destinies in his lean, inhuman hands!--but they turned abruptly
away to look again above them where that bright star still shone through
an opening in the clouds.

"The earth! Home!" It seemed as if they could never tear their eyes away
from the sight.

Their captor whistled an order, and the guard of four tugged vainly at
the two, who resisted that they might gaze upon their own world until
the closing clouds should blot it from sight. A cry from one of the red
guards roused them.

The dark was closing in fast, and their surroundings were dim. Vaguely,
McGuire felt more than saw one of the red figures whirled into the air.
He sensed a movement in the jungle darkness where were groves of weird
trees and the tangle of huge vegetable growths. What it was he could not
say, but he felt the guard who clutched at him quiver in terror.

Their leader snatched at the instrument that hung about his neck and put
it to his lips; he whistled an order, sharp and shrill. Blazing light
that seemed to flame in the air was the response; the air was aglow with
an all-pervading brilliance like that in the car that had whirled them
from the landing field. The light was everywhere, and the building
before them was surrounded by a dazzling envelope of luminosity.

Whatever of motion or menace there had been ceased abruptly. Their
guard, three now in number instead of four, seized them roughly and
hustled them toward an open door. No time, as they passed, for more than
fleeting impressions: a hall of warm, glowing light--a passage that
branched off--and, at the end, a room into which they were thrown, while
a metal door clanged behind them.

* * * * *

These were no gentle hands that hurled the men staggering through the
doorway, and Professor Sykes fell headlong upon the glassy floor. He
sprang to his feet, his face aflame with anger. "The miserable beasts!"
he shouted.

"Take it easy," admonished the flyer. "We're in the hoose-gow; no use of
getting all fussed up if they don't behave like perfect gentlemen.

"There's a bunk in the corner," he said, and pointed to a woven hammock
that was covered with soft cloths; "and here's another that I can sling.
Twin beds! What more do you want?"

He opened a door and the splash of falling water came to them. A
fountain cascaded to the ceiling to fall splashing upon a floor of
inlaid, glassy tile. McGuire whistled.

"Room and bath," he said. "And you complaine