About : standard furniture brooklyn dining set
Title : standard furniture brooklyn dining set
standard furniture brooklyn dining set
skylark of space by e. e. "doc" smith andlee hawkins garby chapter ithe occurrence of the impossible petrified with astonishment, richard seatonstared after the copper steam-bath upon which he had been electrolyzing his solution of"x," the unknown metal. for as soon as he had removed the beaker the heavy bath hadjumped endwise from under his hand as though it were alive. it had flown with terrificspeed over the table, smashing apparatus and bottles of chemicals on its way, and was evennow disappearing through the open window. he seized his prism binoculars and focusedthem upon the flying vessel, a speck in the distance. through the glass he saw that itdid not fall to the ground, but continued
on in a straight line, only its rapidly diminishingsize showing the enormous velocity with which it was moving. it grew smaller and smaller,and in a few moments disappeared utterly. the chemist turned as though in a trance.how was this? the copper bath he had used for months was gone-gone like a shot, withnothing to make it go. nothing, that is, except an electric cell and a few drops of the unknownsolution. he looked at the empty space where it had stood, at the broken glass coveringhis laboratory table, and again stared out of the window. he was aroused from his stunned inaction bythe entrance of his colored laboratory helper, and silently motioned him to clean up thewreckage.
"what's happened, doctah?" asked the duskyassistant. "search me, dan. i wish i knew, myself," respondedseaton, absently, lost in wonder at the incredible phenomenon of which he had just been a witness. ferdinand scott, a chemist employed in thenext room, entered breezily. "hello, dicky, thought i heard a racket inhere," the newcomer remarked. then he saw the helper busily mopping up the reeking massof chemicals. "great balls of fire!" he exclaimed. "what'veyou been celebrating? had an explosion? how, what, and why?" "i can tell you the 'what,' and part of the'how'," seaton replied thoughtfully, "but
as to the 'why,' i am completely in the dark.here's all i know about it," and in a few words he related the foregoing incident. scott'sface showed in turn interest, amazement, and pitying alarm. he took seaton by the arm. "dick, old top, i never knew you to drinkor dope, but this stuff sure came out of either a bottle or a needle. did you see a pink serpentcarrying it away? take my advice, old son, if you want to stay in uncle sam's service,and lay off the stuff, whatever it is. it's bad enough to come down here so far gone thatyou wreck most of your apparatus and lose the rest of it, but to pull a yarn like thatis going too far. the chief will have to ask for your resignation, sure. why don't youtake a couple of days of your leave and straighten
up?" seaton paid no attention to him, and scottreturned to his own laboratory, shaking his head sadly. seaton, with his mind in a whirl, walked slowlyto his desk, picked up his blackened and battered briar pipe, and sat down to study out whathe had done, or what could possibly have happened, to result in such an unbelievable infractionof all the laws of mechanics and gravitation. he knew that he was sober and sane, that thething had actually happened. but why? and how? all his scientific training told himthat it was impossible. it was unthinkable that an inert mass of metal should fly offinto space without any applied force. since
it had actually happened, there must havebeen applied an enormous and hitherto unknown force. what was that force? the reason forthis unbelievable manifestation of energy was certainly somewhere in the solution, theelectrolytic cell, or the steam-bath. concentrating all the power of his highly-trained analyticalmind upon the problem-deaf and blind to everything else, as was his wont when deeplyinterested-he sat motionless, with his forgotten pipe clenched between his teeth. hour afterhour he sat there, while most of his fellow-chemists finished the day's work and left the buildingand the room slowly darkened with the coming of night. finally he jumped up. crashing his hand downupon the desk, he exclaimed:
"i have liberated the intra-atomic energyof copper! copper, 'x,' and electric current! "i'm sure a fool for luck!" he continued asa new thought struck him. "suppose it had been liberated all at once? probably blownthe whole world off its hinges. but it wasn't: it was given off slowly and in a straightline. wonder why? talk about power! infinite! believe me, i'll show this whole bureau ofchemistry something to make their eyes stick out, tomorrow. if they won't let me go aheadand develop it, i'll resign, hunt up some more 'x', and do it myself. that bath is onits way to the moon right now, and there's no reason why i can't follow it. martin'ssuch a fanatic on exploration, he'll fall all over himself to build us any kind of acraft we'll need ... we'll explore the whole
solar system! great cat, what a chance! afool for luck is right!" he came to himself with a start. he switchedon the lights and saw that it was ten o'clock. simultaneously he recalled that he was tohave had dinner with his fiancã©e at her home, their first dinner since their engagement.cursing himself for an idiot he hastily left the building, and soon his motorcycle wastearing up connecticut avenue toward his sweetheart's home.chapter ii steel becomes interested dr. marc duquesne was in his laboratory, engagedin a research upon certain of the rare metals, particularly in regard to their electrochemicalproperties. he was a striking figure. well
over six feet tall, unusually broad-shoulderedeven for his height, he was plainly a man of enormous physical strength. his thick,slightly wavy hair was black. his eyes, only a trifle lighter in shade, were surmountedby heavy black eyebrows which grew together above his aquiline nose. scott strolled into the room, finding duquesneleaning over a delicate electrical instrument, his forbidding but handsome face strangelyilluminated by the ghastly glare of his mercury-vapor arcs. "hello, blackie," scott began. "i thoughtit was seaton in here at first. a fellow has to see your faces to tell you two apart. speakingof seaton, d'you think that he's quite right?"
"i should say, off-hand, that he was a littleout of control last night and this morning," replied duquesne, manipulating connectionswith his long, muscular fingers. "i don't think that he's insane, and i don't believethat he dopes-probably overwork and nervous strain. he'll be all right in a day or two." "i think he's a plain nut, myself. that surewas a wild yarn he sprung on us, wasn't it? his imagination was hitting on all twelve,that's sure. he seems to believe it himself, though, in spite of making a flat failureof his demonstration to us this morning. he saved that waste solution he was working on-whatwas left of that carboy of platinum residues after he had recovered all the values, youknow-and got them to put it up at auction
this noon. he resigned from the bureau, andhe and m. reynolds crane, that millionaire friend of his, bid it in for ten cents." "m. reynolds crane?" duquesne concealed astart of surprise. "where does he come in on this?" "oh, they're always together in everything.they've been thicker than damon and pythias for a long time. they play tennis together-they'redoubles champions of the district, you know-and all kinds of things. wherever you find oneof them you'll usually find the other. anyway, after they got the solution crane took seatonin his car, and somebody said they went out to crane's house. probably trying to humorhim. well, ta-ta; i've got a week's work to
do yet today." as scott left duquesne dropped his work andwent to his desk, with a new expression, half of chagrin, half of admiration, on his face.picking up his telephone, he called a number. "brookings?" he asked, cautiously. "this isduquesne. i must see you immediately. there's something big started that may as well belongto us.... no, can't say anything over the telephone.... yes, i'll be right out." he left the laboratory and soon was in theprivate office of the head of the washington or "diplomatic" branch, as it was known incertain circles, of the great world steel corporation. offices and laboratories weremaintained in the city, ostensibly for research
work, but in reality to be near the centerof political activity. "how do you do, doctor duquesne?" brookingssaid as he seated his visitor. "you seem excited." "not excited, but in a hurry," duquesne replied."the biggest thing in history has just broken, and we've got to work fast if we get in onit. have you any doubts that i always know what i am talking about?" "no," answered the other in surprise. "notthe slightest. you are widely known as an able man. in fact, you have helped this companyseveral times in various deal-er, in various ways." "say it. brookings. 'deals' is the right word.this one is going to be the biggest ever.
the beauty of it is that it should be easy-onesimple burglary and an equally simple killing-and won't mean wholesale murder, as did that...." "oh, no, doctor, not murder. unavoidable accidents." "why not call things by their right namesand save breath, as long as we're alone? i'm not squeamish. but to get down to business.you know seaton, of our division, of course. he has been recovering the various rare metalsfrom all the residues that have accumulated in the bureau for years. after separatingout all the known metals he had something left, and thought it was a new element, ametal. in one of his attempts to get it into the metallic state, a little of its solutionfizzed out and over a copper steam bath or
tank, which instantly flew out of the windowlike a bullet. it went clear out of sight, out of range of his binoculars, just thatquick." he snapped his fingers under brookings' nose. "now that discovery means such poweras the world never dreamed of. in fact, if seaton hadn't had all the luck in the worldright with him yesterday, he would have blown half of north america off the map. chemistshave known for years that all matter contains enormous stores of intra-atomic energy, buthave always considered it 'bound'-that is, incapable of liberation. seaton has liberatedit." "and that means?" "that with the process worked out, the corporationcould furnish power to the entire world, at
very little expense." a look of scornful unbelief passed over brookings'face. "sneer if you like," duquesne continued evenly."your ignorance doesn't change the fact in any particular. do you know what intra-atomicenergy is?" "i'm afraid that i don't, exactly." "well, it's the force that exists betweenthe ultimate component parts of matter, if you can understand that. a child ought to.call in your chief chemist and ask him what would happen if somebody would liberate theintra-atomic energy of one hundred pounds of copper."
"pardon me, doctor. i didn't presume to doubtyou. i will call him in." he telephoned a request and soon a man inwhite appeared. in response to the question he thought for a moment, then smiled slowly. "if it were done instantaneously it wouldprobably blow the entire world into a vapor, and might force it clear out of its orbit.if it could be controlled it would furnish millions of horsepower for a long time. butit can't be done. the energy is bound. its liberation is an impossibility, in the sameclass with perpetual motion. is that all, mr. brookings?" as the chemist left, brookings turned againto his visitor, with an apologetic air.
"i don't know anything about these thingsmyself, but chambers, also an able man, says that it is impossible." "as far as he knows, he is right. i shouldhave said the same thing this morning. but i do know about these things-they're mybusiness-and i tell you that seaton has done it." "this is getting interesting. did you seeit done?" "no. it was rumored around the bureau lastnight that seaton was going insane, that he had wrecked a lot of his apparatus and couldn'texplain what had happened. this morning he called a lot of us into his laboratory, toldus what i have just told you, and poured some
of his solution on a copper wire. nothinghappened, and he acted as though he didn't know what to make of it. the foolish way heacted and the apparent impossibility of the whole thing, made everybody think him crazy.i thought so until i learned this afternoon that mr. reynolds crane is backing him. theni knew that he had told us just enough of the truth to let him get away clean with thesolution." "but suppose the man is crazy?" asked brookings."he probably is a monomaniac, really insane on that one thing, from studying it so much." "seaton? yes, he's crazy-like a fox. younever heard of any insanity in crane's family, though, did you? you know that he never investsa cent in anything more risky than government
bonds. you can bet your last dollar that seatonshowed him the real goods." then, as a look of conviction appeared upon the other's face,he continued: "don't you understand that the solution wasgovernment property, and he had to do something to make everybody think it worthless, so thathe could get title to it? that faked demonstration that failed was certainly a bold stroke-sobold that it was foolhardy. but it worked. it fooled even me, and i am not usually asleep.the only reason he got away with it, is, that he has always been such an open-faced talker,always telling everything he knew. "he certainly played the fox," he continued,with undisguised admiration. "heretofore he has never kept any of his discoveries secretor tried to make any money out of them, though
some of them were worth millions. he publishedthem as soon as he found them, and somebody else got the money. having that reputation,he worked it to make us think him a nut. he certainly is clever. i take off my hat tohim-he's a wonder!" "and what is your idea? where do we come in?" "you come in by getting that solution awayfrom seaton and crane, and furnishing the money to develop the stuff and to build, undermy direction, such a power-plant as the world never saw before." "why get that particular solution? couldn'twe buy up some platinum wastes and refine them?"
"not a chance," replied the scientist. "wehave refined platinum residues for years, and never found anything like that before.it is my idea that the stuff, whatever it is, was present in some particular lot ofplatinum in considerable quantities as an impurity. seaton hasn't all of it there isin the world, of course, but the chance of finding any more of it without knowing exactlywhat it is or how it reacts is extremely slight. besides, we must have exclusive control. howcould we make any money out of it if crane operates a rival company and is satisfiedwith ten percent profit? no, we must get all of that solution. seaton and crane, or seaton,at least, must be killed, for if he is left alive he can find more of the stuff and breakour monopoly. i want to borrow your strong-arm
squad tonight, to go and attend to it." after a few moments' thought, his face setand expressionless, brookings said: "no, doctor. i do not think that the corporationwould care to go into a matter of this kind. it is too flagrant a violation of law, andwe can afford to buy it from seaton after he proves its worth." "bah!" snorted duquesne. "don't try that onme, brookings. you think you can steal it yourself, and develop it without letting mein on it? you can't do it. do you think i am fool enough to tell you all about it, withfacts, figures, and names, if you could get away with it without me? hardly! you can stealthe solution, but that's all you can do. your
chemist or the expert you hire will beginexperimenting without seaton's lucky start, which i have already mentioned, but aboutwhich i haven't gone into any detail. he will have no information whatever, and the firstattempt to do anything with the stuff will blow him and all the country around him formiles into an impalpable powder. you will lose your chemist, your solution, and allhope of getting the process. there are only two men in the united states, or in the world,for that matter, with brains enough and information enough to work it out. one is richard b. seaton,the other is marc c. duquesne. seaton certainly won't handle it for you. money can't buy himand crane, and you know it. you must come to me. if you don't believe that now, youwill very shortly, after you try it alone."
brookings, caught in his duplicity and half-convincedof the truth of duquesne's statements, still temporized. "you're modest, aren't you, doctor?" he asked,smiling. "modest? no," said the other calmly. "modestynever got anybody anything but praise, and i prefer something more substantial. however,i never exaggerate or make over-statements, as you should know. what i have said is merelya statement of fact. also, let me remind you that i am in a hurry. the difficulty of gettinghold of that solution is growing greater every minute, and my price is getting higher everysecond." "what is your price at the present second?"
"ten thousand dollars per month during theexperimental work; five million dollars in cash upon the successful operation of thefirst power unit, which shall be of not less than ten thousand horsepower; and ten percentof the profits." "oh, come, doctor, let's be reasonable. youcan't mean any such figures as those." "i never say anything i don't mean. i havedone a lot of dirty work with you people before, and never got much of anything out of it.you were always too strong for me; that is, i couldn't force you without exposing my owncrookedness, but now i've got you right where i want you. that's my price; take it or leaveit. if you don't take it now, the first two of those figures will be doubled when youdo come to me. i won't go to anybody else,
though others would be glad to get it on myterms, because i have a reputation to maintain and you are the only ones who know that iam crooked. i know that my reputation is safe as long as i work with you, because i knowenough about you to send all you big fellows, clear down to perkins, away for life. i alsoknow that that knowledge will not shorten my days, as i am too valuable a man for youto kill, as you did...." "please, doctor, don't use such language...." "why not?" interrupted duquesne, in his cold,level voice. "it's all true. what do a few lives amount to, as long as they're not yoursand mine? as i said, i can trust you, more or less. you can trust me, because you knowthat i can't send you up without going with
you. therefore, i am going to let you go aheadwithout me as far as you can-it won't be far. do you want me to come in now or later?" "i'm afraid we can't do business on any suchterms as that," said brookings, shaking his head. "we can undoubtedly buy the power rightsfrom seaton for what you ask." "you don't fool me for a second, brookings.go ahead and steal the solution, but take my advice and give your chemist only a littleof it. a very little of that stuff will go a long way, and you will want to have someleft when you have to call me in. make him experiment with extremely small quantities.i would suggest that he work in the woods at least a hundred miles from his nearestneighbor, though it matters nothing to me
how many people you kill. that's the onlypointer i will give you-i'm giving it merely to keep you from blowing up the whole country,"he concluded with a grim smile. "good-bye." as the door closed behind the cynical scientist,brookings took a small gold instrument, very like a watch, from his pocket. he toucheda button and held the machine close to his lips. "perkins," he said softly, "m. reynolds cranehas in his house a bottle of solution." "yes, sir. can you describe it?" "not exactly. it is greenish yellow in color,and i gather that it is in a small bottle, as there isn't much of the stuff in the world.i don't know what it smells or tastes like,
and i wouldn't advise experimenting with it,as it seems to be a violent explosive and is probably poisonous. any bottle of solutionof that color kept in a particularly safe place would probably be the one. let me cautionyou that this is the biggest thing you have ever been in, and it must not fail. any effortto purchase it would be useless, however large a figure were named. but if the bottle wereonly partly emptied and filled up with water, i don't believe anyone would notice the difference,at least for some time, do you?" "probably not, sir. good-bye." next morning, shortly after the office opened,perkins, whose principal characteristic was that of absolute noiselessness, glided smoothlyinto brookings' office. taking a small bottle
about half full of a greenish-yellow liquidfrom his pocket, he furtively placed it under some papers upon his superior's desk. "a man found this last night, sir, and thoughtit might belong to you. he said this was a little less than half of it, but that youcould have the rest of it any time you want it." "thank you, perkins, he was right. it is ours.here's a letter which just came," handing him an envelope, which rustled as perkinsfolded it into a small compass and thrust it into his vest pocket. "good morning." as perkins slid out, brookings spoke intohis telephone, and soon chambers, his chief
chemist, appeared. "doctor chambers," brookings began, showinghim the bottle, "i have here a solution which in some way is capable of liberating the intra-atomicenergy of matter, about which i asked you yesterday. it works on copper. i would liketo have you work out the process for us, if you will." "what about the man who discovered the process?"asked chambers, as he touched the bottle gingerly. "he is not available. surely what one chemistcan do, others can? you will not have to work alone. you can hire the biggest men in theline to help you-expense is no object." "no, it wouldn't be, if such a process couldbe worked out. let me see, whom can we get?
doctor seaton is probably the best man inthe country for such a research, but i don't think that we can get him. i tried to gethim to work on the iridium-osmium problem, but he refused." "we might make an offer big enough to gethim." "no. don't mention it to him," with a significantlook. "he's to know nothing about it." "well, then, how about duquesne, who was inhere yesterday? he's probably next to seaton." "i took it up with him yesterday. we can'tget him, his figures are entirely out of reason. aren't there any other men in the countrywho know anything? you are a good man, why don't you tackle it yourself?"
"because i don't know anything about thatparticular line of research, and i want to keep on living awhile longer," the chemistreplied bluntly. "there are other good men whom i can get, however. van schravendyck,of our own laboratory, is nearly as good as either seaton or duquesne. he has done a lotof work on radio-activity and that sort of thing, and i think he would like to work onit." "all right. please get it started withoutdelay. give him about a quarter of the solution and have the rest put in the vault. be surethat his laboratory is set up far enough away from everything else to avoid trouble in caseof an explosion, and caution him not to work on too much copper at once. i gather thatan ounce or so will be plenty."
the chemist went back to his laboratory andsought his first assistant. "van," he began, "mr. brookings has been listeningto some lunatic who claims to have solved the mystery of liberating intra-atomic energy." "that's old stuff," the assistant said, laughing."that and perpetual motion are always with us. what did you tell him?" "i didn't get a chance to tell him anything-hetold me. yesterday, you know, he asked me what would happen if it could be liberated,and i answered truthfully that lots of things would happen, and volunteered the informationthat it was impossible. just now he called me in, gave me this bottle of solution, sayingthat it contained the answer to the puzzle,
and wanted me to work it out. i told him thatit was out of my line and that i was afraid of it-which i would be if i thought therewas anything in it-but that it was more or less in your line, and he said to put youon it right away. he also said that expense was no object; to set up an independent laboratorya hundred miles off in the woods, to be safe in case of an explosion; and to caution younot to use too much copper at once-that an ounce or so would be plenty!" "an ounce! ten thousand tons of nitroglycerin!i'll say an ounce would be plenty, if the stuff is any good at all, which of courseit isn't. queer, isn't it, how the old man would fall for anything like that? how didhe explain the failure of the discoverer to
develop it himself?" "he said the discoverer is not available,"answered chambers with a laugh. "i'll bet he isn't available-he's back in st. elizabeth'sagain by this time, where he came from. i suggested that we get either seaton or duquesneof rare metals to help us on it, and he said that they had both refused to touch it, orwords to that effect. if those two turned down a chance to work on a thing as big asthis would be, there probably is nothing in this particular solution that is worth a rap.but what brookings says goes, around here, so it's you for the woods. and don't takeany chances, either-it is conceivable that something might happen."
"sure it might, but it won't. we'll set upthat lab near a good trout stream, and i'll have a large and juicy vacation. i'll workon the stuff a little, too-enough to make a good report, at least. i'll analyze it,find out what is in it, deposit it on some copper, shoot an electrolytic current throughit, and make a lot of wise motions generally, and have a darn good time besides."chapter iii seaton solves the problem of power "well, mart," said seaton briskly, "now thatthe seaton-crane company, engineers, is organized to your satisfaction, let's hop to it. i supposei'd better beat it downtown and hunt up a place to work?"
"why not work here?" "your house? you don't want this kind of experimentinggoing on around here, do you? suppose a chunk of the stuff gets away from me and tears theside out of the house?" "this house is the logical place to work.i already have a complete machine shop and testing laboratory out in the hangar, andwe can easily fit up a chemical laboratory for you up in the tower room. you can haveopen windows on four sides there, and if you should accidentally take out the wall therewill be little damage done. we will be alone here, with the few neighbors so thoroughlyaccustomed to my mechanical experiments that they are no longer curious."
"fine. there's another good thing, too. yourman shiro. he's been with you in so many tight pinches in all the unknown corners of theworld on your hunting trips and explorations that we can trust him, and he'll probablycome in handy." "yes, we can trust him implicitly. as youknow, he is really my friend instead of my man." during the next few days, while workmen wereinstalling a complete chemical laboratory in the tower room, seaton busied himself inpurchasing the equipment necessary for the peculiar problem before him. his list waslong and varied, ranging from a mighty transformer, capable of delivering thousands of kilovoltsdown to a potentiometer, so sensitive that
it would register the difference of potentialset up by two men in shaking hands. from daylight until dark seaton worked inthe laboratory, either alone or superintending and assisting the men at work there. everynight when crane went to bed he saw seaton in his room in a haze of smoke, poring overblueprints or, surrounded by abstruse works upon the calculus and sub-atomic phenomena,making interminable calculations. less than two miles away lived dorothy vaneman,who had promised to be his wife. he had seen her but once since "the impossible" had happened,since his prosaic copper steam-bath had taken flight under his hand and pointed the wayto a great adventure. in a car his friend was to build, moved by this stupendous powerwhich he must learn to control, they would
traverse interstellar space-visit strangeplanets and survey strange solar systems. while he did not forget his sweetheart-thethought of her was often in his mind, and the fact that her future was so intimatelyconnected with his own gave to every action a new meaning-he had such a multitude ofthings to do and was so eager to get them all done at once that day after day went byand he could not find time to call upon her. crane remonstrated in vain. his protests againstseaton's incessant work had no effect. seaton insisted that he must fix firmly just a fewmore points before they eluded him, and stuck doggedly to his task. finally, crane laid his work aside and wentto call upon the girl. he found her just leaving
home, and fell into step beside her. for awhileshe tried to rouse herself to be entertaining, or at least friendly, but the usual ease withwhich she chatted had deserted her, and her false gayety did not deceive the keen-mindedcrane for an instant. soon the two were silent as they walked along together. crane's thoughtswere on the beautiful girl beside him, and on the splendid young genius under his roof,so deeply immersed in his problem that he was insensible to everything else. "i have just left dick," crane said suddenly,and paying no attention to her startled glance. "did you ever in your life see anyone withhis singleness of purpose? with all his brilliance, one idea at a time is all that he seems capableof-though that is probably why he is such
a genius. he is working himself insane. hashe told you about leaving the bureau?" "no. has he? has it anything to do with whathappened that day at the laboratory? i haven't seen him since the accident, or discovery,whichever it was, happened. he came to see me at half-past ten, when he was invited fordinner-oh, martin, i had been so angry!-and he told such a preposterous story, i've beenwondering since if i didn't dream it." "no, you didn't dream it, no matter how wildit sounded. he said it, and it is all true. i cannot explain it to you; dick himself cannotexplain it, even to me. but i can give you an idea of what we both think it may cometo." "yes, do."
"well, he has discovered something that makescopper act mighty queer-knocks it off its feet, so to speak. that day a piece went upand never did come down." "yes, that is what is so preposterous!" "just a moment, please," replied the imperturbablecrane. "you should know that nothing ordinary can account for dick's behavior, and afterwhat i have seen this last week i shall never again think anything preposterous. as i said,this piece of copper departed, via the window, for scenes unknown. as far as a pair of goodbinoculars could follow it, it held to a perfectly straight course toward those scenes. we intendto follow it in some suitable vehicle." he paused, looking at his companion's face,but she did not speak.
"building the conveyance is where i come in,"he continued in his matter-of-fact voice. "as you know, i happen to have almost as muchmoney as dick has brains, and some day, before the summer is over, we expect to go somewhere.we do not know where, but it will be a long way from this earth." there was a silence, then dorothy said, helplessly: "well, go on.... i can't understand...." "neither can i. all i know is that dick wantsto build a heavy steel hull, and he is going to put something inside it that will takeus out into space. only occasionally do i see a little light as he tries to explainthe mechanism of the thing to me."
after enjoining upon her the strictest secrecyhe repeated the story that seaton had told him, and informed her as to the present conditionof affairs. "it's no wonder the other chemists thoughthe was crazy, is it, martin?" "no, especially after the failure of his demonstrationthe next morning. you see, he tried to prove to the others that he was right, and nothinghappened. he has found out since that an electrical machine in another room, which was not runningthat morning, played a very important part. when the copper refused to act as it had thenight before they all took the snap judgment that he had suffered an attack of temporaryinsanity, and that the solution was worthless. they called him 'nobody holme'."
"it almost fits, at that!" exclaimed dorothy,laughing. "but if he thought of that," she added, thoughtfully,"if he was brilliant enough to build up such a wonderful theory ... think out such a thingas actually traveling to the stars ... all on such a slight foundation of fact ... iwonder why he couldn't have told me?" she hadn't meant to utter the last thought.nobody must know how being left out of it had hurt her, and she would have recalledthe words if she could. crane understood, and answered loyally. "he will tell you all about it very soon,never fear. his is the mind of a great scientist, working on a subject of which but very fewmen have even an inkling. i am certain that
the only reason he thought of me is that hecould not finance the investigation alone. never think for an instant that his absorptionimplies a lack of fondness for you. you are his anchor, his only hold on known things.in fact, it was about this that i came to see you. dick is working himself at a ratethat not even a machine can stand. he eats hardly anything, and if he sleeps at all,i have never caught him at it. that idea is driving him day and night, and if he goeson the way he is going, it means a breakdown. i do not know whether you can make him listento reason or not-certainly no one else can. if you think you can do it, that is to beyour job, and it will be the biggest one of the three."
"how well you understand him," dorothy said,after a pause. "you make me feel ashamed, martin. i should have known without beingtold. then i wouldn't have had these nasty little doubts about him." "i should call them perfectly natural, consideringthe circumstances," he answered. "men with minds like dick's are rare. they work on onlyone track. your part will be hard. he will come to you, bursting with news and achingto tell you all about his theories and facts and calculations, and you must try to takehis mind off the whole thing and make him think of something else. it looks impossibleto me." the smile had come back to dorothy's face.her head, graced by its wealth of gleaming
auburn hair, was borne proudly, and glancingmischief lit her violet eyes. "didn't you just tell me nothing is impossible?you know, martin, that i can make dicky forget everything, even interstellar-did i getthat word right?-space itself, with my violin." "trying to beguile a scientist from his hobbyis comparable only to luring a drug addict away from his vice ... but i would not besurprised if you could do it," he slowly replied. for he had heard her play. she and seatonhad been caught near his home by a sudden shower while on horseback, and had dashedin for shelter. while the rain beat outside and while shiro was preparing one of his famoussuppers, crane had suggested that she pass the time by playing his "fiddle." dorothyrealized, with the first sweep of the bow,
that she was playing a stradivarius, the likeof which she had played before only in her dreams. she forgot her listeners, forgot thetime and the place, and poured out in her music all the beauty and tenderness of hernature. soft and full the tones filled the room, and in crane's vision there rose a homefilled with happy work, with laughter and companionship, with playing children who turnedtheir faces to their mother as do flowers to the light. sensing the girl's dreams asthe music filled his ears, he realized as never before in his busy, purposeful lifehow beautiful a home with the right woman could be. no thought of love for dorothy enteredhis mind, for he knew that the love existing between her and his friend was of the kindthat nothing could alter, but he felt that
she had unwittingly given him a great gift.often thereafter in his lonely hours he had imagined that dream-home, and nothing lessthan its perfection would ever satisfy him. for a time they walked on in silence. on dorothy'sface was a tender look, the reflection of her happy thoughts, and in crane's mind floatedagain the vision of his ideal home, the home whose central figure he was unable to visualize.at last she turned and placed her hand on his arm. "you have done a great deal for me-for us,"she said simply. "i wish there were something i could do for you in return." "you have already done much more than thatfor me, dorothy," he answered, more slowly
even than usual. "it is hard for me to expressjust what it is, but i want you to know that you and dick mean much to me.... you are thefirst real woman i have ever known, and some day, if life is good to me, i hope to havesome girl as lovely care for me." dorothy's sensitive face flushed warmly. sounexpected and sincere was his praise that it made her feel both proud and humble. shehad never realized that this quiet, apparently unimaginative man had seen all the idealsshe expressed in her music. a woman expects to appear lovely to her lover, and to themen who would be her lovers if they could, but here was a man who neither sought norexpected any favors, saying that he wanted some girl as lovely for his own. truly itwas a compliment to be cherished.
after they had returned to the house and cranehad taken his departure, dorothy heard the purr of a rapidly approaching motorcycle,and her heart leaped as she went to the door to welcome her lover. "it seems like a month since i saw you last,sweetheart!" he exclaimed, as he lifted her clear from the floor in a passionate embraceand kissed in turn her lips, her eyes, the tip of her nose, the elusive dimple in hercheek, and the adorable curve of her neck. "it seems longer than that to me, dicky. iwas perfectly miserable until martin called this afternoon and explained what you havebeen doing." "yes, i met him on the way over. but honestly,dottie, i simply couldn't get away. i wanted
to, the worst way, but everything went soslow...." "slow? when you have a whole laboratory installedin a week? what would you call speed?" "about two days. and then, there were a lotof little ideas that had to be nailed down before they got away from me. this is a horriblybig job, dottie, and when a fellow gets into it he can't quit. but you know that i loveyou just the same, even though i do appear to neglect you," he continued with fierceintensity. "i love you with everything there is in me. i love you, mind, body and spirit;love you as a man should love the one and only woman. for you are the only woman, therenever was and never will be another. i love you morally, physically, intellectually, andevery other way there is, for the perfect
little darling that you are." she moved in his embrace and her arms tightenedabout his neck. "you are the nearest thing to absolute perfectionthat ever came into this imperfect world," he continued. "just to think of a girl ofyour sheer beauty, your ability, your charm, your all-round perfection, being engaged toa thing like me, makes me dizzy-but i sure do love you, little girl of mine. i will loveyou as long as we live, and afterward, my soul will love your soul throughout eternity.you know that, sweetheart girl." "oh, dick!" she whispered, her soul shakenwith response to his love. "i never dreamed it possible for a woman to love as i loveyou. 'whither thou goest....'"
her voice failed in the tempest of her emotion,and they clung together in silence. they were finally interrupted by dorothy'sstately and gracious mother, who came in to greet seaton and invite him to have dinnerwith them. "i knew that dot would forget such an unimportantmatter," she said, with a glint of dorothy's own mischief in her eyes. as they went into the dining-room dorothywas amazed to see the changes that six days had wrought in seaton. his face looked thin,almost haggard. fine lines had made their appearance at the corners of his eyes andaround his mouth, and faint but unmistakable blue rings encircled his eyes.
"you have been working too hard, boy," shereproved him gravely. "oh, no," he rejoined lightly. "i'm all right,i never felt better. why, i could whip a rattlesnake right now, and give him the first bite!" she laughed at his reply, but the look ofconcern did not leave her face. as soon as they were seated at the table she turned toher father, a clean-cut, gray-haired man of fifty, known as one of the shrewdest attorneysin the city. "daddy," she demanded, "what do you mean bybeing elected director in the seaton-crane company and not telling me anything aboutit?" "daughter," he replied in the same tone, "whatdo you mean by asking such a question as that?
don't you know that it is a lawyer's businessto get information, and to give it out only to paying clients? however, i can tell youall i know about the seaton-crane company without adding to your store of knowledgeat all. i was present at one meeting, gravely voted 'aye' once, and that is all." "didn't you draw up the articles of incorporation?" "i am doing it, yes; but they don't mean anything.they merely empower the company to do anything it wants to, the same as other large companiesdo." then, after a quick but searching glance at seaton's worn face and a warning glanceat his daughter, he remarked: "i read in the star this evening that enrightand stanwix will probably make the australian
davis cup team, and that the hawaiian withthe unpronounceable name has broken three or four more world's records. what do youthink of our tennis chances this year, dick?" dorothy flushed, and the conversation, steeredby the lawyer into the safer channels, turned to tennis, swimming, and other sports. seaton,whose plate was unobtrusively kept full by mr. vaneman, ate such a dinner as he had noteaten in weeks. after the meal was over they all went into the spacious living-room, wherethe men ensconced themselves in comfortable morris chairs with long, black cigars betweentheir teeth, and all four engaged in a spirited discussion of various topics of the day. aftera time, the older couple left the room, the lawyer going into his study to work, as healways did in the evening.
"well, dicky, how's everything?" dorothy asked,unthinkingly. the result of this innocent question was astonishing.seaton leaped to his feet. the problem, dormant for two hours, was again in complete possessionof his mind. "rotten!" he snapped, striding back and forthand brandishing his half-smoked cigar. "my head is so thick that it takes a thousandyears for an idea to filter into it. i should have the whole thing clear by this time, buti haven't. there's something, some little factor, that i can't get. i've almost hadit a dozen times, but it always gets away from me. i know that the force is there andi can liberate it, but i can't work out a system of control until i can understand exactlywhy it acts the way it does." then, more slowly,
thinking aloud rather than addressing thegirl: "the force is attraction toward all matter,generated by the vibrations of all the constituent electrons in parallel planes. it is directedalong a line perpendicular to the plane of vibration at its center, and approaches infinityas the angle theta approaches the limit of pi divided by two. therefore, by shiftingthe axis of rotation or the plane of vibration thus making theta vary between the limitsof zero and pi divided by two...." he was interrupted by dorothy, who, mortifiedby her thoughtlessness in getting him started, had sprung up and seized him by the arm. "sit down, dicky!" she implored. "sit down,you're rocking the boat! save your mathematics
for martin. don't you know that i could neverfind out why 'x' was equal to 'y' or to anything else in algebra?" she led him back to his chair, where he drewher down to a seat on the arm beside him. "whom do you love?" she whispered gayly inhis ear. after a time she freed herself. "i haven't practised today. don't you wantme to play for you a little?" "fine business, dottie. when you play a violin,it talks." she took down her violin and played; firsthis favorites, crashing selections from operas and solos by the great masters, aboundingin harmonies on two strings. then she changed
to reveries and soft, plaintive melodies.seaton listened with profound enjoyment. under the spell of the music he relaxed, pushedout the footrest of the chair, and lay back at ease, smoking dreamily. the cigar finishedand his hands at rest, his eyes closed of themselves. the music, now a crooning lullaby,grew softer and slower, until his deep and regular breathing showed that he was soundasleep. she stopped playing and sat watching him intently, her violin in readiness to playagain, if he should show the least sign of waking, but there was no such sign. freedfrom the tyranny of the mighty brain which had been driving it so unmercifully, his bodywas making up for many hours of lost sleep. assured that he was really asleep, dorothytip-toed to her father's study and quietly
went in. "daddy, dick is asleep out there in the chair.what shall we do with him?" "good work, dottie dimple. i heard you playinghim to sleep-you almost put me to sleep as well. i'll get a blanket and we'll puthim to bed right where he is." "dear old dad," she said softly, sitting onthe arm of his chair and rubbing her cheek against his. "you always did understand, didn'tyou?" "i try to, kitten," he answered, pulling herear. "seaton is too good a man to see go to pieces when it can be prevented. that is whyi signalled you to keep the talk off the company and his work. one of the best lawyers i everknew, a real genius, went to pieces that same
way. he was on a big, almost an impossible,case. he couldn't think of anything else, didn't eat or sleep much for months. he wonthe case, but it broke him. but he wasn't in love with a big, red-headed beauty of agirl, and so didn't have her to fiddle him to sleep. "well, i'll go get the blanket," he concluded,with a sudden change in his tone. in a few moments he returned and they wentinto the living-room together. seaton lay in exactly the same position, only the regularlifting of his powerful chest showing that he was alive. "i think we had better...."
"sh ... sh," interrupted the girl in an intensewhisper. "you'll wake him up, daddy." "bosh! you couldn't wake him up with a club.his own name might rouse him, particularly if you said it; no other ordinary sound would.i started to say that i think we had better put him to bed on the davenport. he wouldbe more comfortable." "but that would surely wake him. and he'sso big...." "oh, no, it wouldn't, unless i drop him onthe floor. and he doesn't weigh much over two hundred, does he?" "about ten or eleven pounds." "even though i am a lawyer, and old and decrepit,i can still handle that much."
with dorothy anxiously watching the proceedingand trying to help, vaneman picked seaton up out of the chair, with some effort, andcarried him across the room. the sleeping man muttered as if in protest at being disturbed,but made no other sign of consciousness. the lawyer then calmly removed seaton's shoesand collar, while the girl arranged pillows under his head and tucked the blanket aroundhim. vaneman bent a quizzical glance upon his daughter, under which a flaming blushspread from her throat to her hair. "well," she said, defiantly, "i'm going to,anyway." "my dear, of course you are. if you didn't,i would disown you." as her father turned away, dorothy knelt besideher lover and pressed her lips tightly to
his. "good night, sweetheart," she murmured. "'night," he muttered in his sleep, as hislips responded faintly to her caress. vaneman waited for his daughter, and whenshe appeared, the blush again suffusing her face, he put his arm around her. "dorothy," he said at the door of her room,using her full name, a very unusual thing for him, "the father of such a girl as youare hates to lose her, but i advise you to stick to that boy. believe in him and trusthim, no matter what happens. he is a real "i know it, dad ... thank you. i had a touchof the blues today, but i never will again.
i think more of his little finger than i doof all the other men i ever knew, put together. but how do you know him so well? i know him,of course, but that's different." "i have various ways of getting information.i know dick seaton better than you do-better than he knows himself. i have known all aboutevery man who ever looked at you twice. i have been afraid once or twice that i wouldhave to take a hand, but you saw them right, just as you see seaton right. for some timei have been afraid of the thought of your marrying, the young men in your social setare such a hopeless lot, but i am not any more. when i hand my little girl over to herhusband next october i can be really happy with you, instead of anxious for you. that'show well i know richard seaton.... well, good
night, daughter mine." "good night, daddy dear," she replied, throwingher arms around his neck. "i have the finest dad a girl ever had, and the finest ... boy.good night." it was three o'clock the following afternoonwhen seaton appeared in the laboratory. his long rest had removed all the signs of overworkand he was his alert, vigorous self, but when crane saw him and called out a cheery greetinghe returned it with a sheepish smile. "don't say anything, martin-i'm thinkingit all, and then some. i made a regular fool of myself last night. went to sleep in a chairand slept seventeen hours without a break. i never felt so cheap in my life."
"you were worn out, dick, and you know it.that sleep put you on your feet again, and i hope you will have sense enough to takecare of yourself after this. i warn you now, dick, that if you start any more of that midnightwork i will simply call dorothy over here and have her take charge of you." "that's it, mart, rub it in. don't you seethat i am flat on my back, with all four paws in the air? but i'm going to sleep every night.i promised dottie to go to bed not later than twelve, if i have to quit right in the middleof an idea, and i told her that i was coming out to see her every other evening and everysunday. but here's the dope. i've got that missing factor in my theory-got it whilei was eating breakfast this afternoon."
"if you had eaten and slept regularly hereand kept yourself fit you would have seen it before." "yes, i guess that's right, too. if i missa meal or a sleep from now on i want you to sand-bag me. but never mind that. here's theexplanation. we doped out before, you know, that the force is something like magnetism,and is generated when the coil causes the electrons of this specially-treated copperto vibrate in parallel planes. the knotty point was what could be the effect of a weakelectric current in liberating the power. i've got it! it shifts the plane of vibrationof the electrons!" "it is impossible to shift that plane, dick.it is fixed by physical state, just as speed
is fixed by temperature." "no, it isn't. that is, it usually is, butin this case it may be shifted. here's the mathematical proof." so saying, seaton went over to the draftingtable, tacked down a huge sheet of paper, and sketched rapidly, explaining as he drew.soon the two men were engaged in a profound mathematical argument. sheet after sheet ofpaper was filled with equations and calculations, and the table was covered with reference books.after two hours of intense study and hot discussion crane's face took on a look of dawning comprehension,which changed to amazement and then to joy. for the first time in seaton's long acquaintancewith him, his habitual calm was broken.
"by george!" he cried, shaking seaton's handin both of his. "i think you have it! but how under the sun did you get the idea? thatcalculus isn't in any of the books. where did you get it? dick, you're a wonder!" "i don't know how i got the idea, it merelycame to me. but that math is right-it's got to be right, no other conclusion is possible.now, if that calc. is right, and i know it is, do you see how narrow the permissiblelimits of shifting are? look at equation 236. believe me, i sure was lucky, that day inthe bureau. it's a wonder i didn't blow up the whole works. suppose i hadn't been workingwith a storage cell that gave only four amperes at two volts? that's unusually low, you know,for that kind of work."
crane carefully studied the equation referredto and figured for a moment. "in that case the limit would be exactly eightwatts. anything above that means instant decomposition?" "yes." crane whistled, a long, low whistle. "and that bath weighed forty pounds-enoughto vaporize the whole planet. dick, it cannot be possible." "it doesn't seem that way, but it is. it certainlymakes me turn cold all over, though, to think of what might have happened. you know nowwhy i wouldn't touch the solution again until i had this stuff worked out?"
"i certainly do. you should be even more afraidof it now. i don't mind nitroglycerin or t.n.t., but anything like that is merely a child'splaything compared to this. perhaps we had better drop it?" "not in seven thousand years. the mere factthat i was so lucky at first proves that fate intended this thing to be my oyster. however,i'll not tempt the old lady any farther. i'm going to start with one millionth of a volt,and will use a piece of copper visible only under a microscope. but there's absolutelyno danger, now that we know what it is. i can make it eat out of my hand. look at thisequation here, though. that being true, it looks as though you could get the same explosiveeffect by taking a piece of copper which had
once been partially decomposed and subjectingit to some force, say an extremely heavy current. again under the influence of the coil, a smallcurrent would explode it, wouldn't it?" "it looks that way, from those figures." "say, wouldn't that make some bullet? unstabilizea piece of copper in that way and put it inside a rifle bullet, arranged to make a short circuiton impact. by making the piece of copper barely visible you could have the explosive effectof only a few sticks of dynamite-a piece the size of a pea would obliterate new yorkcity. but that's a long way from our flying-machine." "perhaps not so far as you think. when weexplore new worlds it might be a good idea to have a liberal supply of such ammunition,of various weights, for emergencies."
"it might, at that. here's another point inequation 249. suppose the unstabilized copper were treated with a very weak current, notstrong enough to explode it? a sort of borderline condition? the energy would be liberated,apparently, but in an entirely new way. wonder what would happen? i can't see from the theory-haveto work it out. and here's another somewhat similar condition, right here, that will needinvestigating. i've sure got a lot of experimental work ahead of me before i'll know anything.how're things going with you?" "i have the drawings and blue-prints of theship itself done, and working sketches of the commercial power-plant. i am working nowon the details, such as navigating instruments, food, water, and air supplies, special motors,and all of the hundred and one little things
that must be taken into consideration. then,as soon as you get the power under control, we will have only to sketch in the detailsof the power-plant and its supports before we can begin construction." "fine, mart, that's great. well, let's getbusy!" chapter ivsteel liberates energy-unexpectedly duquesne was in his laboratory, poring overan abstruse article in a foreign journal of science, when scott came breezily in witha newspaper in his hand, across the front page of which stretched great headlines. "hello, blackie!" he called. "come down toearth and listen to this tale of mystery from
that world-renowned fount of exactitude andauthority, the washington clarion. some miscreant has piled up and touched off a few thousandtons of t.n.t. and picric acid up in the hills. read about it, it's good." duquesne read:mysterious explosion! mountain village wiped out of existence!two hundred dead, none injured! force felt all over world. cause unknown.scientists baffled. harper's ferry. march 26.-at 10: 23 a.m.today, the village of bankerville, about thirty miles north of this place, was totally destroyedby an explosion of such terrific violence that seismographs all over the world recordedthe shock, and that windows were shattered
even in this city. a thick pall of dust andsmoke was observed in the sky and parties set out immediately. they found, instead ofthe little mountain village, nothing except an immense, crater-like hole in the ground,some two miles in diameter and variously estimated at from two to three thousand feet deep. nosurvivors have been found, no bodies have been recovered. the entire village, with itstwo hundred inhabitants, has been wiped out of existence. not so much as a splinter ofwood or a fragment of brick from any of the houses can be found. scientists are unableto account for the terrific force of the explosion, which far exceeded that of the most violentexplosive known. "hm ... m. that sounds reasonable, doesn'tit?" asked duquesne, sarcastically, as he
finished reading. "it sure does," replied scott, grinning. "what'd'yousuppose it was? think the reporter heard a tire blow out on pennsylvania avenue?" "perhaps. nothing to it, anyway," as he turnedback to his work. as soon as the visitor had gone a sneeringsmile spread over duquesne's face and he picked up his telephone. "the fool did it. that will cure him of suckingeggs!" he muttered. "operator? duquesne speaking. i am expecting a call this afternoon. pleaseask him to call me at my house.... thank you." "fred," he called to his helper, "if anyonewants me, tell them that i have gone home."
he left the building and stepped into hiscar. in less than half an hour he arrived at his house on park road, overlooking beautifulrock creek park. here he lived alone save for an old colored couple who were his servants. in the busiest part of the afternoon chambersrushed unannounced into brookings' private office. his face was white as chalk. "read that, mr. brookings!" he gasped, thrustingthe clarion extra into his hand. brookings read the news of the explosion,then looked at his chief chemist, his face turning gray. "yes, sir, that was our laboratory," saidchambers, dully.
