"Yes. Think of it! I visioned godlike creatures with the souls of gods.
But, Heaven help us, man always will be man: always will lust for
conquest. You and I, Northwood, and all others are barbarians to Adam.
He and his kind will do what men always do to barbarians--conquer and
kill."

"Are there more like him?" Northwood struggled with a smile of unbelief.

"I don't know. I did not know that Adam had reached a point so near the
ultimate. But you have seen. Already he is able to set aside what we
call natural laws."

Northwood looked at the scientist closely. The man was surely mad--mad
in this desert of white death.

"Come!" he said cheerfully. "Let's build an Eskimo snow house. We can
live on penguins for days. And who knows what may rescue us?"

For three hours the two worked at cutting ice blocks. With snow for
mortar, they built a crude shelter which enabled them to rest out of the
cold breath of the spiral polar winds that blew from the south.

* * * * *

Dr. Mundson was sitting at the door of their hut, moodily pulling at his
strong, black pipe. As though a fit had seized him, he leaped up and let
his pipe fall to the ice.

"Look!" he shouted. "The sun-ship!"

It seemed but a moment before the tiny speck on the horizon had swept
overhead, a silver comet on the grayish-blue polar sky. In another
moment it had swooped down, eaglewise, scarcely fifty feet from the ice
hut.

Dr. Mundson and Northwood ran forward. From the metal sphere stepped the
stranger of the Mad Hatter Club. His tall, straight form, erect and
slim, swung toward them over the ice.

"Adam!" shouted Dr. Mundson. "What does this mean? How dare you!"

Adam's laugh was like the happy demonstration of a boy. "So? You think
you still are master? You think I returned because I reverenced you
yet?" Hate shot viciously through the freezing blue eyes. "You worm of
the Black Age!"

Northwood shuddered. He had heard those strange words addressed to
himself scarcely more than twelve hours ago.

Adam was still speaking: "With a thought I could annihilate you where
you are standing. But I have use for you. Get in." He swept his hand to
the sun-ship.

Both men hesitated. Then Northwood strode forward until he was within
three feet of Adam. They stood thus, eyeing each other, two splendid
beings, one blond as a Viking, the other dark and vital.

"Just what is your game?" demanded Northwood.

The icy eyes shot for