until I give him orders to do so.
+Do you understand?"
+
+"Everything will be ready for you, Doctor, but I confess that I don't
+know what it is all about."
+
+"It's the biggest case you ever tackled, old man, and I hope that we can
+pull it off successfully. I'd like to go over it with you now, but I'll
+be busy at the Bureau for the rest of the night. Drop me off there, will
+you?"
+
+At sunrise the next morning, Bolton met Dr. Bird at the entrance to the
+White House grounds.
+
+"Where is your detail?" he asked.
+
+"In the State, War and Navy Building."
+
+"Good. I want to go to the solarium, put a light on the place where the
+President's pillow was last night, and mark that pane of quartz we were
+looking through. Then we'll join the detail."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird placed the light and walked with Carnes across the White House
+grounds. Bolton's badge secured admission to the State, War and Navy
+Building for the party and they made their way to the office of the
+Assistant to the Adjutant General.
+
+"Did you mark the pane of glass through which you flashed your light
+last night, Bolton?" asked the Doctor.
+
+The detective touched one of the panes.
+
+"Good," exclaimed the Doctor. "I notice that this window has hooks for a
+window washer's belt. Get a life belt, will you?"
+
+When the belt was brought, the Doctor turned to Carnes.
+
+"Carnes," he said, "hook on this life saver and climb out on the window
+ledge. Take this piece of apparatus with you."
+
+He handed Carnes a piece of apparatus which looked like two telescopes
+fastened to a base, with a screw adjustment for altering the angles of
+the barrels.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Carnes took it and looked at it inquiringly.
+
+"That is what I was making at the Bureau last night," explained Dr.
+Bird. "It is a device which will enable me to locate the source of the
+beam which was reflected from this pane of glass onto the President's
+pillow. I'll show you how to work it. You know that when light is
+reflected the angle of reflection always equals the angle of incidence?
+Well, you place these three feet against the pane of glass, thus putting
+the base of the instrument in a plane parallel to the pane of glass. By
+turning these two knobs, one of which gives lateral and the other
+vertical adjustment, you will manipulate the instrument until the first
+telescope is pointing directly toward the President's pillow. Now notice
+that the two telescope barrels are fastened together and are connected
+to the knobs, so that when the knobs are turned, the scopes are turned
+in equal and opposite amounts. When one is turned from its present
+position five degrees to the west, the other automatically turns five
+degrees to the east. When one is elevated, the other is correspondingly
+depressed. Thus, when the first tube points toward the pillow, the other
+will point toward the source of the reflected beam."
+
+"Clever!" ejaculated Bolton.
+
+"It is rather crude and may not be accurate enough to locate the source
+exactly, but at least it will give us a pretty good idea of where to
+look. Given time, a much more accurate instrument could have been made,
+but two telescopic rifle sights and a theodolite base were all the
+materials I could find to work with. Climb out, Carnesy, and do your
+stuff."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Carnes climbed out on the window and fastened the hooks of the life
+saver to the rings set in the window casings. He sat the base of the
+instrument against the pane of glass and manipulated the telescope knobs
+as Dr. Bird signalled from the inside. The scientist was hard to please
+with the adjustment, but at last the cross hairs of the first telescope
+were centered on the light in the solarium. He changed his position and
+stared through the second tube.
+
+"The angle is too acute and the distance too great for accuracy," he
+said with an air of disappointment. "The beam comes from the roof of a
+house down along Pennsylvania Avenue, but I can't tell from here which
+one it is. Take a look, Bolton."
+
+The Chief of the Secret Service stared through the telescope.
+
+"I couldn't be sure, Doctor," he replied. "I can see something on the
+roof of one of the houses, but I can't tell what it is and I couldn't
+tell the house when I got in front of it."
+
+"It won't do to make a false move," said the Doctor. "Did you arrange
+for that plane?"
+
+"It is waiting your orders at the field, Doctor."
+
+"Good. I'll go up to the office of the Chief of Air Service and get in
+touch with the pilot over the Chief's private line. There are some
+orders that I wish to give him and some signals to be arranged."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird returned in a few minutes.
