red
the outlines he had seen from the air and led the way where, if no
better concealment could be found, the ocean waited with promise of rest
and release from their inhuman captors.

They counted on an hour's start--it would be that long before their
jailer would come with their morning meal and give the alarm--and now
they went swiftly and silently through the stillness of a strange world.
The air that flicked misty-wet across their faces was heavy and heady
with the perfume of night-blooming plants. Crimson blossoms flung wide
their odorous petals, and the first golden light was filtered through
tremendous tree-growths of pale lavenders and grays to show as unreal
colors in the vegetation close about them.

* * * * *

They found no guards; the isolation of this island made the land itself
their prison, and the men ran at full speed through every open space,
knowing as they ran that there was no refuge for them--only the ocean
waiting at the last. But their flight was not unobserved.

A great bird rose screaming from a tangle of vines; its heavy, flapping
wings flashed red against the pale trees. A pandemonium of shrieking
cries echoed its alarm as other birds took flight; the forest about them
was in an uproar of harsh cries. And faintly, from far in the rear, came
a babel of shrill calls--weird, inhuman!--the voices of the men-things
of Venus.

"It's all off," said McGuire sharply; "they'll be on our trail now!" He
plunged through where the trees were more open, and Sykes was beside him
as they ran with a burst of speed toward a hilltop beyond.

They paused, panting, upon the crest. A wide expanse of foliage in
delicate shadings swept out before them to wave gently in a sea of color
under the morning breeze, and beyond was another sea that beckoned with
white breakers on a rocky shore.

"The ocean!" gasped Sykes, and pointed a trembling hand toward their
goal. "But--I had no idea--that suicide--was--such hard work!"

The tall figure of Lieutenant McGuire turned to the shorter, breathless
man, and he gripped hard at one of his hands.

"Sykes," he said, "I'll never get another chance to say it--but you're
one good scout!... Come on!"

* * * * *

McGuire fought to force his way through jungle growth, while screaming
birds marked where they went. The sounds of their pursuers were close
behind them when the two tore their way through the last sna