"the fool! didn't you tell him to work withsmall quantities?" "i did. he said not to worry, that he wastaking no chances, that he would never have more than a gram of copper on hand at oncein the whole laboratory." "well ... i'll ... be ... damned!" slowlyturning to the telephone, brookings called a number and asked for doctor duquesne, thencalled another. "brookings speaking. i would like to see youthis afternoon. will you be at home?... i'll be there in about an hour. good bye." when brookings arrived he was shown into duquesne'sstudy. the two men shook hands perfunctorily and sat down, the scientist waiting for theother to speak.
"well, duquesne, you were right. our man couldn'thandle it. but of course you didn't mean the terms you mentioned before?" duquesne's lips smiled; a hard, cold smile. "you know what i said, brookings. those termsare now doubled, twenty thousand and ten million. nothing else goes." "i expected it, since you never back down.the corporation expects to pay for its mistakes. we accept your terms and i have contractshere for your services as research director, at a salary of two hundred and forty thousanddollars per annum, with the bonus and royalties you demand."
duquesne glanced over the documents and thrustthem into his pocket. "i'll go over these with my attorney to-night,and mail one back to you if he approves the contract. in the meantime, we may as wellget down to business." "what would you suggest?" asked brookings. "you people stole the solution, i see...." "don't use such harsh language, doctor, it's...." "why not? i'm for direct action, first, lastand all the time. this thing is too important to permit of mincing words or actions, it'sa waste of time. have you the solution here?" "yes, here it is," drawing the bottle fromhis pocket.
"where's the rest of it?" asked duquesne ashe noted the size of the bottle. "all that we found is here, except about ateaspoonful which the expert had to work on," replied brookings. "we didn't get it all,only half of it. the rest of it was diluted with water, so that it wouldn't be missed.after we get started, if you find it works out satisfactorily, we can procure the restof it. that will certainly cause a disturbance, but it may be necessary...." "half of it!" interrupted duquesne. "you haven'tone-twentieth of it here. when i saw it in the bureau, seaton had about five hundredmilliliters-over a pint-of it. i wonder if you're double-crossing me again?"
"no, you're not," he continued, paying noattention to the other's protestations of innocence. "you're paying me too much to wantto block me now. the crook you sent out to get the stuff turned in only this much. doyou suppose he is holding out on us?" "no. you know perkins and his methods." "he missed the main bottle, then. that's whereyour methods make me tired. when i want anything done, i believe in doing it myself, then iknow it's done right. as to what i suggest, that's easy. i will take three or four ofperkins' gunmen tonight. we'll go out there and raid the place. we'll shoot seaton andanybody else who gets in the way. we'll dynamite the safe and take their solution, plans, notes,money, and anything else we want."
"no, no, doctor, that's too crude altogether.if we have to do that, let it be only as a last resort." "i say do it first, then we know we will getresults. i tell you i'm afraid of pussyfooting and gumshoeing around seaton and crane. iused to think that seaton was easy, but he seems to have developed greatly in the lastfew weeks, and crane never was anybody's fool. together they make a combination hard to beat.brute force, applied without warning, is our best bet, and there's no danger, you knowthat. we've got away clean with lots worse stuff." "it's always dangerous, and we could winkat such tactics only after everything else
has failed. why not work it out from thissolution we have, and then quietly get the rest of it? after we have it worked out, seatonmight get into an accident on his motorcycle, and we could prove by the state of developmentof our plans that we discovered it long ago." "because developing the stuff is highly dangerous,as you have found out. even seaton wouldn't have been alive now if he hadn't had a lotof luck at the start. then, too, it would take too much time. seaton has already developedit-you see, i haven't been asleep and i know what he has done, just as well as youdo-and why should we go through all that slow and dangerous experimental work whenwe can get their notes and plans as well as not? there is bound to be trouble anyway whenwe steal all their solution, even though they
haven't missed this little bit of it yet,and it might as well come now as any other time. the corporation is amply protected,and i am still a government chemist. nobody even suspects that i am in on this deal. iwill never see you except after hours and in private, and will never come near youroffices. we will be so cautious that, even if anyone should get suspicious, they can'tpossibly link us together, and until they do link us together, we are all safe. no,brookings, a raid in force is the only sure and safe way. what is more natural than aburglary of a rich man's house? it will be a simple affair. the police will stir aroundfor a few days, then it will all be forgotten and we can go ahead. nobody will suspect anythingexcept crane, if he is alive, and he won't
be able to do anything." so the argument raged. brookings was convincedthat duquesne was right in wanting to get possession of all the solution, and also ofthe working notes and plans, but would not agree to the means suggested, holding outfor quieter and more devious, but less actionable methods. finally he ended the argument witha flat refusal to countenance the raid, and the scientist was forced to yield, althoughhe declared that they would have to use his methods in the end, and that it would savetime, money, and perhaps lives, if they were used first. brookings then took from his pockethis wireless and called perkins. he told him of the larger bottle of solution, instructinghim to secure it and to bring back all plans,
notes, and other material he could find whichin any way pertained to the matter in hand. then, after promising duquesne to keep himinformed of developments, and giving him an instrument similar to the one he himself carried,brookings took his leave. seaton had worked from early morning untillate at night, but had rigorously kept his promise to dorothy. he had slept seven oreight hours every night and had called upon her regularly, returning from the visits withever-keener zest for his work. late in the afternoon, upon the day of theexplosion, seaton stepped into crane's shop with a mass of notes in his hand. "well, mart, i've got it-some of it, atleast. the power is just what we figured it,
so immensely large as to be beyond belief.i have found: "first: that it is a practically irresistiblepull along the axis of the treated wire or bar. it is apparently focused at infinity,as near-by objects are not affected. "second: i have studied two of the border-lineregions of current we discussed. i have found that in one the power is liberated as a similarattractive force but is focused upon the first object in line with the axis of the bar. aslong as the current is applied it remains focused upon that object, no matter what comesbetween. in the second border-line condition the power is liberated as a terrific repulsion. "third: that the copper is completely transformedinto available energy, there being no heat
whatever liberated. "fourth: most important of all, that the xacts only as a catalyst for the copper and is not itself consumed, so that an infinitesimallythin coating is all that is required." "you certainly have found out a great dealabout it," replied crane, who had been listening with the closest attention, a look of admirationupon his face. "you have all the essential facts right there. now we can go ahead andput in the details which will finish up the plans completely. also, one of those pointssolves my hardest problem, that of getting back to the earth after we lose sight of it.we can make a small bar in that border-line condition and focus it upon the earth, andwe can use that repulsive property to ward
off any meteorites which may come too closeto us." "that's right. i never thought of using thosepoints for anything. i found them out incidentally, and merely mentioned them as interesting facts.i have a model of the main bar built, though, that will lift me into the air and pull meall around. want to see it work?" "i certainly do." as they were going out to the landing fieldshiro called to them and they turned back to the house, learning that dorothy and herfather had just arrived. "hello, boys!" dorothy said, bestowing herradiant smile upon them both as seaton seized her hand. "dad and i came out to see thatyou were taking care of yourselves, and to
see what you are doing. are visitors allowed?" "no," replied seaton promptly. "all visitorsare barred. members of the firm and members of the family, however, are not classed asvisitors." "you came at the right time," said crane,smiling. "dick has just finished a model, and was about to demonstrate it to me whenyou arrived. come with us and watch the...." "i object," interrupted seaton. "it is a highlyundignified performance as yet, and...." "objection overruled," interposed the lawyer,decisively. "you are too young and impetuous to have any dignity; therefore, any performancenot undignified would be impossible, a priori. the demonstration will proceed."
laughing merrily, the four made their wayto the testing shed, in front of which seaton donned a heavy leather harness, buckled abouthis shoulders, body and legs; to which were attached numerous handles, switches, boxesand other pieces of apparatus. he snapped the switch which started the tesla coil inthe shed and pressed a button on an instrument in his hand, attached to his harness by asmall steel cable. instantly there was a creak of straining leather and he shot verticallyinto the air for perhaps a hundred feet, where he stopped and remained motionless for a fewmoments. then the watchers saw him point his arm and dart in the direction in which hepointed. by merely pointing, apparently, he changed his direction at will; going up anddown, forward and backward, describing circles
and loops and figures of eight. after a fewminutes of this display he descended, slowing up abruptly as he neared the ground and makingan easy landing. "there, oh beauteous lady and esteemed sirs,"he began, with a low bow and a sweeping flourish-when there was a snap, and he was jerked sidewiseoff his feet. in bowing, his cumbersome harness had pressed the controlling switch and theinstrument he held in his hand, which contained the power-plant, or bar, had torn itself loosefrom its buckle. instead of being within easy reach of his hand it was over six feet away,and was dragging him helplessly after it, straight toward the high stone wall! but onlymomentarily was he helpless, his keen mind discovering a way out of the predicament evenas he managed to scramble to his feet in spite
of the rapid pace. throwing his body sidewiseand reaching out his long arm as far as possible toward the bar, he succeeded in swinging itaround so that he was running back toward the party and the spacious landing field.dorothy and her father were standing motionless, staring at seaton; the former with terrorin her eyes, the latter in blank amazement. crane had darted to the switch controllingthe coil, and was reaching for it when seaton passed them. "don't touch that switch!" he yelled. "i'llcatch that thing yet!" at this evidence that seaton still thoughthimself master of the situation, crane began to laugh, though he still kept his hand nearthe controlling switch. dorothy, relieved
of her fear for her lover's safety, couldnot help but join him, so ludicrous were seaton's antics. the bar was straight out in frontof him, about five feet above the ground, going somewhat faster than a man could run.it turned now to the right, now to the left, as his weight was thrown to one side or theother. seaton, dragged along like a small boy trying to hold a runaway calf by the tail,was covering the ground in prodigious leaps and bounds; at the same time pulling himselfup, hand over hand, to the bar in front of him. he soon reached it, seized it in bothhands, again darted into the air, and descended lightly near the others, who were rockingwith laughter. "i said it would be undignified," chuckledseaton, rather short of breath, "but i didn't
know just how much so it was going to be." dorothy tucked her fingers into his hand. "are you hurt anywhere, dick?" "not a bit. he led me a great chase, though." "i was scared to death until you told martinto let the switch alone. but it was funny then! i hadn't noticed your resemblance toa jumping-jack before. won't you do it again sometime and let us take a movie of it?" "that was as good as any show in town, dick,"said the lawyer, wiping his eyes, "but you must be more careful. next time, it mightnot be funny at all."
"there will be no next time for this rig,"replied seaton. "this is merely to show us that our ideas are all right. the next tripwill be in a full-scale, completely-equipped boat." "it was perfectly wonderful," declared dorothy."i know this first flight of yours will be a turning-point or something in history. idon't pretend to understand how you did it-the sight of you standing still up there in theair made me wonder if i really were awake, even though i knew what to expect-but wewouldn't have missed it for worlds, would we, dad?" "no. i am very glad that we saw the firstdemonstration. the world has never before
seen anything like it, and you two men willrank as two of the greatest discoverers." "seaton will, you mean," replied crane, uncomfortably."you know i didn't have anything to do with "it's nearly all yours," denied seaton. "withoutyour ideas i would have lost myself in space in my first attempt." "you are both wrong," said vaneman. "you,martin, haven't enough imagination; and you, dick, have altogether too much, for eitherof you to have done this alone. the honor will be divided equally between you." he turned to crane as dorothy and seaton setout toward the house. "what are you going to do with it, commercially?dick, of course, hasn't thought of anything
except this space-car-equally of course,you have?" "yes. knowing the general nature of the powerand confident that dick would control it, i have already drawn up sketches for a power-plantinstallation of five hundred thousand electrical horsepower, which will enable us to sell powerfor less than one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour and still return twenty percent annual dividends.however, the power-plant comes after the flyer." "why? why not build the power-plant first,and take the pleasure trip afterward?" "there are several reasons. the principalone is that dick and i would rather be off exploring new worlds, while the other membersof the seaton-crane company, engineers, build the power-plant."
during the talk the men had reached the house,into which the others had disappeared some time before. upon crane's invitation, vanemanand his daughter stayed to dinner, and dorothy played for awhile upon crane's wonderful violin.the rest of the evening was spent in animated discussion of the realization of seaton'sdreams of flying without wings and beyond the supporting atmosphere. seaton and cranedid their best to explain to the non-technical visitors how such flight was possible. "well, i am beginning to understand it a little,"said dorothy finally. "in plain language, it is like a big magnet or something, butdifferent. is that it?" "that's it exactly," seaton assured her.
"what are you going to call it? it isn't likeanything else that ever was. already this evening you have called it a bus, a boat,a kite, a star-hound, a wagon, an aerial flivver, a sky-chariot, a space-eating wampus, andi don't know what else. even martin has called it a vehicle, a ship, a bird, and a shell.what is its real name?" "i don't know. it hasn't got any that i knowof. what would you suggest, dottie?" "i don't know what general name should beapplied to them, but for this one there is only one possible name, 'the skylark.'" "exactly right, dorothy," said crane. "fine!" cried seaton. "and you shall christenit, dottie, with a big florence flask full
of absolute vacuum. 'i christen you "the skylark."bang!'" as the guests were leaving, at a late hour,vaneman said: "oh, yes. i bought an extra clarion as wecame out. it tells a wild tale of an explosion so violent that science cannot explain it.i don't suppose it is true, but it may make interesting reading for you two scientificsharps. good night." seaton accompanied dorothy to the car, biddingher a more intimate farewell on the way. when he returned, crane, with an unusual expressionof concern on his face, handed him the paper without a word. "what's up, old man? something in it?" heasked, as he took the paper. he fell silent
as he read the first words, and after he hadread the entire article he said slowly: "true, beyond a doubt. even a clarion reportercouldn't imagine that. it's all intra-atomic energy, all right-some poor devil tryingour stunt without my horseshoe in his pocket." "think, dick! something is wrong somewhere.you know that two people did not discover x at the same time. the answer is that somebodystole your idea, but the idea is worthless without the x. you say that the stuff is extremelyrare-where did they get it?" "that's right, mart. i never thought of that.the stuff is extremely rare. i am supposed to know something about rare metals, and inever heard of it before-there isn't even a gap in the periodic system in which it belongs.i would bet a hat that we have every milligram
known to the world at present." "well, then," said the practical crane. "wehad better see whether or not we have all we started with." asking shiro to bring the large bottle fromthe vault, he opened the living-room safe and brought forth the small vial. the largebottle was still nearly full, the seal upon it unbroken. the vial was apparently exactlyas seaton had left it after he had made his bars. "our stuff seems to be all there," said crane."it looks as though someone else has discovered it also."
"i don't believe it," said seaton, their positionsnow reversed. "it's altogether too rare." he scanned both bottles narrowly. "i can tell by taking the densities," he added,and ran up to the laboratory, returning with a westphal balance in his hand. after testingboth solutions he said slowly: "well, the mystery is solved. the large bottlehas a specific gravity of 1.80, as it had when i prepared it; that in the vial readsonly 1.41. somebody has burglarized this safe and taken almost half of the solution, fillingthe vial up with colored water. the stuff is so strong that i probably never would havenoticed the difference." "but who could it have been?"
"search me! but it's nothing to worry aboutnow, anyway, because whoever it was is gone where he'll never do it again. he's takenthe solution with him, too, so that nobody else can get it." "i wish i were sure of that, dick. the manwho tried to do the research work is undoubtedly gone-but who is back of him?" "nobody, probably. who would want to be?" "to borrow your own phrase, dick, scott 'chirpedit' when he called you 'nobody holme.' for a man with your brains you have the leastsense of anybody i know. you know that this thing is worth, as a power project alone,thousands of millions of dollars, and that
there are dozens of big concerns who wouldcheerfully put us both out of the way for a thousandth of that amount. the questionis not to find one concern who might be backing a thing like that, but to pick out the onewho is backing it." after thinking deeply for a few moments hewent on: "the idea was taken from your demonstrationin the bureau, either by an eye-witness or by someone who heard about it afterward, probablythe former. even though it failed, one man saw the possibilities. who was that man? whowas there?" "oh, a lot of the fellows were there. scott,smith, penfield, duquesne, roberts-quite a bunch of them. let's see-scott hasn'tbrains enough to do anything. smith doesn't
know anything about anything except amines.penfield is a pure scientist, who wouldn't even quote an authority without asking permission.duquesne is ... hm-m ... duquesne ... he ... i...." "yes. duquesne. i have heard of him. he'sthe big black fellow, about your own size? he has the brains, the ability, and the inclination,has he not?" "well, i wouldn't want to say that. i don'tknow him very well, and personal dislike is no ground at all for suspicion, you know." "enough to warrant investigation. is thereanyone else who might have reasoned it out as you did, and as duquesne possibly could?" "not that i remember. but we can count duquesneout, anyway, because he called me up this
afternoon about some notes on gallium; sohe is still in the bureau. besides, he wouldn't let anybody else investigate it if he gotit. he would do it himself, and i don't think he would have blown himself up. i never didlike him very well personally-he's such a cold, inhuman son of a fish-but you'vegot to hand it to him for ability. he's probably the best man in the world today on that kindof thing." "no, i do not think that we will count himout yet. he may have had nothing to do with it, but we will have him investigated nevertheless,and will guard against future visitors here." turning to the telephone, he called the privatenumber of a well-known detective. "prescott? crane speaking. sorry to get youout of bed, but i should like to have a complete
report upon dr. marc c. duquesne, of the raremetals laboratory, as soon as possible. every detail for the last two weeks, every moveand every thought if possible. please keep a good man on him until further notice....i wish you would send two or three guards out here right away, to-night; men you cantrust and who will stay awake.... thanks. good night." chapter vdirect action seaton and crane spent some time developingthe object-compass. crane made a number of these instruments, mounted in gymbals, sothat the delicate needles were free to turn in any direction whatever. they were mountedupon jeweled bearings, but bearings made of
such great strength, that seaton protested. "what's the use, mart? you don't expect awatch to be treated like a stone-crusher. that needle weighs less than half a gram.why mount it as though it weighed twenty pounds?" "to be safe. remember the acceleration thelark will be capable of, and also that on some other worlds, which we hope to visit,this needle will weigh more than it does here." "that's right, mart, i never thought of that.anyway, we can't be too safe to suit me." when the compasses were done and the powerthrough them had been adjusted to one-thousandth of a watt, the lowest they could maintainwith accuracy, they focused each instrument upon one of a set of most carefully weighedglass beads, ranging in size from a pin-head
up to a large marble, and had the beads takenacross the country by shiro, in order to test the sensitiveness and accuracy of the newinstruments. the first test was made at a distance of one hundred miles, the last atnearly three thousand. they found, as they had expected, that from the weight of theobject and the time it took the needle to come to rest after being displaced from itsline by a gentle tap of the finger, they could easily calculate the distance from the compassto the object. this fact pleased crane immensely, as it gave him a sure means of navigationin space. the only objection to its use in measuring earthly distances was its extremedelicacy, the needle focused upon the smallest bead in the lot at a distance of three thousandmiles coming to rest in little more than one
second. the question of navigation solved, the twonext devoted themselves to perfecting the "x-plosive bullet," as seaton called it. fromhis notes and equations seaton calculated the weight of copper necessary to exert theexplosive force of one pound of nitro-glycerin, and weighed out, on the most delicate assay-balancemade, various fractions and multiples of this amount of the treated copper, while cranefitted up the bullets of automatic-pistol cartridges to receive the charges and to explodethem on impact. they placed their blueprints and working notesin the safe, as usual, taking with them only those notes dealing with the object-compassand the x-plosive bullet, upon which they
were still working. no one except shiro knewthat the original tracings, from which the blue-prints had been made, and their final,classified notes were always kept in the vault. they cautioned him and the three guards tokeep a close watch until they returned. then they set out in the biplane, to try out thenew weapon in a lonely place where the exploding shells could do no damage. they found that the x-plosive came fully upto expectations. the smallest charge they had prepared, fired by crane at a great stumpa full hundred yards away from the bare, flat-topped knoll that had afforded them a landing-place,tore it bodily from the ground and reduced it to splinters, while the force of the explosionmade the two men stagger.
"she sure is big medicine!" laughed seaton."wonder what a real one will do?" and drawing his pistol, he inserted a cartridge carryinga much heavier charge. "better be careful with the big ones," cautionedcrane. "what are you going to shoot at?" "that rock over there," pointing to a hugeboulder half a mile away across the small valley. "want to bet me a dinner i can't hitit?" "no. you forget that i saw you win the pistoltrophy of the district." the pistol cracked, and when the bullet reachedits destination the great stone was obliterated in a vast ball of flame. after a moment therewas a deafening report-a crash as though the world were falling to pieces. both menwere hurled violently backward, stumbling
and falling flat. picking themselves up, theylooked across the valley at the place where the boulder had stood, to see only an immensecloud of dust, which slowly blew away, revealing a huge hole in the ground. they were silenta moment, awed by the frightful power they had loosed. "well, mart," seaton broke the silence, "i'llsay those one-milligram loads are plenty big enough. if that'd been something coming afterus-whether any possible other-world animal, a foreign battleship, or the mythical greatsea-serpent himself, it'd be a good indian now. yes? no?" "yes. when we use the heavier charges we mustuse long-range rifles. have you had enough
demonstration or do you want to shoot somemore?" "i've had enough, thanks. that last rock ibounced off of was no pillow, i'll tell the world. besides, it looks as though i'd busteda leg or two off of our noble steed with my shot, and we may have to walk back home." an examination of the plane, which had beenmoved many feet and almost overturned by the force of the explosion, revealed no damagethat they could not repair on the spot, and dusk saw them speeding through the air towardthe distant city. in response to a summons from his chief, perkinssilently appeared in brookings' office, without his usual complacent smile.
"haven't you done anything yet, after allthis time?" demanded the magnate. "we're getting tired of this delay." "i can't help it, mr. brookings," repliedthe subordinate. "they've got detectives from prescott's all over the place. our best menhave been trying ever since the day of the explosion, but can't do a thing without resortingto violence. i went out there myself and looked them over, without being seen. there isn'ta man there with a record, and i haven't been able so far to get anything on any one ofthem that we can use as a handle." "no, prescott's men are hard to do anythingwith. but can't you...?" brookings paused significantly.
"i was coming to that. i thought one of themmight be seen, and i talked to him a little, over the phone, but i couldn't talk loud enoughwithout consulting you. i mentioned ten, but he held out for twenty-five. said he wouldn'tconsider it at all, but he wants to quit prescott and go into business for himself." "go ahead on twenty-five. we want to get action,"said brookings, as he wrote an order on the cashier for twenty-five thousand dollars insmall-to-medium bills. "that is cheap enough, considering what duquesne's rough stuff wouldprobably cost. report tomorrow about four, over our private phone-no, i'll come downto the cafã©, it's safer." the place referred to was the perkins cafã©,a high-class restaurant on pennsylvania avenue,
heavily patronized by the diplomatic, political,financial, and sporting circles of upper-class washington. it was famous for its discreetwaiters, and for the absolutely private rooms. many of its patrons knew of its unique telephoneservice, in which each call went through such a devious system of relays that any attemptto trace it was hopeless; they knew that while "the perkins" would not knowingly lend itselfto any violation of law, it was an entirely safe and thoroughly satisfactory place inwhich to conduct business of the most secret and confidential character; a place from whichone could enjoy personal conversation with persons to whom he wished to remain invisibleand untraceable: a place which had never been known to "leak." for these reasons it wasreally the diplomatic and political center
of the country, and over its secret wireshad gone, in guarded language, messages that would have rocked the world had they goneastray. it was recognized that the place was occasionally, by its very nature, used forillegal purposes, but it was such a political, financial, and diplomatic necessity that itcarried a "hands off" sign. it was never investigated by congress and never raided by the police.hundreds of telephone calls were handled daily. a man would come in, order something servedin a private room, leave a name at the desk, and say that he was expecting a call. therethe affair ended. the telephone operators were hand-picked, men of very short memories,carefully trained never to look at a face and never to remember a name or a number.although the precaution was unnecessary, this
shortness of memory was often encouraged bybills of various denominations. no one except perkins and the heads of thegreat world steel corporation knew that the urbane and polished proprietor of the cafã©was a criminal of the blackest kind, whose liberty and life itself were dependent uponthe will of the corporation; or that the restaurant was especially planned and maintained as ablind for its underground activities; or that perkins was holding a position which suitedhim exactly and which he would not have given up for wealth or glory-that of being theguiding genius who planned nefarious things for the men higher up, and saw to it thatthey were carried out by the men lower down. he was in constant personal touch with hissuperiors, but in order to avoid any chance
of betrayal he never saw his subordinatespersonally. not only were they entirely ignorant of his identity, but all possible means oftheir tracing him had been foreseen and guarded against. he called them on the telephone,but they never called him. the only possible way in which any of his subordinates couldget in touch with him was by means of the wonderful wireless telephone already referredto, developed by a drug-crazed genius who had died shortly after it was perfected. itwas a tiny instrument, no larger than a watch, but of practically unlimited range. the controllingcentral station of the few instruments in existence, from which any instrument couldbe cut out, changed in tune, or totally destroyed at will, was in perkins' office safe. a manintrusted with an unusually important job
would receive from an unknown source an instrument,with directions sufficient for its use. as soon as the job was done he would find, uponagain attempting to use the telephone, that its interior was so hopelessly wrecked thatnot even the most skilled artisan could reproduce what it had once been. at four o'clock brookings was ushered intothe private office of the master criminal, who was plainly ill at ease. "i've got to report another failure, mr. brookings.it's nobody's fault, just one of those things that couldn't be helped. i handled this myself.our man left the door unlocked and kept the others busy in another room. i had just startedto work when crane's japanese servant, who
was supposed to be asleep, appeared upon thescene. if i hadn't known something about jiu-jutsu myself, he'd have broken my neck. as it was,i barely got away, with the jap and all three guards close behind me...." "i'm not interested in excuses," broke inthe magnate, angrily. "we'll have to turn it over to duquesne after all unless you getsomething done, and get it done quick. can't you get to that jap some way?" "certainly i can. i never yet saw the manwho couldn't be reached, one way or another. i've had 'silk' humphreys, the best fixerin the business, working on him all day, and he'll be neutral before night. if the longgreen won't quiet him-and i never saw a
jap refuse it yet-a lead pipe will. silkhasn't reported yet, but i expect to hear from him any minute now, through our man outthere." as he spoke, the almost inaudible buzzer inhis pocket gave a signal. "there he is now," said perkins, as he tookout his wireless instrument. "you might listen in and hear what he has to say." brookings took out his own telephone and heldit to his ear. "hello," perkins spoke gruffly into the tinytransmitter. "what've you got on your chest?" "your foot slipped on the jap," the strangerreplied. "he crabbed the game right. slats and the big fellow put all the stuff intothe box, told us to watch it until they get
back tonight-they may be late-then wentoff in slats' ship to test something-couldn't find out what. silk tackled the yellow boy,and went up to fifty grand, but the jap couldn't see him at all. silk started to argue, andthe jap didn't do a thing but lay him out, cold. this afternoon, while the jap was outin the grounds, three stick-up men jumped him. he bumped one of them off with his handsand the others with his gat-one of those big automatics that throw a slug like a cannon.none of us knew he had it. that's all, except that i am quitting prescott right now. anythingelse i can do for you, whoever you are?" "no. your job's done." the conversation closed. perkins pressed theswitch which reduced the interior of the spy's
wireless instrument to a fused mass of metal,and brookings called duquesne on the telephone. "i would like to talk to you," he said. "shalli come there or would you rather come to my office?" "i'll come there. they're watching this house.they have one man in front and one in back, a couple of detectaphones in my rooms here,and have coupled onto this telephone. "don't worry," he continued calmly as theother made an exclamation of dismay. "talk ahead as loud as you please-they can't hearyou. do you think that those poor, ignorant flat feet can show me anything about electricity?i'd shoot a jolt along their wires that would burn their ears off if it weren't my cue toact the innocent and absorbed scientist. as
it is, their instruments are all registeringdense silence. i am deep in study right now, and can't be disturbed!" "can you get out?" "certainly. i have that same private entrancedown beside the house wall and the same tunnel i used before. i'll see you in about fifteenminutes." in brookings' office, duquesne told of theconstant surveillance over him. "they suspect me on general principles, ithink," he continued. "they are apparently trying to connect me with somebody. i don'tthink they suspect you at all, and they won't unless they get some better methods. i havedevices fitted up to turn the lights off and
on, raise and lower the windows, and evencast shadows at certain times. the housekeeper knows that when i go to my library after dinner,i have retired to study, and that it is as much as anyone's life is worth to disturbme. also, i am well known to be firmly fixed in my habits, so it's easy to fool those detectives.last night i went out and watched them. they hung around a couple of hours after my lightswent out, then walked off together. i can dodge them any time and have all my nightsfree without their ever suspecting anything." "are you free tonight?" "yes. the time-switches are all set, and aslong as i get back before daylight, so they can see me get up and go to work, it willbe all right."
brookings told him briefly of the failuresto secure the solution and the plans, of the death of the three men sent to silence shiro,and of all the other developments. duquesne listened, his face impassive. "well," he said as brookings ceased. "i thoughtyou would bull it, but not quite so badly. but there's no use whining now. i can't usemy original plan of attack in force, as they are prepared and might be able to stand usoff until the police could arrive." he thought deeply for a time, then said, intensely: "if i go into this thing, brookings, i amin absolute command. everything goes as i say. understand?"
"yes. it's up to you, now." "all right, i think i've got it. can you getme a curtiss biplane in an hour, and a man about six feet tall who weighs about a hundredand sixty pounds? i want to drive the plane myself, and have the man, dressed in fullleathers and hood, in the passenger's seat, shot so full of chloroform or dope that hewill be completely unconscious for at least two hours." "easy. we can get you any kind of plane youwant in an hour, and perkins can find a man of that description who would be glad to havea dream at that price. but what's the idea?... pardon me, i shouldn't have asked that," headded, as the saturnine chemist shot him a
black look from beneath his heavy brows. well, within the hour, duquesne drove up toa private aviation field and found awaiting him a curtiss biplane, whose attendant jumpedinto an automobile and sped away as he approached. he quickly donned a heavy leather suit, similarto the one seaton always wore in the air, and drew the hood over his face. then, aftera searching look at the lean form of the unconscious man in the other seat, he was off, the planeclimbing swiftly under his expert hand. he took a wide circle to the west and north. soon shiro and the two guards, hearing theroar of an approaching airplane, looked out and saw what they supposed to be crane's biplanecoming down with terrific speed in an almost
vertical nose-dive, as though the driver werein an extremity of haste. flattening out just in time to avert destruction it taxied upthe field almost to the house. the watchers saw a man recognizable as seaton by his suitand his unmistakable physique stand up and wave both arms frantically, heard him shouthoarsely "... all of you ... out here," saw him point to crane's apparently lifeless formand slump down in his seat. all three ran out to help the unconscious aviators, butjust as they reached the machine there were three silenced reports and the three men fellto the ground. duquesne leaped lightly out of the machine and looked narrowly at thebodies at his feet. he saw that the two detectives were dead, but found with some chagrin thatthe japanese still showed faint signs of life.
he half drew his pistol to finish the job,but observing that the victim was probably fatally wounded he thrust it back into itsholster and went on into the house. drawing on rubber gloves he rapidly blew the dooroff the safe with nitro-glycerin and took out everything it contained. he set asidea roll of blueprints, numerous notebooks, some money and other valuables, and a smallvial of solution-but of the larger bottle there was no trace. he then ransacked theentire house, from cellar to attic, with no better success. so cleverly was the entranceto the vault concealed in the basement wall that he failed to discover it. "i might have expected this of crane," hethought, half aloud, "after all the warning
that fool brookings persisted in giving him.this is the natural result of his nonsense. the rest of the solution is probably in thesafest safe-deposit vault in the united states. but i've got their plans and notes, and enoughsolution for the present. i'll get the rest of it when i want it-there's more than oneway to kill any cat that ever lived!" returning to the machine, duquesne calmlystepped over the bodies of the detectives and the unconscious form of the dying japanese,who was uttering an occasional groan. he started the engine and took his seat. there was anincreasing roar as he opened the throttle, and soon he descended upon the field fromwhich he had set out. he noted that there was a man in an automobile at some distancefrom the hangar, evidently waiting to take
care of the plane and his still unconsciouspassenger. rapidly resuming his ordinary clothing, he stepped into his automobile and was soonback in his own rooms, poring over the blueprints and notebooks. seaton and crane both felt that somethingwas wrong when they approached the landing field and saw that the landing-lights werenot burning, as they always were kept lighted whenever the plane was abroad after dark.by the dim light of the old moon crane made a bumpy landing and they sprang from theirseats and hastened toward the house. as they neared it they heard a faint moan and turnedtoward the sound, seaton whipping out his electric torch with one hand and his automaticpistol with the other. at the sight that met
their eyes, however, he hastily replaced theweapon and bent over shiro, a touch assuring him that the other two were beyond the reachof help. silently they picked up the injured man and carried him gently into his own room,barely glancing at the wrecked safe on the way. seaton applied first-aid treatment tothe ghastly wound in shiro's head, which both men supposed to be certainly fatal, whilecrane called a noted surgeon, asking him to come at once. he then telephoned the coroner,the police, and finally prescott, with whom he held a long conversation. having done all in their power for the unfortunateman, they stood at his bedside, their anger all the more terrible for the fact that itwas silent. seaton stood with every muscle
tense. he was seething with rage, his facepurple and his eyes almost emitting sparks, his teeth clenched until the muscles of hisjaws stood out in bands and lumps. his right hand, white-knuckled, gripped the butt ofhis pistol, while under his left the brass rail of the bed slowly bent under the intensityof his unconscious muscular effort. crane stood still, apparently impassive, but withhis face perfectly white and with every feature stern and cold as though cut from marble.seaton was the first to speak. "mart," he gritted, his voice husky with fury,"a man who would leave another man alone to die after giving him that, ain't a man-he'sa thing. if shiro dies and we can ever find out who did it i'll shoot him with the biggestexplosive charge i've got. no, i won't either,
that'd be too sudden. i'll take him apartwith my bare hands." "we will find him, dick," crane replied ina level, deadly voice entirely unlike his usual tone. "that is one thing money can do.we will get him if money, influence, and detectives can do it." the tension was relieved by the arrival ofthe surgeon and his two nurses, who set to work with the machine-like rapidity and precisionof their highly-specialized craft. after a few minutes, the work completed, the surgeonturned to the two men who had been watching him so intently, with a smile upon his clean-shavenface. "merely a scalp wound, mr. crane," he stated."he should recover consciousness in an hour
or so." then, breaking in upon seaton's exclamation,"it looks much worse than it really is. the bullet glanced off the skull instead of penetratingit, stunning him by the force of the blow. there are no indications that the brain isaffected in any way, and while the affected area of the scalp is large, it is a cleanwound and should heal rapidly. he will probably be up and around in a couple of days, andby the time his hair grows again, he will not be able to find a scar." as he took his leave, the police and coronerarrived. after making a thorough investigation, in which they learned what had been stolenand shrewdly deduced the manner in which the robbery had been accomplished, they departed,taking with them the bodies. they were authorized
by crane to offer a reward of one milliondollars for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer. after everyoneexcept the nurses had gone, crane showed them the rooms they were to occupy while caringfor the wounded man. as the surgeon had foretold, shiro soon recovered consciousness. aftertelling his story he dropped into a deep sleep, and seaton and crane, after another telephonicconference with prescott, retired for the rest of the night.chapter vi the object-compass at work prescott, after a sleepless night, joinedseaton and crane at breakfast. "what do you make of it, mr. prescott?" askedcrane. "seaton here thinks it was duquesne,
possibly acting for some foreign power, afterour flying-machine to use in war. i think it was some big industrial concern after ourpower-plant. what is your opinion?" "i haven't any," replied the great detectiveafter a moment. "either guess may be true, although i am almost positive that dr. duquesnehad nothing to do with it, either way. it was no ordinary burglary, that is certainfrom shiro's story. it was done by someone who had exact information of your movementsand habits. he chose a time when you were away, probably not so much from fear of youas because it was only in your absence that he could succeed as he did in getting allthe guards out at once where he could handle them. he was a man with one accomplice orwho worked alone, and who was almost exactly
seaton's size and build. he was undoubtedlyan expert, as he blew the safe and searched the whole house without leaving a finger-printor any other clue, however slight, that i can find-a thing i have never before seendone in all my experience." "his size should help in locating him," declaredcrane. "while there are undoubtedly thousands of men of dick's six-feet-one and two-fifths,they are fairly well scattered, are they not?" "yes, they are, but his very size only makesit worse. i have gone over all the records i could, in the short time i have had, andcan't find an expert of that class with anywhere near that description." "how about the third guard, the one who escaped?"asked seaton.
"he wasn't here. it was his afternoon off,you know, and he said that he wouldn't come back into this job on a bet-that he wasn'tafraid of anything ordinary, but he didn't like the looks of things out here. that soundedfishy to me, and i fired him. he may have been the leak, of course, though i have alwaysfound him reliable before. if he did leak, he must have got a whale of a slice for it.he is under constant watch, and if we can ever get anything on him, i will nail himto the cross. but that doesn't help get this affair straightened out. i haven't given up,of course, there are lots of things not tried yet, but i must admit that temporarily, atleast, i am up a stump." "well," remarked seaton, "that million-dollarreward will bring him in, sure. no honor that
ever existed among thieves, or even amongfree-lances of diplomacy, could stand that strain." "i'm not so sure of that, dick," said crane."if either one of our ideas is the right one, very few men would know enough about the affairto give pertinent information, and they probably would not live long enough to enjoy the rewardvery thoroughly. even a million dollars fails in that case." "i rather agree with mr. crane, seaton. ifit were an ordinary affair-and i am as sure it is not as the police are that it is-areward of that size would get us our man within two days. as it is, i doubt very much thatthe reward will do us any good. i'm afraid
that it will never be claimed." "wonder if the secret service could help usout? they'd be interested if it should turn out to be some foreign power." "i took it up with the chief himself, justafter it happened last night. he doesn't think that it can be a foreign country. he has theiragents pretty well spotted, and the only one that could fill the bill-you know a manwith that description and with the cold nerve to do the job would be apt to be known-wasin san francisco, the time this job was pulled off." "the more you talk, the more i am convincedthat it was duquesne himself," declared seaton,
positively. "he is almost exactly my sizeand build, is the only man i know of who could do anything with the solution after he gotit, and he has nerve enough to do anything." "i would like to think it was duquesne," repliedthe detective, thoughtfully, "but i'm afraid we'll have to count him out of it entirely.he has been under the constant surveillance of my best men ever since you mentioned him.we have detectaphones in his rooms, wires on his telephone, and are watching him nightand day. he never goes out except to work, never has any except unimportant telephonecalls, and the instruments register only the occasional scratching of a match, the rustleof papers, and other noises of a man studying. he's innocent."
"that may be true," assented seaton doubtfully,"but you want to remember that he knows more about electricity than the guy that inventedit, and i'm not sure that he can't talk to a detectaphone and make it say anything hewants it to. anyway, we can soon settle it. yesterday i made a special trip down to thebureau, with some notes as an excuse, to set this object-compass on him," taking one ofthe small instruments from his pocket as he spoke. "i watched him a while last night,then fixed an alarm to wake me if the needle moved much, but it pointed steady all night.see! it's moving now. that means that he is going to work early, as usual. now i'm morallycertain that he's mixed up in this thing somewhere, and i'm not convinced that he isn't slippingone over on your men some way-he's a clever
devil. i wonder if you wouldn't take thiscompass and watch him yourself tonight, just on general principles? or let me do it. i'dbe glad to. i say 'tonight' because if he did get the stuff here he didn't deliver itanywhere last night. it's just a chance, of course, but he may do it tonight." after the compass had been explained to thedetective he gladly consented to the plan, declaring that he would willingly spend thetime just to watch such an unheard-of instrument work. after another hour of fruitless discussionprescott took his leave, saying that he would mount an impregnable guard from that timeon. late that evening prescott joined the twomen who were watching duquesne's house. they
reported that all was perfectly quiet, asusual. the scientist was in his library, the instruments registering only the usual occasionalfaint sounds of a man absorbed in study. but after an hour of waiting, and while the microphonesmade a noise as of rustling papers, the needle of the compass moved. it dipped slowly towardthe earth as though duquesne were descending into the cellar, but at the same time theshadow of his unmistakable profile was thrown upon the window shade as he apparently crossedthe room. "can't you hear him walk?" demanded prescott. "no. he has heavy turkish rugs all over thelibrary, and he always walks very lightly, besides."
prescott watched the needle in amazement asit dipped deeper and deeper, pointing down into the earth almost under his feet and thenbehind him, as though duquesne had walked beneath him. he did not, could not, believeit. he was certain that something had gone wrong with the strange instrument in his hand,nevertheless he followed the pointing needle. it led him beside park road, down the hill,straight toward the long bridge which forms one entrance to rock creek park. though skeptical,prescott took no chances, and as he approached the bridge he left the road and concealedhimself behind a clump of trees, from which point of vantage he could see the ground beneaththe bridge as well as the roadway. soon the bridge trembled under the weight of a heavyautomobile going toward the city at a high
rate of speed. he saw duquesne, with a rollof papers under his arm, emerge from under the bridge just in time to leap aboard theautomobile, which slowed down only enough to enable him to board it in safety. the detectivenoticed that the car was a pierce-arrow limousine-a car not common, even in washington-and rushedout to get its number, but the license plates were so smeared with oil and dust that thenumbers could not be read by the light of the tail lamp. glancing at the compass inhis hand he saw that the delicate needle was now pointing steadily at the fleeing car,and all doubts as to the power of the instrument were dispelled. he rejoined his men, informedthem that duquesne had eluded them, and took one of them up the hill to a nearby garage.there he engaged a fast car and set out in
pursuit, choosing the path for the chauffeurby means of the compass. his search ended at the residence of brookings, the generalmanager of the great world steel corporation. here he dismissed the car and watched thehouse while his assistant went to bring out the fast motorcycle used by prescott whenhigh speed was desirable. after four hours a small car bearing the licensenumber of a distant state-which was found, by subsequent telegraphing, to be unknownto the authorities of that state-drove under the porte-cochã¨re, and the hidden watchersaw duquesne, without the papers, step into it. knowing now what to expect, prescott drovehis racing motorcycle at full speed out to the park road bridge and concealed himselfbeneath the structure, in a position commanding
a view of the concrete abutment through whichthe scientist must have come. soon he heard a car slow down overhead, heard a few rapidfootfalls, and saw the dark form of a large man outlined against the gray face of theabutment. he saw the man lift his hand high above his head, and saw a black rectangleappear in the gray, engulf the man, and disappear. after a few minutes he approached the abutmentand searched its face with the help of his flash-light. he finally succeeded in tracingthe almost imperceptible crack which outlined the door, and the concealed button which duquesnehad pressed to open it. he did not press the button, as it might be connected to an alarm.deep in thought, he mounted his motorcycle and made his way to his home to get a fewhours of sleep before reporting to crane whom
he was scheduled to see at breakfast nextmorning. both men were waiting for him when he appeared,and he noticed with pleasure that shiro, with a heavily-bandaged head, was insisting thathe was perfectly able to wait on the table instead of breakfasting in bed. he calmlyproceeded to serve breakfast in spite of crane's remonstrances, having ceremoniously orderedout of the kitchen the colored man who had been secured to take his place. "well, gentlemen," the detective began, "partof the mystery is straightened out. i was entirely wrong, and each of you were partlyright. it was duquesne, in all probability. it is equally probable that a great company-inthis case the world steel corporation-is
backing him, though i don't believe thereis a ghost of a show of ever being able to prove it in law. your 'object-compass' didthe trick." he narrated all the events of the previousnight. "i'd like to send him to the chair for thisjob," said seaton with rising anger. "we ought to shoot him anyway, damn him-i'm sorryduels have gone out of fashion, for i can't shoot him off-hand, the way things are now-isure wish i could." "no, you cannot shoot him," said crane, thoughtfully,"and neither can i, worse luck. we are not in his class there. and you must not fightwith him, either"-noting that seaton's powerful hands had doubled into fists, the knucklesshowing white through the tanned skin-"though
that would be a fight worth watching and iwould like to see you give him the beating of his life. a little thing like a beatingis not a fraction of what he deserves and it would show him that we have found him out.no, we must do it legally or let him entirely alone. you think there is no hope of provingit, prescott?" "frankly, i see very little chance of it.there is always hope, of course, and if that bunch of pirates ever makes a slip, we'llbe right there waiting to catch 'em. while i don't believe in holding out false encouragement,they've never slipped yet. i'll take my men off duquesne, now that we've linked him upwith steel. it doesn't make any difference, does it, whether he goes to them every nightor only once a week?
"no." "then about all i can do is to get everythingi can on that steel crowd, and that is very much like trying to get blood out of a turnip.i intend to keep after them, of course, for i owe them something for killing two of mymen here, as well as for other favors they have done me in the past, but don't expecttoo much. i have tackled them before, and so have police headquarters and even the secretservice itself, under cover, and all that any of us has been able to get is an occasionalsmall fish. we could never land the big fellows. in fact, we have never found the slightestmaterial proof of what we are morally certain is the truth, that world steel is back ofa lot of deviltry all over the country. the
little fellows who do the work either don'tknow anything or are afraid to tell. i'll see if i can find out what they are doingwith the stuff they stole, but i'm not even sure of doing that. you can't plant instrumentson that bunch-it would be like trying to stick a pin into a sleeping cat without wakinghim up. they undoubtedly have one of the best corps of detectives in the world. you haven'tperfected an instrument which enables you to see into a closed room and hear what isgoing on there, have you?" and upon being assured that they had not, he took his leave. "optimistic cuss, ain't he?" remarked seaton. "he has cause to be, dick. world steel isa soulless corporation if there ever was one.
they have the shrewdest lawyers in the country,and they get away legally with things that are flagrantly illegal, such as freezing outcompetitors, stealing patents, and the like. report has it that they do not stop at arson,treason, or murder to attain their ends, but as prescott said, they never leave any legalproof behind them." "well, we should fret, anyway. of course,a monopoly is what they're after, but they can't form one because they can't possiblyget the rest of our solution. even if they should get it, we can get more. it won't beas easy as this last batch was, since the x was undoubtedly present in some particularlot of platinum in extraordinary quantities, but now that i know exactly what to look for,i can find more. so they can't get their monopoly
unless they kill us off...." "exactly. go on, i see you are getting theidea. if we should both conveniently die, they could get the solution from the company,and have the monopoly, since no one else can handle it." "but they couldn't get away with it, mart-neverin a thousand years, even if they wanted to. of course i am small fry, but you are toobig a man for even steel to do away with. it can't be done." "i am not so sure of that. airplane accidentsare numerous, and i am an aviator. also, has it ever occurred to you that the heavy forgingfor the skylark, ordered a while ago, are
of steel?" seaton paused, dumbfounded, in the act oflighting his pipe. "but thanks to your object-compass, we arewarned." crane continued, evenly. "those forgings are going through the most complete set oftests known to the industry, and if they go into the skylark at all it will be after iam thoroughly convinced that they will not give way on our first trip into space. butwe can do nothing until the steel arrives, and with the guard prescott has here now weare safe enough. luckily, the enemy knows nothing of the object-compass or the x-plosive,and we must keep them in ignorance. hereinafter, not even the guards get a look at anythingwe do."
