_we_ found rats coming from a rat-hole," said Tommy very quietly,
"and ferrets went down and didn't come up, we'd gas them."

"And so," Denham told him, "so would the Golden City."

He pointed to a boxed double paragraph news story under leaded
twenty-point headline: "Poisonous Fog Kills Wild Life."

The story was not alarming. It said merely that state game wardens had
found numerous dead game animals in a thinly-settled district near
Coltsville, N.Y., and on investigation had found a bank of mist, all
of half a mile across, which seemed to have caused the trouble. State
chemists and biologists were investigating the phenomenon. Curiously,
the bank of mist seemed not to dissipate in a normal fashion. Samples
of the fog were being analyzed. It was probably akin to the Belgian
fogs which on several occasions had caused much loss of life. The mist
was especially interesting because in sunlight it displayed prismatic
colorings. State troopers were warning the inhabitants of the
neighborhood.

"The gassing's started," said Denham savagely. "I know a gas that
shows rainbow colors. The Golden City uses it. So we've got to find
Jacaro's Tube and seal it, or only God knows what will come out of it
next. I'm going off, Tommy. You and Smithers guard our Tube. Blow it
up, if necessary. It's dangerous. I'll get some authority in Albany,
and we'll find Jacaro's Tube and blast it shut."

Tommy nodded, his eyes keen and thoughtful. Denham hurried out.

* * * * *

Minutes later, only, they heard the roar of a car motor going down the
long lane away from the laboratory. Evelyn tried to smile at Tommy.

"It seems terrible, dangerous."

Tommy considered and shrugged.

"This news is old," he observed. "This paper was printed last night. I
think I'll make a couple of long-distance calls. If the Golden City's
had trouble with Jacaro, it's going to make things bad for us."

He swept his eyes about and frowningly loaded a light rifle. He put it
convenient to Evelyn's hand and made for the dwelling-house and the
telephone. It was odd that as he emerged into the open air, the
familiar smells of Earth struck his nostrils as strange and
unaccustomed. The laboratory was redolent of the tree-fern forest into
which the Tube extended. And Smithers was watching amid those dank,
incredible carboniferous-period growths now.

Tommy put through calls, seeing all his and Denham's plans for a
peaceful exploration