+
+"The plane is taking off now and will be over the city soon," he
+announced. "We'll take a stroll down the Avenue until we are in the
+vicinity of the house, and then wait for the plane. Carnes will take
+five of your men and go down behind the house and the rest of us will go
+in front. Which building do you think it is, Bolton?"
+
+"About the fourth from the corner."
+
+"All right, the men going down the back will take station behind the
+house next to the corner and the rest of us will get in front of the
+same building. When the plane comes over, watch it. If you receive no
+signal, go to the next house and wait for him to make a loop and come
+over you again. Continue this until the pilot throws a white parachute
+over. That is the signal that we are covering the right house. When you
+get that signal, Carnes, leave two men outside and break in with the
+other three. Get that apparatus on the roof and the men who are
+operating it. Bolton and I will attack the front door at the same time.
+Does everybody understand?"
+
+Murmurs of assent came from the detail.
+
+"All right, let's go. Carnes, lead out with your men and go half a block
+ahead so that the two parties will arrive in position at about the same
+time."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Carnes left the building with five of the operatives. Dr. Bird and
+Bolton waited for a few minutes and then started down Pennsylvania
+Avenue, the five men of their squad following at intervals. For
+three-quarters of a mile they sauntered down the street.
+
+"This should be it, Doctor," said Bolton.
+
+"I think so, and here comes our plane."
+
+They watched the swift scout plane from Langley Field swing down low
+over the house and then swoop up into the sky again without making a
+signal. The party walked down the street one house and paused. Again the
+plane swept over them without sign. As they stopped in front of the next
+house a white parachute flew from the cockpit of the plane and the
+aircraft, its mission accomplished, veered off to the south toward its
+hangar.
+
+"This is the place," cried Bolton. "Haggerty and Johnson, you two cover
+the street. Bemis, take the lower door. The rest come with me."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Followed closely by Dr. Bird and two operatives, Bolton sprinted across
+the street and up the steps leading to the main entrance of the house.
+The door was barred, and he hurled his weight against it without result.
+
+"One side, Bolton," snapped Dr. Bird.
+
+The diminutive Chief drew aside and Dr. Bird's two hundred pounds of
+bone and muscle crashed against the door. The lock gave and the Doctor
+barely saved himself from sprawling headlong on the hall floor. A
+woman's scream rang out, and the Doctor swore under his breath.
+
+"Upstairs! To the roof!" he cried.
+
+Followed by the rest of the party, he sprinted up the stairway which
+opened before him. Just as he reached the top his way was barred by an
+Amazonian figure in a green bathrobe.
+
+"Who th' divil arre yer?" demanded an outraged voice.
+
+"Police," snapped Bolton. "One side!"
+
+"Wan side, is it?" demanded the fiery haired Amazon. "The divil a stip
+ye go until ye till me ye'er bizness. Phwat th' divil arre yer doin' in
+th' house uv a rayspictable female at this hour uv th' marnin'?"
+
+"One side, I tell you!" cried Bolton as he strove to push past the
+figure that barred the way.
+
+"Oh, ye wud, wud yer, little mann?" demanded the Irishwoman as she
+grasped Bolton by the collar and shook him as a terrier does a rat. Dr.
+Bird stifled his laughter with difficulty and seized her by the arm.
+With a heave on Bolton's collar she raised him from the ground and swung
+him against the Doctor, knocking him off his feet.
+
+"Hilp! P'lice! Murther!" she screamed at the top of her voice.
+
+"Damn it, woman, we're on--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird's voice was cut short by the sound of a pistol shot from the
+roof, followed by two others. The Irishwoman dropped Bolton and slumped
+into a sitting position and screamed lustily. Bolton and Dr. Bird, with
+the two operatives at their heels, raced for the roof. Before they
+reached it another volley of shots rang out, these sounding from the
+rear of the building. They made their way to the upper floor and found a
+ladder running to a skylight in the roof. At the foot of the ladder
+stood one of Carnes' party.
+
+"What is it, Williams?" demanded Bolton.