"they sure don't. let's get busy!" duquesne and brookings met in conference ina private room of the perkins cafã©. "what's the good word, doctor?" "so-so," replied the scientist. "the stuffis all they said it was, but we haven't enough of it to build much of a power-plant. we can'tgo ahead with it, anyway, as long as seaton and crane have nearly all their original solution." "no, we can't. we must find a way of gettingit. i see now that we should have done as you suggested, and taken it before they hadwarning and put it out of our reach." "there's no use holding post-mortems. we'vegot to get it, some way, and everybody that
knows anything about that new metal, how toget it or how to handle it, must die. at first, it would have been enough to kill seaton.now, however, there is no doubt that crane knows all about it, and he probably has leftcomplete instructions in case he gets killed in an accident-he's the kind that would.we will have to keep our eyes open and wipe out those instructions and anyone who hasseen them. you see that, don't you?" "yes, i am afraid that is the only way out.we must have the monopoly, and anyone who might be able to interfere with it must beremoved. how has your search for more x prospered?" "about as well as i expected. we bought upall the platinum wastes we could get, and reworked all the metallic platinum and alliedmetals we could buy in the open market, and
got less than a gram of x out of the wholelot. it's scarcer than radium. seaton's finding so much of it at once was an accident, pureand simple-it couldn't happen once in a million years." "well, have you any suggestions as to howwe can get that solution?" "no. i haven't thought of anything but thatvery thing ever since i found that they had hidden it, and i can't yet see any good wayof getting it. my forte is direct action and that fails in this case, since no amount offorce or torture could make crane reveal the hiding-place of the solution. it's probablyin the safest safe-deposit vault in the country. he wouldn't carry the key on him, probablywouldn't have it in the house. killing seaton
or crane, or both of them, is easy enough,but it probably wouldn't get us the solution, as i have no doubt that crane has providedfor everything." "probably he has. but if he should disappearthe stuff would have to come to light, or the seaton-crane company might start theirpower-plant. in that case, we probably could get it?" "possibly, you mean. that method is too slowto suit me, though. it would take months, perhaps years, and would be devilishly uncertain,to boot. they'll know something is in the wind, and the stuff will be surrounded byevery safeguard they can think of. there must be some better way than that, but i haven'tbeen able to think of it."
"neither have i, but your phrase 'direct action'gives me an idea. you say that that method has failed. what do you think of trying indirectaction in the shape of perkins, who is indirection personified?" "bring him in. he may be able to figure outsomething." perkins was called in, and the main phasesof the situation laid before him. the three men sat in silence for many minutes whilethe crafty strategist studied the problem. finally he spoke. "there's only one way, gentlemen. we mustget a handle on either seaton or crane strong enough to make them give up their bottle ofdope, their plans, and everything...."
"handle!" interrupted duquesne. "you talklike a fool! you can't get anything on either of them." "you misunderstand me, doctor. you can geta handle of some kind on any living man. not necessarily in his past, you understand-iknow that anything like that is out of the question in this case-but in his future.with some men it is money, with others power, with others fame, with others women or somewoman, and so on down the list. what can we use here? money is out of the question, soare power and fame, as they already have both in plain sight. it seems to me that womenwould be our best chance." "hah!" snorted the chemist. "crane has beenchased by all the women of three continents
so long that he's womanproof. seaton is worse-he'sengaged, and wouldn't realize that a woman was on his trail, even if you could find abetter looking one to work on him than the girl he's engaged to-which would be a hardjob. cleopatra herself couldn't swing that order." "engaged? that makes it simple as a b c." "simple? in the devil's name, how?" "easy as falling off a log. you have enoughof the dope to build a space-car from those plans, haven't you?" "yes. what has that to do with the case?"
"it has everything to do with it. i wouldsuggest that we build such a car and use it to carry off the girl. after we have her safewe could tell seaton that she is marooned on some distant planet, and that she willbe returned to earth only after all the solution, all notes, plans, and everything pertainingto the new metal are surrendered. that will bring him, and crane will consent. then, afterward,dr. seaton may go away indefinitely, and if desirable, mr. crane may accompany him." "but suppose they try to fight?" asked brookings. perkins slid down into his chair in deep thought,his pale eyes under half-closed lids darting here and there, his stubby fingers worryinghis watch-chain restlessly.
"who is the girl?" he asked at last. "dorothy vaneman, the daughter of the lawyer.she's that auburn-haired beauty that the papers were so full of when she came out last year." "vaneman is a director in the seaton-cranecompany. that makes it still better. if they show fight and follow us, that beautiful carwe are making for them will collapse and they will be out of the way. vaneman, as seaton'sprospective father-in-law and a member of his company, probably knows something aboutthe secret. maybe all of it. with his daughter in a space-car, supposedly out in space, andseaton and crane out of the way, vaneman would listen to reason and let go of the solution,particularly as nobody knows much about it
except seaton and crane." "that strikes me as a perfectly feasible plan,"said brookings. "but you wouldn't really take her to another planet, would you? why notuse an automobile or an airplane, and tell seaton that it was a space-car?" "i wouldn't advise that. he might not believeit, and they might make a lot of trouble. it must be a real space-car even if we don'ttake her out of the city. to make it more impressive, you should take her in plain sightof seaton-no, that would be too dangerous, as i have found out from the police that seatonhas a permit to carry arms, and i know that he is one of the fastest men with a pistolin the whole country. do it in plain sight
of her folks, say, or a crowd of people; beingmasked, of course, or dressed in an aviator's suit, with the hood and goggles on. take herstraight up out of sight, then hide her somewhere until seaton listens to reason. i know thathe will listen, but if he doesn't, you might let him see you start out to visit her. he'llbe sure to follow you in their rotten car. as soon as he does that, he's our meat. butthat raises the question of who is going to drive the car?" "i am," replied duquesne. "i will need somehelp, though, as at least one man must stay with the girl while i bring the car back." "we don't want to let anybody else in on thisif we can help it," cautioned brookings. "you
could go along, couldn't you, perkins?" "is it safe?" "absolutely," answered duquesne. "they haveeverything worked out to the queen's taste." "that's all right, then. i'll take the trip.also," turning to brookings, "it will help in another little thing we are doing-thespencer affair." "haven't you got that stuff away from heryet, after having had her locked up in that hell-hole for two months?" asked brookings. "no. she's stubborn as a mule. we've givenher the third degree time after time, but it's no use."
"what's this?" asked duquesne. "deviltry inthe main office?" "yes. this margaret spencer claims that weswindled her father out of an invention and indirectly caused his death. she secured aposition with us in search of evidence. she is an expert stenographer, and showed suchability that she was promoted until she became my secretary. our detectives must have beenasleep, as she made away with some photographs and drawings before they caught her. she hasno real evidence, of course, but she might cause trouble with a jury, especially as sheis one of the best-looking women in washington. perkins is holding her until she returns thestolen articles." "why can't you kill her off?"
"she cannot be disposed of until after weknow where the stuff is, because she says, and perkins believes, that the evidence willshow up in her effects. we must do something about her soon, as the search for her is dyingdown and she will be given up for dead." "what's the idea about her and the space-car?" "if the car proves reliable we might actuallytake her out into space and give her the choice between telling and walking back. she hasnerve enough here on earth to die before giving up, but i don't believe any human being wouldbe game to go it alone on a strange world. she'd wilt." "i believe you're right, perkins. your suggestionsare the best way out. don't you think so,
doctor?" "yes, i don't see how we can fail-we'resure to win, either way. you are prepared for trouble afterward, of course?" "certainly, but i don't think there will bemuch trouble. they can't possibly link the three of us together. they aren't wise toyou, are they, doctor?" "not a chance!" sneered duquesne. "they ranthemselves ragged trying to get something on me, but they couldn't do it. they havegiven me up as a bad job. i am still as careful as ever, though-i am merely a pure scientistin the bureau of chemistry!" all three laughed, and perkins left the room.the talk then turned to the construction of
the space-car. it was decided to rush thework on it, so that duquesne could familiarize himself with its operation, but not to takeany steps in the actual abduction until such time as seaton and crane were nearly readyto take their first flight, so that they could pursue the abductors in case seaton was stillobdurate after a few days of his fiancã©e's absence. duquesne insisted that the car shouldmount a couple of heavy guns, to destroy the pursuing car if the faulty members shouldhappen to hold together long enough to carry it out into space. after a long discussion, in which every detailof the plan was carefully considered, the two men left the restaurant, by differentexits.
chapter viithe trial voyage the great steel forgings which were to formthe framework of the skylark finally arrived and were hauled into the testing shed. there,behind closed doors, crane inspected every square inch of the massive members with alens, but could find nothing wrong. still unsatisfied, he fitted up an electrical testingapparatus in order to search out flaws which might be hidden beneath the surface. thisdevice revealed flaws in every piece, and after thoroughly testing each one and mappingout the imperfections he turned to seaton with a grave face. "worse than useless, every one of them. theyare barely strong enough to stand shipment.
they figured that we would go slowly untilwe were well out of the atmosphere, then put on power-then something would give way andwe would never come back." "that's about the right dope, i guess. butnow what'll we do? we can't cancel without letting them know we're onto them, and wecertainly can't use this stuff." "no, but we will go ahead and build this ship,anyway, so that they will think that we are going ahead with it. at the same time we willbuild another one, about four times this size, in absolute secrecy, and...." "what d'you mean, absolute secrecy? how canyou keep steel castings and forgings of that size secret from steel?"
"i know a chap who owns and operates a smallsteel plant, so insignificant, relatively, that he has not yet been bought out or frozenout by steel. i was able to do him a small favor once, and i am sure that he will beglad to return it. we will not be able to oversee the work, that is a drawback. we canget macdougall to do it for us, however, and with him doing the work we can rest assuredthat there will be nothing off color. even steel couldn't buy him." "macdougall! the man who installed the intercontinentalplant? he wouldn't touch a little job like this with a pole!" "i think he would. he and i are rather friendly,and after i tell him all about it he will
be glad to take it. it means building thefirst interplanetary vessel, you know." "wouldn't steel follow him up if he shouldgo to work on a mysterious project? he's too big to hide." "no. he will go camping-he often does. ihave gone with him several times when we were completely out of touch with civilizationfor two months at a time. now, about the ship we want. have you any ideas?" "it will cost more than our entire capital." "that is easily arranged. we do not care howmuch it costs." seaton began to object to drawing so heavilyupon the resources of his friend, but was
promptly silenced. "i told you when we started," crane said flatly,"that your solution and your idea are worth far more than half a million. in fact, theyare worth more than everything i have. no more talk of the money end of it, dick." "all right. we'll build a regular go-getter.four times the size-she'll be a bear-cat, mart. i'm glad this one is on the fritz. she'llcarry a two-hundred-pound bar-zowie! watch our smoke! and say, why wouldn't it be a goodidea to build an attractor-a thing like an object-compass, but mounting a ten-poundbar instead of a needle, so that if they chase us in space we can reach out and grab 'em?we might mount a machine-gun in each quadrant,
shooting x-plosive bullets, through pressuregaskets in the walls. we should have something for defense-i don't like the possibilityof having that gang of pirates after us, and nothing to fight back with except thought-waves." "right. we will do both those things. butwe should make the power-plant big enough to avert any possible contingency-say fourhundred pounds-and we should have everything in duplicate, from power-plant to push-buttons." "i don't think that's necessary, mart. don'tyou think that's carrying caution to extremes?" "possibly-but i would rather be a live cowardthan a dead hero, wouldn't you?" "you chirped it, old scout, i sure would.i never did like the looks of that old guy
with the scythe, and i would hate to let duquesnefeel that he had slipped something over on me at my own game. besides, i've developeda lot of caution myself, lately. double she is, with a skin of four-foot norwegian armor.let's get busy!" they made the necessary alteration in theplans, and in a few days work was begun upon the huge steel shell in the little mountainsteel-plant. the work was done under the constant supervision of the great macdougall, by menwho had been in his employ for years and who were all above suspicion. while it was beingbuilt seaton and crane employed a force of men and went ahead with the construction ofthe space-car in the testing shed. while they did not openly slight the work nearly alltheir time was spent in the house, perfecting
the many essential things which were to gointo the real skylark. there was the attractor, for which they had to perfect a special sightingapparatus so that it could act in any direction, and yet would not focus upon the ship itselfnor anything it contained. there were many other things. it was in this work that the strikingly differenttemperaments and abilities of the two men were most clearly revealed. seaton strodeup and down the room, puffing great volumes of smoke from his hot and reeking briar, suggestingmethods and ideas, his keen mind finding the way over, around, or through the apparentlyinsuperable obstacles which beset their path. crane, seated calmly at the drafting-table,occasionally inhaling a mouthful of smoke
from one of his specially-made cigarettes,mercilessly tore seaton's suggestions to shreds-pointing out their weaknesses, proving his points withhis cold, incisive reasoning and his slide-rule calculations of factors, stresses, and strains.seaton in turn would find a remedy for every defect, and finally, the idea complete andperfect, crane would impale it upon the point of his drafting pencil and spread it in everydetail upon the paper before him, while seaton's active mind leaped to the next problem. not being vitally interested in the thingbeing built in the shed, they did not know that to the flawed members were being attachedfaulty plates, by imperfect welding. even if they had been interested they could nothave found the poor workmanship by any ordinary
inspection, for it was being done by a pickedcrew of experts picked by perkins. but to make things even, perkins' crew did not knowthat the peculiar instruments installed by seaton and crane, of which their foreman tookmany photographs, were not real instruments, and were made only nearly enough like themto pass inspection. they were utterly useless, in design and function far different fromthe real instruments intended for the skylark. finally, the last dummy instrument was installedin the worthless space-car, which the friends referred to between themselves as "the cripple,"a name which seaton soon changed to "old crip." the construction crew was dismissed aftercrane had let the foreman overhear a talk between seaton and himself in which they decidednot to start for a few days as they had some
final experiments to make. prescott reportedthat steel had relaxed its vigilance and was apparently waiting for the first flight. aboutthe same time word was received from macdougall that the real skylark was ready for the finishingtouches. a huge triplane descended upon crane field and was loaded to its capacity withstrange looking equipment. when it left seaton and crane went with it, "to make the finaltests before the first flight," leaving a heavy guard over the house and the testingshed. a few nights later, in inky blackness, a hugeshape descended rapidly in front of the shed, whose ponderous doors opened to receive itand closed quickly after it. the skylark moved lightly and easily as a wafted feather, betrayingits thousands of tons of weight only by the
hole it made in the hard-beaten earth of thefloor as it settled to rest. opening one of the heavy doors, seaton and crane sprang outinto the darkness. dorothy and her father, who had been informedthat the skylark was to be brought home that night, were waiting. seaton caught up hissweetheart in one mighty arm and extended his hand past her to vaneman, who seized itin both his own. upon the young man's face was the look of a victorious king returningfrom conquest. for a few minutes disconnected exclamations were all that any of the partycould utter. then seaton, loosening slightly his bear's hold upon dorothy, spoke. "she flies!" he cried exultantly. "she flies,dearest, like a ray of light for speed and
like a bit of thistledown for lightness. we'vebeen around the moon!" "around the moon!" cried the two amazed visitors."so soon?" asked vaneman. "when did you start?" "almost an hour ago," replied crane readily;he had already taken out his watch. his voice was calm, his face quiet, but to those whoknew him best a deeper resonance in his voice and a deeper blue sparkle in his eyes betrayedhis emotion. both inventors were moved more than they could have told by their achievement,by the complete success of the great space-cruiser upon which they had labored for months withall the power of their marvelous intellects. seaton stood now at the summit of his pride.no recognition by the masses, no applause by the multitudes, no praise even from theupper ten of his own profession could equal
for him the silent adulation of the two beforehim. dorothy's exquisite face was glorified as she looked at her lover. her eyes wonderfulas they told him how high he stood above all others in her world, how much she loved him.seeing that look; that sweet face, more beautiful than ever in this, his hour of triumph; thatperfect, adorable body, seaton forgot the others and a more profound exaltation thanthat brought by his flight filled his being-humble thankfulness that he was the man to receivethe untold treasure of her great giving. "every bit of mechanism we had occasion touse worked perfectly," crane stated proudly. "we did not find it necessary to change anyof our apparatus and we hope to make a longer flight soon. the hour we took on this tripmight easily have been only a few minutes,
for the lark did not even begin to pick upspeed." shiro looked at crane with an air of utterdevotion and bowed until his head approached the floor. "sir," he said in his stilted english. "honorableskylark shall be marvelous wonder. if permitting, i shall luxuriate in preparing suitable refreshment." the permission granted, he trotted away intothe house, and the travelers invited their visitors to inspect the new craft. crane andthe older man climbed through the circular doorway, which was at an elevation of severalfeet above the ground. seaton and dorothy exchanged a brief but enthusiastic caressbefore he lifted her lightly up to the opening
and followed her up a short flight of stairs.although she knew what to expect, from her lover's descriptions and from her own knowledgeof "old crip," which she had seen many times, she caught her breath in amazement as shestood up and looked about the brilliantly-lighted interior of the great sky-rover. it was asight such as had never before been seen upon earth. she saw a spherical shell of hardened steelarmor-plate, fully forty feet in diameter; though its true shape was not readily apparentfrom the inside, as it was divided into several compartments by horizontal floors or decks.in the exact center of the huge shell was a spherical network of enormous steel beams.inside this structure could be seen a similar
network which, mounted upon universal bearings,was free to revolve in any direction. this inner network was filled with machinery, surroundinga shining copper cylinder. from the outer network radiated six mighty supporting columns.these, branching as they neared the hull of the vessel, supported the power-plant andsteering apparatus in the center and so strengthened the shell that the whole structure was nearlyas strong as a solid steel ball. she noticed that the floor, perhaps eight feet below thecenter, was heavily upholstered in leather and did not seem solid; and that the samewas true of the dozen or more seats-she could not call them chairs-which were builtin various places. she gazed with interest at the two instrument boards, upon which flashedtiny lights and the highly-polished plate
glass, condensite, and metal of many instruments,the use of which she could not guess. after a few minutes of silence both visitorsbegan to ask questions, and seaton showed them the principal features of the novel craft.crane accompanied them in silence, enjoying their pleasure, glorying in the mighty vessel.seaton called attention to the great size and strength of the lateral supporting columns,one of which was immediately above their heads, and then led them over to the vertical columnwhich pierced the middle of the floor. enormous as the lateral had seemed, it appeared punyin comparison with this monster of fabricated steel. seaton explained that the two verticalswere many times stronger than the four laterals, as the center of gravity of the ship had beenmade lower than its geometrical center, so
that the apparent motion of the vessel andtherefore the power of the bar, would usually be merely vertical. resting one hand caressinglyupon the huge column, he exultantly explained that these members were "the last word instrength, made up of many separate i-beams and angles of the strongest known specialsteel, latticed and braced until no conceivable force could make them yield a millimeter." "but why such strength?" asked the lawyerdoubtfully. "this column alone would hold up brooklyn bridge." "to hold down the power-plant, so that thebar won't tear through the ship when we cut her loose," replied seaton. "have you anyidea how fast this bird can fly?"
"well, i have heard you speak of travelingwith the velocity of light, but that is overdrawn, isn't it?" "not very much. our figures show that withthis four-hundred-pound bar"-pointing to the copper cylinder in the exact center ofthe inner sphere-"we could develop not only the velocity of light, but an accelerationequal to that velocity, were it not for the increase in mass at high velocities, as shownby einstein and others. we can't go very fast near the earth, of course, as the frictionof the air would melt the whole works in a few minutes. until we get out of the atmosphereour speed will be limited by the ability of steel to withstand melting by the frictionof the air to somewhere in the neighborhood
of four or five thousand miles per hour, butout in space we can develop any speed we wish, up to that of light as a limit." "i studied physics a little in my youth. wouldn'tthe mere force of such an acceleration as you mention flatten you on the floor and holdyou there? and any sudden jar would certainly kill you." "there can't be any sudden jar. this is aspecial floor, you notice. it is mounted on long, extremely heavy springs, to take upany possible jar. also, whenever we are putting on power we won't try to stand up, our legswould crimple up like strings. we will ride securely strapped into those special seats,which are mounted the same as the floor, only
a whole lot more so. as to the acceleration...." "that word means picking up speed, doesn'tit?" interrupted dorothy. "the rate of picking up speed," correctedseaton. "that is, if you were going forty miles per hour one minute, and fifty the nextminute, your acceleration would be ten miles per hour per minute. see? it's accelerationthat makes you feel funny when you start up or down in an elevator." "then riding in this thing will be like startingup in an elevator so that your heart sinks into your boots and you can't breathe?" "yes, only worse. we will pick up speed fasterand keep on doing it...."
"seriously," interrupted the lawyer, "do youthink that the human body can stand any such acceleration as that?" "i don't know. we are going to find out, bystarting out slowly and increasing our acceleration to as much as we can stand." "i see," vaneman replied. "but how are yougoing to steer her? how do you keep permanent reference points, since there are no directionsin space?" "that was our hardest problem," explainedseaton, "but martin solved it perfectly. see the power-plant up there? notice those bigsupporting rings and bearings? well, the power-plant is entirely separate from the ship, as itis inside that inner sphere, about which the
outer sphere and the ship itself are freeto revolve in any direction. no matter how much the ship rolls and pitches, as she isbound to do every time we come near enough to any star or planet to be influenced byits gravitation, the bar stays where it is pointed. those six big jackets in the outersphere, on the six sides of the bar, cover six pairs of gyroscope wheels, weighing severaltons each, turning at a terrific speed in a vacuum. the gyroscopes keep the whole outersphere in exactly the same position as long as they are kept turning, and afford us notonly permanent planes of reference, but also a solid foundation in those planes which canbe used in pointing the bar. the bar can be turned instantly to any direction whateverby special electrical instruments on the boards.
you see, the outer sphere stays immovablyfixed in that position, with the bar at liberty to turn in any direction inside it, and theship at liberty to do the same thing outside it. "now we will show you where we sleep," seatoncontinued. "we have eight rooms, four below and four above," leading the way to a narrow,steep steel stairway and down into a very narrow hall, from either side of which twodoors opened. "this is my room, the adjoining one is mart's. shiro sleeps across the hall.the rest of the rooms are for our guests on future trips." sliding back the door, he switched on thelight and revealed a small but fully-appointed
bedroom, completely furnished with everythingnecessary, yet everything condensed into the least possible space. the floor, like theone above, was of cushioned leather supported by springs. the bed was a modification ofthe special seats already referred to. opening another sliding door, he showed them an equallycomplete and equally compact bathroom. "you see, we have all the comforts of home.this bathroom, however, is practical only when we have some force downward, either gravitationor our own acceleration. the same reasoning accounts for the hand-rails you see everywhereon board. drifting in space, you know, there is no weight, and you can't walk; you mustpull yourself around. if you tried to take a step you would bounce up and hit the ceiling,and stay there. that is why the ceilings are
so well padded. and if you tried to wash yourface you would throw water all over the place, and it would float around in the air insteadof falling to the floor. as long as we can walk we can use the bathroom-if i shouldwant to wash my face while we are drifting, i just press this button here, and the pilotwill put on enough acceleration to make the correct use of water possible. there are alot of surprising things about a trip into space." "i don't doubt it a bit, and i'm simply wildto go for a ride with you. when will you take me, dicky?" asked dorothy eagerly. "very soon, dottie. as soon as we get herin perfect running condition. you shall be
the first to ride with us, i promise you." "where do you cook and eat? how do you seeout? how about the air and water supply? how do you keep warm, or cool, as the case maybe?" asked the girl's father, as though he were cross-examining a witness. "shiro has a galley on the main floor, andtables fold up into the wall of the main compartment. the passengers see out by sliding back steelpanels, which normally cover the windows. the pilot can see in any direction from hisseat at the instrument-board, by means of special instruments, something like periscopes.the windows are made of optical glass similar to that used in the largest telescopes. theyare nearly as thick as the hull and have a
compressive resistance almost equal to thatof armor steel. although so thick, they are crystal clear, and a speck of dust on theouter surface is easily seen. we have water enough in tanks to last us three months, orindefinitely if we should have to be careful, as we can automatically distill and purifyall our waste water, recovering absolutely pure h2o. we have compressed air, also intanks, but we need very little, as the air is constantly being purified. also, we haveoxygen-generating apparatus aboard, in case we should run short. as to keeping warm, wehave electric heating coils, run by the practically inexhaustible power of a small metal bar.if we get too near the sun and get too warm, we have a refrigerating machine to cool usoff. anything else?"
"you'd better give up, dad," laughingly advisedhis daughter. "you've thought of everything, haven't you, dick?" "mart has, i think. this is all his doing,you know. i wouldn't have thought of a tenth of it, myself." "i must remind you young folks," said theolder man, glancing at his watch, "that it is very late and high time for dottie andme to be going home. we would like to stay and see the rest of it, but you know we mustbe away from here before daylight." as they went into the house vaneman asked: "what does the other side of the moon looklike? i have always been curious about it."
"we were not able to see much," replied crane"it was too dark and we did not take the time to explore it, but from what we could seeby means of our searchlights it is very much like this side-the most barren and desolateplace imaginable. after we go to mars, we intend to explore the moon thoroughly." "mars, then, is your first goal? when do youintend to start?" "we haven't decided definitely. probably ina day or two. everything is ready now." as the vanemans had come out in the streetcar, in order to attract as little attention as possible, seaton volunteered to take themhome in one of crane's cars. as they bade crane goodnight after enjoying shiro's "suitablerefreshment" the lawyer took the chauffeur's
seat, motioning his daughter and seaton intothe closed body of the car. as soon as they had started dorothy turned in the embraceof her lover's arm. "dick," she said fiercely. "i would have beenworried sick if i had known that you were way off there." "i knew it, sweetheart. that's why i didn'ttell you we were going. we both knew the skylark was perfectly safe, but i knew that you wouldworry about our first trip. now that we have been to the moon you won't be uneasy whenwe go to mars, will you, dear?" "i can't help it, boy. i will be afraid thatsomething terrible has happened, every minute. won't you take me with you? then, if anythinghappens, it will happen to both of us, and
that is as it should be. you know that i wouldn'twant to keep on living if anything should happen to you." he put both arms around her as his reply,and pressed his cheek to hers. "dorothy sweetheart, i know exactly how youfeel. i feel the same way myself. i'm awfully sorry, dear, but i can't do it. i know themachine is safe, but i've got to prove it to everybody else before i take you on a longtrip with me. your father will agree with me that you ought not to go, on the firsttrip or two, anyway. and besides, what would madam grundy say?" "well, there is a way...." she began, andhe felt her face turn hot.
his arms tightened around her and his breathcame fast. "i know it, sweetheart, and i would like nothingbetter in the world than to be married today and take our honeymoon in the skylark, buti can't do it. after we come back from the first long trip we will be married just assoon as you say ready, and after that we will always be together wherever i go. but i can'ttake even the millionth part of a chance with anything as valuable as you are-you seethat, don't you, dottie?" "i suppose so," she returned disconsolately,"but you'll make it a short trip, for my sake? i know i won't rest a minute until you getback." "i promise you that we won't be gone morethan four days. then for the greatest honeymoon
that ever was," and they clung together inthe dark body of the car, each busy with solemn and beautiful thoughts of the happiness tocome. they soon reached their destination. as theyentered the house dorothy made one more attempt. "dad, dick is just too perfectly mean. hesays he won't take me on the first trip. if you were going out there wouldn't mother wantto go along too?" after listening to seaton he gave his decision. "dick is right, kitten. he must make the longtrip first. then, after the machine is proved reliable, you may go with him. i can thinkof no better way of spending a honeymoon-it will be a new one, at least. and you needn'tworry about the boys getting back safely.
i might not trust either of them alone, buttogether they are invincible. good-night, children. i wish you success, dick," as heturned away. seaton took a lover's leave of dorothy, andwent into the lawyer's study, taking an envelope from his pocket. "mr. vaneman," he said in a low voice, "wethink the steel crowd is still camping on our trail. we are ready for them, with a lotof stuff that they never heard of, but in case anything goes wrong, martin has writtenbetween the lines of this legal form, in invisible ink a-36, exactly how to get possession ofall our notes and plans, so that the company can go ahead with everything. with those directionsany chemist can find and use the stuff safely.
please put this envelope in the safest placeyou can think of, and then forget it unless they get both crane and me. there's aboutone chance in a million of their doing that, but mart doesn't gamble on even that chance." "he is right, dick. i believe that you canoutwit them in any situation, but i will keep this paper where no one except myself canever see it, nevertheless. good-night, son, and good luck." "the same to you, sir, and thank you. good-night." chapter viiiindirect action the afternoon following the homecoming ofthe skylark, seaton and dorothy returned from
a long horseback ride in the park. after seatonhad mounted his motorcycle dorothy turned toward a bench in the shade of an old elmto watch a game of tennis on the court next door. scarcely had she seated herself whena great copper-plated ball alighted upon the lawn in front of her. a heavy steel door snappedopen and a powerful figure clad in aviator's leather, the face completely covered by thehood, leaped out. she jumped to her feet with a cry of joyful surprise, thinking it wasseaton-a cry which died suddenly as she realized that seaton had just left her andthat this vessel was far too small to be the skylark. she turned in flight, but the strangercaught her in three strides. she found herself helpless in a pair of arms equal in strengthto seaton's own. picking her up lightly as
a baby, duquesne carried her over to the space-car.shriek after shriek rang out as she found that her utmost struggles were of no availagainst the giant strength of her captor, that her fiercely-driven nails glanced harmlesslyoff the heavy glass and leather of his hood, and that her teeth were equally ineffectiveagainst his suit. with the girl in his arms duquesne steppedinto the vessel, and as the door clanged shut behind them dorothy caught a glimpse of anotherwoman, tied hand and foot in one of the side seats of the car. "tie her feet, perkins," duquesne orderedbrusquely, holding her around the body so that her feet extended straight out in frontof him. "she's a wildcat."
as perkins threw one end of a small rope aroundher ankles dorothy doubled up her knees, drawing her feet as far away from him as possible.as he incautiously approached, she kicked out viciously, with all the force of her muscularyoung body behind her heavy riding-boots. the sharp heel of one small boot struck perkinssquarely in the pit of the stomach-a true "solar-plexus" blow-and completely knockedout, he staggered back against the instrument-board. his out-flung arm pushed the speed lever clearout to its last notch, throwing the entire current of the batteries through the bar,which was pointed straight up, as it had been when they made their landing, and closingthe switch which threw on the power of the repelling outer coating. there was a creakof the mighty steel fabric, stressed almost
to its limit as the vessel darted upward withits stupendous velocity, and only the carefully-planned spring-and-cushion floor saved their livesas they were thrown flat and held there by the awful force of their acceleration as thespace-car tore through the thin layer of the earth's atmosphere. so terrific was theirspeed, that the friction of the air did not have time to set them afire-they were throughit and into the perfect vacuum of interstellar space before the thick steel hull was evenwarmed through. dorothy lay flat upon her back, just as she had fallen, unable evento move her arms, gaining each breath only by a terrible effort. perkins was a huddledheap under the instrument-board. the other captive, brookings' ex-secretary, was in somewhatbetter case, as her bonds had snapped like
string and she was lying at full length inone of the side-seats-forced into that position and held there, as the design of the seatswas adapted for the most comfortable position possible under such conditions. she, likedorothy, was gasping for breath, her straining muscles barely able to force air into herlungs because of the paralyzing weight of her chest. duquesne alone was able to move, and it requiredall of his herculean strength to creep and crawl, snake-like, toward the instrument-board.finally attaining his goal, he summoned all his strength to grasp, not the controllinglever, which he knew was beyond his reach, but a cut-out switch only a couple of feetabove his head. with a series of convulsive
movements he fought his way up, first untilhe was crouching on his elbows and knees, and then into a squatting position. placinghis left hand under his right, he made a last supreme effort. perspiration streamed fromhim, his mighty muscles stood out in ridges visible even under the heavy leather of hiscoat, his lips parted in a snarl over his locked teeth as he threw every ounce of hiswonderful body into an effort to force his right hand up to the switch. his hand approachedit slowly-closed over it and pulled it out. the result was startling. with the mightypower instantly cut off, and with not even the ordinary force of gravitation to counteractthe force duquesne was exerting, his own muscular effort hurled him up toward the center ofthe car and against the instrument-board.
the switch, still in his grasp, was againclosed. his shoulder crashed against the levers which controlled the direction of the bar,swinging it through a wide arc. as the ship darted off in the new direction with all itsold acceleration, he was hurled against the instrument board, tearing one end loose fromits supports and falling unconscious to the floor on the other side. after a time, whichseemed like an eternity, dorothy and the other girl felt their senses slowly leave them. with four unconscious passengers, the space-carhurtled through empty space, its already inconceivable velocity being augmented every second by aquantity bringing its velocity near to that of light, driven onward by the incrediblepower of the disintegrating copper bar.
seaton had gone only a short distance fromhis sweetheart's home when over the purring of his engine he thought he heard dorothy'svoice raised in a scream. he did not wait to make sure, but whirled his machine aboutand the purring changed instantly to a staccato roar as he threw open the throttle and advancedthe spark. gravel flew from beneath his skidding wheels as he negotiated the turn into thevaneman grounds at suicidal speed. but with all his haste he arrived upon the scene justin time to see the door of the space-car close. before he could reach it the vessel disappeared,with nothing to mark its departure save a violent whirl of grass and sod, uprooted andcarried far into the air by the vacuum of its wake. to the excited tennis-players andthe screaming mother of the abducted girl
it seemed as though the great metal ball hadvanished utterly-only seaton, knowing what to expect, saw the line it made in the airand saw for an instant a minute dot in the sky before it disappeared. interrupting the clamor of the young people,each of whom was trying to tell him what had happened, he spoke to mrs. vaneman. "mother, dottie's all right," he said rapidlybut gently. "steel's got her, but they won't keep her long. don't worry, we'll get her.it may take a week or it may take a year, but we'll bring her back," and leaping uponhis motorcycle, he shattered all the speed laws on his way to crane's house.
"mart!" he yelled, rushing into the shop,"they've got dottie, in a bus made from our plans. let's go!" as he started on a run forthe testing shed. "wait a minute!" crisply shouted crane. "don'tgo off half-cocked. what is your plan?" "plan, hell!" barked the enraged chemist."chase 'em!" "which way did they go, and when?" "straight up, full power, twenty minutes ago." "too long ago. straight up has changed itsdirection several degrees since then. they may have covered a million miles, or theymay have come back and landed next door. sit down and think-we need all your brains now."
regaining his self-possession as the wisdomof his friend's advice came home to him, seaton sat down and pulled out his pipe. there wasa tense silence for an instant. then he leaped to his feet and darted into his room, returningwith an object-compass whose needle pointed upward. "duquesne did it," he cried exultantly. "thisbaby is still looking right at him. now let's go-make it snappy!" "not yet. we should find out how far awaythey are; that may give us an idea." suiting action to word, he took up his stopwatchand set the needle swinging. they watched it with strained faces as second after secondwent by and it still continued to swing. when
it had come to rest crane read his watch andmade a rapid calculation. "about three hundred and fifty million miles,"he stated. "clear out of our solar system already, and from the distance covered hemust have had a constant acceleration so as to approximate the velocity of light, andhe is still going with full...." "but nothing can possibly go that fast, mart,it's impossible. how about einstein's theory?" "that is a theory, this measurement of distanceis a fact, as you know from our tests." "that's right. another good theory gone topot. but how do you account for his distance? d'you suppose he's lost control?" "he must have. i do not believe that he wouldwillingly stand that acceleration, nor that
he would have gone that far of his own accord.do you?" "i sure don't. we don't know how big a barthey are carrying, so we can't estimate how long it is going to take us to catch them.but let's not waste any more time, mart. for cat's sake, let's get busy!" "we have only those four bars, dick-twofor each unit. do you think that will be enough? think of how far we may have to go, what wemay possibly get into, and what it will mean to dottie if we fail for lack of power." seaton, though furiously eager to be off,paused at this new idea, and half-regretfully he replied:
"we are so far behind them already that iguess a few hours more won't make much difference. it sure would be disastrous to get out nearone of the fixed stars and have our power quit. i guess you're right, we'd better geta couple more-make it four, then we'll have enough to chase them half our lives. we'dbetter load up on grub and x-plosive ammunition, too." while crane and shiro carried additional provisionsand boxes of cartridges into the "skylark," seaton once more mounted his motorcycle andsped across the city to the brass foundry. the manager of the plant took his order, butblandly informed him that there was not that much copper in the city, that it would bea week or ten days before the order could
be filled. seaton suggested that they meltup some copper cable and other goods already manufactured, offering ten times their value,but the manager was obdurate, saying that he could not violate the rule of priorityof orders. seaton then went to other places, endeavoring to buy scrap copper, trolley wire,electric cable, anything made of the ruddy metal, but found none for sale in quantitieslarge enough to be of any use. after several hours of fruitless search, he returned homein a towering rage and explained to crane, in lurid language, his failure to secure thecopper. the latter was unmoved. "after you left, it occurred to me that youmight not get any. you see, steel is still watching us."
fire shot from seaton's eyes. "i'm going to clean up that bunch," he grittedthrough his teeth as he started straight for the door. "not yet, dick," crane remonstrated. "we cango down to wilson's in a few minutes, and i know we can get it there if he has it. the"skylark" is all ready to travel." no more words were needed. they hurried intothe space-car and soon were standing in the office of the plant in which the vessel hadbeen built. when they had made their wants known, the iron-master shook his head. "i'm sorry, crane, but i have only a few poundsof copper in the shop, and we have no suitable
furnace." seaton broke out violently at this, but craneinterrupted him, explaining their inability to get the metal anywhere else and the urgencyof their need. when he had finished, wilson brought his fist down upon his desk. "i'll get it if i have to melt up our dynamos,"he roared. "we'll have to rig a crucible, but we'll have your bars out just as soonas the whole force of this damned scrap-heap can make 'em!" calling in his foreman, he bellowed orders,and while automobiles scoured the nearby towns for scrap copper, the crucible and molds weremade ready.
nearly two days passed before the gleamingcopper cylinders were finished. during this time crane added to their already completeequipment every article he could conceive of their having any use for, while seatonraged up and down the plant in a black fury of impatience. just before the bars were ready,they made another reading on the object-compass. their faces grew tense and drawn and theirhearts turned sick as second followed second and minute followed minute and the needlestill oscillated. finally, however, it came to rest, and seaton's voice almost failedhim as he read his figures. "two hundred and thirty-five light-years,mart. they're lost, and still going. good-bye, old scout," holding out his hand, "tell vanemanthat i'll bring her back or else stay out
there myself." "you must be crazy, dick. you know i am going." "why? no use in both of us taking such a chance.if dottie's gone, of course i want to go too, but you don't." "nonsense, dick. of course this is somewhatfarther than we had planned on going for our maiden voyage, but where is the difference?it is just as safe to go a thousand light-years as only one, and we have power and food forany contingency. there is no more danger in this trip than there is in one to mars. atall events, i am going whether you want me to or not, so save your breath."
"you lie like a thief, mart-you know whatwe are up against as well as i do. but if you insist on coming along, i'm sure gladto have you." as their hands met in a crushing grip, thebars were brought up and loaded into the carriers. waving good-bye to wilson, they closed themassive door and took their positions. seaton adjusted the bar parallel with the needleof the object-compass, turned on the coil, and advanced the speed-lever until crane,reading the pyro-meters, warned him to slow down, as the shell was heating. free of theearth's atmosphere, he slowly advanced the lever, one notch at a time, until he couldno longer support the increasing weight of his hand, but had to draw out the rollingsupport designed for that emergency. he pushed
the lever a few notches farther, and felthimself forced down violently into the seat. he was now lying at full length, the seathaving automatically moved upward so that his hand still controlled the lever. stillhe kept putting on more power, until the indicator showed that more than three-quarters of thepower was in operation and he felt that he could stand but little more. "how are you making it, mart?" he asked, talkingwith difficulty because of the great weight of his tongue and jaws. "all right so far," came the response, ina hesitating, almost stammering voice, "but i do not know how much more i can take. ifyou can stand it, go ahead."
"this is enough for awhile, until we get usedto it. any time you want to rest, tell me and i'll cut her down." "keep her at this for four or five hours.then cut down until we can walk, so that we can eat and take another reading on distance.remember that it will take as long to stop as it does to get up speed, and that we mustbe careful not to ram them. there would be nothing left of either car." "all right. talking's too darn much work,i'll talk to you again when we ease down. i sure am glad we're on our way at last." chapter ixlost in space
for forty-eight hours the uncontrolled atomicmotor dragged the masterless vessel with its four unconscious passengers through the illimitablereaches of empty space, with an awful and constantly increasing velocity. when onlya few traces of copper remained in the power-plant, the acceleration began to decrease and thepowerful springs began to restore the floor and the seats to their normal positions. thelast particle of copper having been transformed into energy, the speed of the vessel becameconstant. apparently motionless to those inside it, it was in reality traversing space witha velocity thousands of times greater than that of light. as the force which had beenholding them down was relaxed, the lungs, which had been able to secure only air enoughto maintain faint sparks of life, began to
function more normally and soon all four recoveredconsciousness, drinking in the life-giving oxygen in a rapid succession of breaths sodeep that it seemed as though their lungs must burst with each inhalation. duquesne was the first to gain control ofhimself. his first effort to rise to his feet lifted him from the floor, and he floatedlightly to the ceiling, striking it with a gentle bump and remaining suspended in theair. the others, who had not yet attempted to move, stared at him in wide-eyed amazement.reaching out and clutching one of the supporting columns, he drew himself back to the floorand cautiously removed his leather suit, transferring two heavy automatic pistols as he did so.by gingerly feeling of his injured body, he
discovered that no bones were broken, althoughhe was terribly bruised. he then glanced around to learn how his companions were faring. hesaw that they were all sitting up, the girls resting, perkins removing his aviator's costume. "good morning, doctor duquesne. what happenedwhen i kicked your friend?" duquesne smiled. "good morning, miss vaneman. several thingshappened. he fell into the controls, turning on all the juice. we left shortly afterward.i tried to shut the power off, and in doing so i balled things up worse than ever. theni went to sleep, and just woke up." "have you any idea where we are?"
"no, but i can make a fair estimate, i think,"and glancing at the empty chamber in which the bar had been, he took out his notebookand pen and figured for a few minutes. as he finished, he drew himself along by a handrailto one of the windows, then to another. he returned with a puzzled expression on hisface and made a long calculation. "i don't know exactly what to make of this,"he said thoughtfully. "we are so far away from the earth that even the fixed stars areunrecognizable. the power was on exactly forty-eight hours, since that is the life of that particularbar under full current. we should still be close to our own solar system, since it istheoretically impossible to develop any velocity greater than that of light. but in fact, wehave. i know enough about astronomy to recognize
the fixed stars from any point within a light-yearor so of the sun, and i can't see a single familiar star. i never could see how masscould be a function of velocity, and now i am convinced that it is not. we have beenaccelerating for forty-eight hours!" he turned to dorothy. "while we were unconscious, miss vaneman,we had probably attained a velocity of something like seven billion four hundred thirteen millionmiles per second, and that is the approximate speed at which we are now traveling. we mustbe nearly six quadrillion miles, and that is a space of several hundred light-years-awayfrom our solar system, or, more plainly, about six times as far away from our earth as thenorth star is. we couldn't see our sun with
a telescope, even if we knew which way tolook for it." at this paralyzing news, dorothy's face turnedwhite and margaret spencer quietly fainted in her seat. "then we can never get back?" asked dorothyslowly. at this question, perkins' self-control gaveway and his thin veneer of decency disappeared completely. "you got us into this whole thing!" he screamedas he leaped at dorothy with murderous fury gleaming in his pale eyes and his fingerscurved into talons. instead of reaching her, however, he merely sprawled grotesquely inmidair, and duquesne knocked him clear across
the vessel with one powerful blow of his fist. "get back there, you cowardly cur," he saidevenly. "even though we are a long way from home, try to remember you're a man, at least.one more break like that and i'll throw you out of the boat. it isn't her fault that weare out here, but our own. the blame for it is a very small matter, anyway; the thingof importance is to get back as soon as possible." "but how can we get back?" asked perkins sullenlyfrom the corner where he was crouching, fear in every feature. "the power is gone, thecontrols are wrecked, and we are hopelessly lost in space." "oh, i wouldn't say 'hopelessly,'" returnedthe other, "i have never been in any situation
yet that i couldn't get out of, and i won'tbe convinced until i am dead that i can't get out of this one. we have two extra powerbars, we can fix the board, and if i can't navigate us back close enough to our solarsystem to find it, i am more of a dub than i think i am. how about a little bite to eat?" "show us where it is!" exclaimed dorothy."now that you mention it, i find that i am starved to death." duquesne looked at her keenly. "i admire your nerve, miss vaneman. i didn'tsuppose that that animal over there would show such a wide streak of yellow, but i wasrather afraid that you girls might go to pieces."
