ad simply appeared in a flash, with its mighty towers soaring
up to the sky, as soon as he stepped over the outer line of the arch.
Whatever it was that held the place invisible from outside, it had
ceased to function for him as soon as he came within the limits of the
outer surface of the walls. Glancing back, he saw that his companions
were still staring blankly at the spot he had just quitted. They were
evidently unable to see either him or any part of the city.

"It's all right, Steve!" he shouted. "Just hold everybody there till I
come back."

Doors of heavily carved glass slid noiselessly out of recesses within
the wall to close the gate through which Gerry had just entered. The
arch in which he stood was inside the thickness of the wall, faced with
white marble, inlaid with designs in gold. Ahead, he could see a broad
avenue that ran from the gateway down through the center of the city. It
was tree lined and pleasant, thronged with people. Flowers grew in
little plots in front of the gold and white houses. Small furry animals,
dogs, were evidently kept as pets. They drowsed on the doorsteps or
scampered about the neat gardens.

Half a dozen men were standing around Gerry, within the arch of the
gate. They were slight in stature though wiry, with heads a little
larger than normal and exceptionally high foreheads. Their skin bore a
tawny tinge, similar to that of the Amazons of Savissa. Two of them, who
immediately took up posts just inside the glass portals of the gate,
wore a semi-military uniform that included a gilded helmet. The others
wore white cotton tunics and high leather shoes. It suddenly struck
Gerry that this was the first place on Venus that he had visited where
the majority of the citizens did not go heavily armed at all times.
Perhaps it was a good omen.

One of the men stepped forward, a bearded and gray-haired man who bore a
gold-tipped staff.

"I am Gool, chairman of the Council of Elders of Moorn," he said in the
deep voice that Gerry had heard outside. "The Council has decided to see
you at once. You are the first outsider who has been permitted to enter
the city of Moorn--White Queen of the Outer Isles--in countless
generations. It would not have been permitted even now if you had been a
man of this planet. Come with me."

* * * * *

They went up a flight of steps and climbed into a metal car that hung
from an overhead rail supported by columns along the