a question. But I'm going after him."

The red-headed man scrutinized him exhaustively.

"Um. I might try that myself. I kinda like the Professor. An' Miss
Evelyn. My name's Smithers. Let's go look through the dinkus the
Professor made."

They went together into the laboratory. Von Holtz was looking through
the dimensoscope. He started back as they entered, and looked acutely
uneasy when he saw the red-headed man.

"How do you do," he said nervously. "They--the Ragged Men--have just
brought in a dead man. But it is not the Herr Professor."

Without a word, Tommy took the brass tube in his hand. Von Holtz moved
away, biting his lips. Tommy stared into that strange other world.

* * * * *

The steel sphere lay as before, slightly askew upon a bank of glossy
ferns. But its glass windows were shattered, and fragments of
everything it had contained were scattered about. The Ragged Men had
made a camp and built a fire. Some of them were roasting meat--the
huge limb of a monstrous animal with a scaly, reptilian hide. Others
were engaged in vehement argument over the body of one of their
number, lying sprawled out upon the ground.

Tommy spoke without moving his eyes from the eyepiece.

"I saw Denham with a club just now. This man was killed by a club."

The Ragged Men in the other world debated acrimoniously. One of them
pointed to the dead man's belt, and spread out his hands. Something
was missing from the body. Tommy saw, now, three or four other men
with objects that looked rather like policemen's truncheons, save that
they were made of glittering metal. They were plainly weapons. Denham,
then, was armed--if he could understand how the weapon was used.

The Ragged Men debated, and presently their dispute attracted the
attention of a man with a huge black beard. He rose from where he sat
gnawing at a piece of meat and moved grandly toward the disputatious
group. They parted at his approach, but a single member continued the
debate against even the bearded giant. The bearded one plucked the
glittering truncheon from his belt. The disputatious one gasped in
fear and flung himself desperately forward. But the bearded man kept
the truncheon pointed steadily.... The man who assailed him staggered,
reached close enough to strike a single blow, and collapsed. The
bearded man pointed the metal truncheon at him as he lay upon the
ground. He heaved convulsively, and was still.

The bearde