+
+"I don't know, Chief. Carnes and the other two went up there, and then I
+heard shooting. My orders were to let no one come down the ladder."
+
+As he spoke, Carnes' head appeared at the skylight.
+
+"It's the right place, all right, Doctor," he called. "Come on up, the
+shooting is all over."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bird mounted the ladder and stepped out on the roof. Set on one edge
+was a large piece of apparatus, toward which the scientist eagerly
+hastened. He bent over it for a few moments and then straightened up.
+
+"Where is the operator?" he asked.
+
+Carnes silently led the way to the edge of the roof and pointed down.
+Dr. Bird leaned over. At the foot of the fire escape he saw a crumpled
+dark heap, with a secret service operative bending over it.
+
+"Is he dead, Olmstead?" called Carnes.
+
+"Dead as a mackerel," came the reply. "Richards got him through the head
+on his first shot."
+
+"Good business," said Dr. Bird. "We probably could never have secured a
+conviction and the matter is best hushed up anyway. Bolton, have two of
+your men help me get this apparatus up to the Bureau. I want to examine
+it a little. Have the body taken to the morgue and shut up the press.
+Find out which room the chap occupied and search it, and bring all his
+papers to me. From a criminal standpoint, this case is settled, but I
+want to look into the scientific end of it a little more."
+
+"I'd like to know what it was all about, Doctor," protested Bolton. "I
+have followed your lead blindly, and now I have a housebreaking without
+search-warrant and a killing to explain, and still I am about as much in
+the dark as I was at the beginning."
+
+"Excuse me, Bolton," said Dr. Bird contritely; "I didn't mean to slight
+you. Admiral Clay wants to know about it and so does Carnes, although he
+knows me too well to say so. As soon as I have digested the case I'll
+let you know and I'll go over the whole thing with you."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A week later Dr. Bird sat in conference with the President in the
+executive office of the White House. Beside him sat Admiral Clay, Carnes
+and Bolton.
+
+"I have told the President as much as I know, Doctor," said the Admiral,
+"and he would like to hear the details from your lips. He has fully
+recovered from his malady and there is no danger of exciting him."
+
+"I cannot read Russian," said Dr. Bird slowly, "and so was forced to
+depend on one of my assistants to translate the papers which Mr. Bolton
+found in Stokowsky's room. There is nothing in them to definitely
+connect him with the Russian Union of Soviet Republics, but there is
+little doubt in my mind that he was a Red agent and that Russia supplied
+the money which he spent. It would be disastrous to Russia's plans to
+have too close an accord between this country and the British Empire,
+and I have no doubt that the coming visit of Premier McDougal was the
+underlying cause of the attempt. So much for the reason.
+
+"As to how I came to suspect what was happening, the explanation is very
+simple. When Carnes first told me of your malady, Mr. President, I
+happened to be checking Von Beyer's results in the alleged discovery of
+a new element, lunium. In the article describing his experiments, Von
+Beyer mentions that when he tried to observe the spectra, he encountered
+a mild form of opthalmia which was quite stubborn to treatment. He also
+mentions a peculiar mental unbalance and intense exhilaration which the
+rays seemed to cause both in himself and in his assistants. The analogy
+between his observations and your case struck me at once.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"For ages the moon has been an object of worship by various religious
+sects, and some of the most obscene orgies of which we have record
+occurred in the moonlight. The full moon seems to affect dogs to a state
+of partial hypnosis with consequent howling and evident pain in the
+eyes. Certain feeble minded persons have been known to be adversely
+affected by moonlight as well as some cases of complete mental
+aberration. In other words, while moonlight has no practical effect on
+the normal human in its usual concentration, it does have an adverse
+effect on certain types of mentality and, despite the laughter of
+medical science, there seems to be something in the theory of 'moon
+madness.' This effect Von Beyer attributed to the emanations of lunium,
+which element he detected in the spectra of the moon, in the form of a
+wide band in the ultra-violet region.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I obtained from Carnes a history of your case, and when I found that
+your attacks grew violent with the full moon and subsided with the new
+moon, I was sure that I was on the right track, although I had at that
+time no way of knowing whether it was from natural or artificial causes
+that the effect was being produced. I interviewed Admiral Clay and found
+that you were suffering from a form of dermititis resembling sunburn,
+and that convinced me that an attack was being made on your sanity, for
+an excess of ultra-violet light will always tend to produce sunburn. I
+inquired about the windows of your solarium, for ultra-violet light will
+not pass through a lead glass. When the Admiral told me that the glass
+had been replaced with fused quartz, which is quite permeable to
+ultra-violet and that the change had been almost coincident with the
+start of your malady, I asked him to get you out of the solarium and let
+me examine it.
