astily. "If there are
things in it with which we can compromise, I would suggest that we do
not offend them."

"I am, then, empowered to act for all of you," said Fragoni, ignoring
the suggestion of Stanton.

* * * * *

He rose from his chair and walked out on the terrace. The others
followed after him.

Looking westward, they saw the mammoth craft descending slowly in their
direction.

Its vast dimensions became more and more apparent as, spellbound, they
watched it approach closer and closer to them.

The thing in the sky was now not more than three thousand feet above
them and only a few miles to the westward.

The observers on the terrace regarded it for a moment in silence as it
drifted forward and downward.

"It's colossal!" Steinholt then exclaimed, lost in scientific admiration
of the mammoth craft. "Magnificent! Superb!"

"But it's coming right toward us!" cried Stanton.

"What makes it move, I wonder?" asked Dirk. "And how in the world is it
controlled?"

"It surely is not of this world," said Fragoni quietly. "That gigantic
thing has come to us from somewhere out of the infinite and terrible
depths of space."

* * * * *

Another minute elapsed while they watched it, speechless with wonder.

"Do you know," Lazarre then said calmly, "I believe that it is going to
land in the waters of the Sound. It appears so to me, anyway."

It was nearly opposite them by this time, and not more than a thousand
feet above the water. A few planes which, very apparently, were being
flown by intrepid and fearless flyers, were hovering close around it.

Then finally it came to rest, as Lazarre had predicted, in the water
some two miles off shore, and it was obscured by a great cloud of vapor
for several minutes.

"Steam," asserted Steinholt. "That trip around the world, which it made
in a few minutes, generated considerable frictional heat in the shell."

"Come," said Fragoni, "we'll fly out and look the thing over."

Around the corner of the building, on the level of the terrace, there
was a landing stage which was occupied by a number of planes of various
sizes.

Dirk entered the door of a small twenty passenger speedster, and the
others filed in after him.

"Ready?" he asked, after he had seated himself at the controls.

"Ready!" replied Fragoni.

The plane rose straight up into the air and then darted gracefully out
over the Sound.