eet flew in darkness.

* * * * *

The flight above the jungle would have been awe-inspiring at another
time. There were the stars above, nearer and brighter than those of
Earth. There was no Milky Way in the firmament of this universe. The
stars were separate and fewer in number. There was no moon. And below
there was only utter, unrelieved darkness, from which now and again
beast-sounds arose. They were clearly audible on board the silent air
fleet. Roarings, bellowings, and hoarse screamings. Once the ships
passed above a tumult as of unthinkable monsters in deadly battle,
when for an instant the very clashing of monstrous jaws was audible
and a hissing sound which seemed filled with deadly hate.

Then lights--few of them, and dim ones. Then blazing fires--Ragged
Men, camped without the walls of Rahn or in some gold-walled courtyard
where the jungle thrust greedy, invading green tentacles. The air
fleet circled noiselessly in a huge batlike cloud. Then things came
racing from the darkness, down below, and there was a tumult and a
shouting, and presently the hilarious, insanely gleeful uproar of the
Ragged Men. Tommy's face went gray. These were the escaped prisoners,
arrived actually after the air fleet which was to demand the return of
their captives.

Tommy wet his lips and spoke grimly to his pilot. There were six men
and many Death-Mist bombs in his ship. He was asking if communication
could be had with the other ships. It was wise to let Rahn know at
once that avengers lurked overhead for the captives just delivered
there.

For answer, a green signal-beam shot out. It wavered here and there.
Tommy commanded again. And as the signal-beam flickered, he somehow
sensed the obedience of the invisible ships about him. They were
sweeping off to right and left. Bombs of the Death Mist were dropping
in the darkness. Even in the starlight, Tommy could see great walls of
pale vapor building themselves up above the jungle. And a sudden
confused noise of yapping defiance and raging hatred came up from the
city of Rahn. But before dawn came there was no other sign that their
presence was known.

* * * * *

The ornithopters came squeaking and rattling in their heavy flight
just as the dull-red sun of this world peered above the horizon. The
tree-fern fronds waved languidly in the morning breeze. The walls and
towers of Rahn gleamed bright gold, in parts, and