he floor as Loah checked the speed
of the flying projectile and the little ship crept slowly up into the
room where first he had seen it.

The first that he noticed was the absence of the roar. The _jana_
drifted slowly to one side, and Loah let it come to rest upon the
floor. Staring from the open door, Rawson saw the same familiar red
walls and floor and the black opening of the shaft from which they had
come. But the reverberating roar of the great organ-pipe was gone. He
knew that the air, for the greater part, was driving on past through
the upper shaft that was now open. The way was clear for them to
ascend. He turned to the girl.

* * * * *

"If my figures are right, it's some thirteen hundred miles from here
on. How did you get up there before?"

Loah pointed to the passage where the _jana_, on that other excursion,
had been hidden. "We went through there," she said, "taking the _jana_
with us. We went up many miles through a great crack, but it was not
straight; we had to go carefully till another passage opened through
to the shaft far above where it was sealed."

"And the mole-men never found it?"

"Oh, yes," said Loah, "they must have known of the crack, but they did
not know where it led. Its air was bad--a gas that choked; one could
not breathe it and live. But in our little _jana_ we were safe. They
could not use theirs; it was too large. Besides, only the priests came
down. They had their Lake of Fire, where they did horrible things.
They did not know that the shaft began again below."

"O. K.," said Rawson, and closed the door.

"But I wish to get out," Loah protested, "to gather more of the Oro.
We may need more, should we return."

"We will never need it," Rawson spoke softly. "From the time we left
Gor we had just twenty-four hours to live. We must go on, and go
fast."

* * * * *

They had no way of measuring time, and Rawson could only guess at the
hours that passed while their little ship tore swiftly upward through
the dark. He wondered if the occasional shrill shriek that followed
the touching of their metal guides on the glassy walls could be heard
up above.

Then, at last, Loah was driving the _jana_ slowly while she held her
light so it would shine through a window. Rawson had to restrain
himself to keep from pacing the little room like a caged animal while
the precious minutes slipped by. Now that the enemy was near