+
+"By means of certain fluorescent substances which I used, I found that
+your pillow was being bathed in a flood of ultra-violet light, and the
+fluoro-spectroscope soon told me that lunium emanations were present in
+large quantities. These rays were not coming to you directly from their
+source, but one of the windows of the State, War and Navy Building was
+being used as a reflector. I located the approximate source of the ray
+by means of an improvised apparatus, and we surrounded the place.
+Stokowsky was killed while attempting to escape. I guess that is about
+all there is to it."
+
+"Thank you, Doctor," said the President. "I would be interested in a
+description of the apparatus which he used to produce this effect."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The apparatus was quite simple, Sir. It was merely a large collector of
+moonlight, which was thrown after collection onto a lunium plate. The
+resultant emanations were turned into a parallel beam by a parabolic
+reflector and focused, through a rock crystal lens with an extremely
+long focal length, onto your pillow."
+
+"Then Stokowsky had isolated Von Beyer's new element?" asked the
+President.
+
+"I am still in doubt whether it is a new element or merely an allotropic
+modification of the common element, cadmium. The plate which he used has
+a very peculiar property. When moonlight, or any other reflected light
+of the same composition falls on it, it acts on the ray much as the
+button of a Roentgen tube acts on a cathode ray. As the cathode ray is
+absorbed and an entirely new ray, the X-ray, is given off by the button,
+just so is the reflected moonlight absorbed and a new ray of
+ultra-violet given off. This is the ray which Von Beyer detected. I
+thought that I could catch traces of Von Beyer's lines in my
+spectroscope, and I think now that it is due to a trace of lunium in the
+cadmium plating of the barrels. Von Beyer could have easily made the
+same mistake. Von Beyer's work, together with Stokowsky's opens up an
+entirely new field of spectroscopic research. I would give a good deal
+to go over to Baden and go into the matter with Von Beyer and make some
+plans for the exploitation of the new field, but I'm afraid that my
+pocketbook wouldn't stand the trip."
+
+"I think that the United States owes you that trip, Dr. Bird," said the
+Chief Executive with a smile. "Make your plans to go as soon as you get
+your data together. I think that the Treasury will be able to take care
+of the expense without raising the income tax next year."
+
+
+       +------------------------------------------------------+
+       |                                                      |
+       |                 _IN THE NEXT ISSUE_                  |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                    Murder Madness                    |
+       |                                                      |
+       |  _Beginning an intensely Gripping, Four-Part Novel_  |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                _By_ MURRAY LEINSTER                  |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                  The Atom Smasher                    |
+       |                                                      |
+       |     _A Thrilling Adventure into Time and Space_      |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                _By_ VICTOR ROUSSEAU                  |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                                                      |
+       |               Into the Ocean's Depths                |
+       |                                                      |
+       |      _A Sequel to_ "_From the Ocean's Depths_"       |
+       |                                                      |
+       |              _By_ SEWELL PEASLEE WRIGHT              |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                 Brigands of the Moon                 |
+       |                                                      |
+       |          _Part Three of the Amazing Serial_          |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                  _By_ RAY CUMMINGS                   |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                                                      |
+       |                  ----_And Others!_                   |
+       |                                                      |
+       +------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: _The Readers' Corner_
+
+_A Meeting Place for Readers of_
+Astounding Stories]
+
+
+_Our Thanks_
+
+Three months ago the Clayton Magazines presented to lovers of Science
+Fiction everywhere a new magazine with a brand-new policy--Astounding
+Stories--and now it is the Editor's great pleasure to announce to our
+thousands of friends that this new magazine is enjoying a splendid
+success.
