hanisms. The mutual interest,
which had begun as a purely financial relationship, had long since
become a close personal friendship.

As Arcot stepped from his speedster, he called immediately to his
father, telling of their find, the light-matter plate.

"I'll need a handling machine to move it. I'll be right back." He ran to
the elevator and dropped quickly to the heavy machinery lab on the lower
floor. In a short time he returned with a tractor-like machine equipped
with a small derrick, designed to get its power from the electric mains.
He ran the machine over to the ship. The others looked up as they heard
the rumble and hum of its powerful motor. From the crane dangled a
strong electro-magnet.

"What's that for?" asked Wade, pointing to the magnet. "You don't expect
this to be magnetic, do you?"

"Wait and see!" laughed Arcot, maneuvering the handling machine into
position. One of the others made contact with the power line, and the
crane reached into the ship, lowering the magnet to the plate of
crystal. Then Arcot turned the power into the lifting motor. The hum
rose swiftly in volume and pitch till the full load began to strain the
cables. The motor whined with full power, the cables vibrating under the
tension. The machine pulled steadily, until, to Arcot's surprise, the
rear end of the machine rose abruptly from the floor, tipping forward.

"Well--it _was_ magnetic, but how did you know?" asked the surprised
Wade. Since the ship was made of the Venerian metal, coronium, which was
only slightly magnetic, the plate was obviously the magnet's only load.

"Never mind. I'll tell you later. Get an I-beam, say about twenty feet
long, and see if you can't help lift that crazy mass. I think we ought
to manage it that way."

And so it proved. With two of them straddling the I-beam, the leverage
was great enough to pull the plate out. Running it over to the elevator,
they lowered the heavy mass, disconnected the cable, and rode down to
Arcot's laboratory. Again the I-beam and handling machine were brought
into play, and the plate was unloaded from the car. The five men
gathered around the amazing souvenir from another world.

"I'm with Wade in wondering how you knew the plate was magnetic, son,"
commented the elder Arcot. "I can accept your explanation that the stuff
is a kind of matter made of light, but I know you too well to think it
was just a lucky guess. How did you know?"

"It really was pretty much of