Once a week do this Invigorates scalp . . . CHECKS DANDRUFF WHENEVER you wash most people do it once ; on the set Then massage r several minuteV will be simply delighted g t of cleanness and scalp follows this treatment. Moreover, it is unquestionably one of the best treatments for dandruff— to prevent n and to overcome it once it has started. Many hundreds of people weekly shampoo, their scalp feels better, their hair looks more from loose and is Of course, if dandruff does get a start, it v be necessary to repeat 'the Listerine I. systematically for several days,"* using a olive oil in conjunction with it if the s is excessively dry Listerine checks ^dandruff because it attacks, infection that causes it, removes and r*~ the particles of loose dandruff and soothes the scalp. C IU1U US Ultt Listerine a L | S T E R. I N E Pharmaca! Company, have told us that since mak- ing Listerine a part of the Louis, Mo., U. S. A. kills 200,000,000 germs in i5 seconds named servieo/rnen are needed by : ■ad nuumfacturerel GOOD 1 JOBS are open In all branches, of Radio, where aaahned man easily earn ISO to $100 per week and even mOOO ay par jobs an plentiful. BIG MONEY far b rare- time Radio Work le easily made in every city end village. You can now qualify far this Big-Pay work quickly through R.T.1. Get the Big Money Now end go up and up in thia Hi,: psy field. The Radio industry calla for More Men, and R. T. L Buppliea what the industry wants yea to know. ■pervlaed by R.T. L training in prepared and supervised by prominent men In radio, television and talking picture engineering ;dia tribut- ing; aalee- manufacturing; broadcast- big, etc These men know what you roost know to make money in Radio. You learn easily in spare time at home with the R. T. 1. wonderful combination TwllngOotfiu.l'artJi.Work Sheets, JobTiekets. It U easy, quick ancf ■ii— covers thing In ~ Bfif. . Pictures THE MEN who get bito thia Big-Money ' field now will have an unlimited future. Why? Bacai dustry is only a few years o4d and ia growinar by leapa and bounds* Get In and grow v lL $10 to |2& per week and more ia easily n aringfor on " ng new money -making field. 1 ■3inl"" in spare noun while you are preparing for Bio* Money. TELEVISION, too; will aeon be on the market, m the leaden say. Be ready for thia Warning " home- training frivea yon all dfa d velopments in Television and TaJklna-ncrirre Equip- ment, together with toe complete Radio training;. feU T.I. Book NowFREH The thriDaaf story of Radio, Takrrbdoa end Talkbai Flctnrai bt told with b undr eds' of pic- tures and tacts — (Uhon- drede of Die money J°b» and span tinw rnoney- mek big upuur tun 1 uj i h eie. B f os* your copy 1 b? yoa are ■._ - to make $10 or I than yon are now. Most R. T.I. msn wQI make that moth laereaao after a few weeks. There Is no reason to stop sbortof the Big lloney Jobs or tbs Bbj Prom* m a spare time ' " time bnmeas of your o»q. si needed. Get started with T. I. now. Males money wUle you learn at home. and the R. T. I ary Board Help Voir Twenty yean Radio ex- perience. First to es- tablish two-way ama- teur communication with Europe. Former Traf. Mgr. of American RsdJo Relay League. Lieut. Com. U.8.N.R. luTtnlor. designer, con- Milting Radio engineer. Assisting him Is the R.T. I. AdTlsory Board, c ii m posed A) f men ■ p rem- Inritt In the Radio In- 'lililry. Thenomenknow llsdio and will kelp you succeed In their field. TELEVISION D«at. 144 ct isstm t^T™»DVISORy BOARD^Ttaesemen are eiecnliTes with Important'" lgg ridjo industry — mamifarturing, wltn, service, brnsdcaaLinv. flaml^iSoos. 7 sapmiae K ' T - " orh - Mheets, Job Tickets, and "a, t. Mm RADIO A TELEVISION INSTITUTE Dept. 144, MOSSt-AnthoayCourt.Ciiicai Free and prepaid your BIG BOO —Tune In On BiK Pay"andtuli details of your three-in-one H..moTrainine (without obli«at- numninany way). I Name- i. State . Please mention Newsstand Ghoup — Men's List, when answering advertisements W. M. CLAYTON, i, P ahRaiaje On Sat\e the First Thursday of Each Month HABIT RATES, Mtor DOUGLAS K- DOLD. The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees: TNal fh» Marin taarala ui lalanrtJ aa, virtdi bj leadlaa writer* ef the jay mmi j— jn it aader •eadlUaae «ppruT,a by the Aaihara* Lugo* of AaenWai an aMaofaeiarad la Uaioa aheae by ua ...I aj^jt T*ar aaafa aawadajlar aad agaai U laeared a fair anil 1 Y^^V. That aa ialeluaaai Meeiealp aaaaae their edrertlauaj paa, vfY The ether Car/tea wiiailaei an ST AOE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES. FIVE-NOVELS *1 MONTHLY, TIDE WORLD ADVENTURES, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, FLYEE& • ! RANCELAND LOVE STORY MACAZINE, SKY-H1CR LIBRARY MACAZINL I WESTERN ADVENTURES, MISS 1930, aaa* FOREST AND STREAM More Than Two M^llian Copies RegnJrtd tt Snpply tke Monthly Demand for Claflom Mngatinet. VOL. II, No. I CONTENTS A-RIL, 1»U COVER DESIGN j H. W. WBSSOLOWSKI Painted im Water-colors from a Sent* in "Monitors of Moyen." THB MAN WHO wis DBAD j THOMAS H. KNIGHT As lorry's Eyos [Foil on Ik* Creature's Hood, Ho Sknddered—for the Fact Was Nothing ' bnt Bon*, with Dnll-broam Sktm SlreUked Ttat over It. A Skeleton That Was AUotl MONSTERS Of' MOYEN x ARTHUR J. BURKS "The Western World Shall be Nentr Was the Dread Ullimatnm of Ike Half-monster, Half-god Miyen. VAMPIRES OF VEN^IS ANTHONY PELCHER Leslie Larner, jn Entomologist Borrowed from tke Earlk, Pits Himself Against Ike Nigkl-flyiug [Vampires That Art Raooglng Ike Inkabilanls of Venns. HRIGANDS OF tHEjMOON RAY CUMMINGS 0*1 of Awful Space Tnmbled Ikt Space-snip Planelara Towards Ike Moon, Her Ofuers Deaf, Willi Bandits at Her Helm— and tke Controls Oat of Order I THE SOUL-SNATCHBR TOM CURRY From Twenty MVes Away Slabbed Ike "Atom-filtering" Rays to Allen Baker in His Cell in Ike Death Honse. THB BAY OF MADNESS CAPTAIN S. P. MEEK Dr. Bird V meters a Dastardly Plot, A mas tag in its Meckantead Ingennity, Behind Ike Apparently Trivial Ey% Trouble of the President. THE READERS' CONNER ALL OF US A Meeting Place] for Readers of Asltsmdlng Stories. 101 111 127 S Lag la Copra*, 20 Cant i lamed monthly by PubUi drat : Nathan Goldmann. New York, under Act of NewiatajBd Group — Men'i York ; or EU North "" YaaxlT SnUcrrptiori, $100 (In Canada, 25 Csnta) rf Mail Corporation. §0 Lafayette 8t. New Tort N. T. W. H. ChraUi n._Pra a : Applleatton for entry at nB*ond-claaj maO pending at the Wat 1 h I. 1879. Title ritaUnd ai a Trade Mark In the U. 8. Pmteat OOoe. ManM For adrertuaruT rata oddr-n E. B. Cenan a Co. ba. It VandertUt Aw-. Hen Ave.. Chicago. gEAD this Important Mv3 the Today t fetal to* Coupon before tfn too UtaUt protect yourself tfaLnrt the chance* of fate pick inr jou out u lla aext victim. UffliiiJ Old— I Exdaeive Health wl Accident luuruu Compur in Antrics. (Urr drncf 5q*raim of 40 State /aurora P fp o rt— i b. , E STABLISHED OVER 43 YEARS. M31 AMERICAN ACCIDENT INSURANCE CO. 408 WaJUch Bid*., Nemrk, New Jersey. I North AvwrfeiD AedoWlM«r«o» Co. [ca&J North AwcriciB AcdoWItt«r*ace Co. 405 WalUcb Bid*-. Newark, N. J. Okntlesien : At no rant to me tend copy of roar iMwklel "Cub or yyuipalby." Name— AGENTS i nled for New Territovr* Address- City Please mention Newsstand Group — Men's List, when answering advertisements genuln* late model ifnderwoWd for the nianu* facturer'* i+gotar price — and oo caay terms besldek Buy direct at a paving of over $C0.j -<- U a 4ill'ilied lUnJjT.I Umlrrvool »Ltl> Lowest Price Ever Offered Wilnfc of It— « genuine njo.lfl Underwood iBerlaUy reduced $39.90 (Cub). Send rmly |1. dr;u<«. Ind., mMM ■ it.tr Electrical Experts Are in Big Demand I Will TkhnYbu at Dome To Fill a Big Pay Job* It's a shame for yon to earn $15 to $20 or 930 a week when In the same six days as an Electrical Expert so many other men are making $60 to $100 and. do It easier and not work half so hard. Why then should you remain In small paj r ime. In. a lint of work that offers no chance, no bieV promotion, no bits incomcT) Fit yourself for real job In the bis « Be an Electrical Expert Get Into this Fine Paying Work No Today even the money — bin; mot who is picked Jobs— the jobs Today even the ordinary electrician— the "screw driver" kind— Is making ^'^ money. But It's the trained majn— the "'Electrical Eapert^— the ordinary Electricians— to boas .CO to $100' a* Week. Work up to ona of these "Big Jobs." Start by enrol I ins now Tor my easily learned, quickly grasped, right up-to-th i of Experience No Drawback Tea don't have to be a College Man: you don't have a ™ ~ B«i or My Course in Electricity is simple, thoroush Graduate. I know exactly the need, and I will give you that ssd complete,! and offers every man rcxardlcss. of ane. ••station, or previous experience the chance lOf. become "Efcxtrkal Expert," at a good salary and so to the /mm Uffoogh quick promotion. •fci Worfctaaj Outfit s-No Extra Ckxrae *jth you do practical work— at home. You start n*4t In siter your -first few lessons to work at your Xwmion In the regular way and make extra money tjjwir spare. lime. For (this you need tools, and I • to BW six complete outfits. or T« me. am J that you can learn Electricity— n aurc i I that after studyjnir with me, you. too. can ml o Ua "ll! money" clans in electrical work, that I .V B mo "'>'" c,a »» i" electrical wort, that •me in to return every single penny »W lo me In tuition. If when you have finished my »»«. you arc not satisfied it was the best Invest- r'Z.' 0 °,.JI" r m * dc - k » ck »' «»la aurecment stands atw million dollar institution, thus assuring to every a»Jt» enrolled, not only a wonderful training in Elcc- "Wi mt an unsurpassed Student Service as well. I nute, Spare-Time Home Study Course — now. Got Started Now— Mall Coupon I want to send you my Electrical Book and other valuable material' on electricity. These cost you nothing and you'll enjoy them. Make the start today for a bright future In electricity. Send in Coupon — Now, I* L. Cooke, Chief Instruction Engineer L. U COOKE SCHOOL OF ELECTRICITY 31 fO Lawrence Avenue Dept. 144 Chicago, III. FCtC Lesson^if/Book Coupon t. L. COOKE, Dept. 144 • 2150 Lawrence Ave., Chicago, 111. Send me at once your big free book and particu- lars of your home-rtudy course in Electricity, m- cludinc your outfit, employment service and other features. I • * * Name ' Address .' City State JlieCo okeTrained Man is the "BigPay'Ma?i Please mention Ne < Group— Men's List, when answering^dvertiscments To those who think Learning Music is hard- — — — , J a * > I % / / J / 'J I'm I'm * m /f] V 1 1 1 1 1 1 i ! 