r Income Tax Trial. $200,000
Bail Forfeited." The second headline was in smaller type: "Monster
Lizard Killed! Giant Meat Eater Brought Down by Rifleman. Akin to
Ancient Dinosaurs, Say Scientists."

* * * * *

"Jacaro's missing," said Denham harshly. "This article says he's
vanished, and with him a dozen of his most prominent gunmen. You know
he had a model catapult to duplicate--the one he got from you. Von
Holtz could arrange the construction of a big Tube for him. And he
knew about the Golden City. Look!"

His finger, trembling, tapped on the flashlight picture of the giant
lizard of which the story told. And it was a giant. A rope had upheld
a colossal, leering, reptilian head while men with rifles posed
self-consciously beside the dead creature. It was as big as a horse,
and at first glance its kinship to the extinct dinosaurs of Earth was
plain. Huge teeth in sharklike rows. A long, trailing tail. But there
was a collar about the beast-thing's neck.

"It had killed and was devouring a cow when they shot it," said Denham
bitterly. "There've been reports of these creatures for days--so the
news story says. They weren't printed because nobody believed them.
But there are a couple of people missing. A searching party was
hunting for them. They found this!"

Tommy Reames stared at the picture. His face went grimmer still. He
thought of sounds he had heard beyond the Tube, not long since.

"There's no question where they came from. The Fifth Dimension. But if
Jacaro brought them back, he's a fool."

"Jacaro's missing," said Denham savagely. "Don't you understand? He
could get through to the Golden City. These beast-things are proof
somebody did. And these things came down the Tube that somebody
travelled through. Jacaro wouldn't send them, but somebody did.
They've got collars around their necks! Who sent them? And why?"

* * * * *

Tommy's eyes narrowed.

"If civilized men found the mouth of a Tube, it would seem like the
mouth of an artificial tunnel or a cave--"

"And if annoying vermin, like Jacaro's gunmen"--Denham's voice was
brittle--"had come out of it, why, intelligent men might send
something living and deadly down it, as men on Earth will send ferrets
down a rat-hole! To wipe out the breed! That's what's happened!
Jacaro's gone through and attacked the Golden City. They've found his
Tube. And they've sent these things down...."

"If