+
+Within twenty-four hours of the time that Astounding Stories was
+released for sale, letters of praise began pouring into our office,
+and--and this is significant--many of them clearly revealed that their
+writers had grasped the essential difference of the new Science Fiction
+magazine over the others.
+
+We cannot better state this difference, this improvement, than by
+quoting what the Reader whose letter appears under the caption, "And
+Kind to Their Grandmothers," says in his very first paragraph: "And I
+was still more pleased, and surprised, to find that the Editor seems to
+know that such stories should have real story interest, besides a
+scientific idea." It is exactly that. Every story that appears in
+Astounding Stories not only must contain some of the forecasted
+scientific achievements of To-morrow, but must be told vividly,
+excitingly, with all the human interest that goes to make any story
+enjoyable To-day.
+
+The Editor and staff of Astounding Stories express their sincere thanks
+to all who have contributed to our splendid start--especially to those
+who had the kindness to write in with their helpful criticism.
+
+Already one of your common suggestions has been taken up and embodied in
+our magazine, and so we have this new department, "The Readers'
+Corner," which from now on will be an informal meeting place for all
+readers of Astounding Stories. We want you never to forget that a
+cordial and perpetual invitation is extended to you to write in and talk
+over with all of us anything of interest you may have to say in
+connection with our magazine.
+
+If you can toss in a word of praise, that's fine; if only criticism,
+we'll welcome that just as much, for we may be able to find from it a
+way to improve our magazine. If you have your own private theory of how
+airplanes will be run in 2500, or if you think the real Fourth Dimension
+is different from what it is sometimes described--write in and share
+your views with all of us.
+
+This department is all yours, and the job of running it and making it
+interesting is largely up to you. So "come over in 'The Readers'
+Corner'" and have your share in what everyone will be saying.
+
+                                                       --_The Editor._
+
+
+"_And Kind to Their Grandmothers!_"
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  I received a pleasant surprise a few days ago when I found a new
+  Science Fiction magazine at the newsstand--Astounding Stories. And
+  I was still more pleased, and surprised, to find that the Editor
+  seems to know that such stories should have real story interest,
+  besides a scientific idea.
+
+  Of course I took with a grain of salt the invitation to write to
+  the editor and give my preference of the kind of stories I like. I
+  know that every editor, down in his heart, thinks his magazine is
+  perfect "as is." In fact, praise is what they want, not
+  suggestions, judging by the letters they print.
+
+  Well, I can conscientiously give you some praise. If Astounding
+  Stories keep up to the standard of the first issue it will be all
+  right. Evidently you can afford to hire the best writers
+  obtainable. Notice you've signed up some of my favorites, Murray
+  Leinster, R. F. Starzl, Ray Cummings. I like their stuff because it
+  has the rare quality rather vaguely described as "distinction,"
+  which make the story remembered for a long time.
+
+  The story "Tanks," by Murray Leinster, is my idea of what such a
+  story should be. The author does not start out, "Listen, my
+  children, and you shall hear a story so wonderful you won't believe
+  it. Only after the death of Professor Bulging Dome do I dare to
+  make it public to a doubting world." No, he simply proceeds to tell
+  the story. If I were reading it in the Saturday Evening Post or
+  Ladies Home Journal it would be all right to prepare me for the
+  story by explaining that of course the author does not vouch for
+  the story, it having been told to him by a crazy Eurasian in a
+  Cottage Grove black-and-tan speakeasy at 3.30 A. M. In Astounding
+  Stories I expect the story to be unusual, so don't bother telling
+  me it is so. That criticism applies to "Phantoms of Reality," which
+  is a story above the average, though, despite its rather flat title
+  and slow beginning.
+
+  Here's another good point about "Tanks." Its characters are human.
+  Some authors of stories of the future make their characters all
+  brains--cold monsters, with no humanity in them. Such a story has
+  neither human interest nor plausibility. The sky's the limit, I
+  say, for mechanical or scientific accomplishments, but human
+  emotions will be the same a thousand years from now. And even
+  supposing that they will be changed, your readers have present day
+  emotions. The magazine can not prosper unless those present-day
+  emotions are aroused and mirrored by thoroughly human characters.