"i'm scared blue, of course," dorothy admittedfrankly, "but hysterics won't do any good, and we simply must get back." "certainly, we must and we will," stated duquesnecalmly. "if you like, you might find something for us to eat in the galley there, while isee what i can do with this board that i wrecked with my head. by the way, that cubby-holethere is the apartment reserved for you two ladies. we are in rather cramped quarters,but i think you will find everything you need." as dorothy drew herself along the handrailtoward the room designated, accompanied by the other girl who, though conscious, hadpaid little attention to anything around her, she could not help feeling a thrill of admirationfor the splendid villain who had abducted
her. calm and cool, always master of himself,apparently paying no attention to the terrible bruises which disfigured half his face anddoubtless half his body as well, she admitted to herself that it was only his example, whichhad enabled her to maintain her self-control in their present plight. as she crawled overperkins' discarded suit, she remembered that he had not taken any weapons from it. aftera rapid glance around to assure herself that she was not being watched, she quickly searchedthe coat, bringing to light not one, but two pistols, which she thrust into her pocket.she saw with relief that they were regulation army automatics, with whose use she was familiarfrom much target practise with seaton. in the room, which was a miniature of theone she had seen on the skylark, the girls
found clothing, toilet articles, and everythingnecessary for a long trip. as they were setting themselves to rights, dorothy electing tostay in her riding suit, they surveyed each other frankly and each was reassured by whatshe saw. dorothy saw a girl of twenty-two, of her own stature, with a mass of heavy,wavy black hair. her eyes, a singularly rich and deep brown, contrasted strangely withthe beautiful ivory of her skin. she was normally a beautiful girl, thought dorothy, but herbeauty was marred by suffering and privation. her naturally slender form was thin, her facewas haggard and worn. the stranger broke the silence. "i'm margaret spencer," she began abruptly,"former secretary to his royal highness, brookings
of steel. they swindled my father out of aninvention worth millions and he died, broken-hearted. i got the job to see if i couldn't get enoughevidence to convict them, and i had quite a lot when they caught me. i had some thingsthat they were afraid to lose, and i had them so well hidden that they couldn't find them,so they kidnapped me to make me give them back. they haven't dared kill me so far forfear the evidence will show up after my death-which it will. however, i will be legally dead beforelong, and then they know the whole thing will come out, so they have brought me out hereto make me talk or kill me. talking won't do me any good now, though, and i don't believeit ever would have. they would have killed me after they got the stuff back, anyway.so you see i, at least, will never get back
to the earth alive." "cheer up-we'll all get back safely." "no, we won't. you don't know that man perkins-ifthat is his name. i never heard him called any real name before. he is simply unspeakable-vile-hideous-everythingthat is base. he was my jailer, and i utterly loathe and despise him. he is mean and underhandedand tricky-he reminds me of a slimy, poisonous snake. he will kill me: i know it." "but how about doctor duquesne? surely heisn't that kind of man? he wouldn't let him." "i've never met him before, but from whati heard of him in the office, he's even worse than perkins, but in an entirely differentway. there's nothing small or mean about him,
and i don't believe he would go out of hisway to hurt anyone, as perkins would. but he is absolutely cold and hard, a perfectfiend. where his interests are concerned, there's nothing under the sun, good or bad,that he won't do. but i'm glad that perkins had me instead of 'the doctor,' as they callhim. perkins raises such a bitter personal feeling, that anybody would rather die thangive up to him in anything. duquesne, however, would have tortured me impersonally and scientifically-coldand self-contained all the while and using the most efficient methods, and i am surehe would have got it out of me some way. he always gets what he goes after." "oh, come, miss spencer!" dorothy interruptedthe half-hysterical girl. "you're too hard
on him. didn't you see him knock perkins downwhen he came after me?" "well, maybe he has a few gentlemanly instincts,which he uses when he doesn't lose anything by it. more likely he merely intended to rebukehim for a useless action. he is a firm pragmatist-anything that is useful is all right, anything thatis useless is a crime. more probably yet, he wants you left alive. of course that ishis real reason. he went to the trouble of kidnapping you, so naturally he won't letperkins or anybody else kill you until he is through with you. otherwise he would havelet perkins do anything he wanted to with you, without lifting a finger." "i can't quite believe that," dorothy replied,though a cold chill struck at her heart as
she remembered the inhuman crime attributedto this man, and she quailed at the thought of being in his charge, countless millionsof miles from earth, a thought only partly counteracted by the fact that she was nowarmed. "he has treated us with every consideration so far, let's hope for the best. anyway, i'msure that we'll get back safely." "why so sure? have you something up your sleeve?" "no-or yes, in a way i have, though nothingvery definite. i'm dorothy vaneman, and i am engaged to the man who discovered the thingthat makes this space-car go...." "that's why they kidnapped you, then-tomake him give up all his rights to it. it's like them."
"yes, i think that's why they did it. butthey won't keep me long. dick seaton will find me, i know. i feel it." "but that's exactly what they want!" criedmargaret excitedly. "in my spying around i heard a little about this very thing-thename seaton brings it to my mind. his car is broken in some way, so that it will killhim the first time he tries to run it." "that's where they underestimated dick andhis partner. you have heard of martin crane, of course?" "i think i heard his name mentioned in theoffice, together with seaton's, but that's all."
"well, besides other things, martin is quitea wonderful mechanic, and he found out that our skylark was spoiled. so they built anotherone, a lot bigger, and i am sure that they are following us, right now." "but how can they possibly follow us, whenwe are going so fast and are so far away?" queried the other girl, once more despondent. "i don't quite know, but i do know that dickwill find a way. he's simply wonderful. he knows more now than that doctor duquesne willever learn in all his life, and he will find us in a few days. i feel it in my bones. besides,i picked perkins' pockets of these two pistols. can you shoot an automatic?"
"yes," replied the other girl, as she seizedone of the guns, assured herself that its magazine was full, and slipped it into herpocket. "i used to practise a lot with my father's. this makes me feel a whole lot better.and call me peggy, won't you? it will seem good to hear my name again. after what i'vebeen through lately, even this trip will be a vacation for me." "well, then, cheer up, peggy dear, we're goingto be great friends. let's go get us all something to eat. i'm simply starved, and i know youare, too." the presence of the pistol in her pocket anddorothy's unwavering faith in her lover, lifted the stranger out of the mood of despair intowhich the long imprisonment, the brutal treatment,
and the present situation had plunged her,and she was almost cheerful as they drew themselves along the hand-rail leading to the tiny galley. "i simply can't get used to the idea of nothinghaving any weight-look here!" laughed dorothy, as she took a boiled ham out of the refrigeratorand hung it upon an imaginary hook in the air, where it remained motionless. "doesn'tit make you feel funny?" "it is a queer sensation. i feel light, likea toy balloon, and i feel awfully weird inside. if we have no weight, why does it hurt sowhen we bump into anything? and when you throw anything, like the doctor did perkins, whydoes it hit as hard as ever?" "it's mass or inertia or something like that.a thing has it everywhere, whether it weighs
anything or not. dick explained it all tome. i understood it when he told me about it, but i'm afraid it didn't sink in verydeep. did you ever study physics?" "i had a year of it in college, but it wasmore or less of a joke. i went to a girls' school, and all we had to do in physics wasto get the credit; we didn't have to learn "me too. next time i go to school i'm goingto yale or harvard or some such place, and i'll learn so much mathematics and sciencethat i'll have to wear a bandeau to keep my massive intellect in place." during this conversation they had prepareda substantial luncheon and had arranged it daintily upon two large trays, in spite ofthe difficulty caused by the fact that nothing
would remain in place by its own weight. thefeast prepared, dorothy took her tray from the table as carefully as she could, and sawthe sandwiches and bottles start to float toward the ceiling. hastily inverting thetray above the escaping viands, she pushed them back down upon the table. in doing soshe lifted herself clear from the floor, as she had forgotten to hold herself down. "what'll we do, anyway?" she wailed when shehad recovered her position. "everything wants to fly all over the place!" "put another tray on top of it and hold themtogether," suggested margaret. "i wish we had a birdcage. then we could open the doorand grab a sandwich as it flies out."
by covering the trays the girls finally carriedthe luncheon out into the main compartment, where they gave duquesne and perkins one ofthe trays and all fell to eating hungrily. duquesne paused with a glint of amusementin his one sound eye as he saw dorothy trying to pour ginger ale out of a bottle. "it can't be done, miss vaneman. you'll haveto drink it through a straw. that will work, since our air pressure is normal. be carefulnot to choke on it, though; your swallowing will have to be all muscular out here. gravitywon't help you. or wait a bit-i have the control board fixed and it will be a matterof only a few minutes to put in another bar and get enough acceleration to take the placeof gravity."
he placed one of the extra power bars in thechamber and pushed the speed lever into the first notch, and there was a lurch of thewhole vessel as it swung around the bar so that the floor was once more perpendicularto it. he took a couple of steps, returned, and advanced the lever another notch. "there that's about the same as gravity. nowwe can act like human beings and eat in comfort." "that's a wonderful relief, doctor!" crieddorothy. "are we going back toward the earth?" "not yet. i reversed the bar, but we willhave to use up all of this one before we can even start back. until this bar is gone wewill merely be slowing down." as the meal progressed, dorothy noticed thatduquesne's left arm seemed almost helpless,
and that he ate with great difficulty becauseof his terribly bruised face. as soon as they had removed the trays she went into her room,where she had seen a small medicine chest, and brought out a couple of bottles. "lie down here, doctor duquesne," she commanded."i'm going to apply a little first-aid to the injured. arnica and iodine are all i canfind, but they'll help a little." "i'm all right," began the scientist, butat her imperious gesture he submitted, and she bathed his battered features with thehealing lotion and painted the worst bruises with iodine. "i see your arm is lame. where does it hurt?"
"shoulder's the worst. i rammed it throughthe board when we started out." he opened his shirt at the throat and baredhis shoulder, and dorothy gasped-as much at the size and power of the muscles displayed,as at the extent and severity of the man's injuries. stepping into the gallery, she broughtout hot water and towels and gently bathed away the clotted blood that had been forcedthrough the skin. "massage it a little with the arnica as imove the arm," he directed coolly, and she did so, pityingly. he did not wince and madeno sign of pain, but she saw beads of perspiration appear upon his face, and wondered at hisfortitude. "that's fine," he said gratefully as she finished,and a peculiar expression came over his face.
"it feels one hundred per cent better already.but why do you do it? i should think you would feel like crowning me with that basin insteadof playing nurse." "efficiency," she replied with a smile. "i'mtaking a leaf out of your own book. you are our chief engineer, you know, and it won'tdo to have you laid up." "that's a logical explanation, but it doesn'tgo far enough," he rejoined, still studying her intently. she did not reply, but turnedto perkins. "how are you, mr. perkins? do you requiremedical attention?" "no," growled perkins from the seat in whichhe had crouched immediately after eating. "keep away from me, or i'll cut your heartout!"
"shut up!" snapped duquesne. "remember whati said?" "i haven't done anything," snarled the other. "i said i would throw you out if you madeanother break," duquesne informed him evenly, "and i meant it. if you can't talk decently,keep still. understand that you are to keep off miss vaneman, words and actions. i amin charge of her, and i will put up with no interference whatever. this is your last warning." "how about spencer, then?" "i have nothing to say about her, she's notmine," responded duquesne with a shrug. an evil light appeared in perkins' eyes andhe took out a wicked-looking knife and began
to strop it carefully upon the leather ofthe seat, glaring at his victim the while. "well, i have something to say...." blazeddorothy, but she was silenced by a gesture from margaret, who calmly took the pistolfrom her pocket, jerked the slide back, throwing a cartridge into the chamber, and held theweapon up on one finger, admiring it from all sides. "don't worry about his knife. he has beensharpening it for my benefit for the last month. he doesn't mean anything by it." at this unexpected show of resistance, perkinsstared at her for an instant, then glanced at his coat.
"yes, this was yours, once. you needn't botherabout picking up your coat, they're both gone. you might be tempted to throw that knife,so drop it on the floor and kick it over to me before i count three. "one." the heavy pistol steadied into linewith his chest and her finger tightened on the trigger. "two." he obeyed and she picked up the knife.he turned to duquesne, who had watched the scene unmoved, a faint smile upon his saturnineface. "doctor!" he cried, shaking with fear. "whydon't you shoot her or take that gun away from her? surely you don't want to see memurdered?"
"why not?" replied duquesne calmly. "it isnothing to me whether she kills you or you kill her. you brought it on yourself by yourown carelessness. any man with brains doesn't leave guns lying around within reach of prisoners,and a blind man could have seen miss vaneman getting your hardware." "you saw her take them and didn't warn me?"croaked perkins. "why should i warn you? if you can't takecare of your own prisoner she earns her liberty, as far as i am concerned. i never did likeyour style, perkins, especially your methods of handling-or rather mishandling-women.you could have made her give up the stuff she recovered from that ass brookings insideof an hour, and wouldn't have had to kill
her afterward, either." "how?" sneered the other. "if you are so goodat that kind of thing, why didn't you try it on seaton and crane?" "there are seven different methods to useon a woman like miss spencer, each of which will produce the desired result. the reasoni did not try them on either seaton or crane is that they would have failed. your methodof indirect action is probably the only one that will succeed. that is why i adopted it." "well, what are you going to do about it?"shrieked perkins. "are you going to sit there and lecture all day?"
"i am going to do nothing whatever," answeredthe scientist coldly. "if you had any brains you would see that you are in no danger. missspencer will undoubtedly kill you if you attack her-not otherwise. that is an anglo-saxonweakness." "did you see me take the pistols?" querieddorothy. "certainly. i'm not blind. you have one ofthem in your right coat pocket now." "then why didn't you, or don't you, try totake it away from me?" she asked in wonder. "if i had objected to your having them, youwould never have got them. if i didn't want you to have a gun now, i would take it awayfrom you. you know that, don't you?" and his black eyes stared into her violet ones withsuch calm certainty of his ability that she
felt her heart sink. "yes," she admitted finally, "i believe youcould-that is, unless i were angry enough to shoot you." "that wouldn't help you. i can shoot fasterand straighter than you can, and would shoot it out of your hand. however, i have no objectionto your having the gun, since it is no part of my plan to offer you any further indignityof any kind. even if you had the necessary coldness of nerve or cruelty of disposition-ofwhich i have one, perkins the other, and you neither-you wouldn't shoot me now, becauseyou can't get back to the earth without me. after we get back i will take the guns awayfrom both of you if i think it desirable.
in the meantime, play with them all you please." "has perkins any more knives or guns or thingsin his room?" demanded dorothy. "how should i know?" indifferently; then,as both girls started for perkins' room he ordered brusquely: "sit down, miss vaneman. let them fight itout. perkins has his orders to lay off you-you lay off him. i'm not taking any chances ofgetting you hurt, that's one reason i wanted you armed. if he gets gay, shoot him; otherwise,hands off completely." dorothy threw up her head in defiance, butmeeting his cold stare she paused irresolutely and finally sat down, biting her lips in anger,while the other girl went on.
"that's better. she doesn't need any helpto whip that yellow dog. he's whipped already. he never would think of fighting unless theodds were three to one in his favor." when margaret had returned from a fruitlesssearch of perkins' room and had assured herself that he had no more weapons concealed abouthis person, she thrust the pistol back into her pocket and sat down. "that ends that," she declared. "i guess youwill be good now, won't you, mr. perkins?" "yes," that worthy muttered. "i have to be,now that you've got the drop on me and duquesne's gone back on me. but wait until we get back!i'll get you then, you...." "stop right there!" sharply. "there's nothingi would rather do than shoot you right now,
if you give me the slightest excuse, suchas that name you were about to call me. now go ahead!" duquesne broke the silence that followed. "well, now that the battle is over, and sincewe are fed and rested, i suggest that we slow down a bit and get ready to start back. pickout comfortable seats, everybody, and i'll shoot a little more juice through that bar." seating himself before the instrument board,he advanced the speed lever slowly until nearly three-quarters of the full power was on, asmuch as he thought the others could stand. for sixty hours he drove the car, reducingthe acceleration only at intervals during
which they ate and walked about their narrowquarters in order to restore the blood to circulation in their suffering bodies. thepower was not reduced for sleep; everyone slept as best he could. dorothy and margaret talked together at everyopportunity, and a real intimacy grew up between them. perkins was for the most part sullenlyquiet, knowing himself despised by all the others and having no outlet here for his particularbrand of cleverness. duquesne was always occupied with his work and only occasionally addresseda remark to one or another of the party, except during meals. at those periods of generalrecuperation, he talked easily and well upon many topics. there was no animosity in hisbearing nor did he seem to perceive any directed
toward himself, but when any of the othersventured to infringe upon his ideas of how discipline should be maintained, duquesne'sreproof was merciless. dorothy almost liked him, but margaret insisted that she consideredhim worse than ever. when the bar was exhausted, duquesne liftedthe sole remaining cylinder into place. "we should be nearly stationary with respectto the earth," he remarked. "now we will start back." "why, it felt as though we were picking upspeed for the last three days!" exclaimed margaret. "yes, it feels that way because we have nothingto judge by. slowing down in one direction
feels exactly like starting up in the oppositeone. there is no means of knowing whether we are standing still, going away from theearth, or going toward it, since we have nothing stationary upon which to make observations.however, since the two bars were of exactly the same size and were exerted in oppositedirections except for a few minutes after we left the earth, we are nearly stationarynow. i will put on power until this bar is something less than half gone, then coastfor three or four days. by the end of that time we should be able to recognize our solarsystem from the appearance of the fixed stars." he again advanced the lever, and for manyhours silence filled the car as it hurtled through space. duquesne, waking up from along nap, saw that the bar no longer pointed
directly toward the top of the ship, perpendicularto the floor, but was inclined at a sharp angle. he reduced the current, and felt thelurch of the car as it swung around the bar, increasing the angle many degrees. he measuredthe angle carefully and peered out of all the windows on one side of the car. returningto the bar after a time, he again measured the angle, and found that it had increasedgreatly. "what's the matter, doctor duquesne?" askeddorothy, who had also been asleep. "we are being deflected from our course. yousee the bar doesn't point straight up any more? of course the direction of the bar hasn'tchanged, the car has swung around it." "what does that mean?"
"we have come close enough to some star sothat its attraction swings the bottom of the car around. normally, you know, the bottomof the car follows directly behind the bar. it doesn't mean much yet except that we arebeing drawn away from our straight line, but if the attraction gets much stronger it maymake us miss our solar system completely. i have been looking for the star in question,but can't see it yet. we'll probably pull away from it very shortly." he threw on the power, and for some time watchedthe bar anxiously, expecting to see it swing back into the vertical, but the angle continuallyincreased. he again reduced the current and searched the heavens for the troublesome body.
"do you see it yet?" asked dorothy with concern. "no, there's apparently nothing near enoughto account for all this deflection." he took out a pair of large night-glassesand peered through them for several minutes. "good god! it's a dead sun, and we're nearlyonto it! it looks as large as our moon!" springing to the board, he whirled the barinto the vertical. he took down a strange instrument, went to the bottom window, andmeasured the apparent size of the dark star. then, after cautioning the rest of the partyto sit tight, he advanced the lever farther than it had been before. after half an hourhe again slackened the pace and made another observation, finding to his astonishment thatthe dark mass had almost doubled its apparent
size! dorothy, noting his expression, wasabout to speak, but he forestalled her. "we lost ground, instead of gaining, thatspurt," he remarked, as he hastened to his post. "it must be inconceivably large, toexert such an enormous attractive force at this distance. we'll have to put on full power.hang onto yourselves as best you can." he then pushed the lever out to its last notchand left it there until the bar was nearly gone, only to find that the faint disk ofthe monster globe was even larger than before, being now visible to the unaided eye. revived,the three others saw it plainly-a great dim circle, visible as is the dark portionof the new moon-and, the power shut off, they felt themselves falling toward it withsickening speed. perkins screamed with mad
fear and flung himself grovelling upon thefloor. margaret, her nerves still unstrung, clutched at her heart with both hands. dorothy,though her eyes looked like great black holes in her white face, looked duquesne in theeye steadily. "this is the end, then?" "not yet," he replied in a calm and levelvoice. "the end will not come for a good many hours, as i have calculated that it will takeat least two days, probably more, to fall the distance we have to go. we have all thattime in which to think out a way of escape." "won't the outer repulsive shell keep us fromstriking it, or at least break the force of our fall?"
"no. it was designed only as protection frommeteorites and other small bodies. it is heavy enough to swing us away from a small planet,but it will be used up long before we strike." he lighted a cigarette and sat at case, asthough in his own study, his brow wrinkled in thought as he made calculations in hisnotebook. finally he rose to his feet. "there's only one chance that i can see. thatis to gather up every scrap of copper we have and try to pull ourselves far enough out ofline so that we will take an hyperbolic orbit around that body instead of falling into it." "what good will that do us?" asked margaret,striving for self-control. "we will starve to death finally, won't we?"
"not necessarily. that will give us time tofigure out something else." "you won't have to figure out anything else,doctor," stated dorothy positively. "if we miss that moon, dick and martin will findus before very long." "not in this life. if they tried to followus, they're both dead before now." "that's where even you are wrong!" she flashedat him. "they knew you were wrecking our machine, so they built another one, a good one. andthey know a lot of things about this new metal that you have never dreamed of, since theywere not in the plans you stole." duquesne went directly to the heart of thematter, paying no attention to her barbed shafts.
"can they follow us through space withoutseeing us?" he demanded. "yes-or at least, i think they can." "how do they do it?" "i don't know-i wouldn't tell you if i did." "you'll tell if you know," he declared, hisvoice cutting like a knife. "but that can wait until after we get out of this. the thingto do now is to dodge that world." he searched the vessel for copper, ruthlesslytearing out almost everything that contained the metal, hammering it flat and throwingit into the power-plant. he set the bar at right angles to the line of their fall andturned on the current. when the metal was
exhausted, he made another series of observationsupon the body toward which they were falling, and reported quietly: "we made a lot of distance, but not enough.everything goes in, this time." he tore out the single remaining light-wire,leaving the car in darkness save for the diffused light of his electric torch, and broke upthe only remaining motor. he then took his almost priceless swiss watch, his heavy signetring, his scarf pin, and the cartridges from his pistol, and added them to the collection.flashing his lamp upon perkins, he relieved him of everything he had which contained copper. "i think i have a few pennies in my pocketbook,"suggested dorothy.
"get 'em," he directed briefly, and whileshe was gone he searched margaret, without result save for the cartridges in her pistol,as she had no jewelry remaining after her imprisonment. dorothy returned and handedhim everything she had found. "i would like to keep this ring," she saidslowly, pointing to a slender circlet of gold set with a solitaire diamond, "if you thinkthere is any chance of us getting clear." "everything goes that has any copper in it,"he said coldly, "and i am glad to see that seaton is too good a chemist to buy any platinumjewelry. you may keep the diamond, though," as he wrenched the jewel out of its settingand returned it to her. he threw all the metal into the central chamberand the vessel gave a tremendous lurch as
the power was again applied. it was soon spent,however, and after the final observation, the others waiting in breathless suspensefor him to finish his calculations, he made his curt announcement. "not enough." perkins, his mind weakened by the strain ofthe last few days, went completely insane at the words. with a wild howl he threw himselfat the unmoved scientist, who struck him with the butt of his pistol as he leaped, the mightyforce of duquesne's blow crushing his skull like an eggshell and throwing him backwardto the opposite side of the vessel. margaret lay in her seat in a dead faint. dorothy andduquesne looked at each other in the feeble
light of the torch. to the girl's amazement,the man was as calm as though he were safe in his own house, and she made a determinedeffort to hold herself together. "what next, doctor duquesne?" "i don't know. we have a couple of days yet,at least. i'll have to study awhile." "in that time dick will find us, i know." "even if they do find us in time, which idoubt, what good will it do? it simply means that they will go with us instead of savingus, for of course they can't pull away, since we couldn't. i hope they don't find us, butlocate this star in time to keep away from "why?" she gasped. "you have been planningto kill both of them! i should think you would
be delighted to take them with us?" "far from it. please try to be logical. iintended to remove them because they stood in the way of my developing this new metal.if i am to be out of the way-and frankly, i see very little chance of getting out ofthis-i hope that seaton goes ahead with it. it is the greatest discovery the worldhas ever known, and if both seaton and i, the only two men in the world who know howto handle it, drop out, it will be lost for perhaps hundreds of years." "if dick's finding us means that he must go,too, of course i hope that he won't find us, but i don't believe that. i simply know thathe could get us away from here."
she continued more slowly, almost speakingto herself, her heart sinking with her voice: "he is following us, and he won't stop evenif he does see this dead star and knows that he can't get away. we will die together." "there's no denying the fact that our situationis critical, but you know a man isn't dead until after his heart stops beating. we havetwo whole days yet, and in that time, i can probably dope out some way of getting awayfrom here." "i hope so," she replied, keeping her voicefrom breaking only by a great effort. "but go ahead with your doping. i'm worn out."she drew herself down upon one of the seats and stared at the ceiling, fighting to restrainan almost overpowering impulse to scream.
thus the hours wore by-perkins dead; margaretstill unconscious; dorothy lying in her seat, her thoughts a formless prayer, buoyed uponly by her faith in god and in her lover; duquesne self-possessed, smoking innumerablecigarettes, his keen mind grappling with its most desperate problem, grimly fighting untilthe very last instant of life-while the powerless space-car fell with an appallingvelocity, faster and faster; falling toward that cold and desolate monster of the heaven.chapter x the rescue seaton and crane drove the skylark in thedirection indicated by the unwavering object-compass with the greatest acceleration they couldstand, each man taking a twelve-hour watch
at the instrument board. now, indeed, did the skylark justify the faithof her builders, and the two inventors, with an exultant certainty of their success, flewout beyond man's wildest imaginings. had it not been for the haunting fear for dorothy'ssafety, the journey would have been one of pure triumph, and even that anxiety did notprevent a profound joy in the enterprise. "if that misguided mutt thinks he can pulloff a stunt like that and get away with it, he's got another think coming," asserted seaton,after making a reading on the other car after several days of the flight. "he went off half-cockedthis time, for sure, and we've got him foul. we'd better put on some negative pretty soonhadn't we, mart? only a little over a hundred
light-years now." crane nodded agreement and seaton continued: "it'll take as long to stop, of course, asit has taken to get out here, and if we ram them-good night! let's figure it out asnearly as we can." they calculated their own speed, and thatof the other vessel, as shown by the various readings taken, and applied just enough negativeacceleration to slow the skylark down to the speed of the other space-car when they shouldcome up with it. they smiled at each other in recognition of the perfect working of themechanism when the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle,the instant the power was reversed. each knew
that they were actually traveling in a directionthat to them seemed "down," but with a constantly diminishing velocity, even though they seemedto be still going "up" with an increasing speed. until nearly the end of the calculated timethe two took turns as before, but as the time of meeting drew near both men were on thealert, taking readings on the object-compass every few minutes. finally crane announced: "we are almost on them, dick. they are soclose that it is almost impossible to time the needle-less than ten thousand miles." seaton gradually increased the retarding forceuntil the needle showed that they were very
close to the other vessel and maintaininga constant distance from it. he then shut off the power, and both men hurried to thebottom window to search for the fleeing ship with their powerful night-glasses. they lookedat each other in amazement as they felt themselves falling almost directly downward, with anastounding acceleration. "what do you make of it, dick?" asked cranecalmly, as he brought his glasses to his eyes and stared out into the black heavens, studdedwith multitudes of brilliant and unfamiliar stars. "i don't make it at all, mart. by the feel,i should say we were falling toward something that would make our earth look like a pin-head.i remember now that i noticed that the bus
was getting a little out of plumb with thebar all this last watch. i didn't pay much attention to it, as i couldn't see anythingout of the way. nothing but a sun could be big enough to raise all this disturbance,and i can't see any close enough to be afraid of, can you?" "no, and i cannot see the steel space-car,either. look sharp." "of course," seaton continued to argue ashe peered out into the night, "it is theoretically possible that a heavenly body can exist largeenough so that it could exert even this much force and still appear no larger than an ordinarystar, but i don't believe it is probable. give me three or four minutes of visual angleand i'll believe anything, but none of these
stars are big enough to have any visual angleat all. furthermore...." "there is at least half a degree of visualangle!" broke in his friend intensely. "just to the left of that constellation that looksso much like a question mark. it is not bright, but dark, like a very dark moon-barely perceptible." seaton pointed his glass eagerly in the directionindicated. "great cat!" he ejaculated. "i'll say that'ssome moon! wouldn't that rattle your slats? and there's duquesne's bus, too, on the rightedge. get it?" as they stood up, seaton's mood turned toone of deadly earnestness, and a grave look came over crane's face as the seriousnessof their situation dawned upon them. trained
mathematicians both, they knew instantly thatthat unknown world was of inconceivable mass, and that their chance of escape was none toogood, even should they abandon the other craft to its fate. seaton stared at crane, his fistsclenched and drops of perspiration standing on his forehead. suddenly, with agony in hiseyes and in his voice, he spoke. "mighty slim chance of getting away if wego through with it, old man.... hate like the devil.... have no right to ask you tothrow yourself away, too." "enough of that, dick. you had nothing todo with my coming: you could not have kept me away. we will see it through." their hands met in a fierce clasp, brokenby seaton, as he jumped to the levers with
an intense: "well, let's get busy!" in a few minutes they had reduced the distanceuntil they could plainly see the other vessel, a small black circle against the faintly luminousdisk. as it leaped into clear relief in the beam of his powerful searchlight, seaton focusedthe great attractor upon the fugitive car and threw in the lever which released thefull force of that mighty magnet, while crane attracted the attention of the vessel's occupantsby means of a momentary burst of solid machine-gun bullets, which he knew would glance harmlesslyoff the steel hull. after an interminable silence, duquesne drewhimself out of his seat. he took a long inhalation,
deposited the butt of his cigarette carefullyin his ash tray, and made his way to his room. he returned with three heavy fur suits providedwith air helmets, two of which he handed to the girls, who were huddled in a seat withtheir arms around each other. these suits were the armor designed by crane for use inexploring the vacuum and the intense cold of dead worlds. air-tight, braced with finesteel netting, and supplied with air at normal pressure from small tanks by automatic valves,they made their wearers independent of surrounding conditions of pressure and temperature. "the next thing to do," duquesne stated calmly,"is to get the copper off the outside of the ship. that is the last resort, as it robsus of our only safeguard against meteorites,
but this is the time for last-resort measures.i'm going after that copper. put these suits on, as our air will leave as soon as i openthe door, and practically an absolute vacuum and equally absolute zero will come in." as he spoke, the ship was enveloped in a blindingglare and they were thrown flat as the vessel slowed down in its terrific fall. the thoughtflashed across duquesne's mind that they had already entered the atmosphere of that monsterglobe and were being slowed down and set afire by its friction, but he dismissed it as quicklyas it had come-the light in that case would be the green of copper, not this bluish-white.his next thought was that there had been a collision of meteors in the neighborhood,and that their retardation was due to the
outer coating. while these thoughts were flickeringthrough his mind, they heard an insistent metallic tapping, which duquesne recognizedinstantly. "a machine-gun!" he blurted in amazement."how in...." "it's dick!" screamed dorothy, with flashingeyes. "he's found us, just as i knew he would. you couldn't beat dick and martin in a thousandyears!" the tension under which they had been laboringso long suddenly released, the two girls locked their arms around each other in a half-hystericaloutburst of relief. margaret's meaningless words and dorothy's incoherent praises ofher lover and crane mingled with their racking sobs as each fought to recover self-possession.
duquesne had instantly mounted to the upperwindow. throwing back the cover, he flashed his torch rapidly. the glare of the searchlightwas snuffed out and he saw a flashing light spell out in dots and dashes: "can you read morse?" "yes," he signalled back. "power gone, driftinginto...." "we know it. will you resist?" "have you fur pressure-suits?" "put them on. shut off your outer coating.will touch so your upper door against our lower. open, transfer quick."
"o. k." hastily returning to the main compartment,he briefly informed the girls as to what had happened. all three donned the suits and stationedthemselves at the upper opening. rapidly, but with unerring precision, the two shipswere brought into place and held together by the attractor. as the doors were opened,there was a screaming hiss as the air of the vessels escaped through the narrow crack betweenthem. the passengers saw the moisture in the air turn into snow, and saw the air itselffirst liquefy and then freeze into a solid coating upon the metal around the orificesat the touch of the frightful cold outside-the absolute zero of interstellar space, aboutfour hundred sixty degrees below zero in the
every-day scale of temperature. the moistureof their breath condensed upon the inside of the double glasses of their helmets, renderingsight useless. dorothy pushed the other girl ahead of her.duquesne seized her and tossed her lightly through the doorway in such a manner thatshe would not touch the metal, which would have frozen instantly anything coming intocontact with it. seaton was waiting. feeling a woman's slender form in his arms, he crushedher to him in a mighty embrace, and was astonished to feel movements of resistance, and to heara strange, girlish voice cry out: "don't! it's me! dorothy's next!" releasing her abruptly, he passed her on tomartin and turned just in time to catch his
sweetheart, who, knowing that he would bethere and recognizing his powerful arms at the first touch, returned his embrace witha fierce intensity which even he had never suspected that she could exert. they stoodmotionless, locked in each other's arms, while duquesne dove through the opening and snappedthe door shut behind him. the air-pressure and temperature back to normal,the cumbersome suits were hastily removed, and seaton's lips met dorothy's in a long,clinging caress. duquesne's cold, incisive voice broke the silence. "every second counts. i would suggest thatwe go somewhere." "just a minute!" snapped crane. "dick, whatshall we do with this murderer?"
seaton had forgotten duquesne utterly in thejoy of holding his sweetheart in his arms, but at his friend's words, he faced aboutand his face grew stern. "by rights, we ought to chuck him back intohis own tub and let him go to the devil," he said savagely, doubling his fists and turningswiftly. "no, no, dick," remonstrated dorothy, seizinghis arm. "he treated us very well, and saved my life once. anyway, you mustn't kill him." "no, i suppose not," grudgingly assented herlover, "and i won't, either, unless he gives me at least half an excuse." "we might iron him to a post?" suggested crane,doubtfully.
"i think there's a better way," replied seaton."he may be able to work his way. his brain hits on all twelve, and he's strong as a bull.our chance of getting back isn't a certainty, as you know." he turned to duquesne. "i've heard that your word is good." "it has never been broken." "will you give your word to act as one ofthe party, for the good of us all, if we don't iron you?" "yes-until we get back to the earth. provided,of course, that i reserve the right to escape at any time between now and then if i wishto and can do so without injuring the vessel
or any member of the party in any way." "agreed. let's get busy-we're altogethertoo close to that dud there to suit me. sit tight, everybody, we're on our way!" he cried,as he turned to the board, applied one notch of power, and shut off the attractor. theskylark slowed down a trifle in its mad fall, the other vessel continued on its way-ahelpless hulk, manned by a corpse, falling to destruction upon the bleak wastes of adesert world. "hold on!" said duquesne sharply. "your poweris the same as mine was, in proportion to your mass, isn't it?" "then our goose is cooked. i couldn't pullaway from it with everything i had, couldn't
even swing out enough to make an orbit, eitherhyperbolic or elliptical around it. with a reserve bar you will be able to make an orbit,but you can't get away from it." "thanks for the dope. that saves our wastingsome effort. our power-plant can be doubled up in emergencies, thanks to martin's cautiousold bean. we'll simply double her up and go away from here." "there is one thing we didn't consider quiteenough," said crane, thoughtfully. "i started to faint back there before the full powerof even one motor was in use. with the motor doubled, each of us will be held down by aforce of many tons-we would all be helpless." "yes," added dorothy, with foreboding in hereyes, "we were all unconscious on the way
out, except dr. duquesne." "well, then, blackie and i, as the huskiestmembers of the party, will give her the juice until only one of us is left with his eyesopen. if that isn't enough to pull us clear, we'll have to give her the whole works andlet her ramble by herself after we all go out. how about it, blackie?" unconsciouslyfalling into the old bureau nickname. "do you think we can make it stop at unconsciousnesswith double power on?" duquesne studied the two girls carefully. "with oxygen in the helmets instead of air,we all may be able to stand it. these special cushions keep the body from flattening out,as it normally would under such a pressure.
the unconsciousness is simply a suffocationcaused by the lateral muscles being unable to lift the ribs-in other words, the air-pumpsaren't strong enough for the added work put upon them. at least we stand a chance thisway. we may live through the pressure while we are pulling away, and we certainly shalldie if we don't pull away." after a brief consultation, the men set towork with furious haste. while crane placed extra bars in each of the motors and duquesnemade careful observations upon the apparent size of the now plainly visible world towardwhich they were being drawn so irresistibly, seaton connected the helmets with the air-andoxygen-tanks through a valve upon the board, by means of which he could change at willthe oxygen content of the air they breathed.
he then placed the strange girl, who seemeddazed by the frightful sensation of their never-ending fall, upon one of the seats,fitted the cumbersome helmet upon her head, strapped her carefully into place, and turnedto dorothy. in an instant they were in each other's arms. he felt her labored breathingand the wild beating of her heart, pressed so closely to his, and saw the fear of theunknown in the violet depths of her eyes, but she looked at him unflinchingly. "dick, sweetheart, if this is good-bye...." he interrupted her with a kiss. "it isn't good-bye yet, dottie mine. thisis merely a trial effort, to see what we will
have to do to get away. next time will bethe time to worry." "i'm not worried, really ... but in case ... yousee ... i ... we ..." the gray eyes softened and misted over ashe pressed his cheek to hers. "i understand, sweetheart," he whispered."this is not good-bye, but if we don't pull through we'll go together, and that is whatwe both want." as crane and duquesne finished their tasks,seaton fitted his sweetheart's helmet, placed her tenderly upon the seat, buckled the heavyrestraining straps about her slender body, and donned his own helmet. he took his placeat the main instrument board, duquesne stationing himself at the other.
"what did you read on it, blackie?" askedseaton. "two degrees, one minute, twelve seconds diameter,"replied duquesne. "altogether too close for comfort. how shall we apply the power? oneof us must stay awake, or we'll go on as long as the bars last." "you put on one notch, then i'll put on one.we can feel the bus jump with each notch. we'll keep it up until one of us is so fargone that he can't raise the bar-the one that raises last will have to let the shiprun for thirty minutes or an hour, then cut down his power. then the other fellow willrevive and cut his off, for an observation. how's that?"
"all right." they took their places, and seaton felt thevessel slow down in its horrible fall as duquesne threw his lever into the first notch. he respondedinstantly by advancing his own, and notch after notch the power applied to the shipby the now doubled motor was rapidly increased. the passengers felt their suits envelope themand began to labor for breath. seaton slowly turned the mixing valve, a little with eachadvance of his lever, until pure oxygen flowed through the pipes. the power levers had movedscarcely half of their range, yet minutes now intervened between each advance insteadof seconds, as at the start. as each of the two men was determined thathe would make the last advance, the duel continued
longer than either would have thought possible.seaton made what he thought his final effort and waited-only to feel, after a few minutes,the upward surge telling him that duquesne was still able to move his lever. his brainreeled. his arm seemed paralyzed by its own enormous weight, and felt as though it, therolling table upon which it rested, and the supporting framework were so immovably weldedtogether that it was impossible to move it even the quarter-inch necessary to operatethe ratchet-lever. he could not move his body, which was oppressed by a sickening weight.his utmost efforts to breathe forced only a little of the life-giving oxygen into hislungs, which smarted painfully at the touch of the undiluted gas, and he felt that hecould not long retain consciousness under
such conditions. nevertheless, he summonedall his strength and advanced the lever one more notch. he stared at the clock-face abovehis head, knowing that if duquesne could advance his lever again he would lose consciousnessand be beaten. minute after minute went by, however, and the acceleration of the shipremained constant. seaton, knowing that he was in sole control of the power-plant, foughtto retain possession of his faculties, while the hands of the clock told off the interminableminutes. after an eternity of time an hour had passed,and seaton attempted to cut down his power, only to find with horror that the long strainhad so weakened him that he could not reverse the ratchet. he was still able, however, togive the lever the backward jerk which disconnected
the wires completely-and the safety strapscreaked with the sudden stress as, half the power instantly shut off, the suddenly releasedsprings tried to hurl five bodies against the ceiling. after a few minutes duquesnerevived and slowly cut off his power. to the dismay of both men they were again falling! duquesne hurried to the lower window to makethe observation, remarking: "you're a better man than i am, gunga din." "only because you're so badly bunged up. onemore notch would've got my goat," replied seaton frankly as he made his way to dorothy'sside. he noticed as he reached her, that crane had removed his helmet and was approachingthe other girl. by the time duquesne had finished
the observation, the other passengers hadcompletely recovered, apparently none the worse for their experience. "did we gain anything?" asked seaton eagerly. "i make it two, four, thirteen. we've lostabout two minutes of arc. how much power did we have on?" "a little over half-thirty-two points outof sixty possible." "we were still falling pretty fast. we'llhave to put on everything we've got. since neither of us can put it on we'll have torig up an automatic feed. it'll take time, but it's the only way."
"the automatic control is already there,"put in crane, forestalling seaton's explanation. "the only question is whether we will livethrough it-and that is not really a question, since certain death is the only alternative.we must do it." "we sure must," answered seaton soberly. dorothy gravely nodded assent. "what do you fellows think of a little pluspressure on the oxygen?" asked seaton. "i think it would help a lot." "i think it's a good idea," said duquesne,and crane added: "four or five inches of water will be aboutall the pressure we can stand. any more might
burn our lungs too badly." the pressure apparatus was quickly arrangedand the motors filled to capacity with reserve bars-enough to last seventy-two hours-thescientists having decided that they must risk everything on one trial and put in enough,if possible, to pull them clear out of the influence of this center of attraction, asthe time lost in slowing up to change bars might well mean the difference between successand failure. where they might lie at the end of the wild dash for safety, how they wereto retrace their way with their depleted supply of copper, what other dangers of dead star,planet, or sun lay in their path-all these were terrifying questions that had to be ignored.
duquesne was the only member of the partywho actually felt any calmness, the quiet of the others expressing their courage infacing fear. life seemed very sweet and desirable to them, the distant earth a very paradise!through dorothy's mind flashed the visions she had built up during long sweet hours,visions of a long life with seaton. as she breathed an inaudible prayer, she glancedup and saw seaton standing beside her, gazing down upon her with his very soul in his eyes.never would she forget the expression upon his face. even in that crucial hour, his greatlove for her overshadowed every other feeling, and no thought of self was in his mind-hiscare was all for her. there was a long farewell caress. both knew that it might be goodbye,but both were silent as the violet eyes and
the gray looked into each other's depths andconveyed messages far beyond the power of words. once more he adjusted her helmet andstrapped her into place. as crane had in the meantime cared for theother girl, the men again took their places and seaton started the motor which would automaticallyadvance the speed levers, one notch every five seconds, until the full power of bothmotors was exerted. as the power was increased, he turned the valve as before, until the helmetswere filled with pure oxygen under a pressure of five inches of water. margaret spencer, weakened by her imprisonment,was the first to lose consciousness, and soon afterward dorothy felt her senses leave her.a half-minute, in the course of which six
mighty surges were felt, as more of the powerof the doubled motor was released, and crane had gone, calmly analyzing his sensationsto the last. after a time duquesne also lapsed into unconsciousness, making no particulareffort to avoid it, as he knew that the involuntary muscles would function quite as well withoutthe direction of the will. seaton, although he knew it was useless, fought to keep hissenses as long as possible, counting the impulses he felt as the levers were advanced. "thirty-two." he felt exactly as he had before,when he had advanced the lever for the last time. "thirty-three." a giant hand shut off hisbreath completely, though he was fighting
to his utmost for air. an intolerable weightrested upon his eyeballs, forcing them backward into his head. the universe whirled abouthim in dizzy circles-orange and black and green stars flashed before his bursting eyes. "thirty-four." the stars became more brilliantand of more variegated colors, and a giant pen dipped in fire was writing equations andmathematico-chemical symbols upon his quivering brain. he joined the circling universe, whichhe had hitherto kept away from him by main strength, and whirled about his own body,tracing a logarithmic spiral with infinite velocity-leaving his body an infinite distancebehind. "thirty-five." the stars and the fiery penexploded in a wild coruscation of searing,
blinding light and he plunged from his spiralinto a black abyss. in spite of the terrific stress put upon themachine, every part functioned perfectly, and soon after seaton had lost consciousnessthe vessel began to draw away from the sinister globe; slowly at first, faster and fasteras more and more of the almost unlimited power of the mighty motor was released. soon thelevers were out to the last notch and the machine was exerting its maximum effort. onehour and an observer upon the skylark would have seen that the apparent size of the massiveunknown world was rapidly decreasing; twenty hours and it was so far away as to be invisible,though its effect was still great; forty hours and the effect was slight; sixty hours andthe skylark was out of range of the slightest
measurable force of the monster it had left. hurtled onward by the inconceivable powerof the unleashed copper demon in its center, the skylark flew through the infinite reachesof interstellar space with an unthinkable, almost incalculable velocity-beside whichthe velocity of light was as that of a snail to that of a rifle bullet; a velocity augmentedevery second by a quantity almost double that of light itself. chapter xithrough space into the carboniferous seaton opened his eyes and gazed about himwonderingly. only half conscious, bruised and sore in every part of his body, he couldnot at first realize what had happened. instinctively
drawing a deep breath, he coughed and chokedas the undiluted oxygen filled his lungs, bringing with it a complete understandingof the situation. knowing from the lack of any apparent motion that the power had beensufficient to pull the car away from that fatal globe, his first thought was for dorothy,and he tore off his helmet and turned toward her. the force of even that slight movement,wafted him gently into the air where he hung suspended several minutes before his strugglesenabled him to clutch a post and draw himself down to the floor. a quick glance around informedhim that dorothy, as well as the others, was still unconscious. making his way rapidlyto her, he placed her face downward upon the floor and began artificial respiration. verysoon he was rewarded by the coughing he had
longed to hear. he tore off her helmet andclasped her to his breast in an agony of relief, while she sobbed convulsively upon his shoulder.the first ecstasy of their greeting over, dorothy started guiltily. "oh, dick!" she exclaimed. "how about peggy?you must see how she is!" "never mind," answered crane's voice cheerily."she is coming to nicely." glancing around quickly, they saw that cranehad already revived the stranger, and that duquesne was not in sight. dorothy blushed,the vivid wave of color rising to her glorious hair, and hastily disengaged her arms fromaround her lover's neck, drawing away from him. seaton, also blushing, dropped his arms,and dorothy floated away from him, frantically
clutching at a brace just beyond reach. "pull me down, dick!" she called, laughinggaily. seaton, seizing her instinctively, neglectedhis own anchorage and they hung in the air together, while crane and margaret, each holdinga strap, laughed with unrestrained merriment. "tweet, tweet-i'm a canary!" chuckled seaton."throw us a rope!" "a dicky-bird, you mean," interposed dorothy. "i knew that you were a sleight-of-hand expert,dick, but i did not know that levitation was one of your specialties," remarked crane withmock gravity. "that is a peculiar pose you are holding now. what are you doing-sittingon an imaginary pedestal?"
"i'll be sitting on your neck if you don'tget a wiggle on with that rope!" retorted seaton, but before crane had time to obeythe command the floating couple had approached close enough to the ceiling so that seaton,with a slight pressure of his hand against the leather, sent them floating back to thefloor, within reach of one of the handrails. seaton made his way to the power-plant, liftedin one of the remaining bars, and applied a little power. the skylark seemed to jumpunder them, then it seemed as though they were back on earth-everything had its normalweight once more, as the amount of power applied was just enough to equal the accelerationof gravity. after this fact had been explained, dorothy turned to margaret.
