ard, and
never again will he hold a ship like 'twas in the hollow of his hand,
and him settin' it down like a feather!

"And: 'Fly back home!' he says to me. I can do it, too; thanks to his
teachin'. But fly back and leave that bhoy in the hands of those
murderin' devils!--'tis little he knows the Irish!"

He was talking half under his breath, murmuring to himself as if it
helped him to see clearly the situation that must be faced.

"But to get to him--that's the trouble. I saw a big door go shut in that
stone floor. They're cunnin', clever beasts; I'll say that for 'em. And
there was a raft of 'em; and plenty more down in hell where they live,
I've no doubt."

He moved forward on the ball-control, and the great ship swept like a
silvery shadow through the night toward the distant, lighted crater rim.
This he could see clearly, but the other side of the ring of mountains
was black with shadow.

And, far out beyond, spread like a cloud over all the desolate world,
was blackness. Spud drove the ship up another five thousand feet, and
still that darkness spread out in inky pools where only an occasional
mountain peak caught the flat rays of the sun.

* * * * *

And what had Chet called these dark areas? "Lake of Dreams" and "Lake of
Death." Spud's superstitious mind was a-quiver with dread and an
ominous premonition to which the empty, frozen wastes below him gave
added force.

"I'll have to wait," he told himself. "The light of the Moon--I mean the
Earth--is bright, but not bright enough. I'll just wait till the Sun
climbs higher. When it shines down into that hole that is the gateway to
hell--and well I know it--then I can see what is there. Then, maybe, I
can find some way to get inside; and I hope the lad lives till I get
there."

He circled back; swept down in a long, leisurely flight, and came again
to the place of gently sloping rock where Chet had first landed. And he
searched till he found the identical spot and laid the ship down on a
level keel.

Far away the Sun was gilding the hard outlines of mountains that ringed
them in. Spud did not know how long he must wait. Had he realized that
it must be a matter of days it is probable he would have donned the
metal suit and started out. But instead he busied himself in a careful
investigation of the storeroom and a check-up of ammunition and supplies
that were there.

* * * * *

The lunar d