+  The situation may be just as outre as you like--the more unusual
+  the better--but it is the response of normal human emotions to most
+  unusual situations that gives a magazine such as yours its powerful
+  and unique "kick."
+
+  The response of the two infantrymen in "Tanks" to the strange and
+  terrifying new warfare of the future exemplifies another point I
+  would like to make--the fact that no matter what marvels the future
+  may bring, the people who will live then will take them in a
+  matter-of-fact way. Their conversation will be cigarettes,
+  "sag-paste," drinks, women. References to the scientific marvels
+  around them will be casual and sketchy. How many million words of
+  an average car owner's conversation would you have to report to
+  give a visitor from 1700 an idea of internal combustion engines?
+  The author, if skillful, can convey that information in other ways.
+  Yet a lot of stories printed have long, stilted conversations in
+  which the author thinks he is conveying in an entertaining way his
+  foundation situation. Personally, I like a lot of physical
+  action--violent action preferred. This is so, probably, because I'm
+  a school teacher and sedentary in my habits. I have never written a
+  story in my life, but I'm the most voracious consumer of stories in
+  Chicago. I like to see the hero get into a devil of a pickle, and
+  to have him smash his way out. I like 'em big, tough, and kind to
+  their grandmothers.
+
+  It seems to me that interplanetary stories offer the best vehicle
+  for all the desirable qualities herein enumerated combined. There
+  is absolutely no restraint on the imagination, except a few known
+  astronomical facts--plenty of opportunity for violent and dangerous
+  adventures, strange and terrestrially impossible monsters. The
+  human actors, set down in the midst of such terrifying conditions,
+  which they battle dauntlessly, grinning as they take their blows
+  and returning them with good will, cannot fail to rouse the
+  admiration of the reader. And make him buy the next month's issue.
+
+
+  But spare us, please the stories in which the hero, arriving on
+  some other planet, is admitted to the court of the king of the
+  White race, and leads their battles against the Reds, the Browns,
+  the Greens, and so on, eventually marrying the king's daughter, who
+  is always golden-haired, of milky white complexion, and has large
+  blue eyes. Kindly reject stories of interplanetary travel in which
+  a member of the party turns against the Earth party and allies
+  himself with the wormlike Moon men, or what have you. Stories in
+  which a great inventor gone crazy threatens to hurl the Earth into
+  the Sun leave me cold and despondent, for the simple reason that
+  crazy men are never great inventors. Name a great inventor who
+  wasn't perfectly sane, if you can. The author makes the great
+  inventor insane to make it plausible that he should want to destroy
+  the World. Well, if he is a good author he can find some other
+  motive.
+
+  One more thing. I like to smell, feel, hear and even taste the
+  action of a story as well as see it. Some authors only let you see
+  it, and then they don't tell you whether it's in bright or subdued
+  light. The author of "Tanks" fulfills my requirements in this
+  respect, at least partially.--Walter Boyle, c/o Mrs. Anna Treitz,
+  4751 North Artesian, Chicago, Ill.
+
+
+_A Permanent Reader_
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  I want to thank you for the very entertaining hours I spent
+  perusing your new magazine, Astounding Stories. I read one or two
+  other Science Fiction magazines--it seems that tales of this sort
+  intrigue me. However, I wish to say that the debut number of your
+  magazine contained the best stories I ever read. Again thanking you
+  and assuring you that should the stories continue thus I will be a
+  permanent reader--Irving E. Ettinger, The Seville, Detroit, Mich.
+
+
+_We're Avoiding Reprints_
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  I am well pleased with your new magazine and wish to offer you my
+  congratulations and best wishes. As I am well acquainted with most
+  of the Science Fiction now being written, I am in a good position
+  to criticize your magazine.
+
+  First: The cover illustration is good, but the inside drawings
+  could be greatly improved.
+
+  Second: Holding the magazine together with two staples is a good
+  idea.
+
+  Third: The paper could be improved.