"now that we are able to act intelligently,the party should be introduced to each other. peggy, this is dr. dick seaton, and this ismr. martin crane. boys, this is miss margaret spencer, a dear friend of mine. these arethe boys i have told you so much about, peggy. dick knows all about atoms and things; hefound out how to make the skylark go. martin, who is quite a wonderful inventor, made theengines and things for it." "i may have heard of mr. crane," replied margareteagerly. "my father was an inventor, and i have heard him speak of a man named cranewho invented a lot of instruments for airplanes. he used to say that the crane instrumentsrevolutionized flying. i wonder if you are that mr. crane?"
"that is rather unjustifiably high praise,miss spencer," replied crane, "but as i have been guilty of one or two things along thatline, i may be the man he meant." "pardon me if i seem to change the subject,"put in seaton, "but where's duquesne?" "we came to at the same time, and he wentinto the galley to fix up something to eat." "good for him!" exclaimed dorothy. "i'm simplystarved to death. i would have been demanding food long ago, but i have so many aches andpains that i didn't realize how hungry i was until you mentioned it. come on, peggy, iknow where our room is. let's go powder our noses while these bewhiskered gentlemen reaptheir beards. did you bring along any of my clothes, dick, or did you forget them in theexcitement?"
"i didn't think anything about clothes, butmartin did. you'll find your whole wardrobe in your room. i'm with you, dot, on that eatingproposition-i'm hungry enough to eat the jamb off the door!" after the girls had gone, seaton and cranewent to their rooms, where they exercised vigorously to restore the circulation to theirnumbed bodies, shaved, bathed, and returned to the saloon feeling like new men. they foundthe girls already there, seated at one of the windows. "hail and greeting!" cried dorothy at sightof them. "i hardly recognized you without your whiskers. do hurry over here and lookout this perfectly wonderful window. did you
ever in your born days see anything like thissight? now that i'm not scared pea-green, i can enjoy it thoroughly!" the two men joined the girls and peered outinto space through the window, which was completely invisible, so clear was the glass. as thefour heads bent, so close together, an awed silence fell upon the little group. for theblackness of the interstellar void was not the dark of an earthly night, but the absoluteblack of the absence of all light, beside which the black of platinum dust is pale andgray; and laid upon this velvet were the jewel stars. they were not the twinkling, scintillatingbeauties of the earthly sky, but minute points, so small as to seem dimensionless, yet ofdazzling brilliance. without the interference
of the air, their rays met the eye steadilyand much of the effect of comparative distance was lost. all seemed nearer and there wasno hint of familiarity in their arrangement. like gems thrown upon darkness they shonein multi-colored beauty upon the daring wanderers, who stood in their car as easily as thoughthey were upon their parent earth, and gazed upon a sight never before seen by eye of mannor pictured in his imaginings. through the daze of their wonder, a thoughtsmote seaton like a blow from a fist. his eyes leaped to the instrument board and heexclaimed: "look there, mart! we're heading almost directlyaway from the earth, and we must be making billions of miles per second. after we lostconsciousness, the attraction of that big
dud back there would swing us around, of course,but the bar should have stayed pointed somewhere near the earth, as i left it. do you supposeit could have shifted the gyroscopes?" "it not only could have, it did," repliedcrane, turning the bar until it again pointed parallel with the object-compass which boreupon the earth. "look at the board. the angle has been changed through nearly half a circumference.we couldn't carry gyroscopes heavy enough to counteract that force." "but they were heavier there-oh, sure, you'reright. it's mass, not weight, that counts. but we sure are in one fine, large jam now.instead of being half-way back to the earth we're-where are we, anyway?"
they made a reading on an object-compass focusedupon the earth. seaton's face lengthened as seconds passed. when it had come to rest,both men calculated the distance. "what d'you make it, mart? i'm afraid to tellyou my result." "forty-six point twenty-seven light-centuries,"replied crane, calmly. "right?" "right, and the time was 11:32 p. m. of thursday,by the chronometer there. we'll time it again after a while and see how fast we're traveling.it's a good thing you built the ship's chronometers to stand any kind of stress. my watch is atotal loss. yours is, too?" "all of our watches must be broken. we willhave to repair them as soon as we get time." "well, let's eat next! no human being canstand my aching void much longer. how about
you, dot?" "yes, for cat's sake, let's get busy!" shemimicked him gaily. "doctor duquesne's had dinner ready for ages, and we're all dyingby inches of hunger." the wanderers, battered, bruised, and sore,seated themselves at a folding table, seaton keeping a watchful eye upon the bar and uponthe course, while enjoying dorothy's presence to the full. crane and margaret talked easily,but at intervals. save when directly addressed. duquesne maintained silence-not the silenceof one who knows himself to be an intruder, but the silence of perfect self-sufficiency.the meal over, the girls washed the dishes and busied themselves in the galley. seatonand crane made another observation upon the
earth, requesting duquesne to stay out ofthe "engine room" as they called the partially-enclosed space surrounding the main instrument board,where were located the object-compasses and the mechanism controlling the attractor, aboutwhich duquesne knew nothing. as they rejoined duquesne in the main compartment, seaton said: "duquesne, we're nearly five thousand light-yearsaway from the earth, and are getting farther at the rate of about one light-year per minute." "i suppose that it would be poor techniqueto ask how you know?" "it would-very poor. our figures are right.the difficulty is that we have only four bars left-enough to stop us and a little to spare,but not nearly enough to get back with, even
if we could take a chance on drifting straightthat far without being swung off-which, of course, is impossible." "that means that we must land somewhere anddig some copper, then." "exactly. "the first thing to do is to find a placeto land." seaton picked out a distant star in theircourse and observed it through the spectroscope. since it was found to contain copper in notableamounts, all agreed that its planets probably also contained copper. "don't know whether we can stop that soonor not," remarked seaton as he set the levers,
"but we may as well have something to shootat. we'd better take our regular twelve-hour tricks, hadn't we, mart? it's a wonder wegot as far as this without striking another snag. i'll take the first trick at the board-beatit to bed." "not so fast, dick," argued crane, as seatonturned toward the engine-room: "it's my turn." "flip a nickel," suggested seaton. "headsi get it." crane flipped a coin. heads it was, and theworn-out party went to their rooms, all save dorothy, who lingered after the others tobid her lover a more intimate good-night. seated beside him, his arm around her andher head upon his shoulder, dorothy exclaimed: "oh, dicky, dicky, it is wonderful to be withyou again! i've lived as many years in the
last week as we have covered miles!" seaton kissed her with ardor, then turnedher fair face up to his and gazed hungrily at every feature. "it sure was awful until we found you, sweetheartgirl. those two days at wilson's were the worst and longest i ever put in. i could havewrung martin's cautious old neck! "but isn't he a wiz at preparing for trouble?we sure owe him a lot, little dimpled lady." dorothy was silent for a moment, then a smilequirked at one corner of her mouth and a dimple appeared. seaton promptly kissed it, whereuponit deepened audaciously. "what are you thinking about-mischief?"he asked.
"only of how martin is going to be paid whatwe owe him," she answered teasingly. "don't let the debt worry you any." "spill the news, reddy," he commanded, ashis arm tightened about her. she stuck out a tiny tip of red tongue athim. "don't let peggy find out he's a millionaire." "why not?" he asked wonderingly, then he sawher point and laughed: "you little matchmaker!" "i don't care, laugh if you want to. martin'sas nice a man as i know, and peggy's a real darling. don't you let slip a word about martin'smoney, that's all!"
"she wouldn't think any less of him, wouldshe?" "dick, sometimes you are absolutely dumb.it would spoil everything. if she knew he was a millionaire she would be scared to death-notof him, of course, but because she would think that he would think that she was chasing him,and then of course he would think that she was, see? as it is, she acts perfectly natural,and so does he. didn't you notice that while we were eating they talked together for atleast fifteen minutes about her father's invention and the way they stole the plans and one thingand another? i don't believe he has talked that much to any girl except me the last fiveyears-and he wouldn't talk to me until he knew that i couldn't see any man except you.much as we like martin, we've got to admit
that about him. he's been chased so much thathe's wild. if any other girl he knows had talked to him that long, he would have beenoff to the north pole or somewhere the next morning, and the best part of it is that hedidn't think anything of it." "you think she is domesticating the wild man?" "now, dick, don't be foolish. you know whati mean. martin is a perfect dear, but if she knew that he is the m. reynolds crane, everythingwould be ruined. you know yourself how horribly hard it is to get through his shell to thereal martin underneath. he is lonely and miserable inside, i know, and the right kind of girl,one that would treat him right, would make life heaven for him, and herself too."
"yes, and the wrong kind would make it...." "she would," interrupted dorothy hastily,"but peggy's the right kind. wouldn't it be fine to have martin and peggy as happy, almost,as you and i are?" "all right, girlie, i'm with you," he answered,embracing her as though he intended never to let her go, "but you'd better go get somesleep-you're all in." considerably later, when dorothy had finallygone, seaton settled himself for the long vigil. promptly at the end of the twelve hourscrane appeared, alert of eye and of bearing. "you look fresh as a daisy, mart. feelingfit?" "fit as the proverbial fiddle. i could nothave slept any better or longer if i had had
a week off. seven hours and a half is a luxury,you know." "all wrong, old top. i need eight every night,and i'm going to take about ten this time." "go to it, twelve if you like. you have earnedit." seaton stumbled to his room and slept as thoughin a trance for ten hours. rising, he took his regular morning exercises and went intothe saloon. all save martin were there, but he had eyes only for his sweetheart, who wasradiantly beautiful in a dress of deep bronze-brown. "good morning, dick," she hailed him joyously."you woke up just in time-we are all starving again, and were just going to eat withoutyou!" "good morning, everybody. i would like toeat with you, dottie, but i've got to relieve
martin. how'd it be for you to bring breakfastinto the engine room and cheer my solitude, and let crane eat with the others?" "fine-that's once you had a good idea, ifyou never have another!" after the meal duquesne, who abhorred idlenesswith all his vigorous nature, took the watches of the party and went upstairs to the "shop,"which was a completely-equipped mechanical laboratory, to repair them. seaton stayedat the board, where dorothy joined him as a matter of course. crane and margaret satdown at one of the windows. she told him her story, frankly and fully,shuddering with horror as she recalled the awful, helpless fall, during which perkinshad met his end.
"dick and i have a heavy score to settle withthat steel crowd and with duquesne," crane said slowly. "we have no evidence that willhold in law, but some day duquesne will over-reach himself. we could convict him of abductionnow, but the penalty for that is too mild for what he has done. perkins' death was notmurder, then?" "oh, no, it was purely self-defense. perkinswould have killed him if he could. and he really deserved it-perkins was a perfectfiend. the doctor, as they call him, is no better, although entirely different. he isso utterly heartless and ruthless, so cold and scientific. do you know him very well?" "we know all that about him, and more. andyet dorothy said he saved her life?"
"he did, from perkins, but i still think itwas because he didn't want perkins meddling in his affairs. he seems to me to be the veryincarnation of a fixed purpose-to advance himself in the world." "that expresses my thoughts exactly. but heslips occasionally, as in this instance, and he will again. he will have to walk very carefullywhile he is with us. nothing would please dick better than an excuse for killing him,and i must admit that i feel very much the same way." "yes, all of us do, and the way he acts proveswhat a machine he is. he knows just exactly how far to go, and never goes beyond it."
they felt the skylark lurch slightly. "oh, mart!" called seaton. "going to passthat star we were headed for-too fast to stop. i'm giving it a wide berth and pickingout another one. there's a big planet a few million miles off in line with the main door,and another one almost dead ahead-that is, straight down. we sure are traveling. lookat that sun flit by!" they saw the two planets, one like a smallmoon, the other like a large star, and saw the strange sun increase rapidly in size asthe skylark flew on at such a pace that any earthly distance would have been covered assoon as it was begun. so appalling was their velocity that their ship was bathed in thelight of that sun for only a short time, then
was again surrounded by the indescribabledarkness. their seventy-two-hour flight without a pilot had seemed a miracle, now it seemedentirely possible that they might fly in a straight line for weeks without encounteringany obstacle, so vast was the emptiness in comparison with the points of light that punctuatedit. now and then they passed so close to a star that it apparently moved rapidly, butfor the most part the silent sentinels stood, like distant mountain peaks to the travelersin an express train, in the same position for many minutes. awed by the immensity of the universe, thetwo at the window were silent, not with the silence of embarrassment, but with that oftwo friends in the presence of something beyond
the reach of words. as they stared out intothe infinity each felt as never before the pitiful smallness of even our whole solarsystem and the utter insignificance of human beings and their works. silently their mindsreached out to each other in mutual understanding. unconsciously margaret half shuddered andmoved closer to her companion, the movement attracting his attention but not her own.a tender expression came into crane's steady blue eyes as he looked down at the beautifulyoung woman by his side. for beautiful she undoubtedly was. untroubled rest and plentifulfood had erased the marks of her imprisonment; dorothy's deep, manifestly unassumed faithin the ability of seaton and crane to bring them safely back to earth had quieted herfears; and a complete costume of dorothy's
simple but well-cut clothes, which fittedher perfectly, and in which she looked her best and knew it, had completely restoredher self-possession. he quickly glanced away and again gazed at the stars, but now, inaddition to the wonders of space, he saw masses of wavy black hair, high-piled upon a queenlyhead; deep down brown eyes half veiled by long, black lashes; sweet, sensitive lips;a firmly rounded but dimpled chin; and a perfectly-formed young body. after a time she drew a deep, tremulous breath.as he turned, her eyes met his. in their shadowy depths, still troubled by the mystery of theunknowable, he read her very soul-the soul of a real woman.
"i had hoped," said margaret slowly, "to takea long flight above the clouds, but anything like this never entered my mind. how unbelievablygreat it is! so much vaster than any perception we could get upon earth! it seems strangethat we were ever awed by the sea or the mountains ... and yet...." she paused, with her lip caught under twowhite teeth, then went on hesitatingly: "doesn't it seem to you, mr. crane, that thereis something in man as great as all this? otherwise, dorothy and i could not be sailinghere in a wonder like the lark, which you and dick seaton have made." since from the first, dorothy had timed herwaking hours with those of seaton-waiting
upon him, preparing his meals, and lighteningthe long hours of his vigils at the board-margaret took it upon herself to do the same thingfor crane. but often they assembled in the engine-room, and there was much fun and laughter,as well as serious talk, among the four. margaret was quickly accepted as a friend, and proveda delightful companion. her wavy, jet-black hair, the only color in the world that couldhold its own with dorothy's auburn glory, framed features self-reliant and strong, yetof womanly softness; and in this genial atmosphere her quick tongue had a delicate wit and afacility of expression that delighted all three. dorothy, after the manner of southernwomen, became the hostess of this odd "party," as she styled it, and unconsciously adoptedthe attitude of a lady in her own home.
early in their flight, crane suggested thatthey should take notes upon the systems of stars through which were passing. "i know very little of astronomy," he saidto seaton, "but with our telescope, spectroscope, and other instruments, we should be able totake some data that will be of interest to astronomers. possibly miss spencer would bewilling to help us?" "sure," seaton returned readily. "we'd beidiots to let a chance like this slide. go to it!" margaret was delighted at the opportunityto help. "taking notes is the best thing i do!" shecried, and called for a pad and pencil.
stationed at the window, they fell to workin earnest. for several hours crane took observations, calculated distances, and dictated notes tomargaret. "the stars are wonderfully different!" sheexclaimed to him once. "that planet, i'm sure, has strange and lovely life upon it. see howits color differs from most of the others we have seen so near? it is rosy and softlike a home fire. i'm sure its people are happy." they fell into a long discussion, laughinga little at their fancies. were these multitudes of worlds peopled as the earth? could it bethat only upon earth had occurred the right combination for the generation of life, sothat the rest of the universe was unpeopled?
"it is unthinkable that they are all uninhabited,"mused crane. "there must be life. the beings may not exist in any form with which we arefamiliar-they may well be fulfilling some purpose in ways so different from ours thatwe should be unable to understand them at margaret's eyes widened in startled apprehension,but in a moment she shook herself and laughed. "but there's no reason to suppose they wouldbe awful," she remarked, and turned with renewed interest to the window. thus days went by and the skylark passed onesolar system after another, with a velocity so great that it was impossible to land uponany planet. margaret's association with crane, begun as a duty, soon became an intense pleasurefor them both. taking notes or seated at the
board in companionable conversation or sympatheticsilence, they compressed into a few days more real companionship than is ordinarily enjoyedin months. oftener and oftener, as time went on, crane found the vision of his dream homefloating in his mind as he steered the skylark in her meteoric flight or as he strapped himselfinto his narrow bed. now, however, the central figure of the vision, instead of being anindistinct blur, was clear and sharply defined. and for her part, more and more was margaretdrawn to the quiet and unassuming, but utterly dependable and steadfast young inventor, withhis wide knowledge and his keen, incisive mind. sometimes, when far from any star, the pilotwould desert his post and join the others
at meals. upon one such occasion seaton asked: "how's the book on astronomy, oh, learnedones?" "it will be as interesting as egyptian hieroglyphics,"margaret replied, as she opened her notebook and showed him pages of figures and symbols. "may i see it, miss spencer?" asked duquesnefrom across the small table, extending his hand. she looked at him, hot hostility in her browneyes, and he dropped his hand. "i beg your pardon," he said, with amusedirony. after the meal seaton and crane held a shortconsultation, and the former called to the
girls, asking them to join in the "councilof war." there was a moment's silence before crane said diffidently: "we have been talking about duquesne, missspencer, trying to decide a very important problem." seaton smiled in spite of himself as the coloragain deepened in margaret's face, and dorothy laughed outright. "talk about a red-headed temper! your hairmust be dyed, peggy!" "i know i acted like a naughty child," margaretsaid ruefully, "but he makes me perfectly furious and scares me at the same time. afew more remarks like that 'i beg your pardon'
of his and i wouldn't have a thought leftin my head!" seaton, who had opened his mouth, shut itagain ludicrously, without saying a word, and margaret gave him a startled glance. "now i have said it!" she exclaimed. "i'mnot afraid of him, boys, really. what do you want me to do?" seaton plunged in. "what we were trying to get up nerve enoughto say is that he'd be a good man on the astronomy job," and crane added quickly: "he undoubtedly knows more about it than ido, and it would be a pity to lose the chance
of using him. besides, dick and i think itrather dangerous to leave him so much time to himself, in which to work up a plan againstus." "he's cooking one right now, i'll bet a hat,"seaton put in, and crane added: "if you are sure that you have no objections,miss spencer, we might go below, where we can have it dark, and all three of us seewhat we can make of the stargazing. we are really losing an unusual opportunity." margaret hid gallantly any reluctance shemight have felt. "i wouldn't deserve to be here if i can'twork with the doctor and hate him at the same time."
"good for you, peg, you're a regular fellow!"seaton exclaimed. "you're a trump!" finally, the enormous velocity of the cruiserwas sufficiently reduced to effect a landing, a copper-bearing sun was located, and a coursewas laid toward its nearest planet. as the vessel approached its goal a deep undercurrentof excitement kept all the passengers feverishly occupied. they watched the distant globe growlarger, glowing through its atmosphere more and more clearly as a great disk of whitelight, its outline softened by the air about it. two satellites were close beside it. itssun, a great, blazing orb, a little nearer than the planet, looked so great and so hotthat margaret became uneasy. "isn't it dangerous to get so close, dick?we might burn up, mightn't we?"
"not without an atmosphere," he laughed. "oh," murmured the girl apologetically, "imight have known that." dropping rapidly into the atmosphere of theplanet, they measured its density and analyzed it in apparatus installed for that purpose,finding that its composition was very similar to the earth's air and that its pressure wasnot enough greater to be uncomfortable. when within one thousand feet of the surface, seatonweighed a five-pound weight upon a spring-balance, finding that it weighed five and a half pounds,thus ascertaining that the planet was either somewhat larger than the earth or more dense.the ground was almost hidden by a rank growth of vegetation, but here and there appearedglade-like openings.
seaton glanced at the faces about him. tenseinterest marked them all. dorothy's cheeks were flushed, her eyes shone. she looked athim with awe and pride. "a strange world, dorothy," he said gravely."you are not afraid?" "not with you," she answered. "i am only thrilledwith wonder." "columbus at san salvador," said margaret,her dark eyes paying their tribute of admiration. a dark flush mounted swiftly into seaton'sbrown face and he sought to throw most of the burden upon crane, but catching upon hisface also a look of praise, almost of tenderness, he quickly turned to the controls. "man the boats!" he ordered an imaginary crew,and the skylark descended rapidly.
landing upon one of the open spaces, theyfound the ground solid and stepped out. what had appeared to be a glade was in realitya rock, or rather, a ledge of apparently solid metal, with scarcely a loose fragment to beseen. at one end of the ledge rose a giant tree wonderfully symmetrical, but of a peculiarform. its branches were longer at the top than at the bottom, and it possessed broad,dark-green leaves, long thorns, and odd, flexible, shoot-like tendrils. it stood as an outpostof the dense vegetation beyond. totally unlike the forests of earth were those fern-liketrees, towering two hundred feet into the air. they were of an intensely vivid greenand stood motionless in the still, hot air of noonday. not a sign of animal life wasto be seen; the whole landscape seemed asleep.
the five strangers stood near their vessel,conversing in low tones and enjoying the sensation of solid ground beneath their feet. aftera few minutes duquesne remarked: "this is undoubtedly a newer planet than ours.i should say that it was in the carboniferous age. aren't those trees like those in thecoal-measures, seaton?" "true as time, blackie-there probably won'tbe a human race here for ages, unless we bring out some colonists." seaton kicked at one of the loose lumps ofmetal questioningly with his heavy shoe, finding that it was as immovable as though it werepart of the ledge. bending over, he found that it required all his great strength tolift it and he stared at it with an expression
of surprise, which turned to amazement ashe peered closer. "duquesne! look at this!" duquesne studied the metal, and was shakenout of his habitual taciturnity. "platinum, by all the little gods!" "we'll grab some of this while the grabbing'sgood," announced seaton, and the few visible lumps were rolled into the car. "if we hada pickaxe we could chop some more off one of those sharp ledges down there." "there's an axe in the shop," replied duquesne."i'll go get it. go ahead, i'll soon be with you."
"keep close together," warned crane as thefour moved slowly down the slope. "this is none too safe, dick." "no, it isn't, mart. but we've got to seewhether we can't find some copper, and i would like to get some more of this stuff, too.i don't think it's platinum, i believe that it's x." as they reached the broken projections, margaretglanced back over her shoulder and screamed. the others saw that her face was white andher eyes wide with horror, and seaton instinctively drew his pistol as he whirled about, onlyto check his finger on the trigger and lower his hand.
"nothing but x-plosive bullets," he growledin disgust, and in helpless silence the four watched an unspeakably hideous monster slowlyappear from behind the skylark. its four huge, squat legs supported a body at least a hundredfeet long, pursy and ungainly; at the extremity of a long and sinuous neck a comparativelysmall head seemed composed entirely of a cavernous mouth armed with row upon row of carnivorousteeth. dorothy gasped with terror and both girls shrank closer to the two men, who maintaineda baffled silence as the huge beast passed his revolting head along the hull of the vessel. "i dare not shoot, martin," seaton whispered,"it would wreck the bus. have you got any solid bullets?"
"no. we must hide behind these small ledgesuntil it goes away," answered crane, his eyes upon margaret's colorless face. "you two hidebehind that one, we will take this one." "oh, well, it's nothing to worry about, anyway.we can kill him as soon as he gets far enough away from the boat," said seaton as, withdorothy clinging to him, he dropped behind one of the ledges. margaret, her staring eyesfixed upon the monster, remained standing until crane touched her gently and drew herdown beside him. "he will go away soon," his even voice assuredher. "we are in no danger." in spite of their predicament, a feeling ofhappiness flowed through crane's whole being as he crouched beside the wall of metal withone arm protectingly around margaret, and
he longed to protect her through life as hewas protecting her then. accustomed as he was to dangerous situations, he felt no fear.he felt only a great tenderness for the girl by his side, who had ceased trembling butwas still staring wide-eyed at the monster through a crevice. "scared, peggy?" he whispered. "not now, martin, but if you weren't herei would die of fright." at this reply his arm tightened involuntarily,but he forced it to relax. "it will not be long," he promised himselfsilently, "until she is back at home among her friends, and then...."
there came the crack of a rifle from the skylark.there was an awful roar from the dinosaur, which was quickly silenced by a stream ofmachine-gun bullets. "blackie's on the job-let's go!" cried seaton,and they raced up the slope. making a detour to avoid the writhing and mutilated mass theyplunged through the opening door. duquesne shut it behind them and in overwhelming relief,the adventurers huddled together as from the wilderness without there arose an appallingtumult. the scene, so quiet a few moments before,was instantly changed. the trees, the swamp, and the air seemed filled with monsters sohideous as to stagger the imagination. winged lizards of prodigious size hurtled throughthe air, plunging to death against the armored
hull. indescribable flying monsters, withfeathers like birds, but with the fangs of tigers, attacked viciously. dorothy screamedand started back as a scorpion-like thing with a body ten feet in length leaped at thewindow in front of her, its terrible sting spraying the glass with venom. as it fellto the ground, a huge spider-if an eight-legged creature with spines instead of hair, many-facetedeyes, and a bloated, globular body weighing hundreds of pounds, may be called a spider-leapedupon it and, mighty mandibles against poisonous sting, the furious battle raged. several twelve-footcockroaches climbed nimbly across the fallen timber of the morass and began feeding voraciouslyupon the body of the dead dinosaur, only to be driven away by another animal, which allthree men recognized instantly as that king
of all prehistoric creatures, the saber-toothedtiger. this newcomer, a tawny beast towering fifteen feet high at the shoulder, had a mouthdisproportionate even to his great size-a mouth armed with four great tiger-teeth morethan three feet in length. he had barely begun his meal, however, when he was challengedby another nightmare, a something apparently half-way between a dinosaur and a crocodile.at the first note the tiger charged. clawing, striking, rending each other with their terribleteeth, a veritable avalanche of bloodthirsty rage, the combatants stormed up and down thelittle island. but the fighters were rudely interrupted, and the earthly visitors discoveredthat in this primitive world it was not only animal life that was dangerous.
the great tree standing on the farther edgeof the island suddenly bent over, lashing out like a snake and grasping both. it transfixedthem with the terrible thorns, which were now seen to be armed with needlepoints andto possess barbs like fish-hooks. it ripped at them with the long branches, which wereveritable spears. the broad leaves, armed with revolting sucking disks, closed aboutthe two animals, while the long, slender twigs, each of which was now seen to have an eyeat its extremity, waved about, watching each movement of the captives from a safe distance. if the struggle between the two animals hadbeen awful, this was titanic. the air was torn by the roars of the reptile, the screamsof the great cat, and the shrieks of the tree.
the very ground rocked with the ferocity ofthe conflict. there could be but one result-soon the tree, having absorbed the two gladiators,resumed its upright position in all its beauty. the members of the little group stared ateach other, sick at heart. "this is no place to start a copper-mine.i think we'd better beat it," remarked seaton presently, wiping drops of perspiration fromhis forehead. "i think so," acquiesced crane. "we foundair and earth-like conditions here; we probably will elsewhere." "are you all right, dottie?" asked seaton. "all right, dicky," she replied, the colorflowing back into her cheeks. "it scared me
stiff, and i think i have a lot of white hairsright now, but i wouldn't have missed it for anything." she paused an instant, and continued: "dick, there must be a queer streak of brutalityin me, but would you mind blowing up that frightful tree? i wouldn't mind its natureif it were ugly-but look at it! it's so deceptively beautiful! you wouldn't thinkit had the disposition of a fiend, would you?" a general laugh relieved the nervous tension,and seaton stepped impulsively toward duquesne with his hand outstretched. "you've squared your account, blackie. saythe word and the war's all off."
duquesne ignored the hand and glanced coldlyat the group of eager, friendly faces. "don't be sentimental," he remarked evenlyas he turned away to his room. "emotional scenes pain me. i gave my word to act as oneof the party." "well, may i be kicked to death by littlered spiders!" exclaimed seaton, dumbfounded, as the other disappeared. "he ain't a man,he's a fish!" "he's a machine. i always thought so, andnow i know it," stated margaret, and the others nodded agreement. "well, we'll sure pull his cork as soon aswe get back!" snapped seaton. "he asked for it, and we'll give him both barrels!"
"i know i acted the fool out there," margaretapologized, flushing hotly and looking at crane. "i don't know what made me act so stupid.i used to have a little nerve." "you were a regular little brick, peg," seatonreturned instantly. "both you girls are all to the good-the right kind to have alongin ticklish places." crane held out his steady hand and took margaret'sin a warm clasp. "for a girl in your weakened condition youwere wonderful. you have no reason to reproach yourself." tears filled the dark eyes, but were heldback bravely as she held her head erect and returned the pressure of his hand.
"just so you don't leave me behind next time,"she returned lightly, and the last word concerning the incident had been said. seaton applied the power and soon they wereapproaching another planet, which was surrounded by a dense fog. descending slowly, they foundit to be a mass of boiling-hot steam and rank vapors, under enormous pressure. the next planet they found to have a clearatmosphere, but the ground had a peculiar, barren look; and analysis of the gaseous envelopeproved it to be composed almost entirely of chlorin. no life of an earthly type couldbe possible upon such a world, and a search for copper, even with the suits and helmets,would probably be fruitless if not impossible.
"well," remarked seaton as they were againin space, "we've got enough copper to visit several more worlds-several more solar systems,if necessary. but there's a nice, hopeful-looking planet right in front of us. it may be theone we're looking for." arrived in the belt of atmosphere, they testedit as before, and found it satisfactory. chapter xiithe mastery of mind over matter they descended rapidly, directly over a largeand imposing city in the middle of a vast, level, beautifully-planted plain. while theywere watching it, the city vanished and the plain was transformed into a heavily-timberedmountain summit, the valleys falling away upon all sides as far as the eye could reach.
"well, i'll say that's some mirage!" exclaimedseaton, rubbing his eyes in astonishment. "i've seen mirages before, but never anythinglike that. wonder what this air's made of? but we'll land, anyway, if we finally haveto swim!" the ship landed gently upon the summit, theoccupants half expecting to see the ground disappear before their eyes. nothing happened,however, and they disembarked, finding walking somewhat difficult because of the great massof the planet. looking around, they could see no sign of life, but they felt a presencenear them-a vast, invisible something. suddenly, out of the air in front of seaton,a man materialized: a man identical with him in every feature and detail, even to the smudgeof grease under one eye, the small wrinkles
in his heavy blue serge suit, and the emblemof the american chemical society upon his watch-fob. "hello, folks," the stranger began in seaton'scharacteristic careless speech. "i see you're surprised at my knowing your language. you'rea very inferior race of animals-don't even understand telepathy, don't understand theluminiferous ether, or the relation between time and space. your greatest things, suchas the skylark and your object-compass, are merely toys." changing instantly from seaton's form to thatof dorothy, likewise a perfect imitation, the stranger continued without a break:
"atoms and electrons and things, spinningand whirling in their dizzy little orbits...." it broke off abruptly, continuing in the formof duquesne: "couldn't make myself clear as miss vaneman-nota scientific convolution in her foolish little brain. you are a freer type, duquesne, unhamperedby foolish, soft fancies. but you are very clumsy, although working fairly well withyour poor tools-brookings and his organization, the perkins cafã© and its clumsy wirelesstelephones. all of you are extremely low in the scale. such animals have not been knownin our universe for ten million years, which is as far back as i can remember. you havemillions of years to go before you will amount to anything; before you will even rise abovedeath and its attendant necessity, sex."
the strange being then assumed form afterform with bewildering rapidity, while the spectators stared in dumb astonishment. inrapid succession it took on the likeness of each member of the party, of the vessel itself,of the watch in seaton's pocket-reappearing as seaton. "well, bunch," it said in a matter-of-factvoice, "there's no mental exercise in you and you're such a low form of life that you'reof no use on this planet; so i'll dematerialize a peculiar light came into its eyes as theystared intently into seaton's, and he felt his senses reel under the impact of an awfulmental force, but he fought back with all his power and remained standing.
"what's this?" the stranger demanded in surprise,"this is the first time in history that mere matter-which is only a manifestation ofmind-has ever refused to obey mind. there's a screw loose somewhere." "i must reason this out," it continued analytically,changing instantaneously into crane's likeness. "ah! i am not a perfect reproduction. thisis the first matter i have ever encountered that i could not reproduce perfectly. thereis some subtle difference. the external form is the same, the organic structure likewise.the molecules of substance are arranged as they should be, as are also the atoms in themolecule. the electrons in the atom-ah! there is the difficulty. the arrangement andnumber of electrons, as well as positive charges,
are entirely different from what i had supposed.i must derive the formula." "let's go, folks!" said seaton hastily, drawingdorothy back toward the skylark. "this dematerialization stunt may be play for him, but i don't wantany of it in my family." "no, you really must stay," remonstrated thestranger. "much as it is against my principles to employ brute force, you must stay and beproperly dematerialized, alive or dead. science demands it." as he spoke, he started to draw his automaticpistol. being in crane's form, he drew slowly, as crane did; and seaton, with the dexterityof much sleight-of-hand work and of years of familiarity with his weapon, drew and firedin one incredibly rapid movement, before the
other had withdrawn the pistol from his pocket.the x-plosive shell completely volatilized the stranger and hurled the party backwardtoward the skylark, into which they fled hastily. as crane, the last one to enter the vessel,fired his pistol and closed the massive door, seaton leaped to the levers. as he did so,he saw a creature materialize in the air of the vessel and fall to the floor with a crashas he threw on the power. it was a frightful thing, like nothing ever before seen uponany world; with great teeth, long, sharp claws, and an automatic pistol clutched firmly ina human hand. forced flat by the terrific acceleration of the vessel, it was unableto lift either itself or the weapon, and lay helpless.
"we take one trick, anyway!" blazed seaton,as he threw on the power of the attractor and diffused its force into a screen overthe party, so that the enemy could not materialize in the air above them and crush them by mereweight. "as pure mental force, you're entirely out of my class, but when you come down tomatter, which i can understand, i'll give you a run for your money until my angles catchfire." "that is a childish defiance. it speaks wellfor your courage, but ill for your intelligence," the animal said, and vanished. a moment later seaton's hair almost stoodon end as he saw an automatic pistol appear upon the board directly in front of him, clampedto it by bands of steel. paralyzed by this
unlooked-for demonstration of the masteryof mind over matter, unable to move a muscle, he lay helpless, staring at the engine ofdeath in front of him. although the whole proceeding occupied only a fraction of a second,it seemed to seaton as though he watched the weapon for hours. as the sleeve drew back,cocking the pistol and throwing a cartridge into the chamber, the trigger moved, and thehammer descended to speed on its way the bullet which was to blot out his life. there wasa sharp click as the hammer fell-seaton was surprised to find himself still aliveuntil a voice spoke, apparently from the muzzle of the pistol, with the harsh sound of a metallicdiaphragm. "i was almost certain that it wouldn't explode,"the stranger said, chattily. "you see, i haven't
derived that formula yet, so i couldn't makea real explosive. i could of course, materialize beside you, under your protective screen,and crush you in a vise. i could materialize as a man of metal, able to stand up underthis acceleration, and do you to death. i could even, by a sufficient expenditure ofmental energy, materialize a planet around your ship and crush it. however, these crudemethods are distasteful in the extreme, especially since you have already given me some slightand unexpected mental exercise. in return, i shall give you one chance for your lives.i cannot dematerialize either you or your vessel until i work out the formula for yourpeculiar atomic structure. if i can derive the formula before you reach the boundariesof my home-space, beyond which i cannot go,
i shall let you go free. deriving the formulawill be a neat little problem. it should be fairly easy, as it involves only a simpleintegration in ninety-seven dimensions." silence ensued, and seaton advanced his leverto the limit of his ability to retain consciousness. almost overcome by the horror of their position,in an agony of suspense, expecting every instant to be hurled into nothingness, he battledon, with no thought of yielding, even in the face of those overwhelming mental odds. "you can't do it, old top," he thought savagely,concentrating all the power of his highly-trained mind against the intellectual monster. "youcan't dematerialize us, and you can't integrate above ninety-five dimensions to save yourneck. you can't do it-you're slipping-you're
all balled up right now!" for more than an hour the silent battle raged,during which time the skylark flew millions upon millions of miles toward earth. finallythe stranger spoke again. "you three win," it said abruptly. in answerto the unspoken surprise of all three men it went on: "yes, all three of you got thesame idea and crane even forced his body to retain consciousness to fight me. your effortswere very feeble, of course, but were enough to interrupt my calculations at a delicatestage, every time. you are a low form of life, undoubtedly, but with more mentality thani supposed at first. i could get that formula, of course, in spite of you, if i had time,but we are rapidly approaching the limits
of my territory, outside of which even i couldnot think my way back. that is one thing in which your mechanical devices are superiorto anything my own race developed before we became pure intellectuals. they point theway back to your earth, which is so far away that even my mentality cannot grasp the meaningof the distance. i can understand the earth, can visualize it from your minds, but i cannotproject myself any nearer to it than we are at present. before i leave you, i will saythat you have conferred a real favor upon me-you have given me something to thinkabout for thousands of cycles to come. good-bye." assured that their visitor had really gone,seaton reduced the power to that of gravity and dorothy soon sat up, margaret revivingmore slowly.
"dick," said dorothy solemnly, "did that happenor have i been unconscious and just had a nightmare?" "it happened, all right," returned her lover,wiping his brow in relief. "see that pistol clamped upon the top of the board? that'sa token in remembrance of him." dorothy, though she had been only half conscious,had heard the words of the stranger. as she looked at the faces of the men, white anddrawn with the mental struggle, she realized what they had gone through, and she drew seatondown into one of the seats, stroking his hair tenderly. margaret went to her room immediately, andas she did not return, dorothy followed. she
came back presently with a look of concernupon her face. "this life is a little hard on peggy. i didn'trealize how much harder for her it would be than it is for me until i went in there andfound her crying. it is much harder for her, of course, since i am with you, dick, andwith you, martin, whom i know so well. she must feel terribly alone." "why should she?" demanded seaton. "we thinkshe's some game little guy. why, she's one of the bunch! she must know that!" "well, it isn't the same," insisted dorothy."you be extra nice to her, dick. but don't you dare let her know i told you about thetears, or she'd eat me alive!"
crane said nothing-a not unusual occurrence-buthis face grew thoughtful and his manner, when margaret appeared at mealtime, was more solicitousthan usual and more than brotherly in its tenderness. "i shall be an interstellar diplomat," dorothywhispered to seaton as soon as they were alone. "wasn't that a beautiful bee i put upon martin?" seaton stared at her a moment, then shookher gently before he took her into his arms. the information, however, did not preventhim from calling to crane a few minutes later, even though he was still deep in conversationwith margaret. dorothy gave him an exasperated glance and walked away.
"i sure pulled a boner that time," seatonmuttered as he plucked at his hair ruefully. "it nearly did us. "let's test this stuff out and see if it'sx, mart, while duquesne's out of the way. if it is x, it's some find!" seaton cut off a bit of metal with his knife,hammered it into a small piece of copper, and threw the copper into the power-chamber,out of contact with the plating. as the metal received the current the vessel started slightly. "it is x! mart, we've got enough of this stuffto supply three worlds!" "better put it away somewhere," suggestedcrane, and after the metal had been removed
to seaton's cabin, the two men again soughta landing-place. almost in their line of flight they saw a close cluster of stars, each emittinga peculiar greenish light which, in the spectroscope, revealed a blaze of copper lines. "that's our meat, martin. we ought to be ableto grab some copper in that system, where there's so much of it that it colors theirsunlight." "the copper is undoubtedly there, but it mightbe too dangerous to get so close to so many suns. we may have trouble getting away." "well, our copper's getting horribly low.we've got to find some pretty quick, somewhere, or else walk back home, and there's our bestchance. we'll feel our way along. if it gets
too strong, we'll beat it." when they had approached so close that thesuns were great stars widely spaced in the heavens, crane relinquished the controls toseaton. "if you will take the lever awhile, dick,margaret and i will go downstairs and see if we can locate a planet." after a glance through the telescope, craneknew that they were still too far from the group of suns to place any planet with certainty,and began taking notes. his mind was not upon his work, however, but was completely filledwith thoughts of the girl at his side. the intervals between his comments became longerand longer until they were standing in silence,
both staring with unseeing eyes out into thetrackless void. but it was in no sense their usual companionable silence. crane was fightingback the words he longed to say. this lovely girl was not here of her own accord-shehad been torn forcibly from her home and from her friends, and he would not, could not,make her already difficult position even more unpleasant by forcing his attentions uponher. margaret sensed something unusual and significant in his attitude and held herselftense, her heart beating wildly. at that moment an asteroid came within rangeof the skylark's watchful repeller, and at the lurch of the vessel, as it swung aroundthe obstruction, margaret would have fallen had not crane instinctively caught her withone arm. ordinarily this bit of courtesy would
have gone unnoticed by both, as it had happenedmany times before, but in that heavily-charged atmosphere it took on a new significance.both blushed hotly, and as their eyes met each saw that which held them spellbound.slowly, almost as if without volition, crane put his other arm around her. a wave of deepercrimson swept over her face and she bent her handsome head as her slender body yieldedto his arms with no effort to free itself. finally crane spoke, his usually even voicefaltering. "margaret, i hope you will not think thisunfair of me ... but we have been through so much together that i feel as though wehad known each other forever. until we went through this last experience i had intendedto wait-but why should we wait? life is
not lived in years alone, and you know howmuch i love you, my dearest!" he finished, passionately. her arms crept up around his neck, her bowedhead lifted, and her eyes looked deep into his as she whispered her answer: "i think i do ... oh, martin!" presently they made their way back to theengine-room, keeping the singing joy in their hearts inaudible and the kisses fresh upontheir lips invisible. they might have kept their secret for a time, had not seaton promptlyasked: "well, what did you find, mart?"
a panicky look appeared upon crane's self-possessedcountenance and margaret's fair face glowed like a peony. "yes, what did you find?" demanded dorothy,as she noticed their confusion. "my future wife," crane answered steadily. the two girls rushed into each other's armsand the two men silently gripped hands in a clasp of steel; for each of the four knewthat these two unions were not passing fancies, lightly entered into and as lightly cast aside,but were true partnerships which would endure throughout the entire span of life. a planet was located and the skylark flewtoward it. discovering that it was apparently
situated in the center of the cluster of suns,they hesitated; but finding that there was no dangerous force present, they kept on.as they drew nearer, so that the planet appeared as a very small moon, they saw that the skylarkwas in a blaze of green light, and looking out of the windows, crane counted seventeengreat suns, scattered in all directions in the sky! slowing down abruptly as the planetwas approached, seaton dropped the vessel slowly through the atmosphere, while craneand duquesne tested and analyzed it. "pressure, thirty pounds per square inch.surface gravity as compared to that of the earth, two-fifths. air-pressure about doublethat of the earth, while a five-pound weight weighs only two pounds. a peculiar combination,"reported crane, and duquesne added:
"analysis about the same as our air exceptfor two and three-tenths per cent of a gas that isn't poisonous and which has a peculiar,fragrant odor. i can't analyze it and think it probably an element unknown upon earth,or at least very rare." "it would have to be rare if you don't knowwhat it is," acknowledged seaton, locking the skylark in place and going over to smellthe strange gas. deciding that the air was satisfactory, thepressure inside the vessel was slowly raised to the value of that outside and two doorswere opened, to allow the new atmosphere free circulation. seaton shut off the power actuating the repellerand let the vessel settle slowly toward the
ocean which was directly beneath them-anocean of a deep, intense, wondrously beautiful blue, which the scientists studied with interest.arrived at the surface, seaton moistened a rod in a wave, and tasted it cautiously, thenuttered a yell of joy-a yell broken off abruptly as he heard the sound of his ownvoice. both girls started as the vibrations set up in the dense air smote upon their eardrums.seaton moderated his voice and continued: "i forgot about the air-pressure. but hurrahfor this ocean-it's ammoniacal copper sulphate solution! we can sure get all the copper wewant, right here, but it would take weeks to evaporate the water and recover the metal.we can probably get it easier ashore. let's go!"
they started off just above the surface ofthe ocean toward the nearest continent, which they had observed from the air. chapter xiiinalboon of mardonale as the skylark approached the shore, its occupantsheard a rapid succession of heavy detonations, apparently coming from the direction in whichthey were traveling. "wonder what that racket is?" asked seaton. "it sounds like big guns," said crane, andduquesne nodded agreement. "big guns is right. they're shooting highexplosive shells, too, or i never heard any. even allowing for the density of the air,that kind of noise isn't made by pop-guns."
"let's go see what's doing," and seaton startedto walk toward one of the windows with his free, swinging stride. instantly he was a-sprawl,the effort necessary to carry his weight upon the earth's surface lifting him into the airin a succession of ludicrous hops, but he soon recovered himself and walked normally. "i forgot this two-fifths gravity stuff,"he laughed. "walk as though we had only a notch of power on and it goes all right. itsure is funny to feel so light when we're so close to the ground." he closed the doors to keep out a part ofthe noise and advanced the speed lever a little, so that the vessel tilted sharply under thepull of the almost horizontal bar.