1 fi A < B n c 11 ( I PERHAPS you think that taking iT music lessons is like taking a dose of medicine. It isn't any lungerf As far as you're concerned, the old days of" long practice hours with their horrid scales, hard-work exercises, and expensive personal teachers' fees are okrer and done with. You have no excises — no alibis whatsoever for not making your start towards musical good times no^.' / For. through a mcth >d that removes the boredom and cxtrava ;ance from mimi- cal i' ■ :■. >, you can dc w learn to play your favorite instrument entirely at home — without a private tea* her — in half the usual • ::■.(-> ..r a fraction of the usual ■ COit. jut: imagine ... a nethod that has maJc the reacting and slaying of music co downright simple th t vkj don't have to kno n one note from another i o begin. U Do you -wonder th^t thu remarkable way Af learning muiic haj already been vouched for by over t half-million people in ajl parts of the Easy A» rid: Can Bo The lenoni come to v br mail from the fnr U. S. School of Mi TY.cy consist of compk^ printed instructions, dia- grams, and all the musf teed. You a iralle. One you are learning a _". waltz— the nen you Piano Or tan Ukulele Cornet Trombont Piccolo Guitar Hawaiian Steel G Sisht Singlrtf Piano Accordion Italian and German Accordion* Vale* and S pe«ch Culture Harmony and Composition' Drums and Trap* Automatic Fine*' Control Banjo (Plectrum. 3- Strinfl or Tonor) mastering a stirring march, the lessons continue they prove easier and easier. For instead of >ust scales you are always learning to play by actual notes the classic fa- vorites and the latest syncopation that formerly you only listened to. And you're never in hot water. First, you arc fe-Id how a thing is done. Then a picture ihtfiti you how, then you do it yoursejf and hear it. No private teacher could make it clearer or easier. Soon when your friends say "please .•play something." you can surprise and entertain them with pleasing melodies on your favorite instrument. You'll find yourself in the spotlight — popular every- where. Life at last will have its silver lining and lonely hours will vanish as- you play the "bfuej" away. New Friends Better Timea -,If you're tired of doing the heavy lrot- ink-on at .patties — if always listening to oftsers play has almost spoiled the pleasu : of music for you — if you've been envious because they could entertain their friends ind family— if learning music has always been one of those never* tO'Comc-true dreams, let the time-proven and tested bomestudy method 1 of the' U. S. School of Music come to your rescue. Don't be afraid to be- gin your lessons at once. Over half a mi 11 ions. people ay id found easy as A-B-C. Forget that old-fashioned idea that you need special "talent." Just' read the list of instruments in the panel, decide which one you want to play, and the V. S. School of Music will do the rest. And bear in mind no matter which insuument you Pick Your Instrument Violin Clarinet Fluts Saxophone Harp Mandolin 'Olio choose, the cost in each case will arena the same — just a few cents a day. ' No matter whether you are a mere beginner or already a good performer, you wiO be interested in Teaming about this new wi wonderful method. Send for Our Free Book tod Demonstration Lesson Our wonderful illustrated Free Book sad our Free Demonstration Lesson eazltfa all about this remarkable method. Ther prove juat how anyone can learn to play bis favorite instrument by note in abut no time and for just a fraction of vast old slow methods cost. The booklet will also tell you all about the amazing new Automatic Finger Central. Read the list of instruments to the left, 'decide which you want to play, and tat V. S. School of Music will do the reat. Act NOW. Clip and mail this coupoo today, and the fascinating Free Book mi Free Demonstration Lesson will be atof to you at once. No obligation. lajtnv rnents supplied when needed, each of fcredit. U. S. School \>f Music, J6M Brunswick Bldg.. New York City. u: S. SCHOOL OF MUSIC ^ ^ 36S4 Brunswick Dldg., Hew York CHy Pie*** nenri mo your free- book. '' Ma*' ■ ns In Your Own Home." with sjtrr- tluctloo by I>r. Frank Crane, r-rot Doav orwtratlon s>**son Bftd part leulani _c*_lt« < Mother/jV- I ,ar- guedjnney'd guy meJto death if I dfovt sit in with the gang to-night. They'd chaff me because it was too cold for me to get out. But I'm no pampered sissy, you know, and I want to see — 11 "Yea," she retorted bitingly, "I know. You want to go and bask in that ele- gant company. Our stove's just as good 10 ASTOUNDING STORIES aa the one down at that dirty old store," contini ed my persistent and anxious parent, "and it's certainly not very nattering to think th3t you leave us a' night like' this to— Who'll be there, anyway?" "Oh, the usual five or six I suppose," I answered as! I adjusted the wick of my lantern, hairing as I did the snarl and cut of> the wind through the ever- green's in. the j'ard. "That black-whiskered sphinx, Ham- mersly, will he be there?" "Yes, hell b^ there, I'm pretty sure." "Hm-mt" she exclaimed, her expres- sion now carry' all the contempt for my judgment and taste she intended it should. "Button your coat ud good around your neck, then, if you must go to see your precious Hammersly and the rest of them. Have you ever heard that man say anything yet? Does he speak at all, Jerry?" Then her gentle mind, not at all accustomed to hard thoughts or contemptuous remarks, quickly changed. "Funny thing about that fellow," Bhe mused. "He's got something on his mind. Don't you think so, Jerry?" "Y-es, yes "\ do. And I've ■often won- dered what it could be. He certainty's a queer stick. t Cot to admit that. Al- ways brooding, Good fellow ail right, and, for a 'sph|nx* as you call him, lik- able. But I Wonder what is eating him?" "What do you suppose if could be, Jerry boy?" questioned mother follow- ing me to the door, the woman of her now completely forgetting her recent criticisms and, perhaps, the rough night her son was about to step into. "Do you suppose the poor chap has a — a — broken heart, or something like that? A girl: somewhere who jilted him?. Or maybe he loves someone he jhas no right to!" she finished excit- edly, the plates in her hand rattling. "Maybe it's Worse than that," I ven- tured. "P'r'aps — I've no right to say it •—but p'r'aps, and I've often thought it, there's a killing he wants to forget, and can't I" I HEARD my mother's sharp little "Oh I" as I shut the door behind me and the warmtii and comfort of the room away. Outside it was worse than the whistle of the wind through' the ^ trees had led me to expect. Black as pitch it was, and as cold as blazes. For the first moment! or two, though, I liked the feel of the challenge of the night and the racing elements, was even a little glad I had added to the dare of the blackness the thought of Hammer- sly and his "killing."' B ut I had not gone far before I was wishing I did not have to save my face by putting in an appearance at the store that night. Every Saturday night, with the cows comfortable in their warm bam, and my own supper over, I was in the habit of taking my place on the keg or \px behind the red-hot stove in Pruett'a store. To-night all the snow was be- ing hurled dear of the fields to block the roads full between the old, zigzag fences. Th,e wind met me in great pushing gusts, and while it flung itself at me I would hang against it, snow to my kness, until the blow had gone along, when I could plunge forward again. I was glad when I saw the lights of the store, glad when I was inside. They met me jwith mock applause for my pluck in facing the night, but for all their sham flattery I was pleased I had come, proud, I must admit, that I had been able to! plough my heavy way through the drifts to reach them. I saw at a glance that my friends were all there, and I saw too that there was a strange man present. AVERY tall man he was, gaunt and awkward as He leaned into the angle of the. two counters, his back to a dusty show-case. He attracted my attention at once. Not merely because he appeared so long and pointed and skinny, but because, of all ridiculous things in that frozen country, he wore a hard derby hat! If he had not been such a queer character it would have THE MAN WHO WAS DEAD 11 been laughable, but aa it waa It waa — creepy. For the man beneath that hard hat was about aa queer a looking char- acter as I have ever seen. I supposed he was a visitor at the store, or a friend of one of my friends, and thaj in a lit- tle while I would be introduced. But I was not. I took my place in behind the stove, feeling at once, though I am far from being unsociable usually, that the man was an intruder and would spoil the evening. But Respite his cold, dam- pening presence we were soon at it, hammer and tongs, discussing the things that are discussed behind hos- pitable stoves in country stores on bad nights. But I could never lose sight of the fact that the stranger standing there, silent as the grave, was,, to say the least, a queer one. Before long I was sure he was no friend or guest of anyone there, and that he not only cast a pall over me but over all of us. I did not like it, nor did I like him. Per- haps it would have been just as well after all, I thought, had I heeded my mother and stayed home. Jed Counsell waa the one who, inno- cently enough, started the thing that changed the evening, that had begun so badly, into a nightmare. ■ "Jerry," he said, leaning across to me, "thinkin' of you s'afternoon. Readin' an article about reincarnation. Remember we were axguin' it last week? Well, this guy, whoever he was I've forgot, believes in it. Say it's so. That people do come back." With this opening shot Jed sat back to await my answer. I liked these arguments and I liked to bear my share in them, but now, instead of immediately answer- ing the challenge, I looked around to see if any other of our circle were go- ing to answer Jed. Then, deciding it was up to me, I shrugged off the strange feeling the man in the corner had cast over me, and prepared to view my opinions. "That's just that fellow's belief, Jed," I said. "And just aa he's got his so have I mine. And on this subject at least I claim my opinion is as good as anybody's." I was just getting nicely started, and a little forgetting my dispute for the man in the