lutched. Between her and the
fin there was just room for Maskull. He grasped the two flanks with his
outer hands; his third, new arm pressed against Oceaxe's back, and for
additional security he was compelled to encircle her waist with it.

Directly he did so, he realised that he had been tricked, and that this
ride had been planned for one purpose only--to inflame his desires.

The third arm possessed a function of its own, of which hitherto he had
been ignorant. It was a developed magn. But the stream of love which
was communicated to it was no longer pure and noble--it was boiling,
passionate, and torturing. He gritted his teeth, and kept quiet, but
Oceaxe had not plotted the adventure to remain unconscious of his
feelings. She looked around, with a golden, triumphant smile. "The ride
will last some time, so hold on well!" Her voice was soft like a flute,
but rather malicious.

Maskull grinned, and said nothing. He dared not remove his arm.

The shrowk straddled on to its legs. It jerked itself forward, and rose
slowly and uncouthly in the air. They began to paddle upward toward
the painted cliffs. The motion was swaying, rocking, and sickening; the
contact of the brute's slimy skin was disgusting. All this, however, was
merely, background to Maskull, as he sat there with closed eyes, holding
on to Oceaxe. In the front and centre of his consciousness was the
knowledge that he was gripping a fair woman, and that her flesh was
responding to his touch like a lovely harp.

They climbed up and up. He opened his eyes, and ventured to look around
him. By this time they were already level with the top of the outer
rampart of precipices. There now came in sight a wild archipelago of
islands, with jagged outlines, emerging from a sea of air. The islands
were mountain summits; or, more accurately speaking, the country was a
high tableland, fissured everywhere by narrow and apparently bottomless
cracks. These cracks were in some cases like canals, in others like
lakes, in others merely holes in the ground, closed in all round. The
perpendicular sides of the islands--that is, the upper, visible parts
of the innumerable cliff faces--were of bare rock, gaudily coloured; but
the level surfaces were a tangle of wild plant life. The taller
trees alone were distinguishable from the shrowk's back. They were
of different shapes, and did not look ancient; they were slender and
swaying but did not appear very graceful; they looked toug