s--like them and yet entirely unlike. For, where the black-winged
ones had been ugly of feature, with every mark of degeneracy, these were
the ultimate of loveliness in face and form. Figures of men he saw,
stalwart and strong, yet perfectly proportioned; and the others--the
women and girls--were superhuman in their ethereal beauty.

"Angels!" breathed Chet and turned his head slowly to see the exquisite
figures that seemed hovering above the whole vast room in silent
benediction. "Angels--no less! And they're carved from stone! Those
black devils never did it. What does it mean? What does it mean!"

And not until then did Chet realize a wonderful thing. So enthralled had
he been by the wonder of this hovering angel band he had not realized
that he was seeing them with no helmet glass between; he was lying
disrobed on his couch of pure gold.

* * * * *

For an instant, panic seized him. Without his helmet and the oxygen
supply, he must strangle. And then he knew that he was breathing
naturally in an atmosphere like that of Earth but for the strange
fragrances that swept to him on the soft, warm air.

He came slowly to his feet and steadied himself with one hand on the
scrollwork of the bed. Then memories rushed in upon him, and he lived
again the long, sickening fall through the heart of this world, the
finding of the girl of mystery, hung like himself in the immensity of
the inner world, their capture; and the band of black-winged ones who
swung them through space in nets that drew tightly about them.

The girl! Again he saw the clear look from those eyes of blue. It was
she who had signaled; it was she whom he had come through vast space to
rescue. And now she was lost!

Chet stared slowly about him at the magnificence of the tremendous room.
He saw more delicate figures done in inlay on the walls; he knew that he
was in a place whose beauty and wealth should have set his nerves
tingling; and all he sensed was the loneliness of this place where he
was the only living occupant.

* * * * *

He found his Earth-clothes beside the golden couch. He had put them on
and was examining the suit and helmet to learn with relief that they
were intact when the first sound came to him. From an arched entrance
across the room were coming shuffling figures whose black wings were
wrapped about their chalk-white bodies. Only their pallid faces showed,
ghastly and in