"go easy," cautioned crane. "we do not wantto get in the way of one of their shells. they may be of a different kind than thosewe are familiar with." "right-easy it is. we'll stay forty milesabove them, if necessary." as the great speed of the ship rapidly lessenedthe distance, the sound grew heavier and clearer-like one continuous explosion. so closely did onedeafening concussion follow another that the ear could not distinguish the separate reports. "i see them," simultaneously announced crane,who was seated at one of the forward windows searching the country with his binoculars,and seaton, who, from the pilot's seat, could see in any direction.
the others hurried to the windows with theirglasses and saw an astonishing sight. "aerial battleships, eight of 'em!" exclaimedseaton, "as big as the idaho. four of 'em are about the same shape as our battleships.no wings-they act like helicopters." "four of them are battleships, right enough,but what about the other four?" asked duquesne. "they are not ships or planes or anythingelse that i ever heard of." "they are animals," asserted crane. "machinesnever were and never will be built like that." as the skylark cautiously approached, it wasevident to the watchers that four of the contestants were undoubtedly animals. here indeed wasa new kind of animal, an animal able to fight on even terms with a first-class battleship!frightful aerial monsters they were. each
had an enormous, torpedo-shaped body, withscores of prodigiously long tentacles like those of a devil-fish and a dozen or moregreat, soaring wings. even at that distance they could see the row of protruding eyesalong the side of each monstrous body and the terrible, prow-like beaks tearing throughthe metal of the warships opposing them. they could see, by the reflection of the lightfrom the many suns, that each monster was apparently covered by scales and joints ofsome transparent armor. that it was real and highly effective armor there could be no doubt,for each battleship bristled with guns of heavy caliber and each gun was vomiting fortha continuous stream of fire. shells bursting against each of the creatures made one continuousblaze, and the uproar was indescribable-an
uninterrupted cataclysm of sound appallingin its intensity. the battle was brief. soon all four of thebattleships had crumpled to the ground, their crews absorbed by the terrible sucking armsor devoured by the frightful beaks. they did not die in vain-three of the monsters hadbeen blown to atoms by shells which had apparently penetrated their armor. the fourth was pursuingsomething, which seaton now saw was a fleet of small airships, which had flown away fromthe scene of conflict. swift as they were, the monster covered three feet to their one. "we can't stand for anything like that," criedseaton, as he threw on the power and the skylark leaped ahead. "get ready to bump him off,mart, when i jerk him away. he acts hard-boiled,
so give him a real one-fifty milligrams!" sweeping on with awful speed the monster seizedthe largest and most gaily decorated plane in his hundred-foot tentacles just as theskylark came within sighting distance. in four practically simultaneous movements seatonsighted the attractor at the ugly beak, released all its power, pointed the main bar of theskylark directly upward, and advanced his speed lever. there was a crash of rendingmetal as the thing was torn loose from the plane and jerked a hundred miles into theair, struggling so savagely in that invisible and incomprehensible grip that the three-thousand-tonmass of the skylark tossed and pitched like a child's plaything. those inside her heardthe sharp, spiteful crack of the machine-gun,
and an instant later they heard a report thatparalyzed their senses, even inside the vessel and in the thin air of their enormous elevation,as the largest x-plosive bullet prepared by the inventors struck full upon the side ofthe hideous body. there was no smoke, no gas or vapor of any kind-only a huge volumeof intolerable flame as the energy stored within the atoms of copper, instantaneouslyliberated, heated to incandescence and beyond all the atmosphere within a radius of hundredsof feet. the monster disappeared utterly, and seaton, with unerring hand, reversed thebar and darted back down toward the fleet of airships. he reached them in time to focusthe attractor upon the wrecked and helpless plane in the middle of its five-thousand-footfall and lowered it gently to the ground,
surrounded by the fleet. the skylark landed easily beside the wreckedmachine, and the wanderers saw that their vessel was completely surrounded by a crowdof people-men and women identical in form and feature with themselves. they were a superblymolded race, the men fully as large as seaton and duquesne; the women, while smaller thanthe men, were noticeably taller than the two women in the car. the men wore broad collarsof metal, numerous metallic ornaments, and heavily-jeweled leather belts and shoulder-strapswhich were hung with weapons of peculiar patterns. the women carried no weapons, but were evenmore highly decorated than were the men-each slender, perfectly-formed body scintillatedwith the brilliance of hundreds of strange
gems, flashing points of fire. jeweled bandsof metal and leather restrained their carefully-groomed hair; jeweled collars encircled their throats;jeweled belts, jeweled bracelets, jeweled anklets, each added its quota of brillianceto the glittering whole. the strangers wore no clothing, and their smooth skins shonea dark, livid, utterly indescribable color in the peculiar, unearthly, yellowish-bluish-greenglare of the light. green their skins undoubtedly were, but not any shade of green visible inthe earthly spectrum. the "whites" of their eyes were a light yellowish-green. the heavyhair of the women and the close-cropped locks of the men were green as well-a green sodark as to be almost black, as were also their eyes.
"well, what d'you know about that?" ponderedseaton, dazedly. "they're human, right enough, but ye gods, what a color!" "it is hard to tell how much of that coloris real, and how much of it is due to this light," answered crane. "wait until you getoutside, away from our daylight lamps, and you will probably look like a chinese puzzle.as to the form, it is logical to suppose that wherever conditions are similar to those uponthe earth, and the age is anywhere nearly the same, development would be along the samelines as with us." "that's right, too. dottie, your hair willsure look gorgeous in this light. let's go out and give the natives a treat!"
"i wouldn't look like that for a million dollars!"retorted dorothy, "and if i'm going to look like that i won't get out of the ship, sothere!" "cheer up, dottie, you won't look like that.your hair will be black in this light." "then what color will mine be?" asked margaret. seaton glanced at her black hair. "probably a very dark and beautiful green,"he grinned, his gray eyes sparkling, "but we'll have to wait and see. friends and fellow-countrymen,i've got a hunch that this is going to be some visit. how about it, shall we go aheadwith it?" dorothy went up to him, her face bright witheagerness.
"oh, what a lark! let's go!" even in duquesne's cold presence, margaret'seyes sought those of her lover, and his sleeve, barely touching her arm, was enough to senda dancing thrill along it. "onward, men of earth!" she cried, and seaton,stepping up to the window, rapped sharply upon the glass with the butt of his pistoland raised both hands high above his head in the universal sign of peace. in response,a man of herculean mold, so splendidly decorated that his harness was one blazing mass of jewels,waved his arm and shouted a command. the crowd promptly fell back, leaving a clear spaceof several hundred yards. the man, evidently one in high command, unbuckled his harness,dropping every weapon, and advanced toward
the skylark, both arms upraised in seaton'sgesture. seaton went to the door and started to openit. "better talk to him from inside," cautionedcrane. "i don't think so, mart. he's peaceable, andi've got my gun in my pocket. since he doesn't know what clothes are he'll think i'm unarmed,which is as it should be; and if he shows fight, it won't take more than a week forme to get into action." "all right, go on. duquesne and i will comealong." "absolutely not. he's alone, so i've got tobe. i notice that some of his men are covering us, though. you might do the same for them,with a couple of the machine guns."
seaton stepped out of the car and went tomeet the stranger. when they had approached to within a few feet of each other the strangerstopped. he flexed his left arm smartly, so that the finger-tips touched his left ear,and smiled broadly, exposing a row of splendid, shining, green teeth. then he spoke, a meaninglessjumble of sounds. his voice, though light and thin, nevertheless seemed to be of powerfultimbre. seaton smiled in return and saluted. "hello, chief. i get your idea all right,and we're glad you're peaceable, but your language doesn't mean a thing in my younglife." the chief tapped himself upon the chest, sayingdistinctly and impressively:
"nalboon." "nalboon," repeated seaton, and added, pointingto himself: "seaton." "see tin," answered the stranger, and againindicating himself, "domak gok mardonale." "that must be his title," thought seaton rapidly."have to give myself one, i guess." "boss of the road," he replied, drawing himselfup with pride. the introduction made, nalboon pointed tothe wrecked plane, inclined his head in thanks, and turned to his people with one arm upraised,shouting an order in which seaton could distinguish something that sounded like "see tin, bassuvvy rood." instantly every right arm in the
assemblage was aloft, that of each man bearinga weapon, while the left arms snapped into the peculiar salute and a mighty cry aroseas all repeated the name and title of the distinguished visitor. seaton turned to the skylark, motioning tocrane to open the door. "bring out one of those big four-color signalrockets, mart!" he called. "they're giving us a royal reception-let's acknowledge itright." the party appeared, crane carrying the hugerocket with an air of deference. as they approached, seaton shrugged one shoulder and his cigarette-caseappeared in his hand. nalboon started, and in spite of his utmost efforts at self-control,he glanced at it in surprise. the case flew
open and seaton, taking a cigarette, extendedthe case. "smoke?" he asked affably. the other tookone, but showed plainly that he had no idea of the use to which it was to be put. thisastonishment of the stranger at a simple sleight-of-hand feat and his apparent ignorance of tobaccoemboldened seaton. reaching into his mouth, he pulled out a flaming match, at which nalboonstarted violently. while all the natives watched in amazement, seaton lighted the cigarette,and after half consuming it in two long inhalations, he apparently swallowed the remainder, onlyto bring it to light again. having smoked it, he apparently swallowed the butt, withevident relish. "they don't know anything about matches orsmoking," he said, turning to crane. "this
rocket will tie them up in a knot. step back,everybody." he bowed deeply to nalboon, pulling a lightedmatch from his ear as he did so, and lighted the fuse. there was a roar, a shower of sparks,a blaze of colored fire as the great rocket flew upward; but to seaton's surprise, nalboontook it quite as a matter of course, saluting as an acknowledgment of the courtesy. seaton motioned to his party to approach,and turned to crane. "better not, dick. let him think that youare the king of everything in sight." "not on your life. if he is one king, we aretwo," and he introduced crane, with great ceremony, to the domak as the "boss of theskylark," at which the salute by his people
was repeated. nalboon then shouted an order and a companyof soldiers led by an officer came toward them, surrounding a small group of people,apparently prisoners. these captives, seven men and seven women, were much lighter incolor than the rest of the gathering, having skins of a ghastly, pale shade, practicallythe same color as the whites of their eyes. in other bodily aspects they were the sameas their captors in appearance, save that they were entirely naked except for the jeweledmetal collars worn by all and a massive metal belt worn by one man. they walked with a proudand lofty carriage, scorn for their captors in every step.
nalboon barked an order to the prisoners.they stared in defiance, motionless, until the man wearing the belt who had studied seatonclosely, spoke a few words in a low tone, when they all prostrated themselves. nalboonthen waved his hand, giving the whole group to seaton as slaves. seaton, with no signof his surprise, thanked the giver and motioned his slaves to rise. they obeyed and placedthemselves behind the party-two men and two women behind seaton and the same numberbehind crane; one man and one woman behind each of the others. seaton then tried to make nalboon understandthat they wanted copper, pointing to his anklet, the only copper in sight. the chief instantlyremoved the trinket and handed it to seaton;
who, knowing by the gasp of surprise of theguard that it was some powerful symbol, returned it with profuse apologies. after trying invain to make the other understand what he wanted, he led him into the skylark and showedhim the remnant of the power-bar. he showed him its original size and indicated the desirednumber by counting to sixteen upon his fingers. nalboon nodded his comprehension and goingoutside, pointed upward toward the largest of the eleven suns visible, motioning itsrising and setting, four times. he then invited the visitors, in unmistakablesign language, to accompany him as guests of honor, but seaton refused. "lead on, macduff, we follow," he replied,explaining his meaning by signs as they turned
to enter the vessel. the slaves followed closelyuntil crane remonstrated. "we don't want them aboard, do we, dick? thereare too many of them." "all right," seaton replied, and waved themaway. as they stepped back the guard seized the nearest, a woman, and forced her to herknees; while a man, adorned with a necklace of green human teeth and carrying a shiningbroadsword, prepared to decapitate her. "we must take them with us, i see," said crane,as he brushed the guards aside. followed by the slaves, the party entered the skylark,and the dark green people embarked in their airplanes and helicopters. nalboon rode in a large and gaily-decoratedplane, which led the fleet at its full speed
of six hundred miles an hour, the skylarktaking a placing a few hundred yards above the flagship. "i don't get these folks at all, mart," saidseaton, after a moment's silence. "they have machines far ahead of anything we have onearth and big guns that shoot as fast as machine-guns, and yet are scared to death at a little simplesleight-of-hand. they don't seem to understand matches at all, and yet treat fire-works asan every-day occurrence." "we will have to wait until we know them better,"replied crane, and duquesne added: "from what i have seen, their power seemsto be all electrical. perhaps they aren't up with us in chemistry, even though theyare ahead of us in mechanics?"
flying above a broad, but rapid and turbulentstream, the fleet soon neared a large city, and the visitors from earth gazed with interestat this metropolis of the unknown world. the buildings were all the same height, flat-roofed,and arranged in squares very much as our cities are arranged. there were no streets, the spacesbetween the buildings being park-like areas, evidently laid out for recreation, amusement,and sport. there was no need for streets; all traffic was in the air. the air seemedfull of flying vehicles, darting in all directions, but it was soon evident that there was exactorder in the apparent confusion, each class of vessel and each direction of traffic havingits own level. eagerly the three men studied the craft, which ranged in size from one-manhelicopters, little more than single chairs
flying about in the air, up to tremendousmultiplane freighters, capable of carrying thousands of tons. flying high over the city to avoid its congestedair-lanes, the fleet descended toward an immense building just outside the city proper, andall landed upon its roof save the flagship, which led the skylark to a landing-dock nearby-amassive pile of metal and stone, upon which nalboon and his retinue stood to welcome theguests. after seaton had anchored the vessel immovably by means of the attractor, the partydisembarked, seaton remarking with a grin: "don't be surprised at anything i do, folks.i'm a walking storehouse of junk of all kinds, so that if occasion arises i can put on areal exhibition."
as they turned toward their host, a soldier,in his eagerness to see the strangers, jostled another. without a word two keen swords flewfrom their scabbards and a duel to the death ensued. the visitors stared in amazement,but no one else paid any attention to the combat, which was soon over; the victor turningaway from the body of his opponent and resuming his place without creating a ripple of interest. nalboon led the way into an elevator, whichdropped rapidly to the ground-floor level. massive gates were thrown open, and throughranks of people prostrate upon their faces the party went out into the palace groundsof the domak, or emperor, of the great nation of mardonale.
never before had earthly eyes rested uponsuch scenes of splendor. every color and gradation of their peculiar spectrum was present, insolid, liquid, and gas. the carefully-tended trees were all colors of the rainbow, as werethe grasses and flowers along the walks. the fountains played streams of many and constantly-changinghues, and even the air was tinted and perfumed, swirling through metal arches in billows ofever-varying colors and scents. colors and combinations of colors impossible to describewere upon every hand, fantastically beautiful in that peculiar, livid light. diamonds andrubies, their colors so distorted by the green radiance as to be almost unrecognizable; emeraldsglowing with an intense green impossible in earthly light, together with strange gemspeculiar to this strange world, sparkled and
flashed from railings, statues, and pedestalsthroughout the ground. "isn't this gorgeous, dick?" whispered dorothy."but what do i look like? i wish i had a mirror-you look simply awful. do i look like you do?" "not being able to see myself, i can't say,but i imagine you do. you look as you would under a county-fair photographer's mercury-vaporarc lamps, only worse. the colors can't be described. you might as well try to describecerise to a man born blind as to try to express these colors in english, but as near as ican come to it, your eyes are a dark sort of purplish green, with the whites of youreyes and your teeth a kind of plush green. your skin is a pale yellowish green, exceptfor the pink of your cheeks, which is a kind
of black, with orange and green mixed up init. your lips are black, and your hair is a funny kind of color, halfway between blackand old rose, with a little green and...." "heavens, dick, stop! that's enough!" chokeddorothy. "we all look like hobgoblins. we're even worse than the natives." "sure we are. they were born here and areacclimated to it-we are strangers and aren't. i would like to see what one of these peoplewould look like in washington." nalboon led them into the palace proper andinto a great dining hall, where a table was already prepared for the entire party. thisroom was splendidly decorated with jewels, its many windows being simply masses of gems.the walls were hung with a cloth resembling
silk, which fell to the floor in shimmeringwaves of color. woodwork there was none. doors, panels, tables,and chairs were cunningly wrought of various metals. seaton and duquesne could recognizea few of them, but for the most part they were unknown upon the earth; and were, likethe jewels and vegetation of this strange world, of many and various peculiar colors.a closer inspection of one of the marvelous tapestries showed that it also was of metal,its threads numbering thousands to the inch. woven of many different metals, of vivid butharmonious colors in a strange and intricate design, it seemed to writhe as its colorschanged with every variation in the color of the light; which, pouring from concealedsources, was reflected by the highly-polished
metal and innumerable jewels of the lofty,domed ceiling. "oh ... isn't this too perfectly gorgeous?"breathed dorothy. "i'd give anything for a dress made out of that stuff, dick. cloth-of-goldis common by comparison!" "would you dare wear it, dottie?" asked margaret. "would i? i'd wear it in a minute if i couldonly get it. it would take washington by storm!" "i'll try to get a piece of it, then," smiledseaton. "i'll see about it while we are getting the copper." "we'd better be careful in choosing what weeat here, seaton," suggested duquesne, as the domak himself led them to the table.
"we sure had. with a copper ocean and greenteeth, i shouldn't be surprised if copper, arsenic, and other such trifles formed a regularpart of their diet." "the girls and i will wait for you two chemiststo approve every dish before we try it, then," said crane. nalboon placed his guests, the light-skinnedslaves standing at attention behind them, and numerous servants, carrying great trays,appeared. the servants were intermediate in color between the light and the dark races,with dull, unintelligent faces, but quick and deft in their movements. the first course-a thin, light wine, servedin metal goblets-was approved by the chemists,
and the dinner was brought on. there weremighty joints of various kinds of meat; birds and fish, both raw and cooked in many ways;green, pink, purple, and white vegetables and fruits. the majordomo held each dish upto seaton for inspection, the latter waving away the fish and the darkest green foods,but approving the others. heaping plates, or rather metal trays, of food were placedbefore the diners, and the attendants behind their chairs handed them peculiar implements-kniveswith razor edges, needle-pointed stilettoes instead of forks, and wide, flexible spatulas,which evidently were to serve the purposes of both forks and spoons. "i simply can't eat with these things!" exclaimeddorothy in dismay, "and i don't like to drink
soup out of a can, so there!" "that's where my lumberjack training comesin handy," grinned seaton. "with this spatula i can eat faster than i could with two forks.what do you want, girls, forks or spoons, or both?" "both, please." seaton reached out over the table, seizingforks and spoons from the air and passing them to the others, while the natives staredin surprise. the domak took a bowl filled with brilliant blue crystals from the major-domo,sprinkled his food liberally with the substance, and passed it to seaton, who looked at thecrystals attentively.
"copper sulphate," he said to crane. "it'sa good thing they add it at the table instead of cooking with it, or we'd be out of luck." waving the copper sulphate away, he againreached out, this time producing a pair of small salt-and pepper-shakers, which he passedto the domak after he had seasoned the dishes before him. nalboon tasted the pepper cautiouslyand smiled in delight, half-emptying the shaker upon his plate. he then sprinkled a few grainsof salt into his palm, stared at them with an expression of doubting amazement, and aftera few rapid sentences poured them into a dish held by an officer who had sprung to his side.the officer studied them closely, then carefully washed his chief's hand. nalboon turned toseaton, plainly asking for the salt-cellar.
"sure, old top. keep 'em both, there's lotsmore where those came from," as he produced several more sets in the same mysterious wayand handed them to crane, who in turn passed them to the others. the meal progressed merrily, with much conversationin the sign-language between the two parties. it was evident that nalboon, usually sternand reticent, was in an unusually pleasant mood. the viands, though of peculiar flavor,were in the main pleasing to the palates of the earthly visitors. "this fruit salad, or whatever it is, is divine,"remarked dorothy, after an experimental bite. "may we eat as much as we like, or had webetter just eat a little?"
"go as far as you like," returned her lover."i wouldn't recommend it, as a steady diet, as i imagine everything contains copper andother heavy metals in noticeable amounts, and probably considerable arsenic, but fora few days it can't very well hurt us much." after the meal, nalboon bade them a ceremoniousfarewell, and they were escorted to a series of five connecting rooms by the royal usher,escorted by an entire company of soldiers, who mounted guard outside the doors. gatheredin one room, they discussed sleeping arrangements. the girls insisted that they would sleep together,and that the men should occupy the rooms at either side. as the girls turned away, thefour slaves followed. "we don't want these people, and i can't makethem go away!" cried dorothy.
"i don't want them, either," replied seaton,"but if we chase them out they'll get their heads chopped off. you girls take the womenand we'll take the men." seaton waved all the women into the girls'room, but they paused irresolutely. one of them went up to the man wearing the metalbelt, evidently their leader, and spoke to him rapidly as she threw her arms around hisneck. he shook his head, motioning toward seaton several times as he spoke to her reassuringly.with his arm about her tenderly, he led her to the door, the other women following. craneand duquesne having gone to their rooms with their attendants, the man wearing the beltdrew the blinds and turned to assist seaton in taking off his clothes.
"i never had a valet before, but go as faras you like if it pleases you," remarked seaton, as he began to throw off his clothes. a multitudeof small articles fell from their hiding-places in his garments as he removed them. almoststripped, seaton stretched vigorously, the muscles writhing and rippling in great ridgesunder the satin skin of his broad back and mighty arms and shoulders as he filled hiscapacious lungs and twisted about, working off the stiffness caused by the days of comparativeconfinement. the four slaves stared in open-mouthed astonishmentat this display of muscular development and conversed among themselves as they gatheredup seaton's discarded clothing. their leader picked up a salt-shaker, a couple of silverknives and forks, and some other articles,
and turned to seaton, apparently asking permissionto do something with them. seaton nodded assent carelessly and turned to his bed. as he didso, he heard a slight clank of arms in the hall as the guard was changed, and liftingthe blind a trifle he saw that guards were stationed outside as well. as he went to bed,he wondered whether the guards were guards of honor or jailers; whether he and his partywere honored guests or prisoners. three of the slaves, at a word from theirchief, threw themselves upon the floor and slept, but he himself did not rest. openingthe apparently solid metal belt, he took out a great number of small tools, many tiny instruments,and several spools of insulated wire. he then took the articles seaton had given him, takinggreat pains not to spill a single grain of
salt, and set to work. hour after hour helabored, a strange, exceedingly complex instrument taking form under his clever fingers. chapter xiv.nalboon unmasked after a long, sound sleep, seaton awoke andsprang out of bed. no sooner had he started to shave, however, than one of the slavestouched his arm, motioning him into a reclining chair and showing him a keen blade, long andslightly curved. seaton lay down and the slave shaved him with a rapidity and smoothnesshe had never before experienced, so wonderfully sharp was the peculiar razor. after seatonhad dressed, the barber started to shave the chief slave, without any preliminary treatmentsave rubbing his face with a perfumed oil.
"hold on a minute," interjected seaton, whowas watching the process with interest, "here's something that helps a lot." he lathered theface with his brush and the man looked up in surprised pleasure as his stiff beard wasswept away without a sound. seaton called to the others and soon the partywas assembled in his room, all dressed very lightly, because of the unrelieved and unvaryingheat, which was constant at one hundred degrees. a gong sounded, and one of the slaves openedthe door, ushering in a party of servants bearing a table, ready set. during the meal,seaton was greatly surprised at hearing dorothy carrying on a halting conversation, with oneof the women standing behind her. "i knew that you were a language shark, dottie,with five or six different ones to your credit,
but i didn't suppose you could learn to talkthis stuff in one day." "i can't," she replied, "but i've picked upa few words of it. i can understand very little of what they are trying to tell me." the woman spoke rapidly to the man standingbehind seaton, and as soon as the table had been carried away, he asked permission tospeak to dorothy. fairly running across to her, he made a slight obeisance and in eagertones poured forth such a stream of language that she held up her hand to silence him. "go slower, please," she said, and added acouple of words in his own tongue. there ensued a strange dialogue, with manyrepetitions and much use of signs. she turned
to seaton, with a puzzled look. "i can't make out all he says, dick, but hewants you to take him into another room of the palace here, to get back something orother that they took from him when they captured him. he can't go alone-i think he says hewill be killed if he goes anywhere without you. and he says that when you get there,you must be sure not to let the guards come inside." "all right, let's go!" and seaton motionedthe man to precede him. as seaton started for the door, dorothy fell into step besidehim. "better stay back, dottie, i'll be back ina minute," he said at the door.
"i will not stay back. wherever you go, igo," she replied in a voice inaudible to the others. "i simply will not stay away fromyou a single minute that i don't have to." "all right, little girl," he replied in thesame tone. "i don't want to be away from you, either, and i don't think that we're in anydanger here." preceded by the chief slave and followed byhalf a dozen others, they went out into the hall. no opposition was made to their progress,but a full half-company of armed guards fell in around them as an escort, regarding seatonwith looks composed of equal parts of reverence and fear. the slave led the way rapidly toa room in a distant wing of the palace and opened the door. as seaton stepped in, hesaw that it was evidently an audience-chamber
or court-room, and that it was now entirelyempty. as the guard approached the door, seaton waved them back. all retreated across thehall except the officer in charge, who refused to move. seaton, the personification of offendeddignity, first stared at the offender, who returned the stare, and stepped up to himinsolently, then pushed him back roughly, forgetting that his strength, great upon earth,would be gigantic upon this smaller world. the officer spun across the corridor, knockingdown three of his men in his flight. picking himself up, he drew his sword and rushed,while his men fled in panic to the extreme end of the corridor. seaton did not wait forhim, but in one bound leaped half-way across the intervening space to meet him. with thevastly superior agility of his earthly muscles
he dodged the falling broadsword and drovehis left fist full against the fellow's chin, with all the force of his mighty arm and allthe momentum of his rapidly moving body behind the blow. the crack of breaking bones wasdistinctly audible as the officer's head snapped back. the force of the blow lifted him highinto the air, and after turning a complete somersault, he brought up with a crash againstthe opposite wall, dropping to the floor stone dead. as several of his men, braver than theothers, lifted their peculiar rifles, seaton drew and fired in one incredibly swift motion,the x-plosive bullet obliterating the entire group of men and demolishing that end of thepalace. in the meantime the slave had taken severalpieces of apparatus from a cabinet in the
room and had placed them in his belt. stoppingonly to observe for a few moments a small instrument which he clamped upon the headof the dead man, he rapidly led the way back to the room they had left and set to workupon the instrument he had constructed while the others had been asleep. he connected it,in an intricate system of wiring, with the pieces of apparatus he had just recovered. "that's a complex job of wiring," said duquesneadmiringly. "i've seen several intricate pieces of apparatus myself, but he has so many circuitsthere that i'm lost. it would take an hour to figure out the lines and connections alone." straightening abruptly, the slave clampedseveral electrodes upon his temples and motioned
to seaton and the others, speaking to dorothyas he did so. "he wants us to let him put those things onour heads," she translated. "shall we let him, dick?" "yes," he replied without hesitation. "i'vegot a real hunch that he's our friend, and i'm not sure of nalboon. he doesn't act right." "i think so, too," agreed the girl, and craneadded: "i can't say that i relish the idea, but sincei know that you are a good poker player, dick, i am willing to follow your hunch. how aboutyou, duquesne?" "not i," declared that worthy, emphatically."nobody wires me up to anything i can't understand,
and that machine is too deep for me." margaret elected to follow crane's example,and, impressed by the need for haste evident in the slave's bearing, the four walked upto the machine without further talk. the electrodes were clamped into place quickly and the slavepressed a lever. instantly the four visitors felt that they had a complete understandingof the languages and customs of both mardonale, the nation in which they now were, and ofkondal, to which nation the slaves belonged, the only two civilized nations upon osnome.while the look of amazement at this method of receiving instruction was still upon theirfaces, the slave-or rather, as they now knew him, dunark, the kofedix or crown princeof the great nation of kondal-began to disconnect
the wires. he cut out the wires leading tothe two girls and to crane, and was reaching for seaton's, when there was a blinding flash,a crackling sound, the heavy smoke of burning metal and insulation, and both dunark andseaton fell to the floor. before crane could reach them, however, theywere upon their feet and the stranger said in his own tongue, now understood by everyone but duquesne: "this machine is a mechanical educator, athing entirely new, in our world at least. although i have been working on it for a longtime, it is still in a very crude form. i did not like to use it in its present stateof development, but it was necessary in order to warn you of what nalboon is going to doto you, and to convince you that the best
way of saving your lives would save our livesas well. the machine worked perfectly until something, i don't know what, went wrong.instead of stopping, as it should have done, at teaching your party to speak our languages,it short-circuited us two completely, so that every convolution in each of our brains hasbeen imprinted upon the brain of the other. it was the sudden formation of all the newconvolutions that rendered us unconscious. i can only apologize for the break-down, andassure you that my intentions were of the best." "you needn't apologize," returned seaton."that was a wonderful performance, and we're both gainers, anyway, aren't we? it has takenus all our lives to learn what little we know,
and now we each have the benefit of two lifetimes,spent upon different worlds! i must admit, though, that i have a whole lot of knowledgethat i don't know how to use." "i am glad you take it that way," returnedthe other warmly, "for i am infinitely the better off for the exchange. the knowledgei imparted was nothing, compared to that which i received. but time presses-i must tellyou our situation. i am, as you now know, the kofedix of kondal. the other thirteenare fedo and fediro, or, as you would say, princes and princesses of the same nation.we were captured by one of nalboon's raiding parties while upon a hunting trip, being overcomeby some new, stupefying gas, so that we could not kill ourselves. as you know, kondal andmardonale have been at war for over ten thousand
karkamo-something more than six thousandyears of your time. the war between us is one of utter extermination. captives are neverexchanged and only once during an ordinary lifetime does one ever escape. our attendantswere killed immediately. we were being taken to furnish sport for nalboon's party by beingfed to one of his captive kolono-animals something like your earthly devilfish-whenthe escort of battleships was overcome by those four karlono, the animals you saw, andone of them seized nalboon's plane, in which we were prisoners. you killed the karlon,saving our lives as well as those of nalboon and his party. "having saved his life, you and your partyshould be honored guests of the most honored
kind, and i venture to say that you wouldbe so regarded in any other nation of the universe. but nalboon, the domak-a titleequivalent to your word 'emperor' and our word 'karfedix'-of mardonale, is utterlywithout either honor or conscience, as are all mardonalians. at first he was afraid ofyou, as were we all. we thought you visitors from a planet of our fifteenth sun, whichis now at its nearest possible approach to us. after your display of superhuman powerand ability, we expected instant annihilation. however, after seeing the skylark as a machine,discovering that you are short of power, and finding that you are gentle instead of bloodthirstyby nature, nalboon lost his fear of you and resolved to rob you of your vessel, with itswonderful secrets of power. though we are
so ignorant of chemistry that i cannot understandthe thousandth part of what i just learned from you, we are a race of mechanics and havedeveloped machines of many kinds to a high state of efficiency, including electricalmachines of all kinds. in fact, electricity, generated by our great waterfalls, is ouronly power. no scientist upon osnome has ever had an inkling that intra-atomic energy exists.nalboon cannot understand the power, but he solved the means of liberating it at a glance-andthat glance sealed your death-warrants. with the skylark, he could conquer kondal, andto assure the downfall of my nation he would do anything. "also, he or any other osnomian scientistwould go to any lengths whatever-would challenge
the great first cause itself-to secure evenone of those little bottles of the chemical you call 'salt.' it is far and away the scarcestand most precious substance in the world. it is so rare that those bottles you producedat the table held more than the total amount previously known to exist upon osnome. wehave great abundance of all the heavy metals, but the lighter metals are rare. sodium andchlorin are the rarest of all known elements. its immense value is due, not to its rarity,but to the fact that it is an indispensable component of the controlling instruments ofour wireless power stations and that it is used as a catalyst in the manufacture of ourhardest metals. "for these reasons, you understand why nalboondoes not intend to let you escape and why
he intends that this kokam (our equivalentof a day) shall be your last. about the second or third kam (hour) of the sleeping periodhe intends to break into the skylark, learn its control, and secure the salt you undoubtedlyhave in the vessel. then my party and myself will be thrown to the kolon. you and yourparty will be killed and your bodies smelted to recover the salt that is in them. thisis the warning i had to give you. its urgency explains the use of my untried mechanicaleducator; the hope that my party could escape with yours, in your vessel, explains why yousaw me, the kofedix of kondal, prostrate myself before that arch-fiend nalboon." "how do you, a captive prince of another nation,know these things?" asked crane, doubtfully.
"i read nalboon's ideas from the brain ofthat officer whom the karfedix seaton killed. he was a ladex of the guards-an officerof about the same rank as one of your colonels. he was high in nalboon's favor, and he wasto have been in charge of the work of breaking into the skylark and killing us all. let mecaution you now; do not let any mardonalian touch our hands with a wire, for if you do,your thoughts will be recorded and the secrets of the skylark and your many other mysteriousthings, such as smoking, matches, and magic feats, will be secrets no longer." "thanks for the information," responded seaton,"but i want to correct your title for me. i'm no karfedix-merely a plain citizen."
"in one way i see that that is true," repliedthe kofedix with a puzzled look. "i cannot understand your government at all-but theinventor of the skylark must certainly rank as a karfedix." as he spoke, a smile of understanding passedover his face and he continued: "i see. your title is doctor of philosophy,which must mean that you are the karfedix of knowledge of the earth." "no, no. you're way off. i'm...." "certainly seaton is the karfedix of knowledge,"broke in duquesne. "let it go at that, anyway, whatever it means. the thing to do now isto figure a way out of this."
"you chirped it then, blackie. dunark, youknow this country better than we do; what do you suggest?" "i suggest that you take my party into theskylark and escape from mardonale as soon as possible. i can pilot you to kondalek,the capital city of our nation. there, i can assure you, you will be welcomed as you deserve.my father, the karfedix, will treat you as a karfedix should be treated. as far as iam concerned, nothing i can ever do will lighten the burden of my indebtedness to you, buti promise you all the copper you want, and anything else you may desire that is withinthe power of man to give you." seaton thought deeply a moment, then shookdunark's hand vigorously.
"that suits me, kofedix," he said warmly."i thought from the first that you were our friend. shall we make for the skylark rightnow, or wait a while?" "we had better wait until after the secondmeal," the prince replied. "we have no armor, and no way of making any. we would be helplessagainst the bullets of any except a group small enough so that you could kill them allbefore they could fire. the kam after the second meal is devoted to strolling aboutthe grounds, so that our visiting the skylark would look perfectly natural. as the guardis very lax at that time, it is the best time for the attempt." "but how about my killing his company of guardsand blowing up one wing of his palace? won't
he have something to say about that?" "i don't know," replied the kofedix doubtfully."it depends upon whether his fear of you or his anger is the greater. he should pay hiscall of state here in your apartment in a short time, as it is the inviolable rule ofosnome, that any visitor shall receive a call of state from one of his own rank before leavinghis apartment for the first time. his actions may give you some idea as to his feelings,though he is an accomplished diplomat and may conceal his real feelings entirely. butlet me caution you not to be modest or soft-spoken. he will mistake softness for fear." "all right," grinned seaton. "in that casei won't wait to try to find out what he thinks.
if he shows any signs of hostility at all,i'll open up on him." "well," remarked crane, calmly, "if we havesome time to spare, we may as well wait comfortably instead of standing in the middle of the room.i, for one, have a lot of questions to ask about this new world." acting upon this suggestion, the party seatedthemselves upon comfortable divans, and dunark rapidly dismantled the machine he had constructed.the captives remained standing, always behind the visitors until seaton remonstrated. "please sit down, everybody. there's no needof keeping up this farce of your being slaves as long as we're alone, is there, dunark?"
"no, but at the first sound of the gong announcinga visitor we must be in our places. now that we are all comfortable and waiting, i willintroduce my party to yours. "fellow kondalians, greet the karfedo seatonand crane," he began, his tongue fumbling over the strange names, "of a distant world,the earth, and the two noble ladies, miss vaneman and miss spencer, soon to be theirkarfediro. "guests from earth, allow me to present toyou the kofedir sitar, the only one of my wives who accompanied me upon our ill-fatedhunting expedition." then, still ignoring duquesne as a captive,he introduced the other kondolians in turn as his brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces,and nephews-all members of the great ruling
house of kondal. "now," he concluded, "after i have a wordwith you in private, doctor seaton, i will be glad to give the others all the informationin my power." he led seaton out of earshot of the othersand said in a low voice: "it is no part of nalboon's plan to kill thetwo women. they are so beautiful, so different from our osnomian women, that he intends tokeep them-alive. understand?" "yes," returned seaton grimly, his eyes turninghard, "i get you all right-but what he'll do and what he thinks he'll do are two entirelydifferent breeds of cats." returning to the others, they found dorothyand sitar deep in conversation.
"so a man has half a dozen or so wives?" dorothywas asking in surprise. "how do you get along together? i'd fight like a wildcat if my husbandtried to have other wives!" "we get along splendidly, of course," returnedthe osnomian princess in equal surprise. "i would not think of being a man's only wife.i wouldn't consider marrying a man who could win only one wife-think what a disgraceit would be! and think how lonely one would be while her husband is away at war-we wouldgo insane if we did not have the company of the other wives. there are six of us, andwe could not get along at all without each other." "i've got a compliment for you and peggy,dottie," said seaton. "dunark here thinks
that you two girls look good enough to eat-orwords to that effect." both girls flushed slightly, the purplish-black color suffusingtheir faces. they glanced at each other and dorothy voiced the thought of both as shesaid: "how can you, kofedix dunark? in this horriblelight we both look perfectly dreadful. these other girls would be beautiful, if we wereused to the colors, but we two look simply hideous." "oh, no," interrupted sitar. "you have a wonderfullyrich coloring. it is a shame to hide so much of yourselves with robes." "their eyes interpret colors differently thanours do," explained seaton. "what to us are
harsh and discordant colors are light andpleasing to their eyes. what looks like a kind of sloppy greenish black to us may-infact, does-look a pale pink to them." "are kondal and mardonale the only two nationsupon osnome?" asked crane. "the only civilized nations, yes. osnome isdivided into two great and almost equal continents, separated by a wide ocean which encirclesthe globe. one is kondal, the other mardonale. each nation has several nations or tribesof savages, which inhabit various waste places." "you are the light race, mardonale the dark,"continued crane. "what are the servants, who seem half-way between?" "they are slaves...."
"captured savages?" interrupted dorothy. "no. they are a separate race. they are arace so low in intelligence that they cannot exist except as slaves, but they can be trainedto understand language and to do certain kinds of work. they are harmless and mild, makingexcellent servants, otherwise they would have perished ages ago. all menial work and mostof the manual labor is done by the slave race. formerly criminals were sterilized and reducedto unwilling slavery, but there have been no unwilling slaves in kondal for hundredsof karkamo." "why? are there no criminals any more?" "no. with the invention of the thought recorderan absolutely fair trial was assured and the
guilty were all convicted. they could notreproduce themselves, and as a natural result crime died out." "that is," he added hastily, "what we regardas crime. duelling, for instance, is a crime upon earth; here it is a regular custom. inkondal duels are rather rare and are held only when honor is involved, but here in mardonalethey are an every-day affair, as you saw when you landed." "what makes the difference?" asked dorothycuriously. "as you know, with us every man is a soldier.in kondal we train our youth in courage, valor, and high honor-in mardonale they train themin savage blood-thirstiness alone. each nation
fixed its policy in bygone ages to producethe type of soldier it thought most efficient." "i notice that everyone here wears those heavycollars," said margaret. "what are they for?" "they are identification marks. when a childis nearly grown, a collar bearing his name and the device of his house is cast abouthis neck. this collar is made of 'arenak,' a synthetic metal which, once formed, cannotbe altered by any usual means. it cannot be scratched, cut, bent, broken, or worked inany way except at such a high temperature that death would result, if such heat wereapplied to the collar. once the arenak collar is cast about a person's neck he is identifiedfor life, and any adult osnomian not wearing a collar is put to death."
"that must be an interesting metal," remarkedcrane. "is your belt a similar mark?" "this belt is an idea of my own," and dunarksmiled broadly. "it looks like opaque arenak, but isn't. it is merely a pouch in which icarry anything i am particularly interested in. even nalboon thought it was arenak, sohe didn't trouble to try to open it. if he had opened it and taken my tools and instruments,i couldn't have built the educator." "is that transparent armor arenak?" "yes, the only difference being that nothingis added to the matrix to color or make opaque the finished metal. it is in the preparationof this metal that salt is indispensable. it acts only as a catalyst, being recoveredafterward, but neither nation has ever had
enough salt to make all the armor they want." "aren't those monsters-karlono, i thinkyou called them-covered by the same thing? and what are those animals, anyway?" dorothyasked. "yes, they are armored with arenak, and itis thought that the beasts grow it, the same as fishes grow scales. the karlono are themost frightful scourge of osnome. very little is known of them, though every scientist hastheorized upon them since time immemorial. it is very seldom that one is ever killed,as they easily outfly our swiftest battleships, and only fight when they can be victorious.to kill one requires a succession of the heaviest high-explosive shells in the same spot, ajoint in the armor; and after the armor is
once penetrated, the animal is blown intosuch small fragments that reconstruction is impossible. from such remains it has beenvariously described as a bird, a beast, a fish, and a vegetable; sexual, asexual, andhermaphroditic. its habitat is unknown, it being variously supposed to live high in theair, deep in the ocean, and buried in the swamps. another theory is that they live uponone of our satellites, which encounters our belt of atmosphere every karkam. nothing iscertainly known about the monsters except their terrible destructiveness and their insatiableappetites. one of them will devour five or six airships at one time, absorbing the crewsand devouring the cargo and all of the vessels except the very hardest of the metal parts."
"do they usually go in groups?" asked crane."if they do, i should think that a fleet of warships would be necessary for every party." "no, they are almost always found alone. onlyvery rarely are two found together. this is the first time in history that more than twohave ever been seen together. two battleships can always defeat one karlon, so they arenever attacked. with four battleships nalboon considered his expedition perfectly safe,especially as they are now rare. the navies hunted down and killed what was supposed tobe the last one upon osnome more than a karkam ago, and none have been seen since, untilwe were attacked...." the gong over the door sounded and the kondaliansleaped to their positions back of the earthly
visitors. the kofedix went to the door. nalboonbrushed him aside and entered, escorted by a full company of heavily-armed soldiery.a scowl of anger was upon his face and he was plainly in an ugly mood. "stop, nalboon of mardonale!" thundered seatonin the mardonalian tongue and with the full power of his mighty voice. "dare you invademy privacy unannounced and without invitation?" the escort shrank back, but the domak stoodhis ground, although he was plainly taken aback. with an apparent effort he smoothedhis face into lines of cordiality. "i merely came to inquire why my guards areslain and my palace destroyed by my honored guest?"
"as for slaying your guards, they sought toinvade my privacy. i warned them away, but one of them was foolish enough to try to killme. then the others attempted to raise their childish rifles against me, and i was obligedto destroy them. as for the wall, it happened to be in the way of the thought-waves i hurledagainst your guards-consequently it was demolished. an honored guest! bah! are honoredguests put to the indignity of being touched by the filthy hands of a mere ladex?" "you do not object to the touch of slaves!"with a wave of his hand toward the kondalians. "that is what slaves are for," coldly. "isa domak to wait upon himself in the court of mardonale? but to return to the issue.were i an honored guest this would never have
happened. know, nalboon, that when you attemptto treat a visiting domak of my race as a low-born captive, you must be prepared tosuffer the consequences of your rashness!" "may i ask how you, so recently ignorant,know our language?" "you question me? that is bold! know thati, the boss of the road, show ignorance or knowledge, when and where i please. you maygo." chapter xv.the escape from mardonale "that was a wonderful bluff, dick!" exclaimedthe kofedix in english as soon as nalboon and his guards had disappeared. "that wasexactly the tone to take with him, too-you've sure got him guessing!"
"it seemed to get him, all right, but i'mwondering how long it'll hold him. i think we'd better make a dash for the skylark rightnow, before he has time to think it over, don't you?" "that is undoubtedly the best way," dunarkreplied, lapsing into his own tongue. "nalboon is plainly in awe of you now, but if i understandhim at all, he is more than ever determined to seize your vessel, and every darkam's delayis dangerous." the earth-people quickly secured the few personalbelongings they had brought with them. stepping out into the hall and waving away the guards,seaton motioned dunark to lead the way. the other captives fell in behind, as they haddone before, and the party walked boldly toward
the door of the palace. the guards offeredno opposition, but stood at attention and saluted as they passed. as they approachedthe entrance, however, seaton saw the major-domo hurrying away and surmised that he was carryingthe news to nalboon. outside the door, walking directly toward the landing dock, dunark spokein a low voice to seaton, without turning. "nalboon knows by this time that we are makingour escape, and it will be war to the death from here to the skylark. i do not think therewill be any pursuit from the palace, but he has warned the officers in charge of the dockand they will try to kill us as soon as we step out of the elevator, perhaps sooner.nalboon intended to wait, but we have forced his hand and the dock is undoubtedly swarmingwith soldiers now. shoot first and oftenest.
shoot first and think afterward. show no mercy,as you will receive none-remember that the quality you call 'mercy' does not exist uponosnome." rounding a great metal statue about fiftyfeet from the base of the towering dock, they saw that the door leading into one of theelevators was wide open and that two guards stood just inside it. as they caught sightof the approaching party, the guards raised their rifles; but, quick as they were, seatonwas quicker. at the first sight of the open door he had made two quick steps and had hurledhimself across the intervening forty feet in a long football plunge. before the twoguards could straighten, he crashed into them, his great momentum hurling them across theelevator cage and crushing them into unconsciousness
against its metal wall. "good work!" said dunark, as he preceded theothers into the elevator, and, after receiving seaton's permission, distributed the weaponsof the two guards among the men of his party. "now we can surprise those upon the roof.that was why you didn't shoot?" "yes, i was afraid to risk a shot-it wouldgive the whole thing away," seaton replied, as he threw the unconscious guards out intothe grounds and closed the massive door. "aren't you going to kill them?" asked sitar,amazement in every feature and a puzzled expression in her splendid eyes. a murmur arose fromthe other kondalians, which was quickly silenced by the kofedix.
"it is dishonorable for a soldier of earthto kill a helpless prisoner," he said briefly. "we cannot understand it, but we must notattempt to sway him in any point of honor." dunark stepped to the controls and the elevatorshot upward, stopping at a landing several stories below the top of the dock. he tooka peculiar device from his belt and fitted it over the muzzle of his strange pistol. "we will get out here," he instructed theothers, "and go up the rest of the way by a little-used flight of stairs. we will probablyencounter some few guards, but i can dispose of them without raising an alarm. you willall stay behind me, please." seaton remonstrated, and dunark went on:
"no, seaton, you have done your share, andmore. i am upon familiar ground now, and can do the work alone better than if you wereto help me. i will call upon you, however, before we reach the dock." the kofedix led the way, his pistol restinglightly against his hip, and at the first turn of the corridor they came full upon fourguards. the pistol did not move from its place at the side of the leader, but there werefour subdued clicks and the four guards dropped dead, with bullets through their brains. "seaton, that is some silencer," whisperedduquesne. "i didn't suppose a silencer could work that fast."
"they don't use powder," seaton replied absently,all his faculties directed toward the next corner. "the bullets are propelled by an electricalcharge." in the same manner dunark disposed of severalmore guards before the last stairway was reached. "seaton," he whispered in english, "now isthe time we need your rapid pistol-work and your high-explosive shells. there must behundreds of soldiers on the other side of that door, armed with machine-cannon shootinghigh-explosive shells at the rate of a thousand per minute. our chance is this-their gunsare probably trained upon the elevators and main stairways, since this passage is unusedand none of us would be expected to know of it. most of them don't know of it themselves.it will take them a second or two to bring
their guns to bear upon us. we must do allthe damage we can-kill them all, if possible-in that second or two. if crane will lend mea pistol, we'll make the rush together." "i've a better scheme than that," interruptedduquesne. "next to you, seaton, i'm the fastest man with a gun here. also, like you, i canuse both hands at once. give me a couple of clips of those special cartridges and youand i will blow that bunch into the air before they know we're here." it was decided that the two pistol expertsshould take the lead, closely followed by crane and dunark. the weapons were loadedto capacity and put in readiness for instant use.