corner, when the fellow himself interrupted. He left his leaning place and came creaking across the floor to our circle around.' the stove. I say he came "creaking" for as he came he did creak. "Shoes," I naturally; almost uncon- sciously decided, though the crazy no- tion was in my mind that the cracking I heard did sound like bones and joints and sinews badly in need of oil. The stranger sat his groaning self down among us, on a board lying across a nail keg and an 'old chair. Only from the corner of my eye did I see his movement, being friendly enough, de- spite, my dislike, not to allow too marked notice ,of his attempt to be sociable seem inhospitable on my part. I was about to start again witfi my argument when Seth Spears, sitting closest to the newcomer, deliberately got up from the bench and went to the counter, telling Pruett as he went that he had to have some sugar. It was all a farc% a pretext^ knew. I've known Seth for years and had never known him before to take upon himself the buying for his wife's kitchen. Seth simply would not sit be- side the man. AT that I could keep my eyes from the stranger no longer,' and the next moment I felt my heart turn over within me, then lie still. I have seen "walking skeletons" in circuses, but never, such a man as the one who was then sitting at my right hand. Those side-show men were just lean in com- parison to the fellow who had invaded our Saturday night club. His thighs and his legs and his knees, sticking sharply into his trousers, looked like pieces of inch board. His shoulders and his chest seemed as flat and 'as sharp as his legs.. The sight of the man shocked me. I sprang to my feet thoroughly frightened. I could not see much of his face, sitting there in 12 j ASTOUNDING STORIES the dark as he was with his back to the yellow light, but I could make out enough of it to know that it was in keeping with the rest of him. In a moment or two, realizing my^ childishness, I had fought .down my fear and, pretending that a scorching of my leg had caused my hurried move- ment, I sat down again. None of the others said a word, each waiting for me to con til ue and to break the em- barrassing silence. Hammersly, black- whiskered, the "sphinx" as my mother had called liim, watched me closely. Hating myself not a little bit for actu- -aHv being the sissy I had boasted I was not, I spoke hurriedly, loudly, to cover my confusion. "No sir, Jed I" I said, taking up my argument. 'lWhen a man's dead, he's dead! There's no bringing him back like that highbrow claimed. The old heart may be only hitting about once in every hundred times, and if they catch it right at the last stroke they may* bring it back then, but once she's stopped, Jedj she's stopped for good. Once the pulse has gone, and life has flickered out; it's out. And it doesn't come back in any form at all, not in this world 1" I was glad when I had said it, there- by asserting myself and downing my foolish fear of the man whose eyes I felt burning into me. I did not turn to look at him but all the While I felt his gimlety eyes digging into my brain. Then 7 he spoke. And though he sat right next to me his voice sounded like a moan from afar off. It was the first time we had heard this thing that once may have been a voice and that now Bounded like a groan from a closely nailed coffin. He reached a hand to- word my knee to enforce his words, but Si jerked away. "So you don't believe a man can come back from the grave, eh?" he grated. "Believe that once a man's heart is stilled it's stopped for good, eh? Well, you're all wrong, sonny. All wrong I You believe these things. I know themT HIS interference, his condescen- sion, htB whole hate fulness an- gered me. I could now no krager con- trol my feelings. "Oh I You Jrnow, do you?" I sneered. "On such a sub- ject as this you're entitled to know, are you? Don't make me laugh I" I fin- ished insultingly. I was aroused. And I'm a big fellow, with no reason to fear ordinary men. "Yes, I know I" came back his echo- ing, scratching voice. "How do you know? Maybe you've been—?" *Yes, I havel" he answered, his voice* breaking to a! squeak. "Take a good look >at me, gentlemen. A good look." He knew now! that he held the center of the stage, that the moment was his. Slowly he raised an arm to remove that ridiculous hat. Again I jumped to my feet. For as ; his coat sleeve slipped down his forearm I saw nothing but bone supporting his hand. And the hand that theki bared his head was a skeleton hand! Slowly the hat was lifted, but as quickly as light six able- bodied men were on' their feet and half way to the door before we real- ized the cowardliness of it. We forced ourselves back inside the store very slowly, all of us rather ashamed of our ridiculous and childlike fear. But At was all enough to make the blood/curdle, with that live, dead thing sitting there by our fire. His face and skull were nothing but bone, the eyes deeply sunk into their- sockets, the dull- brown skin like parchment in its tautness, drawn and shriveled down onto the nose and jaw. There were no cheeks. Just hollows. The mouth was a sharp slit beneath the flat nose. He was hideous. \ "Come back and I'll tell you my yam," he mocked, the slit that was his mouth opening a little to show us die empty, blackened gums. "I've been dead once," he went on, getting a lot of satisfaction from the weirdness of the lie and from our fear, "and I came back. Come and sit down and I'll ex- plain why I'm this living skeleton." THE MAN WHO WAS DEAD 13 WE came back slowly, and as I did I slipped my hand into my outside pocket where I had a revolver. I put my finger vin on ^he trigger and got ready to use tne vicious little thing. I was on edge and torn to pieces completely by the sight of the man, and I doubt not that had he made ■ move towards me my frayed nerves would have plugged him full of lead. I eyed my friends. They were in no better way than was I. Fright and hor- ror stood on each face. Hammersly was worst. His 1 hands were twitching, his eyes were like bright glass, his face bleached and drawn. "I've quite a yarn to tell," went on the skeleton in his awful voice. "I've bid quite a life. A full life. I've taken my fun and my pleasure wherever I could. Maybe you'll ' call- me selfish and greedy, but I always used to be- lieve that a man only passed this way once. Just like you believe," he nod- ded to me, his neck muscles and jawB creaking. "Six years ago I came up into this country and got a job on a farm," he went on, settling into his story. "Just an ordinary job. But I liked it because the farmer had a pretty little daughter of about sixteen or sev- enteen and as easy as could be. You may not believe it, but you can still find dames green enough to fall for the right story. "This one did. I tola her I was only out there for a time for my health. That I was rich back in the city, with a fine hofie and everything. She be- lieved me. Little^fool I" He chuckled u he said |t, and my anger, mounting with his every devilish word, made the finger on the trigger in my pocket take a tighter crook to itself. "I asked her to skip with me," the droning went on, "made her a lot of great promises, and ■he fell for it." His dry jaw bones clanked and chattered as if he enjoyed the beastly recital of his achievement, while we sat. gaping at him, believing either that tne man must be mad, or that we were the mad ones, or dream- ing. '"We slipped away one night," con- tinued the beast. "Went to the city. To a punk hotel. For three weeks we stayed there. Then one morning I -told her I was going out for a shave. I was. I got the shave. But I hadn't thought it worth while to tell her I wouldn't be bpck. Well, she got back to the farm sonte way, though I don't know — " "X it THAT I" I shouted, springing VV before him. "What| You mean you left her there) After, you'd taken her, you left her I And hetiqrtu sit crowing over it I Gloating I Boast- ing 1 Why, you — I" I lived in a rough country. Associated with rough men, heard their vicious language, but sel- dom" used a strong word myself. But as I stood .over that monster, utterly bating the "beastly thing, all the vile oaths and prickly language of the coun- tryside, no doubt buried in some un- used cell in my brain, spilled from my tongue upon him. When I had lashed i him as fiercely as I was able I cried : "Why don't you come at me? Didn't you hear what I called you ? You beast I , I'd like to riddle you t" I shouted, draw- ing my gun. "Aw, sit down I" he jeered, waving his rattling hand at me. "You ain't heard a thing yet. Let me finish. Well, she got back to the farm some way or another, and something over a year later I' wandered into this coun- try again too. I never could explain just why I came back. It was not alto- gather to see the girl. Her father waa a little bit of a man and I began to remember what a meek and weak sheep he was. I got it into my head that it'd be fun to go back to his farm and rub it in. So I came. "Her father was trying out a new corn planter right at the back, door when I rounded the house and walked towards him. Then I saw, at once* that I had made atnistake. When he put his eyes on me his face went white and hard. He came, down from the seat of that machine like a flash, and took 14 ASTOUNDING STORIES hurried steps in the direction of a doublebarretled gun leaning against the woodshed. They always were troubled with hawks and kept a gun handy. But there was an ax nearer to. me than the gun was to him. I had to work fast but I made it all right. I grabbed t iat ax, jumped at him as he reached for the gun, and swung — once. . His wife, and the girl too, saw it. Then I t limed and ran." THE. gat nt brute before us slowly crossed one groaning^ knee above the other. We were all sitting again now. The p< rspiration rolled down my face. I held my gun trained upon him, and, though I now believed be was to- tally mad, bi cause of a certain ring of truth in that empty voice, I sat fas- cinated. I ooked at Seth. His jaw was hanging ; loose, his eyes bulging. Hammersly'i mouth was set in a tight clenched lin;, his eyes like fire in his blue, drawn face. I could not see the others. "The telephone caught me," contin- ued our ghiistly story-teller, "and in no time at a 1 I was convicted and the date set for the hanging. When my time was pr ;tty dose a doctor or sci- entist fellow, came to see me who said, 'Blaggett, ji lu're slated to die. How much will you sell me your body for ?' If he didn't say it that way he meant just that. And 1 said, 'Nothing. I've no one to li ave money to. What do you want wi h my body ?' And he told me, *I believ: I can bring you back to life 'and he dth, provided they don't snap your n:ck when they drop you.' 