he other hand, I've no active reason to hate you,
at present. It may be that I can use you.

"Meanwhile we've got a longish journey before us, ten thousand years
more, multiplied by the fourth power of two thousand miles. Seems
simple? Well, I had to invent the mathematical process for it. Reckon
in the gravitational attraction of the planets, and you'll begin to
get an idea of the complexity of it. So, in vulgar parlance, we're not
likely to arrive till morning."

He glanced at Lucille, who was still lying unconscious with Jim's arm
about her. Then his eyes rose to meet Jim's, and a sneering smile
played about his lips. That smile was the acknowledgment of their
rivalry for the girl's affections. And it was more--it was a
challenge.

Tode welcomed that rivalry because, Jim could see, he meant to keep
him alive under conditions of servitude, to demonstrate to Lucille his
superiority.

Tode turned his thumbscrews, and the two thuds resounded. The violet
column sank down, the boat vibrated, the level stretch of land became
a blur again. The moon and stars vanished. Once more the four were off
on that terrific journey.

* * * * *

At first they seemed to be traversing space that was shot through by
alternate light and darkness, so that at times Jim could see the other
occupants of the boat clearly, while at other times there was only
Tode visible at the instrument board, with the dark outlines of the
Drilgo, Cain, sprawled at his feet. But soon these streaks seemed to
come closer and closer together, until the duration of each was only a
fraction of a second. And closer, until light and darkness blended
into a universal gray. These, Jim knew, were the alternations of night
and day.

They were traveling--incredible as it was--in time as well as space,
though whether backward or forward Jim could not know. From the
presence of the Neanderthal man, however, Jim was convinced that Tode
was taking them back more thousands of years, into the beginnings of
humanity.

A fearful journey! A madder journey than Jim could have conceived of,
had he not been a participant in it. He was losing all sense of
reality. He was hardly convinced that he would not awaken in New York,
to discover that the whole episode had been a dream.

Was this Lucille, the girl he loved ... with whom he had dined in New
York only a day or two before ... this unconscious form, stretched out
on the deck of the weird sh