th a gleam like lightning. "I needn't tell you, of
course, but I may as well let you suffer over the knowledge." He curled
his lips with superb scorn. "I have one human weakness. I want Athalia."
The icy eyes warmed for a fleeting second. "She is anticipating her
meeting with you--bah! The taste of these women of the Black Age! I
could kill you, of course; but that would only inflame her. And so I
take you to her, thrust you down her throat. When she sees you, she will
fly to me." He spread his magnificent chest.

"Adam!" Dr. Mundson's face was dark with anger. "What of Eve?"

"Who are you to question my actions? What a fool you were to let me,
whom you forced into life thousands of years too soon, grow more
powerful than you! Before I am through with all of you petty creatures
of the Black Age, you will call me more terrible than your Jehovah! For
see what you have called forth from unborn time."

He vanished.

* * * * *

Before the startled men could recover from the shock of it, the vibrant,
too-new voice went on:

"I am sorry for you, Mundson, because, like you, I need specimens for my
experiments. What a splendid specimen you will be!" His laugh was ugly
with significance. "Get in, worms!"

Unseen hands cuffed and pushed them into the sun-ship.

Inside, Dr. Mundson stumbled to the control room, white and drawn of
face, his great brain seemingly paralyzed by the catastrophe.

"You needn't attempt tricks," went on the voice. "I am watching you
both. You cannot even hide your thoughts from me."

And thus began the strange continuation of the journey. Not once, in
that wild half-hour's rush over the polar ice clouds, did they see Adam.
They saw and heard only the weird signs of his presence: a puffing cigar
hanging in midair, a glass of water swinging to unseen lips, a ghostly
voice hurling threats and insults at them.

Once the scientist whispered: "Don't cross him; it is useless. John
Northwood, you'll have to fight a demigod for your woman!"

Because of the terrific speed of the sun-ship, Northwood could
distinguish nothing of the topographical details below. At the end of
half-an-hour, the scientist slowed enough to point out a tall range of
snow-covered mountains, over which hovered a play of colored lights like
the _aurora australis_.

"Behind those mountains," he said, "is our destination."

* * * * *

Almost in a moment, the sun-shi