'Oh, you're one of those guys, are y ou ?' I said then, j 'All right, hop t»4t. If you can do j it I'll be much obliged. Then I can |go back on that farm and do a little more ax swinging I' " Again came hjs horrible chuckle, again I mopped my brow. "So we majde our plans," he went on, pleased with! our discomfiture and our despising of him. "Next day some ' chap came to see me, pretending he was my brother. And I carried out my part of it by cursing him at first and then begging him to give me de- cent burial. So he went away, and, I suppose, received permission to get ate right after I was cut down. "There was a fence built around the scaffold they had ready for me and the party I was about to fling, and they had some militia there, too. The crowd seemed quiet' enough till they led me out. Then their buzzing sounded like a hive of bees getting all stirred up. Then a few loud voices, then shouts. Some rocks came flying at me after that, land it looked to me as though the hanging would not be so gentle a party after all. I fell you I was afraid. I wished it was over. u nr% HE mob pushed against the X fence and flattened it out, com- ing over it like waves over a beach, The soldiers fired into the air, but still they came, and I, I ran — up onto the scaffold. It was safer I" As he said this he chuckled loudly. "I'll bet," he laughed, "that's the first time a guy ever ran into the noose for the safety of it 1 The mob came only to the foot of the scaffold though, from where they seemed satisfied to see the law take its course. The sheriff was nervous. So cut up that he only made a fling at tying my ankleB, just dropped a rope around my wrists. He was like me', he wanted to get it over, and the crowd on its way. Then he put the rope around my neck, stepped back and shot the trap. Zamm I No time for a pray- er — or for me to laugh at the offer I— or a last word or anything. "I felt the floor give, felt myself shoot through. Smack 1 My weight on the end of the rope hit me behind the ears like a mallet. Everything went black. Of course it would have been just my luck to get a broken neck out of it and give the .scientist no chance to revive me. But after a sec- ond or two, or a minute, or it could have been an hour, the blackness went away enough to allow me to know I was hanging ion the end of the rope. THE MAN WHO WAS DEAD IS kicking, fighting, choking to death. My tongue swelled, my face and head and heart and body seemed ready to burst. Slowly I went into a deep milt that I knew then was the mist, then — then — I was off floating in the sir oyer the heads of the crowd, watch- ing my own hanging t "I saw them give that slowly swing- ing carcass on the end of its rope time enough to thoroughly die, then, from my aerial, unseen watching place, I bw them cift it — me— down. They tried the pulse of the body that had been mine, they examined my staring eyes. Then I heard them pronounce me dead. The fools I I had known I wis dead for a minute or two by that time, else how could my spirit have been gone from the shell and be out lotting around over their heads?" HE paused here as hefesked his question, his head turnftg on its dry and creaking neck to include us til in his query. But none of us spoke. We were dreaming it all, of course, or were mad, we' thought. "In just a short while," went on the skeleton, "my 'brother' came driving ■lowly in for my body. With no spe- cial hurry he loaded me onto his little truck and drove easily away. But once dear of the crowd he pushed his foot down on the gas and in five more min- utes—with me hovering all the while alongside of him, mind you — floating along as though I had been a bird all my life — we turned into the driveway of a summer home. The scientific" guy met him. They carried me into the bouse, into a fine-fitted laboratory. My dead body was placed on a table, a huge knife ripped my clothes from me. "Quickly the loads from ten or a dozen hypodermic syringes were shot into different parts of my naked body. Then it was carried across the room to what looked like a large glass bot- tle, or vase, with an opening in the top. Through this door I was lowered, my body being held upright by straps in there' for that purpose. The door to the opening was then placed in position, and by means of an acetylene torch and some easily melting glass, the door was sealed tight. "So- there stood my poor old body. Ready for the experiment to bring it back to life. And as my new self floated around above the scientist and his helper I smiled to myself, for I was sure the experiment would prove a failure, even though I now knew that the sheriff's haste had. kept him from placing the rope right at my throat and had saved me a broken neck. I was dead. All that; was left of me now was my spirit, or soul. And that was swimming and floating about above their heads with not an inclination in the world to have a thing to do with the ihusk ofMhe man I could clearly see, through the glass of the bell. 'TTVHEY turned on a huge battery X. of ultra-violet rays then," con- tinued the hollow droning of the man who had been hanged, "which, as the scientist had explained to me while in prison, acting upon the contents of the syringes, by that time scattered through my who^e body, was to renew the spark of life within the dead thing hanging there. Through a tube, and by means of a valve entering the glass vase in the top, the scientist then ad- mitted a dense white gas. So thick was it that in a moment, or two my body's transparent coffin appeared to be full of a liquid as white as' milk. Electricity then revolved my cage around so that my body was insured a complete and even exposure to the rays of the green and violet lamps. And while all this silly stuff was going on, around and around the laboratpry I floated, confident of the complete failure of the whole thing, yet de- termined to see it through if for no other reason than to see the discom- fiture and disappointment that this mere man was~bound to experience. You see, I was already looking back upon earthly mortals as being inferior, and now as I waited for this proof I was 16 ASTOUNDING STORIES all the while fighting off a new urge to be going elsewhere. Something was calling me, beckoning me to be coming into the full spirit world. But I wanted to see this | wise earth guy fail." "For a little while conditions stayed the same within thar glass. So thick *ms the .liquid gas in there at first that •I could see nothing. Then it Wegan Ao clear, and I saw to my surprise that tmf-Tnilky ! gas was disappearing be- cause it was being forced in by the rays from the lights in through the pores in- to the body itself. As though my form was sucking it in like a sponge*. The scientist and his helper were tense and taut with excitement. "And suddenly my comfortable feeling left me. Until then it had seemed so smooth and velvety and peaceful drifting around over their beads, as though- lying on a soft, fleecy cloud. But now I felt a sudden squeezing of my spirit body. Then I was in an agony. Before I' knew what I was doing my spirit was dinging to the outside of that twisting glass bell, clawing to get into the body that was coming back to life I The glass now was perfectly clear of the gas, though as yet there was no sign of life in the body inside to hint to the scientist that he was to be successful. But I knew it. For I fought des- perately to break in through the glass to get back into my discarded shell of a body again, knowing I must get in or die a worse death than I had before. "Then my sharper eyes noted a slight shiver passing over the white thing before me, and the scientist must have seen it in the next second, for he sprang forward with a choking cry of delight. Then the lolling head inside lifted a bit. I — still desperately cling- ing with my spirit hands to the ou% side, and all the time growing weaker and weaker— I saw the breast of my body rise and fall. The assistant picked up a heavy steel hammer and stood ready! to crash open the glass at the right moment. Then my once dead cyeswpcned in there to look around, whiiHt digging and gasping outside, just as I had on the scaffold, went iota a deeper, darker blackness than ever. Just before my spirit life died utterly I saw the eyes of my body realize com- pletely what was going on, then — from the inside now — I saw the scientist give the signal that caused the as. sistant to crash away the glass shell with one blow of his hammer. "They reached in for me then, aad I fainted. When I came back to coo-, sciousness j was being carefully, slowly revived, and nursed back to lift by oxygen and a pulmotor." THE terrible creature telling o> this tale paused again to look around. My knees were weak, my clothes wet with sweat. "Is that all?" I asked in a piping- strange voice, half sarcastic, half un- believing, and wholly spellbound. "Just about," he answered. "Bat what do you expect? I left my friend the scientist at once, even though be did hate to see me go. It had been all right while he was so keen on the experiment himself and while he only half believed, his ability to bring me back. But now that he'd done it, it kinda worried him to think what sort of a man he was turning loose of the world again. I could Bee how he was figuring, and .because I had no idea of letting him try another experiment on me, p'r'aps ot putting me away again, I beat it in a hurry. 