+
+  Fourth: The price is right.
+
+  Here I classify the stories. Excellent: "The Beetle Horde," and
+  "Tanks." Very Good: "Cave of Horror," "Invisible Death," and
+  "Phantoms of Reality." Medium: "Compensation." Poor: "Stolen Mind."
+
+  Please don't reprint any of Poe's, Wells', or Verne's works. My
+  prejudice to Verne, Wells and Poe is that I have read all their
+  works in other magazines.
+
+  However, with all my criticizing, I think that your magazine is a
+  good one.--James Nichols, 1509 19th Street, Bakersfield,
+  California.
+
+
+_Thanks, Mr. Marks!_
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  I purchased a copy of "our" new magazine to-day and I think it
+  excellent. I am glad to see most of my old author friends
+  contributing for it, but how about looking up E. R. Burroughs,
+  David H. Keller, M. D., C. P. Wantenbacker and A. Merritt? They are
+  marvelous writers. I see Wesso did your cover and it is very good.
+  I have been a reader of four other Science Fiction monthly
+  magazines and two quarterlies, but I gladly take this one into my
+  fold and I think I speak for every other Science Fiction lover when
+  I say this. Which means, if true, that your publication will have
+  everlasting success. Here's hoping!--P. O. Marks, Jr., 893 York
+  Avenue, S. W., Atlanta, Ga.
+
+
+_A Fine Letter_
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  Having read through the first number of Astounding Stories, my
+  enthusiasm has reached such a pitch that I find it difficult to
+  express myself adequately. A mere letter such as this can give
+  scarcely an inkling of the unbounded enjoyment I derive from the
+  pages of this unique magazine. To use a trite but appropriate
+  phrase, "It fills a long-felt need." True, there are other
+  magazines which specialize in Science Fiction; but, to my mind they
+  are not in a class with Astounding Stories. In most of them the
+  scientific element is so emphasized that it completely overshadows
+  all else. In this magazine, happily, such is not the case. Here we
+  find science subordinated to human interest, which is as it should
+  be. The love element, too, is present and by no means unwelcome.
+
+  As for the literary quality of the stories, it could not be
+  improved on. Such craftsmen as Cummings, Leinster and Rousseau
+  never fail to turn out a vivid, well-written tale. If the stories in
+  the succeeding issues are on a par with those in the first, the
+  success of the magazine is assured.
+
+  By the way, your editorial explanation of Astounding Stories was a
+  gem. So many of us take our marvelous modern inventions for granted
+  that we never consider how miraculous they would seem to our
+  forebears. As you say, the only real difference between the
+  Astounding and the Commonplace is Time. A magazine such as
+  Astounding Stories enables us to anticipate the wonders of
+  To-morrow. Through its pages we can peer into the vistas of the
+  future and behold the world that is to be. Truly, you have given us
+  a rare treat--Allen Glasser, 931 Forest Ave., New York, N. Y.
+
+
+_The Science Correspondence Club Broadcasts_
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  The other day I came upon Astounding Stories on our local
+  newsstand. I immediately procured a copy because Science Fiction
+  is my favorite pastime, so to speak. I was very much overjoyed that
+  another good Science Fiction magazine should come out, and a
+  Clayton Magazine too, which enhances its splendid value still
+  further. I have read various members of the Clayton family and I
+  found each of them entertaining.
+
+  After finishing the first issue, I decided to write in and express
+  my feelings. The stories were all good with the exception of "The
+  Stolen Mind." Just keep printing stories by Cape, Meek, Ray
+  Cummings, Murray Leinster, C. V. Tench, Harl Vincent and R. F.
+  Starzl and I can predict now that your new venture will be a huge
+  success.
+
+  The main reason of this letter is to ask your help in putting over
+  Science Fiction Week. This will take place in the early part of
+  February, the week of the 5th or after. We want your co-operation
+  in making this a big success. You can help by running the attached
+  article upon the Science Correspondence Club in your "Readers'
+  Corner." It will be a big aid.
+
+  I am sure, because you are the Editor of Astounding Stories, that
+  you will be pleased to help us in this venture. Science Fiction is
+  our common meeting ground and our common ideal.
