aglow with soft light,
and it echoed in his ears with music unmistakably real--beautiful
music!--exhilarating! But the clamor of welcoming voices, like the
words from their tall companion, came soundlessly to him.

* * * * *

There were people, throngs of them, waiting. Tall like the others,
garbed, like those horrible beings of a past that seemed distant and
remote, in loose garments of radiant colors. And everywhere were
welcoming smiles and warm and friendly glances.

McGuire let his dazed eyes roam around to find the sculptured walls of
a huge room like a tremendous cave. The soft glow of light was
everywhere, and it brought out the beauty of flowing lines and
delicate colors in statuary and bas-relief that adorned the walls.
Behind him the water made a dark pool, and from it projected the upper
works of their strange craft.

His eyes were hungry for these new sights, but he turned with Sykes to
follow their guide through the colorful crowd that parted to let them
through. They passed under a carved archway and found themselves in
another and greater room.

But was it a room? McGuire marveled at its tremendous size. His eyes
took in the smooth green of a grassy lawn, the flowers and plants, and
then they followed where the hand of Sykes was pointing. The
astronomer gripped McGuire's arm in a numbing clutch; his other hand
was raised above.

"The stars," he said. "The clouds are gone; it is night!"

And where he pointed was a vault of black velvet. Deep hues of blue
seemed blended with it, and far in its depths were the old familiar
star-groups of the skies. "Ah!" the scientist breathed, "the
beautiful, friendly stars!"

Their guide waited; then, "Come," he urged gently, and led them toward
a lake whose unruffled glassy surface mirrored the stars above. Beside
it a man was waiting to receive them.

McGuire had to force his eyes away from the unreal beauty of opal
walls like the fairy structures they had seen. There was color
everywhere that blended and fused to make glorious harmony that was
pure joy to the eyes.

* * * * *

The man who waited was young. He stood erect, his face like that of a
Grecian statue, and his robe was blazing with the flash of jewels.
Beside him was a girl, tall and slender, and sweetly serious of face.
Like the man, her garments were lovely with jeweled iridescence, and
now McGuire saw that the throng within the va