'That was 'five years ago. For 6ve years I've lived with only just part of •me here. Whatever it was trying to get back into that glass" just before my body came to life — my spirit, I've been calling it— I've been wiffiout. It never did get back. You See, the scientist brought me back inside a shell that kept my spirit out. That's why I'm the skeleton you Bee I am. Something- vital is missing." He stood up cracking and creaking before us, buttoning his loose coat about his angular body. "Well, boys," he asked lightly, "what do you think of that?" THE MAN WHO WAS DEAD "I think you're a liar I A damn Uirl" I cried. "And now, if you don't want me to fill you full of lead, get oat of here and get out now I If I have to do it to you, there's no scientist this time to bring you back. When you go out you'll stay out I" "Don't worry," he. grimaced back to me, waving a mass of bones that should hive been a hand contemptuously at me, "I'm going. I'm headed for Shelton." He stalked the length of the floor and shut the door behind him. The beast had gone. "The dirty liar I" I cried. "I wish — yet— I wish I had an excuse to kill him. Just think of that being loose, will you? A brute who would think up each a yam I Of course it's all absurd. All crazy. All a lie." "Ho. If s not a lie." I TURNED to see who had spoken.' Hammersly's voice was so\, un- familiar and now so- torn in addition that I could not have thought he had ■pokes, had he not been looking right at me, his glittering eyes challenging my assertion. Would wonders never cease? I asked myself. First this out- rageous yam, now Hammersly, the "sphinx," expressing an opinion, look- ing for an argument I Of course it most be that his susceptible and brood- lag brain had been turned a bit by the evening we had just experienced. "Why Hammersly I You don't be- am it?" I asked. ' "I not only believe it, Jerry, but now ifs my turn to say, as he did,- 1 know hi Jerry, old friend," he went on, that devil told the truth. He was Banged. He was brought back to life ; sad Jerry— I was that scientist!" Whew I I fell back to a box again. By knees seemed to forsake me. ' Then I heard Hammersly talking to himself. "Five years it's been," he muttered. "Five years sine*. I turned him loose again. Fiva-Syears of agony for. me, wondering what new devilish crimes he was perpetrating, wondering when k* would return to that little farm to swing his ax again. Five years — five years." He came over to me, and without a (word of explanation or to ask my per- mission he reached his hand into my pocket and drew Out my revolver^ and I did not protest. "He said he was headed far Shelton," went on Hammersly's spoken thoughts. "If I slip across the ice I can intercept him at Black's woods." Buttoning his coat closely, he followed the stranger out into the night. I WAS glad the moon had come up fof my walk home, glad too when I had the door locked and propped with a chair behind me. I undressed in the dark, not wanting any grisly, sunken-eyed monster to be looking in through the window at me. For maybe, so X thought, maybe he was after all not headed for Shelton, but perhaps planning on .another of his ghastly tricks. But in the morning we knew he had . been\going toward Shelton. Scientists, doctors, and learned men of all de- scriptions came out to our village to see the thing the papers said Si Wa- ters had stumbled upon when on his way to the creamery that next morning. It was a skeleton, they said, only that it had a' dry skin alL over it A mummy. Could not have seen con- sidered capable of containing life only that the snow around it was lightly; blotched with a pale smear that proved to be blood, that had oozed, out from the six bullet holes in the horrid' chest. 'They never did solve it. There were five of us in the store that night. Five of us who know. . Hammersly did what we all wanted to do. Of course his name is not really Hammersly, but it has done here as well aa another. He is black-whiskered though, and he is still very much of a sphinx, but hell never have to an- swer for having killed the man he once brought back to life. Hammersly's secret will go into five other graves be- sides his own. "N»w." ioU Kiwis koswttiy, i clot fly, for Go ft sakt!" Monsters of Moyen By Arthur J. Burks Foreword I N 1985 the mighty genius of Moyen gripped the Eastern world like a hand of steel. In a' matter of months he had welded the Orient into an unbeatable war-machine. He' had, through the sheer magnetism of a strange personal- ity, carried the Eastern world with him on his march to con- Th. WaUn WsrU ibaD In Ik* fad aitimaiui of tk» bilfiod Mo7«nl quest of the earth, and men followed him with blind faith as men in the past have followed the banners of the Thaumaturgists. A strange name, . to the sound of which none could assign nationality. Some said his father was a Russian refugee, his mother a Mongol woman. Some said he was the son of a Cau- casian woman lost in the Gobi and rescued by a mad 18 lama of Tibet, who became father of Moyen. Some Bald that his mother was • goddess, his father a fiend out of hell. Bat this all men knew about him: that he combined within himself the courage of a Hannibal, the military genial of a Napoleon, the ideals of a Son Yat Sen; and that he had sworn to himself he would never rest until the earth was peopled by a single nation, with Moyen himself in the Beat of the mighty ruler. Mada g a s ca r was the seat of his gov- ernment, from which he looked across tato- United Africa, the first to join his confederacy. The Orient was a dependency, even to that forbidden land of the Goloks, where outlanders sometimes went, but whence they never returned — and to the wild Goloks he was a god whose will was absolute, to render obedience to whom was a privi- lege occorded only to the Chosen. IN a short year his confederacy had brought under his might the mil- lions of Asia, which he had welded into a mighty machine for further con- quest. 1 And because the Americas saw the 20 ASTOUNDING STORIES handwriting on the wall, they sent out to aee the man Moyen, with orders to penetrate to his very side, as a spy, their most trusted Secret Agent — Prester Kleig. Only the ignorant believed that Moyen was mad. The military and diplomatic geniuses of the world recog- nized his genius, and resented it. But Prester Kleig, of the Secret Ser- vice* of the Americas, one of the few men whose headquarters were in the Secret Room in Washington, had reached Hoyen. f Now he was coming home. He came home to tell his people what Moyen was planning, and to admit that his investigations had been hampered at every turn by the uncanny ' genius of Moyen. Military plans had been guarded with unbelievable secrecy. War machines he knew to exist, yet had seen only those common to all the armies of the world. * And now, twenty-four hours out of New York City, aboard the 5. 5. Stellar, Prester Kleig was literally willing the steamer to greater speed — and in far Madagascar the strange man called Moyen had given the ultimatum: "The Western World shall be nextl" CHAPTER I 4 The Hand of Moyen "TI7HO is that man?" asked a VV young lady passenger of the steward, with the imperious inflection which tells of riches able to 1 force obedience from menials who labor for hire. She pointed a .bejeweled finger at the slender, soldierly figure which stood in the prow of the liner, like a figurehead, peering into the storm under the ves- sel's forefoot. "That gentleman, milady?" repeated the steward obsequiously. "That is Prester Kleig, head of the Secret Agents, Master of the Secret Room, just "now returning from Madagascar, via Europe, after a visit to the realm of Moyen." A gasp of terror burst from the lips of the woman. Her cheeks blanched. "Moyen I" She almost whispered h. "Moyen I The half-good of Asia, whoa men call mad I" "Not mad, milady. No, Moyen it not mad, save with a lust for power. He is the conqueror of the ages, already ruling more of the earth's population than any man has ever done before him —even Alexander I" But the young lady was not listening to stewards. Wealthy young ladies did not, save when asked questions dealing with personal service to themselves. Her eyes devoured the slender nan who stood in the prow of the Stellar, while her lips shaped, over and over again, the dread name which was on the Tips of *he people of the world: "Moyen I Moyen I" UP in the prow,- if Prester Kleig, who carried a dread secret in his breast, knew of the young lady's re- gard, he gave no sign. 'There were touches of gray at his temples, though he was still under forty. He had seen more. of life, knew more of its tenon, than most men twice his age — because he had lived harshly in service to hii country. He was thinking of Moyen, the genius of the misshapen body, the pale eyes which reflected the fires of s Satanic soul, set deeply in the midst ^ of the face of an angel ; and wondering if he would be able to arrive in time, sorry that he had not returned home by airplane. He had taken the Stellar only because the peacefulness of ocean liner travel would aid his thoughts, and he re- quired time to marshal them. Liner travel was now a luxury, as all save the immensely wealthy traveled by plane across the oceans. Now Prester Kletg was sorry, for any moment, he felt, Moyen might strike. He turned and looked back along the deck of the Stellar. His eyes played over the trimly 1 gowned figure of the woman who questioned the steward, MONSTERS OF IIOYRN 21 hot did not really see her. And then. . . . "Great Godl" The words were a prayer, and they burst from the ' lips of Prester Kleig like an explosion. Passengers appeared from the lee of lifeboats. Officers on the bridge whirled to look at the man who ibmited. Seamen paused ip their labors to stare. Aloft in the crow's-nest the lookout lowered his eyes from scouring the horizon to stare at Prester Kleig —who was pointing. All eyes turned in the direction in- ' stated. CLIMBING into the sky, a mile off the starboard beam, was an air- plane with a bulbous body and queerly slanted wings. It had neither wheels nor pontoons, and it traveled with un- believable speed. It came on bullet- fact, headed directly for the side of the Stellar. "Lower the boatsj" yelled Kleig. "Lower the boats I For God's sake lower the boats I" For Prester Kleig, in that casual toning, had seen what none aboard Stellar, even the lookout above, had teen. The airplane, which had neither wheels nor pontoons, had risen, as Aphrodite is said to have risen, but of die waves I He ,,nad seen the wings come out of the bulbous body, snap' backward into place, and the plane was in full flight the instant it appeared! Prester Kleig had no hope that his warning would be in time, but he would always feel better for having given it. As the captain debated with tunnel f as to whether this lunatic ihaold be confined as dangerous, the strange airplane, nosed over and dived down to the sea, a hundred yards from the side of the Stellar. Just before it ■track the water, its wings . snapped ' forward and became part of the bulbous body of the thing, the whole of which ■hot like a bullet into the