+
+  I hope to have a Big Science Fiction Week with your help.--Conrad
+  H. Ruppert, 113 North Superior Street, Angola, Indiana.
+
+
+  To the Readers of Astounding Stories:
+
+  At the present there exists in the United States an organization
+  the purpose of which is to spread the gospel of Science and Science
+  Fiction, the Science Correspondence Club. I am writing this to
+  induce the readers of Astounding Stories to join us. After reading
+  this pick up your pen or take the cover from your typewriter and
+  send in an application for membership to our Secretary, Raymond A.
+  Palmer, 1431-38th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or to our President,
+  Aubrey Clements, 6 South Hillard St., Montgomery, Alabama. They
+  will forward application blanks to you and you will belong to the
+  only organization in the world that is like it.
+
+  The Club was formed by twenty young men from all over the U. S. We
+  have a roll of almost 100, all over the world. Its expressed
+  purpose has been to help the cause of Science Fiction, and to
+  increase the knowledge of Science. It also affords the advantage of
+  being able to express your ideas in all fields.
+
+  The Preamble of the Constitution which we have worked out reads:
+  "We, the members of this organization, in order to promote the
+  advancement of Science in general among laymen of the world through
+  the use of discussion and the creation and exchange of new ideas,
+  do ordain and establish this organization for the Science
+  Correspondence Club."
+
+  Article Two reads: "The institution will remain an organization to
+  establish better co-ordination between the scientifically inclined
+  laymen of the world, regardless of sex, creed, color, or race.
+  There will be no restrictions as to age, providing the member can
+  pass an examination which shall be prepared by the membership
+  committee."
+
+  The Club will also publish a monthly bulletin, to which members may
+  contribute. It will also publish clippings, articles, etc., dealing
+  with science.
+
+  The membership will have no definite limit and the correspondence
+  will be governed by the wishes of each member.
+
+  Need more be said?
+
+  I almost forgot to say that we have two of the best Science Fiction
+  authors as active members, and three more who are doing their best,
+  but because of such work they cannot be active.
+
+  I hope my appeal bears fruit and that we shall hear from you
+  soon.--Conrad H. Ruppert.
+
+
+_But--Most Everybody Prefers the Smaller Size--and Price!_
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  Last night I was passing a newsstand and saw your magazine. I
+  bought it then and there. I do not read any other stories except
+  the fantastic stories. Astounding Stories looks all right, but may
+  I make a suggestions? Why not increase the size of the magazine to
+  that of Miss 1900 or Forest and Stream? It would certainly look
+  better! You could also raise your price to twenty-five cents.
+  Please print as many stories as possible by the following authors:
+  Ray Cummings, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Murray Leinster, Edmond
+  Hamilton, A. Hyatt Verrill, Stanton A. Coblentz, Ed Earl Repp and
+  Harl Vincent.
+
+  My favorite type of story is the interplanetary one. I wish you the
+  best of luck in your new venture.--Stephen Takacs, 303 Eckford
+  Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
+
+
+"_First Copy Wonderful_"
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  I have read the first copy of Astounding Stories and think it
+  wonderful. I am very much interested in science fiction. I prefer
+  interplanetary stories and would like to see many of them in the
+  new magazine. Your authors are fine. The ones I like particularly
+  are Ray Cummings, Captain S. P. Meek, and Murray Leinster. I wonder
+  if I could subscribe to Astounding Stories? Will you let me know?
+  Good luck to the new magazine.--Donald Sisler, 3111 Adams Mill
+  Road, Washington, D. C.
+
+
+_Congratulations_
+
+
+  Dear Editor:
+
+  Allow me to congratulate you upon the starting of your new
+  magazine, Astounding Stories. Have just finished reading the first
+  issue and it is fine. While the class of stories that you publish
+  do not appeal to all, I feel quite sure that there are many like
+  myself who will welcome your publication and wish it all
+  success.--R. E. Norton, P. O. Box 226, Ashtabula, Ohio.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science
+April 1930, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES, APRIL 1930 ***
+
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