the head-high wall that was the edge of the plate.
"Here--I'll stand on your shoulders, and then give you an arm up. Look
out--it's slippery!"

It was. Their feet slid out from under them on the glazed surface
repeatedly. It was with the utmost effort that they finally made their
way to the center of the shallow plateau.

There, lying beside two heaps of coarse cloth and a mound of
horrible-smelling stuff that he recognized as the dab of termite-paste,
they saw two glistening steel bars. About five feet long, they seemed to
be, and half an inch in diameter. The wire-ends which, a few moments
ago, they had been forced to handle with tweezers for fear of losing!

Jim picked one up and drew it back for a pretended spear-thrust. He
laughed, vibrantly, eagerly.

"I'm just beginning to realize it's really happened, and that the hunt
has started. Bring on your bugs!"

Dennis stooped and picked up his spear. It was unwieldy, ponderous, the
weight of that long, not-too-thin steel bar. Jim's great shoulders and
heavy arms were suited well enough to such a weapon; but Dennis could
have wished that his were some pounds lighter.

They turned their attention to the evil-smelling hill of
termite-ointment. With many grimaces, they took turns in smearing each
other from head to feet with the repulsive stuff. Then they knotted
about them the yard-square pieces of fabric--once sheer silk gauze, now
cloth as stiff and cumbersome as sail-cloth. They faced each other,
ready for their trip.

The heavens above them, trailing up and up into mysterious darknesses,
suddenly became closer and sparkled with a diamond sheen. Stretching off
and up out of sight was a mountainous column that might conceivably be a
wrist.

"Matt's looking at us through a magnifying glass," concluded Denny.

* * * * *

Abruptly the ridged bad-lands about them began to vibrate. Thunder
crashed and roared around their ears.

"He's trying to say something to us," said Denny, when the awful din had
ceased. "Oh, Matt--we're ready to go!"

Jim echoed his shout. Then Denny snorted. "Fools! Our voices are
probably pitched way above the limit of audibility. He can't hear us any
more than we can understand him!"

They gazed at each other. More than anything else that had happened,
this showed them how entirely they were cut off from their old world.
Truly, in discarding their normal size, they might as well have been
marooned on anot