sea. PRESTER KLEIG stood at the rail, peering out at the spot where the plane had plunged in with scarcely a splash, and his right hand was raised aa though he gave a final, despairing signal. Of all aboard the Stellar, he only saw that black streak which, ten. feet under water, raced like a bolt of light- ning from the nose of the submerged but visible plane, straight aa a die for the aide tfi the Stellar. Just a black streak, > no bigger than a small man's arm, from the nose of the plane to the side of the Stellar. Frdm the crow's-nest came the startled, terrific voice of the lookout, in the beginning of a cry that must remain forever inarticulate. The world, in that blinding moment, seemed to rock on its foundations; to shatter itself to bits in a chaotic jumble of aound and of movement, shot through and through with lurid flames. Kleig felt himself hurled upward and out- ward, turned over and over endlessly. . . . He felt the storm-tossed waters dose over him, and knew he had struck. In the moment he knew— oblivion, deep, ebon and impenetrable, 'blotted out knowledge. CHARTER II The Half-Dream A ROARING, rushing river of cha- otic sound, first. Jumbled sound to which Prester Kleig could give no adequate name. But as he tried to analyze Its meanings, he was able to differentiate between sounds, and to discover the identity of some. The river of sound he decided to be the' sound of a vibrational explosion of .'some sort — vibrational because it had that quivery quality which causes a feeling of uneasiness and fret, that feeling which makes one turn and look around to find the eyea boring into one's back — yet multiplied in its inten- sity an uncounted number of times. Other sounds which came through the chaotic river of sound were the terrified screamingi of the men and women who were doomed. Lifeboats were never lowered, for the reason that 22 ASTOUNDING STORIES with the disintegration of the Stellar, everything inanimate aboard her like* wise disintegrated, dropping men and women, crew and passengers, into the freezing waters of the Atlantic. / Prester Kleig dropped with them, only partially unconscious after the first icy plunge. He knew when he floated on the surface, for he felt him- self lifted and hurled by the waves. In his half-dream he saw men and women being carried away into wave- shrouded darkness, clawirig wildly at nothingness for support, clawing at one another, locking arms, and going down together. THE Stellar, in the merest matter of seconds, had become spoil of the sea, and her crew and passengers had vanished' forever from the sight of men. Yet Prester Kleig lived on, knew that' he lived on, and that there was an element, too strong to be dis- believed, of reality in his dream. There was a vibratory sense, too, as of the near activity of a noiseless motor. Noiseless motor 1 Where had he last thought of those two words? With what recent catastrophe were they associated?! No, he could not re- call, though he knew he should.be able to do so. Then the sense of motion to 'the front was apparent — an unnumbered sense, rather than concrete feeling. Motion to front, influenced by the ris- ing and falling motion of mountainous waves. So suddenly as to be a distinct shock, the wave motion ceased, though the forward motion — and upward! — not only continued but increased. * That airplane of the bulbous body, the queerly slanted wings. . . . But the glimmering of realization vanished as a sickishly sweet odor as- sailed his nostrils, and sent its swift- moving tentacles upward to wrap them- self soothingly about his brain. But the sense of flight, unbelievably swift, was present and recognizable, though all else eluded him. He had the impres- sion, however, that it was intended thai all save the most vagrant, most widely differenitated impressions elude hint- that he should acquire only half pie. tuxes, which would therefore be all the more terrible in retrospect. The only impressions which were real were those of motion to the front, and upward, and the sense of noiseless machinery, vibrating the whole, nearby, Then a distinct realization of the cessation of the sense of flying, and a return, though in lesser degree, of the rising and falling of waves. This latter sensation became less and lea, though the feeling of traveling down- ward continued. Prester Kleig knew that he was going down into the sa again, down into it deeply. . . . Then that odor once more, and the eluaiTe memory. Forward motion at last, in the depths, swift, forward motion, though Prester Kleig could , not even guess at the direction. Just swift [notion; and the mutter of voices, the giving of orders.... PRESTER KLEIG regained con- sciousness fully on the sands of the shore. He sat up stiffly, staring out to sea. A jBtorm was raging, and the tea was an angry waste. No ship showed on the waters; the mad, tumbled iky above it was either empty of planes or they had climbed to invisibility aboye the clouds that raced and churned with the storm. ' Out of the storm, almost at Prester Kleig's feet, dropped a small airplane, Through the window a familiar fate peered at Kleig. A belmeted, begog- gled figure opened the door and stepped out. "Kleig; old man," said the flyer, "yon gave me the right dope all right, bit I'll swear there isn't a wireless tower within a hundred miles of this placet How did you manage it?" "Kane, you're crazy, or I am, or. . . . But Prester Kleig could not go on with the thought which had rushed throngs his brain with the numbing impact of a blow. He grasped the hand of Carle* MONSTERS OF MOYEN 23 fine of the Domestic Service, and foe yellow flimsy Kane held out to him. It ttad simply : "Shipwrecked. * Am ashore at — " There followed grid coordinate (map readings. "Come at once, prepared to By me to Washington." It was signed "Kleig." ■Kane," said Kleig, "I did not send this message I" What more was there to be said? Horror looked out of the ey*Js of Pres- ter Kleig, and was reflected in those of Carlos Kane. Both men turned, peering out across the tumbled welter of waters. Somewhere out. there, tight-locked in the gloomy archives of the Atlantic, was the secret of the message which bad brought Carlos Kane to ' Prester Kleig — and the agency which had tent it CHAPTER III Wings of To-morrow AS Prester Kleig climbed into the enclosed passenger pit of the monoplane — a Mayther — his ears seemed literally to be ringing wfth the drumming, mighty voice of Moyen. Bat now that voice, instead of merely speaking, rang with sardonic laughter. He had never heard the laughter of Moyen, -but he could guess how It would sound. That airplane of the slanted wings, the bulbous, almost bulletlike fuselage, what of it? It was simple, as Kleig looked^back at his memoried glimpse , of it The submarine was a metal fish made with human hands; the airplane aped the birds. The strange ship which had caused the destruction of the Stetfar, was a combination fish and Bird— which merely aped nature a bit farther, as anyone who had ever traversed tropical waters would have instantly recognized. But what did it portend? What ghastly terrors of Moyen roamed the •aeps of the Atlantic, of the Pacific, the oceans of the world? How dose were some of these to the United States? The pale eyes of Moyen, he was sure, were already turned toward the West., PRESTER KLEIG sighed as be seated himself beside Carlos Kane. Then K.* matter of momenta only, but while Kane worked, Prester Kleig studied the instruments on the "Hash, for it had been months since he had flown, save for his recent half-dreamlike experience. There 24 ASTOUNDING STORIES was a button which released the mechanism of the deadly guns, fired by compressed air, alf operated from the noiseless motor, whose muzzles exactly cleared the tips of Mayther's wings, two guns to each wing, one on the en- tering edge, one on the tracing edge,' fitted snugly into the adamant rigging. Four guns .which could fire to right or left, twin streams of lead, the num- ber of rounds governed only by the carrying power of the Mayrter. Prester Kleig knew them all: the guns in the wings, the guns which fired through the three propellers, and the guns set two and two in the fuselage, to right and left of the pits, which could be fired either up or down — all by the mere pressing of buttons. It was marvelous, miraculous, yet even as Kleig told himself that this was so, he felt, deep in the heart of him, that Moyen knew all about ships like these, and regarded them as the toys of children. Kane touched Kleig on the shoulder, signaling, indicating that the atmos- phere in the pits had been regulated to their new height, and that they could remove their helmets and oxygen tanks without danger. ITH a sigh Prester Kleig sat back, and the two friends turned to face each other. "You certainly look done in, Kleig," said Kane sympathetically. "You must have been through hell, and then some. Tell me about this Moyen ; that is, if you think you care to talk about him." "Talk about him I" repeated Kleig. "Talk 1 about him? It will be a relief I There has been nothing, and nobody, on my mind save Moyen for weary months on end. If I don't talk to some- one about him, I'U go mad, if I'm riot mad already.. Moyen? A monster with the face of an angel! {What else can one say about him? » devil and a saint, a brute whose followers would go with him into bell's fire, and sing him bosannas as they were consumed in agony I Tfce greatest mob psychologist the world has ever seen. He's a gemot, Kane, and unless something is done, the Western world, all the world, u doomed to sit at the feet, listen to the commands, of Moyen I "He isn't! an Oriental; he isn't t European; he isn't negroid or Indian; but there is something about him that makes one thing of all of these, singly and collectively. 