s of oxygen and
nitrogen were merged with others, and that meant an atmosphere unfit
for human lungs! There had been a fumerole where yellowish vapor was
spouting; he remembered it now.

"So!" boomed Schwartzmann, and now his squinting eyes were full on
Chet. "You--you _schwein!_ You said when we opened the ports there
would be a surprise! Und this iss it! You thought to see us kill
ourselves!"

"Open the port!" he shouted. The men who held Chet released him and
sprang forward to obey. The pilot, Max, took their place. He put one
hand on Chet's shoulder, while his other hand brought up a
threatening, metal bar.

Schwartzmann's heavy face had lost its stolid look; it was alive with
rage. He thrust his head forward to glare at the men, while he stood
firmly, his feet far apart, two heavy fists on his hips. He whirled
abruptly and caught Diane by one arm. He pulled her roughly to him and
encircled the girl's trim figure with one huge arm.

"Put you _all_ on one island?" he shouted. "Did you think I would put
you _all_ out of the ship? You"--he pointed at Harkness--"and
you"--this time it was Chet--"go out now. You can die in your damned
gas that you expected would kill me! But, you fools, you
imbeciles--Mam'selle, she stays with me!" The struggling girl was
helpless in the great arm that drew her close.

Harkness' mad rage gave place to a dead stillness. From bloodless lips
in a chalk-white face he spat out one sentence:

"Take your filthy hands off her--now--or I'll--"

Schwartzmann's one free hand still held the pistol. He raised it with
deadly deliberation; it came level with Harkness' unflinching eyes.

"Yes?" said Schwartzmann. "You will do--what?"

* * * * *

Chet saw the deadly tableau. He knew with a conviction that gripped
his heart that here was the end. Walt would die and he would be next.
Diane would be left defenseless.... The flashing thought that followed
came to him as sharply as the crack of any pistol. It seemed to burst
inside his brain, to lift him with some dynamic power of its own and
project him into action.

He threw himself sideways from under the pilot's hand, out from
beneath the heavy metal bar--and he whirled, as he leaped, to face the
man. One lean, brown hand clenched to a fist that started a long
swing from somewhere near his knees; it shot upward to crash beneath
the pilot's out-thrust jaw and lift him from the floor. Max had aimed
the bar in a