ift over
that crater, and we'll have a look-see!"

Spud O'Malley's face was glum as he obeyed. Spud had seen nothing but
death in this place of horror--Chet had observed that plainly--yet it
was equally plain that the Irish pilot was finding the order to live in
safety a bitter dose. But Spud knew how to take orders; he lifted the
little ball gently and swung the ship out toward the blackness of that
deeper pit.

Chet was watching the changing terrain. He saw the place of
solid-spouted rock end; saw it flatten out to an undulating surface that
had rolled and heaved itself into many-colored shapes. Even in the
earthlight the kaleidoscopic colors were vivid in their changing reds
and blues and yellow sheens. Then this surface sloped sharply away,
though here it was rough with broken rock where half-hardened lava,
coughed from that throat, had fallen back and adhered to the molten
sides.

This rock in the inner crater was gray, pale and ghostly in the
earthlight. It went down and still down where Chet's eyes could not
follow--down to an utter blackness. Chet was staring speculatively at
that waiting dark when the first flash came.

Blindingly keen! A flash of white light!--another and another! It
blazed dazzlingly into their cabin in vivid dashes and dots--the same
signal as before was being repeated!

* * * * *

A hundred yards away was a little shelf of rock. Chet jerked at
O'Malley's shoulder with his metal-cased hand and pointed. "Set her
down!" he ordered "Let me out there! We can't put the ship down where
those lights are; the throat is too narrow; there may be air-currents
that would smash us on a sharp rock. I'll go down! You wait! I'll be
back."

He was opening the inner door of the entrance port. Another closure in
the outer shell made an air-lock. He took time for one grip at the hand
of Spud O'Malley, one grin of excited, adventurous joy that wrinkled
about his eyes behind the window of his helmet--then he picked up a
detonite pistol, examined again its charge of tiny shells, jammed it
firmly into the holster at his waist and swung the big door shut behind
him.

And Pilot O'Malley watched him go with a premonition that he dared not
speak. He heard the closing of the outer door; saw the tall, slender
figure in a metal suit like a knight of old as Chet waved once, settled
the oxygen tank across his shoulders and picked his way carefully over a
waste of shattered stone th