'His body is twisted and grotesque, and when one looks at his face, one feels a desire to touch him, to swear eternal fealty to him — Until one looks into his pale eyes, eyes al- most milky in their paleness — and gets the merest hint of the thoughts which actuate him. If he has a failing I did not find it. He does not drink, gamble " "And women?" queried Kane, softly. KLEIG was madly in love with the sister of Kane r Charmion, and this thing touched him nearest the heart, because Charmion was one of her country's mcst famous beauties, about whom Moyen must already hart heard. "Women?" repeated Kleig musingly, his black eyes troubled, haunted. ^ scarcely know. He has no love for women, only because he has no capacity for any love save self-love. But when I think of hiirf in this connection I seem, to see Moyen, grown to monster pro- portions, sitting on a mighty throne, with nude women groveling at his feet, bathed in tears, their long hair in man- lea of sorrow, hiding their shamed faces I That sounds wild, doesn't it? But it's the picture I get of Moyen when I think of Moyen and of women. Many women: will love him, and have, perhaps. Bur while he has taken many, though I am only guessing here, he has given himself to none. Another thing: His follower* — well, he sets no limit! to the 1 tilts of his>men, requiring only that every soldier be fit for duty, with a body strong for hardship. You un- derstand?" Kane understood, and his face was very pale. W MONSTERS OF MOYEN 25 "Yes," he said, his voice almost a - whisper, "I understand, and at you ■peak of this man I seem to see a city in ruins, and hordes of "men marching, bloodstained men entering houses . . from which, immediately afterward, come the screams of women . . . terror- stricken women. . . ." He shuddered and could not go on for the very horror of the vision that bad come to him. But Kleig stared at him as though he saw a ghost. "Great God, Carl I" he gasped. "The lame identieal picture has been in my mind, not once but a thousand times I I wonder. . . . Was it an omen of the future for the West? Deep in his soul Prester Kleig fancied he could hear the sardonic laughter of the half-god, Moyen, A TINY bell rang inside the dash, beoipd the instruments. Kane had set direction finders, had pressed the button which signaled the Wash- ington-control Station of the National Radio, thus automatically indicating the exact spot above land, by grid-co- ordinates, where the Mayther should start down for the landing. An hour later they landed on the flat roof of the new Capitol Building, sinking lightly to rest a* a feather, nursed to a gentle landing by the whirring vanes of the helicopter. Prester Kleig, surrounded by uni- formed guards who tried to shield him from the gaie of news-gatherers crowded there on the roof-top, hurried him to the stairway leading into the executive chambers, and through these to the Secret Chamber which., only a few men knew, andinto which not even Carlos Kane could \ follow Prester Kleig— yet. | But one man, one news-gatherer, had caught a glimpse of the face of Kleig, sod already he raced for the radio tower of his organization, to blazon to me Western world the fact that Kleig bad come back. CHAPTER IV A Nation Waits in Dread AS Prester Kleig, looking twice his forty years because of fatigue, and almost nameless terrors through which he had passed, went to his ren- dezvous, the news-gatherer, who shall here remain nameless, raced for the Broadcasting Tower. As Prester Kleig entered the Secret Room and at a signal all the many doors behind him, along that Intermin- able stairway, swung shut and were tightly locked, the news-gatherer raced for the microphone and gave the "pri- ority" signal to the operator. Millions of people would not only hear the words of the news-gatherer, but would 'see him, note the expressions which chased one another across his face. For television was long since an ac- complished, everyday fact. "Prester Kleig, of this government's Secret Service, has just returned to the United Americas I Your informer has just seen him step from the monoplane of Carlos Kane, Stop the Capitol Build- ing, and repair at once to the Secret Room, closely guarded. But I saw hi* face, and though he is under forty, he seemB twice that. And you know now what this country has only guessed at- before — that he has teen Moyen. Moyen the half-man, half-god, the enigma of the ages. What does Prester Kleig think of this man? He doesn't say, for he dares not speak, yet. But your informer saw his face, and it is old and twisted with terror I And — " • THAT ended the discourse of* the news-gatherer, and it was many hours before the public really under- stood. For, with a new 'sentence but half completed, the picture of the newt- gatherer faded blackly off the screens in a million homes, and bis voice was blotted out by a humming that mounted to a terrific, appalling shriek I ' Some terrible agency, about which people who knew their radio could only guess, had drowned out the wbrde of the 26 ASTOUNDING STORIES news-gatherer, leaving *\ the public ■tunned and bewildered, almost grop- ing before a feeling of terror which wai all the, more unbearable because none could give it a name. And the public had heard but a frac- tion of the truth — merely that Kleig had come back. It had been the in- tention of the government to deny the public even! this knowledge, and it had ! but knowledge of the denial'ltsclf was public property, which filled the hearts of men and women all through the Western Hemisphere with nameless dread. And over all this abode of countless millions hovered the shadow -of Moyen. The government tried to correct the impression which the news-gatherer had given out. "Prester Kleig is back," said the radio, while the government speaker tried, for the benefit of those who could see him, W smile reassuringly. "But there is nothing to cause anyone the ■lightest concern. He has seen Moyen, yes, and has heard him speak, but still there is nothing to distress anyone, and the whole story will be given to you «s soon as possible. Kleig has gone into the Secret Room, yes, but every operative of the government, when dis- cussing business connected with diplo- matic relations with foreign powers, U received in the Secret Room. No cause for worry I** IT was so; easy to say that, and the speaker realized it, which was why he could but with difficulty make his ■mile seem reassuring. "Tell us the truth, and tell us quick- ly;" might have been the voiceless cries of those who listened and saw the face and fidgettfng form of the speaker. But the words were not spoken, because the people sensed a hovering horror, a dread catastrophe beyond the power of wqtdi to express — and so looked at one another in silence, their eyes wide with dread, their hearts throbbing to suffo- cation with nameless foreboding. So eyes were horror-haunted, and men walked, flew, and rode in fear and trembling — while, down in the Secret Room, Prester Kleig and a dozen old men, men wise in the ways of science and invention, wise in the ways of men and of beasts, of Nature and the In- finite Outside, decided the fate of the Nation. That Secret Room was closed to every one. Not even the news-gath- erers could reach it; not even the all- seeing eye of the telephotograph em- blazoned to the world its secrets. But was it secret? Perhaps Moyen, the master mobster, smiled when he heard men say so, men who knew in their hearts that Moyen regarded other earthlings as earthlingi regard children and their toys. Did the eyes of Moyen gaze even into the depths of the Secret Room, hundreds of feet below even the documentary- treasure vaults of the Capitol ? NO one knew the answer to the question, but the radio, reporting the return of Kleig, had given the pub- lic a distorted vision of an embodied fear, and in its heart the public an- swered "Yes I" And what had drowned out the voice of the radio-reporter? No wonder that.Jor many hours, ■ nation waited |n ffar and trembling, eyes filled with dread that was name- ' less and absolute, for word from the Secret Room. Fear mounted and mounted as the hours passed and no word came. v In that room Prester Kleig and the twelve old men, one of whom was the country's President, held counsel with the man who had come' back. But be- for the spoken counsel had been held, awesome and awe-inspiring picture* had flashed across the' screen, invented by a third of the old men, from which the world held; no secrets, even the secrets of Moyen. With this mechanism, guarded at forfeit of the lives of a score of men, the men of the Secret Room could peer into even the most secret places of the world. -The old men had peered, and MONSTERS OF MOYEN 27 bad seen things which had blanched their pale cheeks anew. And when they had finished, and the terrible pic- tures had faded out, a voice had spoken suddenly, like an explosion, in the Secret Room. "Well, gentlemen, are you satisfied mat resistance is futile?" Just the voice ; but to one man in the Secret Room, and to the others when his numWfig lips spoke the name, it was far more than enough. For not even the wisest of the great men could ex- plain how, as they knew, having just seen him there, a man could be in Mada- gascar while his voice spoke aloud in the Secret Room, where even radio was barred I The name on the lips of Prester Kleig I "Moyen! Moyen I" CHAPTER V Monsters of the Deep «*/"» ENTLEMEN * said Prester vJT H^leig as he entered the Secret Room, where sat the scientists and in- ventive geniuses of the Americas, "we haven't much time, and I shall waste but little of it. Moyen is ready to strike, if he hasn't already done soras I believe. We will see in a matter of seconds. Professor Maniel, we shall need, first of all, your apparatus for re- turning the vibratory images of events which have transpired within the last thirty-six hours. "I wish to show those of you who failed to see it the sinking of the Stel- lar, on which I was a passenger and, I believe, tke only survivor." ProfessVr Maniel, strangely mouse- like save fpr the ponderous dome of his forehead, stepped away from the circu- lar table without a word. He had in- vented the machine in question, and he was inordinately proud of it. Through its use be could pick up the sounds, and the pictures, of events which had transpired down the past centuries, from the tinkling of the cymbals of Miriam to all the horror of the conflict men had called the Great War, simply by drawing back from the ether, as the sounds fled outward through space, those sounds and vibrations which he needed. His, science was an exact one, more carefully exact even than the measure- ment of the speed of light, taking^ into consideration the dispersion of sound and movement, and the element of time. "The interior of the Secret Room be- came dark as Maniel labored with his minute machinery. Only behind the screen on the wall in rear of the table was there light. 