with those eyes staring from an insect's head, and Smithers
killed it in a flash of nerve-racked horror. None of them were able to
go on with their work until the thing and its fascinated, staring eyes
had been put out of sight. Then they labored on with the smell of the
jungles of that unnamed planet thick about them, and noises now and
then coming down the Tube. There were roars, and growlings, and once
there was a thin high sound which seemed like the far-distant,
death-startled scream of a man.

CHAPTER II

_The Death Mist_

Tommy Reames saw the red sun rise while he was on guard at the mouth
of the Tube. The tree-ferns above him came into view as vague gray
outlines. The many-colored stars grew pale. And presently a bit of
crimson light peeped through the jungle somewhere. It moved along the
horizon and very slowly grew higher. For a moment, Tommy saw the huge,
dull-red ball that was the sun of this alien planet. Queer mosses took
form and color in the daylight, displaying colors never seen on Earth.
He saw flying things dart among the tree-fern fronds, and some were
scaled and some were not, but none of them were feathered.

Then a tiny buzzing noise. The telephone that now rested below the lip
of the Tube was being used from the laboratory.

"Smithers will relieve you," said Denham's voice in the receiver.
"Come on down. We're not the only people experimenting with the Fifth
Dimension. Jacaro's been working, and all hell's loose!"

Tommy slid down the Tube in an instant. The four right-angled turns
made him sick and dizzy again, but he came out with his jaw set
grimly. There was good reason for Tommy's interest in Jacaro. Besides
sides three bullet wounds, Tommy owed Jacaro something for stealing
the first model Tube.

He emerged in the laboratory on his hands and knees as the size of the
Tube made necessary. Smithers smiled placidly at him and crawled in to
take his place.

"What the devil happened?" demanded Tommy.

Denham was bitter. He held a newspaper before him. Evelyn had brought
coffee and the morning paper to the laboratory. She seemed rather
pale.

"Jacaro's gotten through too!" snapped Denham. "He's gotten in a pack
of trouble. And he's loosed the devil on Earth. Here--look!" He jabbed
his finger at one headline. "And here--and here!" He thrust at others.
"Here's proof."

The first headline read: "KING JACARO FORFEITS BOND." Smaller headings
beneath it read: "Racketeer Missing fo