"let's go, bunch!" said seaton. "the quickerwe start the quicker we'll get back. get ready to run out there, all the rest of you, assoon as the battle's over. ready? on your marks-get set-go!" he kicked the door open and there was a stutteringcrash as the four automatic pistols simultaneously burst into practically continuous flame-acrash obliterated by an overwhelming concussion of sound as the x-plosive shells, sweepingthe entire roof with a rapidly-opening fan of death, struck their marks and exploded.well it was for the little group of wanderers that the two men in the door were past mastersin the art of handling their weapons; well it was that they had in their tiny pistol-bulletsthe explosive force of hundreds of giant shells!
for rank upon rank of soldiery were massedupon the roof; rapid-fire cannon, terrible engines of destruction, were pointing towardthe elevators and toward the main stairways and approaches. but so rapid and fierce wasthe attack, that even those trained gunners had no time to point their guns. the battlelasted little more than a second, being over before either crane or dunark could fire ashot, and silence again reigned even while broken and shattered remnants of the gunsand fragments of the metal and stone of the dock were still falling to the ground througha fine mist of what had once been men. assured by a rapid glance that not a singlemardonalian remained upon the dock, seaton turned back to the others.
"make it snappy, bunch! this is going to bea mighty unhealthy spot for us in a few minutes." dorothy threw her arms around his neck inrelief. with one arm about her, he hastily led the way across the dock toward the skylark,choosing the path with care because of the yawning holes blown into the structure bythe terrific force of the explosions. the skylark was still in place, held immovableby the attractor, but what a sight she was! her crystal windows were shattered; her mightyplates of four-foot norwegian armor were bent and cracked and twisted; two of her doors,warped and battered, hung awry from their broken hinges. not a shell had struck her:all this damage had been done by flying fragments of the guns and of the dock itself; and seatonand crane, who had developed the new explosive,
stood aghast at its awful power. they hastily climbed into the vessel, andseaton assured himself that the controls were uninjured. "i hear battleships," dunark said. "is itpermitted that i operate one of your machine guns?" "go as far as you like," responded seaton,as he placed the women beneath the copper bar-the safest place in the vessel-andleaped to the instrument board. before he reached it, and while duquesne, crane, anddunark were hastening to the guns, the whine of giant helicopter-screws was plainly heard.a ranging shell from the first warship, sighted
a little low, exploded against the side ofthe dock beneath them. he reached the levers just as the second shell screamed throughthe air a bare four feet above them. as he shot the skylark into the air under five notchesof power, a steady stream of the huge bombs poured through the spot where, an instantbefore, the vessel had been. crane and duquesne aimed several shots at the battleships, whichwere approaching from all sides, but the range was so extreme that no damage was done. they heard the continuous chattering of themachine gun operated by the kofedix, however, and turned toward him. he was shooting, notat the warships, but at the city rapidly growing smaller beneath them; moving the barrel ofthe rifle in a tiny spiral; spraying the entire
city with death and destruction! as they looked,the first of the shells reached the ground, just as dunark ceased firing for lack of ammunition.they saw the palace disappear as if by magic, being instantly blotted out in a cloud ofdust-a cloud which, with a spiral motion of dizzying rapidity, increased in size untilit obscured the entire city. having attained sufficient altitude to besafe from any possible pursuit and out of range of even the heaviest guns, seaton stoppedthe vessel and went out into the main compartment to consult with the other members of the group,about their next move. "it sure does feel good to get a breath ofcool air, folks," he said, as he drew with relief a deep breath of the air, which, atthat great elevation, was of an icy temperature
and very thin. he glanced at the little groupof kondalians as he spoke, then leaped back to the instrument board with an apology onhis lips-they were gasping for breath and shivering with the cold. he switched on theheating coils and dropped the skylark rapidly in a long descent toward the ocean. "if that is the temperature you enjoy, i understandat last why you wear clothes," said the kofedix, as soon as he could talk. "do not your planes fly up into the regionsof low temperature?" asked crane. "only occasionally, and all high-flying vesselsare enclosed and heated to our normal temperature. we have heavy wraps, but we dislike to wearthem so intensely that we never subject ourselves
to any cold." "well, there's no accounting for tastes,"returned seaton, "but i can't hand your climate a thing. it's hotter even than washingtonin august; 'and that,' as the poet feelingly remarked, 'is going some!' "but there's no reason for sitting here inthe dark," he continued, as he switched on the powerful daylight lamps which lightedthe vessel with the nearest approach to sunlight possible to produce. as soon as the lightswere on, dorothy looked intently at the strange women. "now we can see what color they really are,"she explained to her lover in a low voice.
"why, they aren't so very different from whatthey were before, except that the colors are much softer and more pleasing. they reallyare beautiful, in spite of being green. don't you think so, dick?" "they're a handsome bunch, all right," heagreed, and they were. their skins were a light, soft green, tanned to an olive shadeby their many fervent suns. their teeth were a brilliant and shining grass-green. theireyes and their long, thick hair were a glossy black. the kondalians looked at the earthly visitorsand at each other, and the women uttered exclamations of horror.
"what a frightful light?" exclaimed sitar."please shut it off. i would rather be in total darkness than look like this!" "what's the matter, sitar?" asked the puzzleddorothy as seaton turned off the lights. "you look perfectly stunning in this light." "they see things differently than we do,"explained seaton. "their optic nerves react differently than ours do. while we look allright to them, and they look all right to us, in both kinds of light, they look justas different to themselves under our daylight lamps as we do to ourselves in their greenlight. is that explanation clear?" "it's clear enough as far as it goes, butwhat do they look like to themselves?"
"that's too deep for me-i can't explainit, any better than you can. take the osnomian color 'mlap,' for instance. can you describeit?" "it's a kind of greenish orange-but it seemsas though it ought not to look like that color either." "that's it, exactly. from the knowledge youreceived from the educator, it should be a brilliant purple. that is due to the differencein the optic nerves, which explains why we see things so differently from the way theosnomians do. perhaps they can describe the way they look to each other in our white light." "can you, sitar?" asked dorothy.
"one word describes it-'horrible.'" repliedthe kondalian princess, and her husband added: "the colors are distorted and unrecognizable,just as your colors are to your eyes in our light." "well, now that the color question is answered,let's get going. i pretty nearly asked you the way, dunark-forgot that i know it aswell as you do." the skylark set off at as high an altitudeas the osnomians could stand. as they neared the ocean several great mardonalian battleships,warned of the escape, sought to intercept them; but the skylark hopped over them easily,out of range of their heaviest guns, and flew onward at such speed that pursuit was noteven attempted. the ocean was quickly crossed.
soon the space-car came to rest over a greatcity, and seaton pointed out the palace; which, with its landing dock nearby, was very similarto that of nalboon, in the capital city of mardonale. crane drew seaton to one side. "do you think it is safe to trust these kondalians,any more than it was the others? how would it be to stay in the lark instead of goinginto the palace?" "yes, mart, this bunch can be trusted. dunarkhas a lot of darn queer ideas, but he's square as a die. he's our friend, and will get usthe copper. we have no choice now, anyway, look at the bar. we haven't an ounce of copperleft-we're down to the plating in spots.
besides, we couldn't go anywhere if we hada ton of copper, because the old bus is a wreck. she won't hold air-you could throwa cat out through the shell in any direction. she'll have to have a lot of work done onher before we can think of leaving. as to staying in her, that wouldn't help us a bit.steel is as soft as wood to these folks-their shells would go through her as though shewere made of mush. they are made of metal that is harder than diamond and tougher thanrubber, and when they strike they bore in like drill-bits. if they are out to get usthey'll do it anyway, whether we're here or there, so we may as well be guests. but there'sno danger, mart. you know i swapped brains with him, and i know him as well as i knowmyself. he's a good, square man-one of our
kind of folks." convinced, crane nodded his head and the skylarkdropped toward the dock. while they were still high in air, dunark took an instrument fromhis belt and rapidly manipulated a small lever. the others felt the air vibrate-a peculiar,pulsating wave, which, to the surprise of the earthly visitors, they could read withoutdifficulty. it was a message from the kofedix to the entire city, telling of the escapeof his party and giving the news that he was accompanied by two great karfedo from anotherworld. then the pulsations became unintelligible, and all knew that he had tuned his instrumentaway from the "general" key into the individual key of some one person.
"i just let my father, the karfedix, knowthat we are coming," he explained, as the vibrations ceased. from the city beneath them hundreds of greatguns roared forth a welcome, banners and streamers hung from every possible point, and the airbecame tinted and perfumed with a bewildering variety of colors and scents and quiveredwith the rush of messages of welcome. the skylark was soon surrounded by a majesticfleet of giant warships, who escorted her with impressive ceremony to the landing dock,while around them flitted great numbers of other aircraft. the tiny one-man helicoptersdarted hither and thither, apparently always in imminent danger of colliding with someof their larger neighbors, but always escaping
as though by a miracle. beautiful pleasure-planessoared and dipped and wheeled like giant gulls; and, cleaving their stately way through thenumberless lesser craft; immense multiplane passenger liners partially supported by helicopterscrews turned aside from their scheduled courses to pay homage to the kofedix of kondal. as the skylark approached the top of the dock,all the escorting vessels dropped away and crane saw that instead of the brilliant assemblagehe had expected to see upon the landing-place there was only a small group of persons, ascompletely unadorned as were those in the car. in answer to his look of surprise, thekofedix said, with deep feeling: "my father, mother, and the rest of the family.they know that we, as escaped captives, would
be without harness or trappings, and are meetingus in the same state." seaton brought the vessel to the dock nearthe little group, and the earthly visitors remained inside their vessel while the rulersof kondal welcomed the sons and daughters they had given up for dead. after the affecting reunion, which was verysimilar to an earthly one under similar circumstances, the kofedix led his father up to the skylarkand his guests stepped down upon the dock. "friends," dunark began, "i have told youof my father, roban, the karfedix of kondal. father, it is a great honor to present toyou those who rescued us from mardonale-seaton, karfedix of knowledge; crane, karfedix ofwealth; miss vaneman; and miss spencer. karfedix
duquesne," waving his hand toward him, "isa lesser karfedix of knowledge, captive to the others." "the kofedix dunark exaggerates our services,"deprecated seaton, "and doesn't mention the fact that he saved all our lives. but forhim we all should have been killed." the karfedix, disregarding seaton's remark,acknowledged the indebtedness of kondal in heartfelt accents before he led them backto the other party and made the introductions. as all walked toward the elevators, the emperorturned to his son with a puzzled expression. "i know from your message, dunark, that ourguests are from a distant solar system, and i can understand your accident with the educator,but i cannot understand the titles of these
men. knowledge and wealth are not ruled over.are you sure that you have translated their titles correctly?" "as correctly as i can-we have no wordsin our language to express the meaning. their government is a most peculiar one, the rulersall being chosen by the people of the whole nation...." "extraordinary!" interjected the older man."how, then, can anything be accomplished?" "i do not understand the thing myself, itis so utterly unheard-of. but they have no royalty, as we understand the term. in america,their country, every man is equal. "that is," he hastened to correct himself,"they are not all equal, either, as they have
two classes which would rank with royalty-thosewho have attained to great heights of knowledge and those who have amassed great wealth. thisexplanation is entirely inadequate and does not give the right idea of their positions,but it is as close as i can come to the truth in our language." "i am surprised that you should be carryinga prisoner with you, karfedo," said roban, addressing seaton and crane. "you will, ofcourse, be at perfect liberty to put him to death in any way that pleases you, just asthough you were in your own kingdoms. but perchance you are saving him so that his deathwill crown your home-coming?" the kofedix spoke in answer while seaton,usually so quick to speak, was groping for
words. "no, father, he is not to be put to death.that is another peculiar custom of the earth-men; they consider it dishonorable to harm a captive,or even an unarmed enemy. for that reason we must treat the karfedix duquesne with everycourtesy due his rank, but at the same time he is to be allowed to do only such thingsas may be permitted by seaton and crane." "yet they do not seem to be a weak race,"mused the older man. "they are a mighty race, far advanced in evolution,"replied his son. "it is not weakness, but a peculiar moral code. we have many thingsto learn from them, and but few to give them in return. their visit will mean much to kondal."
during this conversation they had descendedto the ground and had reached the palace, after traversing grounds even more sumptuousand splendid than those surrounding the palace of nalboon. inside the palace walls the kofedixhimself led the guests to their rooms, accompanied by the major-domo and an escort of guards.he explained to them that the rooms were all inter-communicating, each having a completelyequipped bathroom. "complete except for cold water, you mean,"said seaton with a smile. "there is cold water," rejoined the other,leading him into the bathroom and releasing a ten-inch stream of lukewarm water into thesmall swimming pool, built of polished metal, which forms part of every kondalian bathroom."but i am forgetting that you like extreme
cold. we will install refrigerating machinesat once." "don't do it-thanks just the same. we won'tbe here long enough to make it worth while." dunark smilingly replied that he would makehis guests as comfortable as he could, and after informing them that in one kam he wouldreturn and escort them in to koprat, took his leave. scarcely had the guests freshenedthemselves when he was back, but he was no longer the dunark they had known. he now worea metal-and-leather harness which was one blaze of precious gems, and a leather belthung with jeweled weapons replaced the familiar hollow girdle of metal. his right arm, betweenthe wrist and the elbow, was almost covered by six bracelets of a transparent metal, deepcobalt-blue in color, each set with an incredibly
brilliant stone of the same shade. on hisleft wrist he wore an osnomian chronometer. this was an instrument resembling the odometerof an automobile, whose numerous revolving segments revealed a large and constantly increasingnumber-the date and time of the osnomian day, expressed in a decimal number of thekarkamo of kondalian history. "greetings, oh guests from earth! i feel morelike myself, now that i am again in my trappings and have my weapons at my side. will you accompanyme to koprat, or are you not hungry?" as he attached the peculiar timepieces to the wristsof the guests, with bracelets of the deep-blue metal. "we accept with thanks," replied dorothy promptly."we're starving to death, as usual."
as they walked toward the dining hall, dunarknoticed that dorothy's eyes strayed toward his bracelets, and he answered her unaskedquestion: "these are our wedding rings. man and wifeexchange bracelets as part of the ceremony." "then you can tell whether a man is marriedor not, and how many wives he has, simply by looking at his arm? we should have somethinglike that on earth, dick-then married men wouldn't find it so easy to pose as bachelors!" roban met them at the door of the great dininghall. he also was in full panoply, and dorothy counted ten of the heavy bracelets upon hisright arm as he led them to places near his own. the room was a replica of the other osnomiandining hall they had seen and the women were
decorated with the same barbaric splendorof scintillating gems. after the meal, which was a happy one, takingthe nature of a celebration in honor of the return of the captives, duquesne went directlyto his room while the others spent the time until the zero hour in strolling about thesplendid grounds, always escorted by many guards. returning to the room occupied bythe two girls, the couples separated, each girl accompanying her lover to the door ofhis room. margaret was ill at ease, though trying hardto appear completely self-possessed. "what is the matter, sweetheart peggy?" askedcrane, solicitously. "i didn't know that you...." she broke offand continued with a rush: "what did the kofedix
mean just now, when he called you the karfedixof wealth?" "well, you see, i happen to have some money...."he began. "then you are the great m. reynolds crane?"she interrupted, in consternation. "leave off 'the great,'" he said, then, notingher expression, he took her in his arms and laughed slightly. "is that all that was bothering you? whatdoes a little money amount to between you and me?" "nothing-but i'm awfully glad that i didn'tknow it before," she replied, as she returned his caress with fervor. "that is, it meansnothing if you are perfectly sure i'm not...."
crane, the imperturbable, broke a life-longrule and interrupted her. "do not say that, dear. you know as well asi do that between you and me there never have been, are not now, and never shall be, anydoubts or any questions." "if i could have a real cold bath now, i'dfeel fine," remarked seaton, standing in his own door with dorothy by his side. "i'm noblooming englishman but in weather as hot as this i sure would like to dive into a goodcold tank. how do you feel after all this excitement, dottie? up to standard?" "i'm scared purple," she replied, nestlingagainst him, "or, at least, if not exactly scared, i'm apprehensive and nervous. i alwaysthought i had good nerves, but everything
here is so horrible and unreal, that i can'thelp but feel it. when i'm with you i really enjoy the experience, but when i'm alone orwith peggy, especially in the sleeping-period, which is so awfully long and when it seemsthat something terrible is going to happen every minute, my mind goes off in spite ofme into thoughts of what may happen. why, last night, peggy and i just huddled up toeach other in a ghastly yellow funk-dreading we knew not what-the two of us slept hardlyat all." "i'm sorry, little girl," replied seaton,embracing her tenderly, "sorrier than i can say. i know that your nerves are all right,but you haven't roughed it enough, or lived in strange environments enough, to be ableto feel at home. the reason you feel safer
with me is that i feel perfectly at home heremyself, not that your nerves are going to pieces or anything like that. it won't befor long, though, sweetheart-as soon as we get the chariot fixed up we'll beat itback to the earth so fast it'll make your head spin." "yes, i think that's the reason, lover. ihope you won't think i'm a clinging vine, but i can't help being afraid of somethinghere every time i'm away from you. you're so self-reliant, so perfectly at ease here,that it makes me feel the same way." "i am perfectly at ease. there's nothing tobe afraid of. i've been in hundreds of worse places, right on earth. i sure wish i couldbe with you all the time, sweetheart girl-only
you can understand just how much i wish it-but,as i said before, it won't be long until we can be together all the time." dorothy pushed him into his room, followedhim within it, closed the door, and put both hands on his arm. "dick, sweetheart," she whispered, while ahot blush suffused her face, "you're not as dumb as i thought you were-you're dumber!but if you simply won't say it, i will. don't you know that a marriage that is legal whereit is performed is legal anywhere, and that no law says that the marriage must be performedupon the earth?" he pressed her to his heart in a mighty embrace,and his low voice showed in every vibration
the depth of the feeling he held for the beautifulwoman in his arms as he replied: "i never thought of that, sweetheart, andi wouldn't have dared mention it if i had. you're so far away from your family and yourfriends that it would seem...." "it wouldn't seem anything of the kind," shebroke in earnestly. "don't you see, you big, dense, wonderful man, that it is the onlything to do? we need each other, or at least, i need you, so much now...." "say 'each other'; it's right," declared herlover with fervor. "it's foolish to wait. mother would like tohave seen me married, of course; but there will be great advantages, even on that side.a grand wedding, of the kind we would simply
have to have in washington, doesn't appealto me any more than it does to you-and it would bore you to extinction. dad would hateit, too-it's better all around to be married here." seaton, who had been trying to speak, silencedher. "i'm convinced, dottie, have been ever sincethe first word. if you can see it that way i'm so glad that i can't express it. i'vebeen scared stiff every time i thought of our wedding. i'll speak to the karfedix thefirst thing in the morning, and we'll be married tomorrow-or rather today, since it is pastthe zero kam," as he glanced at the chronometer upon his wrist, which, driven by wirelessimpulses from the master-clock in the national
observatory, was clicking off the darkamowith an almost inaudible purr of its smoothly-revolving segments. "how would it be to wake him up and have itdone now?" "oh, dick, be reasonable! that would neverdo. tomorrow will be most awfully sudden, as it is! and dick, please speak to martin,will you? peggy's even more scared than i am, and martin, the dear old stupid, is evenless likely to suggest such a thing as this kind of a wedding than you are. peggy's afraidto suggest it to him." "woman!" he said in mock sternness, "is thisa put-up job?" "it certainly is. did you think i had nerveenough to do it without help?"
seaton turned and opened the door. "mart! bring peggy over here!" he called,as he led dorothy back into the girls' room. "heavens, dick, be careful! you'll spoil thewhole thing!" "no, i won't. leave it to me-i bashfullyadmit that i'm a regular bear-cat at this diplomatic stuff. watch my smoke!" "folks," he said, when the four were together,"dottie and i have been talking things over, and we've decided that today's the best possibledate for a wedding. dottie's afraid of these long, daylight nights, and i admit that i'dsleep a lot sounder if i knew where she was all the time instead of only part of it. shesays she's willing, provided you folks see
it the same way and make it double. how aboutit?" margaret blushed furiously and crane's lean,handsome face assumed a darker color as he replied: "a marriage here would, of course, be legalanywhere, provided we have a certificate, and we could be married again upon our returnif we think it desirable. it might look as though we were taking an unfair advantageof the girls, dick, but considering all the circumstances, i think it would be the bestthing for everyone concerned." he saw the supreme joy in margaret's eyes,and his own assumed a new light as he drew her into the hollow of his arm.
"peggy has known me only a short time, butnothing else in the world is as certain as our love. it is the bride's privilege to setthe date, so i will only say that it cannot be too soon for me." "the sooner the better," said margaret, witha blush that would have been divine in any earthly light, "did you say 'today,' dick?" "i'll see the karfedix as soon as he getsup," he answered, and walked with dorothy to his door. "i'm just too supremely happy for words,"dorothy whispered in seaton's ear as he bade her good-night. "i won't be able to sleepor anything!"
chapter xvi.an osnomian marriage seaton awoke, hot and uncomfortable, but witha great surge of joy in his heart-this was his wedding day! springing from the bed, hereleased the full stream of the "cold" water, filling the tank in a few moments. poisinglightly upon the edge, he made a clean, sharp dive, and yelled in surprise as he came snortingto the surface. for dunark had made good his promise-the water was only a few degreesabove the freezing point! after a few minutes of vigorous splashing in the icy water, herubbed himself down with a coarse towel, shaved, threw on his clothes, and lifted his powerful,but musical, bass voice in the wedding chorus from "the rose maiden.""rise, sweet maid, arise, arise, rise, sweet
maid, arise, arise, 'tis the last fair morningfor thy maiden eyes," he sang lustily, out of his sheer joy in beingalive, and was surprised to hear dorothy's clear soprano, margaret's pleasing contralto,and crane's mellow tenor chime in from the adjoining room. crane threw open the doorand seaton joined the others. "good morning. dick, you sound happy," saidcrane. "who wouldn't be? look what's doing today,"as he ardently embraced his bride-to-be. "besides, i found some cold water this morning." "everyone in the palace heard you discoveringit," dryly returned crane, and the girls laughed merrily.
"it surprised me at first," admitted seaton,"but it's great after a fellow once gets wet." "we warmed ours a trifle," said dorothy. "ilike a cold bath myself, but not in ice-water." all four became silent, thinking of the comingevent of the day, until crane said: "they have ministers here, i know, and i knowsomething of their religion, but my knowledge is rather vague. you know more about it thanwe do, dick, suppose you tell us about it while we wait." seaton paused a moment, with an odd look onhis face. as one turning the pages of an unfamiliar book of reference, he was seeking the answerto crane's question in the vast store of osnomian information received from dunark. his usuallyready speech came a little slowly.
"well, as nearly as i can explain it, it'sa funny kind of a mixture-partly theology, partly darwinism, or at least, making a fetishof evolution, and partly pure economic determinism. they believe in a supreme being, whom theycall the first cause-that is the nearest english equivalent-and they recognize theexistence of an immortal and unknowable life-principle, or soul. they believe that the first causehas decreed the survival of the fittest as the fundamental law, which belief accountsfor their perfect physiques...." "perfect physiques? why, they're as weak aschildren," interrupted dorothy. "yes, but that is because of the smallnessof the planet," returned seaton. "you see, a man of my size weighs only eighty-six poundshere, on a spring balance, so he would need
only the muscular development of a boy oftwelve or so. in a contest of strength, either of you girls could easily handle two of thestrongest men upon osnome. in fact, the average osnomian could stand up on our earth onlywith the greatest difficulty. but that isn't the fault of the people; they are magnificentlydeveloped for their surroundings. they have attained this condition by centuries of weedingout the unfit. they have no hospitals for the feeble-minded or feeble-bodied-abnormalpersons are not allowed to live. the same reasoning accounts for their perfect cleanliness,moral and physical. vice is practically unknown. they believe that clean living and clean thinkingare rewarded by the production of a better physical and mental type...."
"yes, especially as they correct wrong livingby those terrible punishments the kofedix told us about," interrupted margaret. "that probably helps some. they also believethat the higher the type is, the faster will evolution proceed, and the sooner will mankindreach what they call the ultimate goal, and know all things. believing as they do thatthe fittest must survive, and thinking themselves, of course, the superior type, it is ordainedthat mardonale must be destroyed utterly, root and branch. they believe that the slavesare so low in the scale, millions of years behind in evolution, that they do not count.slaves are simply intelligent and docile animals, little more than horses or oxen. mardonaliansand savages are unfit to survive and must
be exterminated. "their ministers are chosen from the veryfittest. they are the strongest, cleanest-living, and most vigorous men of this clean and vigorousnation, and are usually high army officers as well as ministers." an attendant announced the coming of the karfedixand his son, to pay the call of state. after the ceremonious greetings had been exchanged,all went into the dining hall for darprat. as soon as the meal was over, seaton broughtup the question of the double wedding that kokam, and the karfedix was overjoyed. "karfedix seaton," he said earnestly, "nothingcould please us more than to have such a ceremony
performed in our palace. marriage betweensuch highly-evolved persons as are you four is wished by the first cause, whose servantswe are. aside from that, it is an unheard-of honor for any ruler to have even one karfedixmarried beneath his roof, and you are granting me the privilege of two! i thank you, andassure you that we will do our poor best to make the occasion memorable." "don't do anything fancy," said seaton hastily."a simple, plain wedding will do." unheeding seaton's remark, the karfedix tookhis wireless from its hook at his belt and sent a brief message. "i have summoned karbix tarnan to performthe ceremony. our usual time for ceremonies
is just before koprat-is that time satisfactoryto you?" assured that it was, he turned to his son. "dunark, you are more familiar than i withthe customs of our illustrious visitors. may i ask you to take charge of the details?" while dunark sent a rapid succession of messages,dorothy whispered to seaton: "they must be going to make a real functionof our double wedding, dick. the karbix is the highest dignitary of the church, isn'the?" "yes, in addition to being the commander-in-chiefof all the kondalian armies. next to the karfedix he is the most powerful man in the empire.something tells me, dottie, that this is going
to be some ceremony!" as dunark finished telegraphing, seaton turnedto him. "dorothy said, a while ago, that she wouldlike to have enough of that tapestry-fabric for a dress. do you suppose it could be managed?" "certainly. in all state ceremonials we alwayswear robes made out of the same fabric as the tapestries, but much finer and more delicate.i would have suggested it, but thought perhaps the ladies would prefer their usual clothing.i know that you two men do not care to wear our robes?" "we will wear white ducks, the dressiest andcoolest things we have along," replied seaton.
"thank you for your offer, but you know howit is. we should feel out of place in such gorgeous dress." "i understand. i will call in a few of ourmost expert robe-makers, who will weave the gowns. before they come, let us decide uponthe ceremony. i think you are familiar with our marriage customs, but i will explain themto make sure. each couple is married twice. the first marriage is symbolized by the exchangeof plain bracelets and lasts four karkamo, during which period divorce may be obtainedat will. the children of such divorced couples formerly became wards of the state, but inmy lifetime i have not heard of there being any such children-all divorces are now betweencouples who discover their incompatibility
before children are conceived." "that surprises me greatly," said crane. "somesystem of trial-marriage is advocated among us on earth every few years, but they allso surely degenerate into free love that no such system has found a foothold." "we are not troubled in that way at all. yousee, before the first marriage, each couple, from the humblest peasantry to the highestroyalty, must submit to a mental examination. if they are marrying for any reason at allother than love, such as any thought of trifling in the mind of the man, or if the woman ismarrying him for his wealth or position, he or she is summarily executed, regardless ofstation."
no other questions being asked, dunark continued: "at the end of four karkamo the second marriageis performed, which is indissoluble. in this ceremony jeweled bracelets are substitutedfor the plain ones. in the case of highly-evolved persons it is permitted that the two ceremoniesbe combined into one. then there is a third ceremony, used only in the marriage of personsof the very highest evolution, in which the 'eternal' vows are taken and the faidon, theeternal jewel, is exchanged. as you are all in the permitted class, you may use the eternalceremony if you wish." "i think we all know our minds well enoughto know that we want to be married for good-the longer the better," said seaton, positively."we'll make it the eternal, won't we, folks?"
"i should like to ask one question," saidcrane, thoughtfully. "does that ceremony imply that my wife would be breaking her vows ifshe married again upon my death?" "far from it. numbers of our men are killedevery karkam. their wives, if of marriageable age, are expected to marry again. then, too,you know that most kondalian men have several wives. no matter how many wives or husbandsmay be linked together in that way, it merely means that after death their spirits willbe grouped into one. just as in your chemistry," smiling in comradely fashion at seaton, "avarying number of elements may unite to form a stable compound." after a short pause, the speaker went on:
"since you are from the earth and unaccustomedto bracelets, rings will be substituted for them. the plain rings will take the placeof your earthly wedding rings, the jeweled ones that of your engagement rings. the onlydifference is that while we discard the plain bracelets, you will continue to wear them.have you men any objections to wearing the rings during the ceremony? you may discardthem later if you wish and still keep the marriage valid." "not i! i'll wear mine all my life," respondedseaton earnestly, and crane expressed the same thought. "there is only one more thing," added thekofedix. "that is, about the mental examination.
since it is not your custom, it is probablethat the justices would waive the ruling, especially since everyone must be examinedby a jury of his own or a superior rank, so that only one man, my father alone, couldexamine you." "not in a thousand years!" replied seatonemphatically. "i want to be examined, and have dorothy see the record. i don't careabout having her put through it, but i want her to know exactly the kind of a guy sheis getting." dorothy protested at this, but as all fourwere eager that they themselves should be tested, the karfedix was notified and dunarkclamped sets of multiple electrodes, connected to a set of instruments, upon the templesof his father, dorothy, and seaton. he pressed
a lever, and instantly dorothy and seatonread each other's minds to the minutest detail, and each knew that the karfedix was readingthe minds of both. after margaret and crane had been examined,the karfedix expressed himself as more than satisfied. "you are all of the highest evolution andyour minds are all untainted by any base thoughts in your marriage. the first cause will smileupon your unions," he said solemnly. "let the robe-makers appear," the karfedixordered, and four women, hung with spools of brilliantly-colored wire of incrediblefineness and with peculiar looms under their arms, entered the room and accompanied thetwo girls to their apartment.
as soon as the room was empty save for thefour men, dunark said: "while i was in mardonale, i heard bits ofconversation regarding an immense military discovery possessed by nalboon, besides thegas whose deadly effects we felt. i could get no inkling of its nature, but feel surethat it is something to be dreaded. i also heard that both of these secrets had beenstolen from kondal, and that we were to be destroyed by our own superior inventions." the karfedix nodded his head gloomily. "that is true, my son-partly true, at least.we shall not be destroyed, however. kondal shall triumph. the discoveries were made bya kondalian, but i am as ignorant as are you
concerning their nature. an obscure inventor,living close to the bordering ocean, was the discoverer. he was rash enough to wirelessme concerning them. he would not reveal their nature, but requested a guard. the mardonalianpatrol intercepted the message and captured both him and his discoveries before our guardcould arrive." "that's easily fixed," suggested seaton. "let'sget the skylark fixed up, and we'll go jerk nalboon out of his palace-if he's stillalive-bring him over here, and read his mind." "that might prove feasible," answered thekofedix, "and in any event we must repair the skylark and replenish her supply of copperimmediately. that must be our first consideration,
so that you, our guests, will have a protectionin any emergency." the karfedix went to his duties and the otherthree made their way to the wrecked space-car. they found that besides the damage done tothe hull, many of the instruments were broken, including one of the object-compasses focusedupon the earth. "it's a good thing you had three of them,mart. i sure hand it to you for preparedness," said seaton, as he tossed the broken instrumentsout upon the dock. dunark protested at this treatment, and placed the discarded instrumentsin a strong metal safe, remarking: "these things may prove useful at some futuretime." "well, i suppose the first thing to do isto get some powerful jacks and straighten
these plates," said seaton. "why not throw away this soft metal, steel,and build it of arenak, as it should be built? you have plenty of salt," suggested dunark. "fine! we have lots of salt in the galley,haven't we, mart?" "yes, nearly a hundred pounds. we are stockedfor emergencies, with two years' supply of food, you know." dunark's eyes opened in astonishment at theamount mentioned, in spite of his knowledge of earthly conditions. he started to say something,then stopped in confusion, but seaton divined his thought.
"we can spare him fifty pounds as well asnot, can't we, mart?" "certainly. fifty pounds of salt is a ridiculouslycheap price for what he is doing for us, even though it is very rare here." dunark acknowledged the gift with shiningeyes and heartfelt, but not profuse, thanks, and bore the precious bag to the palace undera heavy escort. he returned with a small army of workmen, and after making tests to assurehimself that the power-bar would work as well through arenak as through steel, he instructedthe officers concerning the work to be done. as the wonderfully skilled mechanics set towork without a single useless motion, the prince stood silent, with a look of care uponhis handsome face.
"worrying about mardonale, dunark?" "yes. i cannot help wondering what that terriblenew engine of destruction is, which nalboon now has at his command." "say, why don't you build a bus like the skylark,and blow mardonale off the map?" "building the vessel would be easy enough,but x is as yet unknown upon osnome." "we've got a lot of it...." "i could not accept it. the salt was different,since you have plenty. x, however, is as scarce upon earth as salt is upon osnome." "sure you can accept it. we stopped at a planetthat has lots of it, and we've got an object-compass
pointing at it so that we can go back andget more of it any time we want it. we've got more of it on hand now than we're aptto need for a long time, so have a hunk and get busy," and he easily carried one of thelumps out of his cabin and tossed it upon the dock, from whence it required two of kondal'sstrongest men to lift it. the look of care vanished from the face ofthe prince and he summoned another corps of mechanics. "how thick shall the walls be? our battleshipsare armed with arenak the thickness of a hand, but with your vast supply of salt you mayhave it any thickness you wish, since the materials of the matrix are cheap and abundant."
"one inch would be enough, but everythingin the bus is designed for a four-foot shell, and if we change it from four feet we'll haveto redesign our guns and all our instruments. let's make it four feet." seaton turned to the crippled skylark, uponwhich the first crew of kondalian mechanics were working with skill and with tools undreamed-ofupon earth. the whole interior of the vessel was supported by a complex falsework of latticedmetal, then the four-foot steel plates and the mighty embers, the pride of the greatmacdougall, were cut away as though they were made of paper by revolving saws and enormouspower shears. the sphere, grooved for the repellers and with the members, braces, andcentral machinery complete, of the exact dimensions
of the originals, was rapidly moulded of astiff, plastic substance resembling clay. this matrix soon hardened into a rock-likemass into which the doors, machine-gun emplacements, and other openings were carefully cut. allsurfaces were then washed with a dilute solution of salt, which the workmen handled as thoughit were radium. two great plates of platinum were clamped into place upon either side ofthe vessel, each plate connected by means of silver cables as large as a man's leg tothe receiving terminal of an enormous wireless power station. the current was applied andthe great spherical mass apparently disappeared, being transformed instantly into the transparentmetal arenak. then indeed had the earth-men a vehicle such as had never been seen before!a four-foot shell of metal five hundred times
as strong and hard as the strongest and hardeststeel, cast in one piece with the sustaining framework designed by the world's foremostengineer-a structure that no conceivable force could deform or injure, housing an inconceivablepropulsive force! the falsework was rapidly removed and thesustaining framework was painted with opaque varnish to render it plainly visible. at seaton'ssuggestion the walls of the cabins were also painted, leaving transparent several smallareas to serve as windows. the second work-period was drawing to a close,and as seaton and crane were to be married before koprat, they stopped work. they marveledat the amount that had been accomplished, and the kofedix told them:
"both vessels will be finished tomorrow, exceptfor the controlling instruments, which we will have to make ourselves. another crewwill work during the sleeping-period, installing the guns and other fittings. do you wish tohave your own guns installed, or guns of our pattern? you are familiar with them now." "our own, please. they are slower and lessefficient than yours, but we are used to them and have a lot of x-plosive ammunition forthem," replied seaton, after a short conference with crane. after instructing the officers in charge ofthe work, the three returned to the palace, the hearts of two of them beating high inanticipation. seaton went into crane's room,
accompanied by two attendants bearing hissuitcase and other luggage. "we should have brought along dress clothes,mart. why didn't you think of that, too?" "nothing like this ever entered my mind. itis a good thing we brought along ducks and white soft shirts. i must say that this isextremely informal garb for a state wedding, but since the natives are ignorant of ourcustoms, it will not make any difference." "that's right, too-we'll make 'em thinkit's the most formal kind of dress. dunark knows what's what, but he knows that fulldress would be unbearable here. we'd melt down in a minute. it's plenty hot enough asit is, with only duck trousers and sport-shirts on. they'll look green instead of white, butthat's a small matter."
dunark, as best man, entered the room sometime later. "give us a look, dunark," begged seaton, "andsee if we'll pass inspection. i was never so rattled in my life." they were clad in spotless white, from theirduck oxfords to the white ties encircling the open collars of their tennis shirts. thetwo tall figures-crane's slender, wiry, at perfect ease; seaton's broad-shouldered,powerful, prowling about with unconscious, feline suppleness and grace-and the twohandsome, high-bred, intellectual faces, each wearing a look of eager happiness, fully justifieddunark's answer. "you sure will do!" he pronounced enthusiastically,and with seaton's own impulsive good will
he shook hands and wished them an eternityof happiness. "when you have spoken with your brides," hecontinued, "i shall be waiting to escort you into the chapel. sitar told me to say thatthe ladies are ready." dorothy and margaret had been dressed in theirbridal gowns by sitar and several other princesses, under the watchful eyes of the karfedir herself.sitar placed the two girls side by side and drew off to survey her work. "you are the loveliest creatures in the wholeworld!" she cried. they looked at each other's glittering gowns,then margaret glanced at dorothy's face and a look of dismay overspread her own.
"oh, dottie!" she gasped. "your lovely complexion!isn't it terrible for the boys to see us in this light?" there was a peal of delighted laughter fromsitar and she spoke to one of the servants, who drew dark curtains across the windowsand pressed a switch, flooding the room with brilliant white light. "dunark installed lamps like those of yourship for you," she explained with intense satisfaction. "i knew in advance just howyou would feel about your color." before the girls had time to thank their thoughtfulhostess she disappeared and their bridegrooms stood before them. for a moment no word wasspoken. seaton stared at dorothy hungrily,
almost doubting the evidence of his senses.for white was white, pink was pink, and her hair shone in all its natural splendor ofburnished bronze. in their wondrous osnomian bridal robes thebeautiful earth-maidens stood before their lovers. upon their feet were jeweled slippers.their lovely bodies were clothed in softly shimmering garments that left their roundedarms and throats bare-garments infinitely more supple than the finest silk, thick-wovenof metallic threads of such fineness that the individual wires were visible only undera lens; garments that floated and clung about their perfect forms in lines of exquisitegrace. for black-haired margaret, with her ivory skin, the kondalian princess had chosena background of a rare white metal, upon which,
in complicated figures, glistened numberlessjewels of pale colors, more brilliant than diamonds. dorothy's dress was of a peculiar,dark-green shade, half-hidden by an intricate design of blazing green gems-the strange,luminous jewels of this strange world. both girls wore their long, heavy hair unbound,after the kondalian bridal fashion, brushed until it fell like mist about them and confinedat the temples by metallic bands entirely covered with jewels. seaton looked from dorothy to margaret andback again; looked down into her violet eyes, deep with wonder and with love, more beautifulthan any jewel in all her gorgeous costume. unheeding the presence of the others, sheput her dainty hands upon his mighty shoulders
and stood on tiptoe. "i love you, dick. now and always, here orat home or anywhere in the universe. we'll never be parted again," she whispered, andher own beloved violin had no sweeter tones than had her voice. a few minutes later, her eyes wet and shining,she drew herself away from him and glanced at margaret. "isn't she the most beautiful thing you everlaid eyes on?" "no," seaton answered promptly, "she is not-butpoor old mart thinks she is!" accompanied by the karfedix and his son, seatonand crane went into the chapel, which, already
brilliant, had been decorated anew with evengreater splendor. glancing through the wide arches they saw, for the first time, osnomiansclothed. the great room was filled with the highest nobility of kondal, wearing theirheavily-jeweled, resplendent robes of state. every color of the rainbow and numberlessfantastic patterns were there, embodied in the soft, lustrous, metallic fabric. as the men entered one door dorothy and margaret,with the karfedir and sitar, entered the other, and the entire assemblage rose to its feetand snapped into the grand salute. moving to the accompaniment of strange martial musicfrom concealed instruments, the two parties approached each other, meeting at the raisedplatform or pulpit where karbix tarnan, a
handsome, stately, middle-aged man who carriedeasily his hundred and fifty karkamo of age, awaited them. as he raised his arms, the musicceased. it was a solemn and wonderfully impressivespectacle. the room, of burnished metal, with its bizarre decorations wrought in scintillatinggems; the constantly changing harmony of colors as the invisible lamps were shifted from oneshade to another; the group of mighty nobles standing rigidly at attention in a silenceso profound that it was an utter absence of everything audible as the karbix lifted botharms in a silent invocation of the great first cause-all these things deepened the solemnityof that solemn moment. when tarnan spoke, his voice, deep with somegreat feeling, inexplicable even to those
who knew him best, carried clearly to everypart of the great chamber. "friends, it is our privilege to assist todayin a most notable event, the marriage of four personages from another world. for the firsttime in the history of osnome, one karfedix has the privilege of entertaining the bridalparty of another. it is not for this fact alone, however, that this occasion is to bememorable. a far deeper reason is that we are witnessing, possibly for the first timein the history of the universe, the meeting upon terms of mutual fellowship and understandingof the inhabitants of two worlds separated by unthinkable distances of trackless spaceand by equally great differences in evolution, conditions of life, and environment. yet thesestrangers are actuated by the spirit of good
faith and honor which is instilled into everyworthy being by the great first cause, in the working out of whose vast projects allthings are humble instruments. "in honor of the friendship of the two worlds,we will proceed with the ceremony. "richard seaton and martin crane, exchangethe plain rings with dorothy vaneman and margaret spencer." they did so, and repeated, after the karbix,simple vows of love and loyalty. "may the first cause smile upon this temporarymarriage and render it worthy of being made permanent. as a lowly servant of the all-powerfulfirst cause i pronounce you two, and you two, husband and wife. but we must remember thatthe dull vision of mortal man cannot pierce
the veil of futurity, which is as crystalto the all-beholding eye of the first cause. though you love each other truly, unforeseenthings may come between you to mar the perfection of your happiness. therefore a time is grantedyou during which you may discover whether or not your unions are perfect." a pause ensued, then tarnan went on: "martin crane, margaret spencer, richard seaton,and dorothy vaneman, you are before us to take the final vows which shall bind yourbodies together for life and your spirits together for eternity. have you consideredthe gravity of this step sufficiently to enter into this marriage without reservation?"
"i have," solemnly replied the four, in unison. "exchange the jeweled rings. do you, richardseaton and dorothy vaneman; and you, martin crane and margaret spencer; individually swear,here in the presence of the first cause and that of the supreme justices of kondal, thatyou will be true and loyal, each helping his chosen one in all things, great and small;that never throughout eternity, in thought or in action, will either your body or yourmind or your conscious spirit stray from the path of fairness and truth and honor?" "i do." "i pronounce you married with the eternalmarriage. just as the faidon which you each
now wear-the eternal jewel which no forceof man, however applied, has yet been able to change or deform in any particular; andwhich continues to give off its inward light without change throughout eternity-shallendure through endless cycles of time after the metal of the ring which holds it shallhave crumbled in decay: even so shall your spirits, formerly two, now one and indissoluble,progress in ever-ascending evolution throughout eternity after the base material which isyour bodies shall have returned to the senseless dust from whence it arose." the karbix lowered his arms and the bridalparty walked to the door through a double rank of uplifted weapons. from the chapelthey were led to another room, where the contracting
parties signed their names in a register.the kofedix then brought forward two marriage certificates-heavy square plates of a brilliantpurple metal, beautifully engraved in parallel columns of english and kondalian script, andheavily bordered with precious stones. the principals and witnesses signed below eachcolumn, the signatures being deeply engraved by the royal engraver. leaving the registry,they were escorted to the dining hall, where a truly royal repast was served. between coursesthe highest nobles of the nation welcomed the visitors and wished them happiness inshort but earnest addresses. after the last course had been disposed of, the karbix roseat a sign from the karfedix and spoke, his voice again agitated by the emotion whichhad puzzled his hearers during the marriage
service. "all kondal is with us here in spirit, tryingto aid us in our poor attempts to convey our welcome to these our guests, of whose friendshipno greater warrant could be given than their willingness to grant us the privilege of theirmarriage. not only have they given us a boon that will make their names revered throughoutthe nation as long as kondal shall exist, but they have also been the means of showingus plainly that the first cause is upon our side, that our age-old institution of honoris in truth the only foundation upon which can be built a race fitted to survive. atthe same time they have been the means of showing us that our hated foe, entirely withouthonor, building his race upon a foundation
of bloodthirsty savagery alone, is buildingwrongly and must perish utterly from the face of osnome." his hearers listened, impressed by his earnestness,but plainly not understanding his meaning. "you do not understand?" he went on, witha deep light shining in his eyes. "it is inevitable that two peoples inhabiting worlds so widelyseparated as are our two should be possessed of widely-varying knowledge and abilities,and these strangers have already made it possible for us to construct engines of destructionwhich shall obliterate mardonale completely...." a fierce shout of joy interrupted the speakerand the nobles sprang to their feet, saluting the visitors with upraised weapons. as soonas they had reseated themselves, the karbix
continued: "that is the boon. the vindication of oursystem of evolution is easily explained. the strangers landed first upon mardonale. hadnalboon met them in honor, he would have gained the boon. but he, with the savagery characteristicof his evolution, attempted to kill his guests and steal their treasures, with what resultsyou already know. we, on our part, in exchange for the few and trifling services we havebeen able to render them, have received even more than nalboon would have obtained, hadhis plans not been nullified by their vastly superior state of evolution." the orator seated himself and there was adeafening clamor of cheering as the nobles
formed themselves into an escort of honorand conducted the two couples to their apartments. alone in their room, dorothy turned to herhusband with tears shining in her beautiful "dick, sweetheart, wasn't that the most wonderfulthing that anybody ever heard of? using the word in all its real meaning, it was indescribablygrand, and that old man is simply superb. it makes me ashamed of myself to think thati was ever afraid or nervous here." "it sure was all of that, dottie mine, littlebride of an hour. the whole thing gets right down to where a fellow lives-i've got alump in my throat right now so big that it hurts me to think. earthly marriages are pifflingin comparison with that ceremony. it's no wonder they're happy, after taking those vows-especiallyas they don't have to take them until after
they are sure of themselves. "but we're sure already, sweetheart," as heembraced her with all the feeling of his nature. "those vows are not a bit stronger than theones we have already exchanged-bodily and mentally and spiritually we are one, now andforever." chapter xvii.bird, beast, or fish? "these jewels rather puzzle me, dick. whatare they?" asked martin, as the four assembled, waiting for the first meal. as he spoke heheld up his third finger, upon which gleamed the royal jewel of osnome in its splendidbelcher mounting of arenak as transparent as the jewel itself and having the same intenseblue color. "i know the name, 'faidon,' but
that's all i seem to know." "that's about all that anybody knows aboutthem. it is a naturally-occurring, hundred-faceted crystal, just as you see it there-deep blue,perfectly transparent, intensely refractive, and constantly emitting that strong, bluelight. it is so hard that it cannot be worked, cut, or ground. no amount of the hardest knownabrasive will even roughen its surface. no blow, however great, will break it-it merelyforces its way into the material of the hammer, however hard the hammer may be. no extremityof either heat or cold affects it in any degree, it is the same when in the most powerful electricarc as it is when immersed in liquid helium." "how about acids?"
