on Earth, when we reach it,
we may discover the secret of Luar--and know far more about Dalis than
we have ever known before!"

Jaska merely smiled her inscrutable smile, and did not answer. By
intuition, she already knew. Let Sarka arrive at her conclusion by
scientific methods if he desired, and she would simply smile anew.

Sarka thought of the manner in which Jaska and he had been transported
to the Moon; of how much Dalis seemed to know of the secrets of the
laboratory of the Sarkas. Might he not have known, two centuries ago, of
the Secret Exit Dome, and somehow managed to make use of it in some
ghastly experiment? And still the one question remained unanswered: Who
was Luar?

* * * * *

The Earth was now so close that details were plainly seen. The Himalayas
were out of sight, over the Earth, and by a mental command Sarka managed
to change slightly the course of the dozen aircars. By passing over the
curve of the Earth at a high altitude, he hoped also to see from above
something of the result of the strange aerial bombardment of which his
father had spoken.

In their flight, which had been, to them a flight through the glories of
a super-heavenly Universe, they had lost all count of time. Neither
Sarka nor Jaska, nor yet the people in those other aircars, could have
told how long they had been flying, when, coming over the curve of the
Earth, at an elevation of something like three miles, they were able at
last to see into the area which had once housed the Gens of Dalis.

A gasp of horror escaped the lips of Sarka and of Jaska.

The Gens of Dalis had occupied all the territory northward to the Pole,
from a line drawn east and west through the southernmost of what had
once been the Hawaiian Islands. Upon this area had struck the strange
blue light from the deep Cone of the Moon.

Here, however, the light was invisible, and Sarka flew on in fear that
somehow his aircars would blunder into it, and be destroyed--for that
the blue light was an agent of ghastly destruction became instantly
apparent.

* * * * *

The dwellings of the Gens of Dalis were broken and smashed into chaotic
ruins. Over all the area, and even into the area of the Gens southward
of that which had been Dalis, the blind gods of destruction had
practically made a clean sweep. Sarka had opportunity to thank God that,
at the time the blue column had struck the Earth, it had s