"that is what i am asking myself. osnomiansaren't much force at chemistry. i'm going to try to get hold of another one, and seeif i can't analyze it, just for fun. i can't seem to convince myself that a real atomicstructure could be that large." "no, it is rather large for an atom," andturning to the two girls, "how do you like your solitaires?" "they're perfectly beautiful, and the tiffanymounting is exquisite," replied dorothy, enthusiastically, "but they're so awfully big! they're as bigas ten-carat diamonds, i do believe." "just about," replied seaton, "but at that,they're the smallest dunark could find. they have been kicking around for years, he says-sosmall that nobody wanted them. they wear big
ones on their bracelets, you know. you surewill make a hit in washington, dottie. people will think you're wearing a bottle-stopperuntil they see it shining in the dark, then they'll think it's an automobile headlight.but after a few jewelers have seen these stones, one of them will be offering us five milliondollars apiece for them, trying to buy them for some dizzy old dame who wants to put outthe eyes of some of her social rivals. yes? no?" "that's about right, dick," replied crane,and his face wore a thoughtful look. "we can't keep it secret that we have a new jewel, sinceall four of us will be wearing them continuously, and anyone who knows jewels at all will recognizethese as infinitely superior to any known
earthly jewel. in fact, they may get someof us into trouble, as fabulously valuable jewels usually do." "that's true, too. so we'll let it out casuallythat they're as common as mud up here-that we're just wearing them for sentiment, whichis true, and that we're thinking of bringing back a shipload to sell for parking lights." "that would probably keep anyone from tryingto murder our wives for their rings, at least." "have you read your marriage certificate,dick?" asked margaret. "not yet. let's look at it, dottie." she produced the massive, heavily-jeweleddocument, and the auburn head and the brown
one were very close to each other as theyread together the english side of the certificate. their vows were there, word for word, withtheir own signatures beneath them, all deeply engraved into the metal. seaton smiled ashe saw the legal form engraved below their signatures, and read aloud: "i, the head of the church and the commander-in-chiefof the armed forces of kondal, upon the planet osnome, certify that i have this day, in thecity of kondalek, of said nation and planet, joined in indissoluble bonds of matrimony,richard ballinger seaton, doctor of philosophy, and dorothy lee vaneman; doctor of music;both of the city of washington, district of columbia, united states of america, upon theplanet earth, in strict compliance with the
marriage laws, both of kondal and of the unitedstates of america. tarnan." witnesses:roban, emperor of kondal. tural, empress of kondal.dunark, crown prince of kondal. sitar, crown princess of kondal.marc c. duquesne, ph. d., washington, d. c. "that is some document," remarked seaton."probably a lawyer could find fault with his phraseology, but i'll bet that this thingwould hold in any court in the world. think you'll get married again when we get back,mart?" both girls protested, and crane answered:
"no, i think not. our ceremony would be ratheran anticlimax after this one, and this one will undoubtedly prove legal. i intend toregister this just as it is, and get a ruling from the courts. but it is time for breakfast.pardon me-i should have said 'darprat,' for it certainly is not breakfast-time bywashington clocks. my watch says that it is eleven-thirty p. m." "this system of time is funny," remarked dorothy."i just can't get used to having no night, and...." "and it's such a long time between eats, asthe famous governor said about the drinks," broke in seaton.
"how did you know what i was going to say,dick?" "husbandly intuition," he grinned, "aidedand abetted by a normal appetite that rebels at seventeen hours between supper and breakfast,and nine hours between the other meals. well, it's time to eat-let's go!" after eating, the men hurried to the skylark.during the sleeping-period the vessel had been banded with the copper repellers: themachine guns and instruments, including the wonderful osnomian wireless system, had beeninstalled; and, except for the power-bars, she was ready for a voyage. the kondalianvessel was complete, even to the cushions, but was without instruments.
after a brief conversation with the officerin charge, dunark turned to seaton. "didn't you find that your springs couldn'tstand up under the acceleration?" "yes, they flattened out dead." "the kolanix felan, in charge of the work,thought so, and substituted our compound-compensated type, made of real spring metal, for them.they'll hold you through any acceleration you can live through." "thanks, that's fine. what's next, instruments?" "yes. i have sent a crew of men to gatherup what copper they can find-you know that we use practically no metallic copper, asplatinum, gold, and silver are so much better
for ordinary purposes-and another to erecta copper-smelter near one of the mines which supply the city with the copper sulphate usedupon our tables. while they are at work i think i will work on the instruments, if youtwo will be kind enough to help me." seaton and crane offered to supply him withinstruments from their reserve stock, but the kofedix refused to accept them, sayingthat he would rather have their help in making them, so that he would thoroughly understandtheir functions. the electric furnaces were rapidly made ready and they set to work; cranetaking great delight in working that hitherto rare and very refractory metal, iridium, ofwhich all the kondalian instruments were to be made.
"they have a lot of our rare metals here,dick." "they sure have. i'd like to set up a laboratoryand live here a few years-i'd learn something about my specialty or burst. they use goldand silver where we use copper, and platinum and its alloys where we use iron and softsteel. all their weapons are made of iridium, and all their most highly-tempered tools,such as their knives, razors, and so on, are made of opaque arenak. i suppose you've noticedthe edge on your razor?" "how could i help it? it is hard to realizethat a metal can be so hard that it requires forty years on a diamond-dust abrasive machineto hone a razor-or that once honed, it shaves generation after generation of men withoutlosing in any degree its keenness."
"i can't understand it, either-i only knowthat it's so. they have all our heavy metals in great abundance, and a lot more that wedon't know anything about on earth, but they apparently haven't any light metals at all.it must be that osnome was thrown off the parent sun late, so that the light metalswere all gone?" "something like that, possibly." the extraordinary skill of the kofedix madethe manufacture of the instruments a short task, and after crane had replaced the fewbroken instruments of the skylark from their reserve stock, they turned their attentionto the supply of copper that had been gathered. they found it enough for only two bars.
"is this all we have?" asked dunark, sharply. "it is, your highness," replied the kolanix."that is every scrap of metallic copper in the city." "oh, well, that'll be enough to last untilwe can smelt the rest," said seaton. "with one bar apiece we're ready for anything mardonalecan start. let 'em come!" the bars were placed in the containers andboth vessels were tried out, each making a perfect performance. upon the following kokam,immediately after the first meal, the full party from the earth boarded the skylark andaccompanied the kofedix to the copper smelter. dunark himself directed the work of preparingthe charges and the molds, though he was continually
being interrupted by wireless messages incode and by messengers bearing tidings too important to trust into the air. "i hope you will excuse all of these delays,"said dunark, after the twentieth interruption, "but...." "that's all right, dunark. we know that you'rea busy man." "i can tell you about it, but i wouldn't wantto tell many people. with the salt you gave us, i am preparing a power-plant that willenable us to blow mardonale into...." he broke off as a wireless call for help sounded.all listened intently, learning that a freight-plane was being pursued by a karlon a few hundredmiles away.
"now's the time for you to study one, dunark!"seaton exclaimed. "get your gang of scientists out here while we go get him and drag himin!" as dunark sent the message, the skylark'speople hurried aboard, and seaton drove the vessel toward the calls for help. with itsgreat speed it reached the monster before the plane was overtaken. focusing the attractorupon the enormous metallic beak of the karlon, seaton threw on the power and the beast haltedin midair as it was jerked backward and upward. as it saw the puny size of the attacking skylark,it opened its cavernous mouth in a horrible roar and rushed at full speed. seaton, unwillingto have the repellers stripped from the vessel, turned on the current actuating them. thekarlon was hurled backward to the point of
equilibrium of the two forces, where it struggleddemoniacally. seaton carried his captive back to the smelter,where finally, by judicious pushing and pulling, he succeeded in turning the monster flat uponits back and pinning it to the ground in spite of its struggles to escape. soon the scientists arrived and studied theanimal thoroughly, at as close a range as its flailing arms permitted. "i wish we could kill him without blowinghim to bits," wirelessed dunark. "do you know any way of doing it?" "we could if we had a few barrels of ether,or some of our own poison gases, but they
are all unknown here and it would take a longtime to build the apparatus to make them. i'll see if i can't tire him out and get himthat way as soon as you've studied him enough. we may be able to find out where he lives,too." the scientists having finished their observations,seaton jerked the animal a few miles into the air and shut off the forces acting uponit. there was a sudden crash, and the karlon, knowing that this apparently insignificantvessel was its master, turned in headlong flight. "have you any idea what caused the noise justthen, dick?" asked crane; who, with characteristic imperturbability, had taken out his notebookand was making exact notes of all that transpired.
"i imagine we cracked a few of his plates,"replied seaton with a laugh, as he held the skylark in place a few hundred feet abovethe fleeing animal. pitted for the first time in its life againstan antagonist, who could both outfly and outfight it, the karlon redoubled its efforts and fledin a panic of fear. it flew back over the city of kondalek, over the outlying country,and out over the ocean, still followed easily by the skylark. as they neared the mardonalianborder, a fleet of warships rose to contest the entry of the monster. seaton, not wishingto let the foe see the rejuvenated skylark, jerked his captive high into the thin air.as soon as it was released, it headed for the ocean in an almost perpendicular dive,while seaton focused an object-compass upon
"go to it, old top," he addressed the plungingmonster. "we'll follow you clear to the bottom of the ocean if you go that far!" there was a mighty double splash as the karlonstruck the water, closely followed by the skylark. the girls gasped as the vessel plungedbelow the surface at such terrific speed, and seemed surprised that it had sufferedno injury and that they had felt no jar. seaton turned on the powerful searchlights and keptclose enough so that he could see the monster through the transparent walls. deeper anddeeper the quarry dove, until it was plainly evident to the pursuers that it was just asmuch at home in the water as it was in the air. the beams of the lights revealed strangeforms of life, among which were huge, staring-eyed
fishes, which floundered about blindly inthe unaccustomed glare. as the karlon bored still deeper, the living things became scarcer,but still occasional fleeting glimpses were obtained of the living nightmares which inhabitedthe oppressive depths of these strange seas. continuing downward, the karlon plumbed thenethermost pit of the ocean and came to rest upon the bottom, stirring up a murk of ooze. "how deep are we, mart?" "about four miles. i have read the pressure,but will have to calculate later exactly what depth it represents, from the gravity anddensity readings." as the animal showed no sign of leaving itsretreat, seaton pulled it out with the attractor
and it broke for the surface. rising throughthe water at full speed, it burst into the air and soared upward to such an incredibleheight that seaton was amazed. "i wouldn't have believed that anything couldfly in air this thin!" he exclaimed. "it is thin up here," assented crane. "lessthan three pounds to the square inch. i wonder how he does it?" "it doesn't look as though we are ever goingto find out-he's sure a bear-cat!" replied seaton, as the karlon, unable to ascend further,dropped in a slanting dive toward the lowlands of kondal-the terrible, swampy region coveredwith poisonous vegetation and inhabited by frightful animals and even more frightfulsavages. the monster neared the ground with
ever-increasing speed. seaton, keeping closebehind it, remarked to crane: "he'll have to flatten out pretty quick, orhe'll burst something, sure." but it did not flatten out. it struck thesoft ground head foremost and disappeared, its tentacles apparently boring a way aheadof it. astonished at such an unlooked-for development,seaton brought the skylark to a stop and stabbed into the ground with the attractor. the firstattempt brought up nothing but a pillar of muck, the second brought to light a coupleof wings and one writhing arm, the third brought the whole animal, still struggling as stronglyas it had in the first contest. seaton again lifted the animal high into the air.
"if he does that again, we'll follow him." "will the ship stand it?" asked duquesne,with interest. "yes. the old bus wouldn't have, but thisone can stand anything. we can go anywhere that thing can, that's a cinch. if we haveenough power on, we probably won't even feel a jolt when we strike ground." seaton reduced the force acting upon the animaluntil just enough was left to keep the attractor upon it, and it again dived into the swamp.the skylark followed, feeling its way in the total darkness, until the animal stopped,refusing to move in any direction, at a depth estimated by crane to be about three-quartersof a mile. after waiting some time seaton
increased the power of the attractor and torethe karlon back to the surface and into the air, where it turned on the skylark with redoubledfury. "we've dug him out of his last refuge andhe's fighting like a cornered rat," said seaton as he repelled the monster to a safe distance."he's apparently as fresh as when he started, in spite of all this playing. talk about agame fish! he doesn't intend to run any more, though, so i guess we'll have to put him away.it's a shame to bump him off, but it's got to be done." crane aimed one of the heavy x-plosive bulletsat the savagely-struggling monster, and the earth rocked with the concussion as the shellstruck its mark. they hurried back to the
smelter, where dunark asked eagerly: "what did you find out about it?" "nothing much," replied seaton, and in a fewwords described the actions of the karlon. "what did your savants think of it?" "very little that any of us can understandin terms of any other known organism. it seems to combine all the characteristics of bird,beast, and fish, and to have within itself the possibilities of both bisexual and asexualreproduction." "i wouldn't doubt it-it's a queer one, allright." the copper bars were cool enough to handle,and the skylark was loaded with five times
its original supply of copper, the other vesseltaking on a much smaller amount. after the kofedix had directed the officer in chargeto place the remaining bars in easily-accessible places throughout the nation, the two vesselswere piloted back to the palace, arriving just in time for the last meal of the kokam. "well, dunark," said seaton after the mealwas over, "i'm afraid that we must go back as soon as we can. dorothy's parents and martin'sbankers will think they are dead by this time. we should start right now, but...." "oh, no, you must not do that. that wouldrob our people of the chance of bidding you goodbye."
"there's another reason, too. i have a mightybig favor to ask of you." "it is granted. if man can do it, considerit done." "well, you know platinum is a very scarceand highly useful metal with us. i wonder if you could let us have a few tons of it?and i would like to have another faidon, too-i want to see if i can't analyze it." "you have given us a thousand times the valueof all the platinum and all the jewels your vessel can carry. as soon as the foundriesare open tomorrow we will go and load up your store-rooms-or, if you wish, we will doit now." "that isn't necessary. we may as well enjoyyour hospitality for one more sleeping-period,
get the platinum during the first work-period,and bid you goodbye just before the second meal. how would that be?" "perfectly satisfactory." the following kokam, dunark piloted the skylark,with seaton, crane, and duquesne as crew, to one of the great platinum foundries. thegirls remained behind to get ready for their departure, and for the great ceremony whichwas to precede it. the trip to the foundry was a short one, and the three scientistsof earth stared at what they saw-thousands of tons of platinum, cast into bars and piledup like pig-iron, waiting to be made into numerous articles of every-day use throughoutthe nation. dunark wrote out an order, which
his chief attendant handed to the officerin charge of the foundry, saying: "please have it loaded at once." seaton indicated the storage compartment intowhich the metal was to be carried, and a procession of slaves, two men staggering under one ingot,was soon formed between the pile and the storage room. "how much are you loading on, dunark?" askedseaton, when the large compartment was more than half full. "my order called for about twenty tons, inyour weight, but i changed it later-we may as well fill that room full, so that the metalwill not rattle around in flight. it doesn't
make any difference to us, we have so muchof it. it is like your gift of the salt, only vastly smaller." "what are you going to do with it all, dick?"asked crane. "that is enough to break the platinum market completely." "that's exactly what i'm going to do," returnedseaton, with a gleam in his gray eyes. "i'm going to burst this unjustifiable fad forplatinum jewelry so wide open that it'll never recover, and make platinum again availablefor its proper uses, in laboratories and in the industries. "you know yourself," he rushed on hotly, "thatthe only reason platinum is used at all for
jewelry is that it is expensive. it isn'tnearly so handsome as either gold or silver, and if it wasn't the most costly common metalwe have, the jewelry-wearing crowd wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. useless asan ornament, it is the one absolutely indispensable laboratory metal, and literally hundreds oflaboratories that need it can't have it because over half the world's supply is tied up injeweler's windows and in useless baubles. then, too, it is the best thing known forcontact points in electrical machinery. when the government and all the scientific societieswere abjectly begging the jewelers to let loose a little of it they refused-they wereselling it to profiteering spendthrifts at a hundred and fifty dollars an ounce. thecondition isn't much better right now; it's
a vicious circle. as long as the price stayshigh it will be used for jewelry, and as long as it is used for jewelry the price will stayhigh, and scientists will have to fight the jewelers for what little they get." "while somewhat exaggerated, that is aboutthe way matters stand. i will admit that i, too, am rather bitter on the subject," saidcrane. "bitter? of course you're bitter. everybodyis who knows anything about science and who has a brain in his head. anybody who claimsto be a scientist and yet stands for any of his folks buying platinum jewelry ought tobe shot. but they'll get theirs as soon as we get back. they wouldn't let go of it before,they had too good a thing, but they'll let
go now, and get their fingers burned besides.i'm going to dump this whole shipment at fifty cents a pound, and we'll take mighty goodcare that jewelers don't corner the supply." "i'm with you, dick, as usual." soon the storage room was filled to the ceilingwith closely-stacked ingots of the precious metal, and the skylark was driven back tothe landing dock. she alighted beside dunark's vessel, the kondal, whose gorgeously-decoratedcrew of high officers sprang to attention as the four men stepped out. all were dressedfor the ceremonial leave-taking, the three americans wearing their spotless white, thekondalians wearing their most resplendent trappings.
"this formal stuff sure does pull my cork!"exclaimed seaton to dunark. "i want to get this straight. the arrangement was that wewere to be here at this time, all dressed up, and wait for the ladies, who are comingunder the escort of your people?" "yes. our family is to escort the ladies fromthe palace here. as they leave the elevator the surrounding war-vessels will salute, andafter a brief ceremony you two will escort your wives into the skylark, doctor duquesnestanding a little apart and following you in. the war-vessels will escort you as highas they can go, and the kondal will accompany you as far as our most distant sun beforeturning back." for a few moments seaton nervously paced ashort beat in front of the door of the space-car.
"i'm getting more fussed every second," hesaid abruptly, taking out his wireless instrument. "i'm going to see if they aren't about ready." "what seems to be the trouble, dick? haveyou another hunch, or are you just rattled?" asked crane. "rattled, i guess, but i sure do want to getgoing," he replied, as he worked the lever rapidly. "dottie," he sent out, and, the call beinganswered, "how long will you be? we're all ready and waiting, chewing our finger-nailswith impatience." "we'll soon be ready. the karfedix is comingfor us now."
scarcely had the tiny sounder become silentwhen the air was shaken by an urgently-vibrated message, and every wireless sounder gave warning.chapter xviii the invasion the pulsating air and the chattering sounderswere giving the same dire warning, the alarm extraordinary of invasion, of imminent andcatastrophic danger from the air. "don't try to reach the palace. everyone onthe ground will have time enough to hide in the deep, arenak-protected pits beneath thebuildings, and you would be killed by the invaders long before you could reach the palace.if we can repel the enemy and keep them from landing, the women will be perfectly safe,even though the whole city is destroyed. if
they effect a landing we are lost." "they'll not land, then," seaton answeredgrimly, as he sprang into the skylark and took his place at the board. as crane tookout his wireless, seaton cautioned him. "send in english, and tell the girls not toanswer, as these devils can locate the calls within a foot and will be able to attack theright spot. just tell them we're safe in the skylark. tell them to sit tight while we wipeout this gang that is coming, and that we'll call them, once in a while, when we have time,during the battle." before crane had finished sending the messagethe crescendo whine of enormous propellers was heard. simultaneously there was a deafeningconcussion and one entire wing of the palace
disappeared in a cloud of dust, in the midstof which could be discerned a few flying fragments. the air was filled with mardonalian warships.they were huge vessels, each mounting hundreds of guns, and the rain of high-explosive shellswas rapidly reducing the great city to a wide-spread heap of debris. seaton's hand was upon the lever which wouldhurl the skylark upward into the fray. crane and duquesne, each hard of eye and grim ofjaw, were stationed at their machine-guns. "something's up!" exclaimed seaton. "lookat the kondal!" something had happened indeed. dunark satat the board, his hand upon the power lever, and each of his crew was in place, graspinghis weapon, but every man was writhing in
agony, unable to control his movements. asthey stared, momentarily spellbound, the entire crew ceased their agonized struggles and hung,apparently lifeless, from their supports. "they've got to 'em some way-let's go!"yelled seaton. as his hand tightened upon the lever, a successionof shells burst upon the dock, wrecking it completely, all three men fancied that theworld had come to an end as the stream of high explosive was directed against theirvessel. but the four-foot shell of arenak was impregnable, and seaton shot the skylarkupward into the midst of the enemy fleet. the two gunners fired as fast as they couldsight their weapons, and with each shot one of the great warships was blown into fragments.the mardonalians then concentrated the fire
of their entire fleet upon their tiny opponent. from every point of the compass, from aboveand below, the enemy gunners directed streams of shells against the dodging vessel. thenoise was more than deafening, it was one continuous, shattering explosion, and theearth-men were surrounded by such a blaze of fire from the exploding shells that theycould not see the enemy vessels. seaton sought to dodge the shells by a long dive towardone side, only to find that dozens of new opponents had been launched against them-thedeadly airplane-torpedoes of osnome. steered by wireless and carrying no crews, they weresimply winged bombs carrying thousands of pounds of terrific electrical explosive-enoughto kill the men inside the vessel by the concussion
of the explosion, even should the arenak armorbe strong enough to withstand the blow. though much faster than the osnomian vessels, theywere slow beside the skylark, and seaton could have dodged a few of them with ease. as hedodged, however, they followed relentlessly, and in spite of those which were blown upby the gunners, their number constantly increased until seaton thought of the repellers. "'nobody holme' is right!" he exclaimed, ashe threw on the power actuating the copper bands which encircled the hull in all directions.instantly the torpedoes were hurled backward, exploding as the force struck them, and eventhe shells were ineffective, exploding harmlessly, as they encountered the zone of force. thenoise of the awful detonations lessened markedly.
"why the silence, i wonder?" asked seaton,while the futile shells of the enemy continued to waste their force some hundreds of feetdistant from their goal, and while crane and duquesne were methodically destroying thehuge vessels as fast as they could aim and fire. at every report one of the monster warshipsdisappeared-its shattered fragments and the bodies of its crew hurtling to the ground.his voice could not be heard in even the lessened tumult, but he continued: "it must be that our repellers have set upa partial vacuum by repelling even the air!" suddenly the shelling ceased and the skylarkwas enveloped by a blinding glare from hundreds of great reflectors; an intense, searching,bluish-violet light that burned the flesh
and seared through eyelids and eyeballs intothe very brain. "ultra-violet!" yelled seaton at the firstglimpse of the light, as he threw on the power. "shut your eyes! turn your heads down!" out in space, far beyond reach of the deadlyrays, the men held a short conference, then donned heavy leather-and-canvas suits, whichthey smeared liberally with thick red paint, and replaced the plain glasses of their helmetswith heavy lenses of deep ruby glass. "this'll stop any ultra-violet ray ever produced,"exulted seaton, as he again threw the vessel into the mardonalian fleet. a score of thegreat vessels met their fate before the skylark was located, and, although the terrible rayswere again focused upon the intruder in all
their intensity, the carnage continued. in a few minutes, however, the men heard,or rather felt, a low, intense vibration, like a silent wave of sound-a vibrationwhich smote upon the eardrums as no possible sound could smite, a vibration which rackedthe joints and tortured the nerves as though the whole body were disintegrating. so suddenand terrible was the effect that seaton uttered an involuntary yelp of surprise and pain ashe once more fled into the safety of space. "what the devil was that?" demanded duquesne."was it infra-sound? i didn't suppose such waves could be produced." "infra-sound is right. they produce most anythinghere," replied seaton, and crane added:
"well, about three fur suits apiece, withcotton in our ears, ought to kill any wave propagated through air." the fur suits were donned forthwith, seatonwhispering in crane's ear: "i've found out something else, too. the repellersrepel even the air. i'm going to shoot enough juice through them to set up a perfect vacuumoutside. that'll kill those air-waves." scarcely were they back within range of thefleet when duquesne, reaching for his gun to fire the first shot, leaped backward witha yell. "beat it!" once more at a safe distance, duquesne explained.
"it's lucky i'm so used to handling hot stuffthat from force of habit i never make close contact with anything at the first touch.that gun carried thousands of volts, with lots of amperage behind them, and if i hadhad a good hold on it i couldn't have let go. we'll block that game quick enough, though.thick, dry gloves covered with rubber are all that is necessary. it's a good thing forall of us that you have those fancy condensite handles on your levers, seaton." "that was how they got dunark, undoubtedly,"said crane, as he sent a brief message to the girls, assuring them that all was well,as he had been doing at every respite. "but why were we not overcome at the same time?"
"they must have had the current tuned to iridium,and had to experiment until they found the right wave for steel," seaton explained. "i should think our bar would have exploded,with all that current. they must have hit the copper range, too?" seaton frowned in thought before he answered. "maybe because it's induced current, and nota steady battery impulse. anyway, it didn't. let's go!" "just a minute," put in crane. "what are theygoing to do next, dick?" "search me. i'm not used to my new osnomianmind yet. i recognize things all right after
they happen, but i can't seem to figure ahead-it'slike a dimly-remembered something that flashes up as soon as mentioned. i get too many andtoo new ideas at once. i know, though, that the osnomians have defenses against all thesethings except this last stunt of the charged guns. that must be the new one that mardonalestole from kondal. the defenses are, however, purely osnomian in character and material.as we haven't got the stuff to set them up as the osnomians do, we'll have to do it ourown way. we may be able to dope out the next one, though. let's see, what have they givenus so far?" "we've got to hand it to them," respondedduquesne, admiringly. "they're giving us the whole range of wave-lengths, one at a time.they've given us light, both ultra-violet
and visible, sound, infra-sound, and electricity-idon't know what's left unless they give us a new kind of x-rays, or hertzian, or infra-redheat waves, or...." "that's it, heat!" exclaimed seaton. "theyproduce heat by means of powerful wave-generators and by setting up heavy induced currents inthe armor. they can melt arenak that way." "do you suppose we can handle the heat withour refrigerators?" asked crane. "probably. we have a lot of power, and thenew arenak cylinders of our compressors will stand anything. the only trouble will be incooling the condensers. we'll run as long as we have any water in our tanks, then godive into the ocean to cool off. we'll try it a whirl, anyway."
soon the skylark was again dealing out deathand destruction in the thick of the enemy vessels, who again turned from the devastationof the helpless city to destroy this troublesome antagonist. but in spite of the utmost effortsof light-waves, sound-waves, and high-tension electricity, the space-car continued to takeits terrible toll. as seaton had foretold, the armor of the skylark began to grow hot,and he turned on the full power of the refrigerating system. in spite of the cooling apparatus,however, the outer walls finally began to glow redly, and, although the interior wascomfortably cool, the ends of the rifle-barrels, which were set flush with the surface of therevolving arenak globes which held them, softened, rendering the guns useless. the copper repellersmelted and dripped off in flaming balls of
molten metal, so that shells once more beganto crash against the armor. duquesne, with no thought of quitting apparent in voice ormanner, said calmly: "well, it looks as though they had us stoppedfor a few minutes. let's go back into space and dope out something else." seaton, thinking intensely, saw a vast fleetof enemy reinforcements approaching, and at the same time received a wireless call directedto dunark. it was from the grand fleet of kondal, hastening from the bordering oceanto the defense of the city. using dunark's private code, seaton told the karbix, whowas in charge of the fleet, that the enemy had a new invention which would wipe themout utterly without a chance to fight, and
that he and his vessel were in control ofthe situation; and ordered him to see that no kondalian ship came within battle rangeof a mardonalian. he then turned to crane and duquesne, his face grim and his fightingjaw set. "i've got it doped right now. give the larkspeed enough and she's some bullet herself. we've got four feet of arenak, they've gotonly an inch, and arenak doesn't even begin to soften until far above a blinding whitetemperature. strap yourselves in solid, for it's going to be a rough party from now on." they buckled their belts firmly, and seaton,holding the bar toward their nearest antagonist, applied twenty notches of power. the skylarkdarted forward and crashed completely through
the great airship. torn wide open by the forty-footprojectile, its engines wrecked and its helicopter-screws and propellers completely disabled, the helplesshulk plunged through two miles of empty air, a mass of wreckage. darting hither and thither, the space-cartore through vessel after vessel of the mardonalian fleet. she was an embodied thunderbolt; ahuge, irresistible, indestructible projectile, directed by a keen brain inside it-the brainof richard seaton, roused to his highest fighting pitch and fighting for everything that manholds dear. tortured by the terrible silent waves, which, now that the protecting vacuumhad been destroyed, were only partially stopped by the fur suits; shaken and battered by theterrific impacts and the even greater shocks
occurring every second as the direction ofthe vessel was changed; made sick and dizzy by the nauseating swings and lurches as theskylark spun about the central chamber; seaton's wonderful physique and his nerves of steelstood him in good stead in this, the supreme battle of his life, as with teeth tight-lockedand eyes gray and hard as the fracture of high-carbon steel, he urged the skylark onto greater and greater efforts. though it was impossible for the eye to followthe flight of the space-car, the mechanical sighting devices of the mardonalian vesselskept her in as perfect focus as though she were stationary, and the great generatorscontinued to hurl into her the full power of their death-dealing waves. the enemy gunswere still spitting forth their streams of
high-explosive shells, but unlike the waves,the shells moved so slowly compared to their target that only a few found their mark, andmany of the vessels fell to the ground, riddled by the shells of their sister-ships. with anxious eyes seaton watched the hullof his animated cannon-ball change in color. from dull red it became cherry, and as thecherry red gave place to bright red heat, seaton threw even more power into the baras he muttered through his set teeth: "well, seaton, old top, you've got to cutout this loafing on the job and get busy!" in spite of his utmost exertions and in spiteof the powerful ammonia plant, now exerting its full capacity, but sadly handicapped bythe fact that its cooling-water was now boiling,
seaton saw the arenak shell continue to heat.the bright red was succeeded by orange, which slowly changed, first to yellow, then to lightyellow, and finally to a dazzling white; through which, with the aid of his heavy red lenses,he could still see the enemy ships. after a time he noted that the color had gone downto yellow and he thrilled with exultation, knowing that he had so reduced the numbersof the enemy fleet that their wave-generators could no longer overcome his refrigerators.after a few minutes more of the awful carnage there remained only a small fraction of theproud fleet which, thousands strong, had invaded kondal-a remnant that sought safety in flight.but even in flight, they still fought with all their weapons, and the streams of bombsdropped from their keel-batteries upon the
country beneath marked the path of their retreatwith a wide swath of destruction. half inclined to let the few remaining vessels escape, seaton'smind changed instantly as he saw the bombs spreading devastation upon the countryside,and not until the last of the mardonalian vessels had been destroyed did he drop theskylark into the area of ruins which had once been the palace grounds, beside the kondal,which was still lying as it had fallen. after several attempts to steady their whirlingsenses, the three men finally were able to walk, and, opening a door, they leaped outthrough the opening in the still glowing wall. seaton's first act was to wireless the newsto dorothy, who replied that they were coming as fast as they could. the men then removedtheir helmets, revealing faces pale and drawn,
and turned to the helpless space-car. "there's no way of getting into this thingfrom the outside...." seaton began, when he saw that the kofedix and his party were beginningto revive. soon dunark opened the door and stumbled out. "i have to thank you for more than my lifethis time," he said, his voice shaken by uncontrollable emotion as he grasped the hands of all threemen. "though unable to move, i was conscious and saw all that happened-you kept themso busy that they didn't have a chance to give us enough to kill us outright. you havesaved the lives of millions of our nation and have saved kondal itself from annihilation."
"oh, it's not that bad," answered seaton,uncomfortably. "both nations have been invaded before." "yes-once when we developed the ultra-violetray, once when mardonale perfected the machine for producing the silent sound-wave, and againwhen we harnessed the heat-wave. but this would have been the most complete disasterin history. the other inventions were not so deadly as was this one, and there wereterrible battles, from which the victors emerged so crippled that they could not completelyexterminate the vanquished, who were able to re-establish themselves in the course oftime. if it had not been for you, this would have been the end, as not a kondalian soldiercould move-any person touching iridium was
helpless and would have been killed." he ceased speaking and saluted as the karfedixand his party rounded a heap of boulders. dorothy and margaret screamed in unison asthey saw the haggard faces of their husbands, and saw their suits, dripping with a thicksubstance which they knew to be red, in spite of its purplish-black color. seaton dodgednimbly as dorothy sought to take him in her arms, and tore off his suit. "nothing but red paint to stop their light-rays,"he reassured her as he lifted her clear from the ground in a soul-satisfying embrace. outof the corner of his eye he saw the kondalians staring in open-mouthed amazement at the skylark.wheeling swiftly, he laughed as he saw a gigantic
ball of frost and snow! again donning hisfur suit, he shut off the refrigerators and returned to his party, where the karfedixgave him thanks in measured terms. as he fell silent, dunark added: "thanks to you, the mardonalian forces, insteadof wiping us out, are themselves destroyed, while only a handful of our vessels have beenlost, since the grand fleet could not arrive until the battle was over, and since the vesselsthat would have thrown themselves away were saved by your orders, which i heard. thanksto you, we are not even crippled, though our capital is destroyed and the lives of someunfortunates, who could not reach the pits in time, have probably been lost.
"thanks to you," he continued in a ringingvoice, "and to the salt and the new source of power you have given us, mardonale shallnow be destroyed utterly!" after sending out ships to relieve the sufferingof the few wounded and the many homeless, dunark summoned a corps of mechanics, whobanded on new repellers and repaired the fused barrels of the machine-guns, all that wasnecessary to restore the skylark to perfect condition. facing the party from earth, the karfedixstood in the ruins of his magnificent palace. back of him were the nobles of kondal, andstill further back, in order of rank, stood a multitude of people.
"is it permitted, oh noble karfedo, that ireward your captive for his share in the victory?" he asked. "it is," acquiesced seaton and crane, androban stepped up to duquesne and placed in his hand a weighty leather bag. he then fastenedabout his left wrist the order of kondal, the highest order of the nation. he then clasped about crane's wrist a heavily-jeweled,peculiarly-ornamented disk wrought of a deep ruby-red metal, supported by a heavy braceletof the same material, the most precious metal of osnome. at sight of the disk the noblessaluted and seaton barely concealed a start of surprise, for it bore the royal emblemand delegated to its bearer power second only
to that of the karfedix himself. "i bestow upon you this symbol, karfedix crane,in recognition of what you have this day done for kondal. wherever you may be upon kondalianosnome, which from this day henceforth shall be all osnome, you have power as my personalrepresentative, as my eldest son." he drew forth a second bracelet, similar tothe first except that it bore seven disks, each differently designed, which he snappedupon seaton's wrist as the nobles knelt and the people back of them threw themselves upontheir faces. "no language spoken by man possesses wordssufficiently weighty to express our indebtedness to you, karfedix seaton, our guest and oursavior. the first cause has willed that you
should be the instrument through which kondalis this day made supreme upon osnome. in small and partial recognition of that instrumentality,i bestow upon you these symbols, which proclaim you our overlord, the ultimate authority ofosnome. while this is not the way in which i had thoughtto bid you farewell, the obligations which you have heaped upon us render all smallerthings insignificant. when you return, as i hope and trust you soon will, the city shallbe built anew and we can welcome you as befits your station." lifting both arms above his head he continued: "may the great first cause smile upon youin all your endeavors until you solve the
mystery: may your descendants soon reach theultimate goal. goodbye." seaton uttered a few heartfelt words in responseand the party stepped backward toward the skylark. as they reached the vessel the standingkarfedix and the ranks of kneeling nobles snapped into the double salute-truly a raredemonstration in kondal. "what'll we do now?" whispered seaton. "bow, of course," answered dorothy. they bowed, deeply and slowly, and enteredtheir vessel. as the skylark shot into the air with the greatest acceleration that wouldpermit its passengers to move about, the grand fleet of kondalian warship fired a deafeningsalute.
it had been planned before the start thateach person was to work sixteen hours out of the twenty-four. seaton was to drive thevessel during the first two eight-hour periods of each day. crane was to observe the starsduring the second and to drive during the third. duquesne was to act as observer duringthe first and third periods. margaret had volunteered to assist the observer in takinghis notes during her waking hours, and dorothy appointed herself cook and household manager. as soon as the skylark had left osnome, cranetold duquesne that he and his wife would work in the observation room until four o'clockin the afternoon, at which time the prearranged system of relief would begin, and duquesneretired to his room.
crane and margaret made their way to the darkenedroom which housed the instruments and seated themselves, watching intently and making noeffort to conceal their emotion as first the persons beneath them, then the giant war-vessels,and finally the ruined city itself, were lost to view. osnome slowly assumed the proportionsof a large moon, grew smaller, and as it disappeared crane began to take notes. for a few hoursthe seventeen suns of this strange solar system shone upon the flying space-car, after whichthey assumed the aspect of a widely-separated cluster of enormous stars, slowly growingsmaller and smaller and shrinking closer and closer together. at four o'clock in the afternoon, washingtontime, duquesne relieved crane, who made his
way to the engine room. "it is time to change shifts, dick. you havenot had your sixteen hours, but everything will be regular from now on. you two had betterget some rest." "all right," replied seaton, as he relinquishedthe controls to crane, and after bidding the new helmsman goodnight he and dorothy wentbelow to their cabin. standing at a window with their arms aroundeach other they stared down with misty eyes at the very faint green star, which was rapidlydecreasing in brilliance as the skylark increased its already inconceivable velocity. finally,as it disappeared altogether, seaton turned to his wife and tenderly, lovingly, took herin his arms.
"littlest girl.... sweetheart...." he whispered,and paused, overcome by the intensity of his feelings. "i know, husband mine," she answered, whiletears dimmed her glorious eyes. "it is too deep. with nothing but words, we can't saya single thing." chapter xixthe return to earth duquesne's first act upon gaining the privacyof his own cabin was to open the leather bag presented to him by the karfedix. he expectedto find it filled with rare metals, with perhaps some jewels, instead of which the only metalpresent was a heavily-insulated tube containing a full pound of metallic radium. the leastvaluable items in the bag were scores of diamonds,
rubies, and emeralds of enormous size andof flawless perfection. merely ornamental glass upon osnome, dunark knew that they werepriceless upon earth, and had acted accordingly. to this great wealth of known gems, he hadadded a rich and varied assortment of the rare and strange jewels peculiar to his ownworld, the faidon alone being omitted from the collection. duquesne's habitual calmnessof mind almost deserted him as he classified the contents of the bag. the radium alone was worth millions of dollars,and the scientist in him exulted that at last his brother scientists should have ample suppliesof that priceless metal with which to work, even while he was rejoicing in the price hewould exact for it. he took out the familiar
jewels, estimating their value as he countedthem-a staggering total. the bag was still half full of the strange gems, some of themglowing like miniature lamps in the dark depths, and he made no effort to appraise them. heknew that once any competent jeweler had compared their cold, hard, scintillating beauty withthat of any earthly gems, he could demand his own price. "at last," he breathed to himself, "i willbe what i have always longed to be-a money power. now i can cut loose from that gangof crooks and go my own way." he replaced the gems and the tube of radiumin the bag, which he stowed away in one of his capacious pockets, and made his way tothe galley.
the return voyage through space was uneventful,the skylark constantly maintaining the same velocity with which she had started out. severaltimes, as the days wore on, she came within the zone of attraction of various giganticsuns, but the pilot had learned his lesson. he kept a vigilant eye upon the bar, and atthe first sign of a deviation from the perpendicular he steered away, far from the source of theattraction. not content with these precautions, the man at the board would, from time to time,shut off the power, to make sure that the space-car was not falling toward a body directlyin its line of flight. when half the distance had been covered, thebar was reversed, the travelers holding an impromptu ceremony as the great vessel spunaround its center through an angle of one
hundred and eighty degrees. a few days laterthe observers began to recognize some of the fixed stars in familiar constellations andknew that the yellowish-white star directly in their line of flight was the sun of theirown solar system. after a time they saw that their course, instead of being directly towardthat rapidly-brightening star, was bearing upon a barely visible star a little to oneside of it. pointing their most powerful telescope toward that point of light, crane made outa planet, half of its disk shining brightly. the girls hastened to peer through the telescope,and they grew excited as they made out the familiar outlines of the continents and oceansupon the lighted portion of the disk. it was not long until these outlines wereplainly visible to the unaided vision. the
earth appeared as a great, softly shining,greenish half-moon, with parts of its surface obscured by fleecy wisps of cloud, and withits two gleaming ice-caps making of its poles two brilliant areas of white. the returningwanderers stared at their own world with their hearts in their throats as crane, who wasat the board, increased the retarding force sufficiently to assure himself that they wouldnot be traveling too fast to land upon the earth. after dorothy and margaret had gone to preparea meal, duquesne turned to seaton. "have you gentlemen decided what you intendto do with me?" "no. we haven't discussed it yet. i can'tmake up my own mind what i want to do to you,
except that i sure would like to get you insidea square ring with four-ounce gloves on. you have been of too much real assistance on thistrip for us to see you hanged, as you deserve. on the other hand, you are altogether toomuch of a thorough-going scoundrel for us to let you go free. you see the fix we arein. what would you suggest?" "nothing," replied duquesne calmly. "as iam in no danger whatever of hanging, nothing you can say on that score affects me in theleast. as for freeing me, you may do as you please-it makes no difference to me, oneway or the other, as no jail can hold me for a day. i can say, however, that while i havemade a fortune on this trip, so that i do not have to associate further with steel unlessit is to my interest to do so, i may nevertheless
find it desirable at some future time to establisha monopoly of x. that would, of course, necessitate the death of yourself and crane. in that event,or in case any other difference should arise between us, this whole affair will be as thoughit had never existed. it will have no weight either way, whether or not you try to hangme." "go as far as you like," seaton answered cheerfully."if we're not a match for you and your gang, on foot or in the air, in body or in mind,we'll deserve whatever we get. we can outrun you, outjump you, throw you down, or lickyou; we can run faster, hit harder, dive deeper, and come up dryer, than you can. we'll playany game you want to deal, whenever you want to deal it; for fun, money, chalk, or marbles."
his brow darkened in anger as a thought struckhim, and the steady gray eyes bored into the unflinching black ones as he continued, withno trace of his former levity in his voice: "but listen to this. anything goes as faras martin and i personally are concerned. but i want you to know that i could be arrestedfor what i think of you as a man; and if any of your little schemes touch dottie or peggyin any way, shape or form, i'll kill you as i would a snake-or rather, i'll take youapart as i would any other piece of scientific apparatus. this isn't a threat, it's a promise.get me?" "perfectly. good-night." for many hours the earth had been obscuredby clouds, so that the pilot had only a general
idea of what part of the world was beneaththem, but as they dropped rapidly downward into the twilight zone, the clouds partedand they saw that they were directly over the panama canal. seaton allowed the skylarkto fall to within ten miles of the ground, when he stopped so that martin could get hisbearings and calculate the course to washington, which would be in total darkness before theirarrival. duquesne had retired, cold and reticent asusual. glancing quickly about his cabin to make sure that he had overlooked nothing hecould take with him, he opened a locker, exposing to view four suits which he had made in hisspare time, each adapted to a particular method of escape from the skylark. the one he selectedwas of heavy canvas, braced with steel netting,
equipped with helmet and air-tanks, and attachedto a strong, heavy parachute. he put it on, tested all its parts, and made his way unobservedto one of the doors in the lower part of the vessel. thus, when the chance for escape came,he was ready for it. as the skylark paused over the isthmus, his lips parted in a sardonicsmile. he opened the door and stepped out into the air, closing the door behind himas he fell. the neutral color of the parachute was lost in the gathering twilight a few secondsafter he left the vessel. the course laid, seaton turned almost duenorth and the skylark tore through the air. after a short time, when half the ground hadbeen covered, seaton spoke suddenly. "forgot about duquesne, mart. we'd betteriron him, hadn't we? then we'll decide whether
we want to keep him or turn him loose." "i will go fetch him," replied crane, andturned to the stairs. he returned shortly, with the news of theflight of the captive. "hm ... he must have made himself a parachute.i didn't think even he would tackle a sixty-thousand-foot drop. i'll tell the world that he sure hasestablished a record. i can't say i'm sorry that he got away, though. we can get him againany time we want him, anyway, as that little object-compass in my drawer is still lookingright at him," said seaton. "i think he earned his liberty," declareddorothy, stoutly, and margaret added: "he deserves to be shot, but i'm glad he'sgone. he gives me the shivers."
at the end of the calculated time they sawthe lights of a large city beneath them, and crane's fingers clenched upon seaton's armas he pointed downward. there were the landing-lights of crane field, seven peculiarly-arrangedsearchlights throwing their mighty beams upward into the night. "nine weeks, dick," he said, unsteadily, "andshiro would have kept them burning nine years if necessary." the skylark dropped easily to the ground infront of the testing shed and the wanderers leaped out, to be greeted by the half-hystericaljap. shiro's ready vocabulary of peculiar but sonorous words failed him completely,and he bent himself double in a bow, his yellow
face wreathed in the widest possible smile.crane, one arm around his wife, seized shiro's hand and wrung it in silence. seaton sweptdorothy off her feet, pressing her slender form against his powerful body. her arms tightenedabout his neck as they kissed each other fervently and he whispered in her ear: "sweetheart wife, isn't it great to be backon our good old earth again?"