1 THE voice of Maniel began to drone as he thought aloud. "There is a "matter of but a few min- utes difference in time between Wash- ington and the last recorded location of the Stellar. The sinking occurred at ten-thirty last evening you say, Kleig? Ah, yes, I have it I Watch carefully, gentlemen 1" So silent were, the Secret Agents one could not even have heard the breath- ing of one of them, for on the screen, misty at first, but becoming moment by moment bolder of outline, was the face of a storm-tossed sea. The liner waa slower in forming, and was slightly out of focus for a second or two. "Ah," said Professor Maniel,. "there it is I" - t Through the sound apparatus came khe roaring and moaning of a storm at sea. On the screen the Stellar rose high on the waves, dropped into the trough, while spumes of black smoke spread rearward on the waters from her spouting funnels. Figures were visible on her decks, figures which seemed carved in bronze. In the prow, every expression on bis face plainly visible, stood Prester Kleig himself, and as his picture ap- peared he was in 1 the act of turning. &Now," said Kleig himself, there in the Secret Room, "look off to the left, gentlemen, a mile from the Stellarl" A rustling sound as the scientists shifted in their places. ASTOUNDING STORIES THEY all saw it, and a gasp burst from their lips as though at a sig- nal. For, as the Stellar seemed about to plunge off ^he shadowed screen into the Secret Room, a flying thing had risen out of the sea — an airplane with a bulbous body and queerly slanting At the same time, out of the mouta of the pictured figure of Prester Kleig, clear and agonized as the tones of a bell struck in frenzy, the words: "Great God I Lower the boats I Lower the boats 1 For God's sake lower the boats I" In the -Secret Room the real Prester Kleig spoke again. "When the black streak leaves the nose of the plane, after it has sub- merged. Professor Maniel," said Kleig softly, "slow your mechanism so that we can see the whole thing in detail." There came a, grunted affirmative from Professor Maniel. The nose .of the pictured plane tilted over, diving down for the surface of the sea. "Nowl" snapped Kleig, "don't wait!" Instantly the moving pictures on the screen reduced their speed, and the plane appeared to stop its sudden sea- ward plunge and to drop down as light- ly as a feather. The wings of the thing moved forward slowly, folding into the body of the 1 dropping plane. "They fold forward," said Kleig quietly, "so that the speed of the plane in the take-off will snap them back- ward into position for flying!" ^ NO one spoke, because the explana- tion was so obvious. Slowly the airplane went down to the surface of the sea, with scarcely a plume of spindrift leaping back after she had struck. She dropped to ten feet below the surface of the water, a hundred yards off the starboard beam of the Stellar, her blunt nose point- ing squarely at the side of the doomed liner. "Now," said Kleig hoarsely, "watch closely, for God's sake I" The liner rose and fell slowly. Out of the nose of the plane, which had now become a tiny submarine, started, a narrow tube: of black, oddly like the sepia of a giant squid. Straight toward the side of the liner it went. Above the rail the Secret Agents could see the pictured form: of Prester Kleig, hand upraised. The black streak reached the side of\the Stellar. It touched the metal plates, spread- ing upon impact, growing, enlarging, to right and left, 1 upward and downward, and where it touched the Stellar the black of it seemed to erase that portion of the ship. In the slow motion every detail was apparent. At regular speed the blotting out of the Stellar would have been instantaneous. Kleig saw himself rise slowly from the vanished rail, turning over and over, going down to the sea. He almost closed his eyes; bit his lips to keep back the cries of terror when he saw the others aboard \he liner rise, turn over and over, and fly in all directions like' jackstraws in a high wind. THE ship was erased from beneath passengersi and crew, and passen- gers and crew Jell into the sea. Out of ' the depths, from all directions, came the starving denizens of the sea — starv- ing because liners now were so few. "That's enough of that, Professor," snapped Kleig. ; "Now jump ahead ap- proximately 1 eight hours, and see if you can picV up - that aero-sub after it dropped me on the Jersey Coast." The picture faded out quickly, the screaming of doomed human beings, al- ready hours de$d, called back to appar- ent living by the genius of Maniel died away, and for a space the screen ins blank. Then, the sea again, storm-tossed si before, shifting here .and there as Maniel sought ijs the immensity of set and sky for the thing he desired. "Two hundred miles -south by east of New York City," he droned. "There it is, gentlemen!" They all saw-jit then, in full flight) MONSTERS OF MOYBN 29 eight thousand feet above the surface of the Atlantic, traveling south by east ■t a dizzy rate of speed. •Note," said Kleig, "that it keeps ofely to the low altitudes, in order to escape the notice of regular air traffic." No one answered. The eyes of trie Secret Agents were on that flashing, bulbous-bodied plane of the strange wings. It appeared to be beading directly for some objective which must be reached at top speed. FOR fifteen minutes the flight con- tinued. Then the plane tilted over and dived, and at an altitude still of three thousand feet, the wings slash- ed forward, clicking into their notches in the sides of the bulbous body, with a ■ound like the ratchets on subway tum- ttilet, and, holding their breath, the Secret Agents watched it ' plummet down to the sea. It was traveling with terrific speed when it struck, yet it en- tend the water with scarcely a splash. Then, for the first, time, an audible gup, as that of one person, came from the lips of the Secret Agents. For now they could see the objective of the aero- ub. A monster shadow in the water, at a depth of five hundred feet. A shadow which, as Maniel manipulated his instruments, became a floating un- derwater fortress, ten times the size of my submarine known to the Americas. Sporting like porpoises about this held-in-suspension fortress were myri- ads of other aero-subs, maneuvering by squadrons and flights, weaving in and out like schools of fish. The plane which had bourne Pr ester Kleig churned in between two of the forma- tions, and vanished into the side of the nationless monster of the deep. \ The striking of a deep sea bell, muted by tons and tons of water, sounded in the Secret Room. "Don't turn it off, Maniel," said Eeig. "There's more yet I" And there was, for. the sound of the .bell was a signal. The aero-subs, dart- mg outward from the side of the float- ■g fortress like fish darting out of sea- weed, were plunging up toward the sur- face of the Atlantic. Breathlessly the Secret Agents watched them. They broke water like flying fish, and their wings shot backward from their notches in the myriad bulbous bodies to click into place in flying position as the scores of aero-subs took the air above the invisible hiding places of thf> mother submarine, AT eight thousand feeti the aero- subs swung into battle formation and, as though controlled by word of command, they maneuvered there like one vast machine of a central control — beautiful as the flight of swallows, deadly as anything that flew. The Secret Agents swept the cold sweat from their brows, and sighs of terror escaped them all. Attthat moment came the voice, loud in the Secret Room, which Kleig at least immediately recognized: "Well, gentlemen, are you satisfied that resistance is futile?". And Kleig whispered the name, over and over again. "Moyen I Moyen I" It was Prester Kleig, Master of the Secret Room, who was the first to re- gain control aftea) the nervetnumbing question which, asked in far Madagas- car, was heard by the Agents in the Secret Room. "No I" he shouted. "No I No! Moyen, in the- end we will beat you 1" Only silence answered, but deep in the heart of Prester Kleig soundeda burst of sardonic laughter — tfie laugh- ter of Moyen, half-god of Asia. Then the voice again: , The attack is beginning, gentlemen I Within an hour you will have further evidence of the might of Moyen I" CHAPTER VI Vanishing Ships PRESTER KLEIG, ordered to Madagascar from the Secret Room, had been merely an operative, honored above others in that he had 30 ASTOUNDING STORIES been one of the few, at that time, ever to visit the Secret Room. Now, how- ever, because he had walked closer to Moyen 'than anyone else, he assumed leadership almost by natural right, and the men who had once deferred to him took orders from him. -\ "Gentlemen," he snapped, while the last words 'of Moyen still hung in the air of the Secret Room, " we must fight Moyen from .here. The best brains in the United Americas are gathered here, and if Moyen can be beaten — if he can be beaten — he will be beaten from the Secret Room I" A sigh from the lips of Professor Maniel. The President of his theory and make it workable. Kleig knew that had he been able to do It in two years, or two decades, it still would have been in the nature of a miracle. But two hours .... And Moyen had said that he was pre- paring to attack at once. In two hours Moyen, unless the Americas fought against him with every resource at their command, could depopulate half the Western World. Kleig looked back to the screen. There' was not a single American plane in the sky above the graveyard of those vanished warships. And the aero-subs, swift flying as the wind, were racing back to the mother ship, scores of miles away. Munson worked with the Vibratioh- Retarder, the Sound-and-Vision de- vices, ranging the sea off the coast to either side of that huge,' suspended fortress which was the mother sub- marine of the aero-sims. Gasps of terror, though the sight was not unexpected, broke from the lips of every person in the Secret Room. Per super-monsters of Moyen were moving to the attack. CHAPTER IX ^ Flowers of Martyrdom FOR a minute the Secret Agents were' appalled by the air of might of the deep-sea monsters of Moyen, brought bodily, almost into the Secret Room by the activities of General Mun- son at the Sound-and-Vision apparatus. Off the coast, miles away, yet loom- ing moment by moment larger, indicat- ing (he deceptively swift speed of the monsters, were scores of the great un- der-water fortresses, traveling toward the coast of the United Americas in s far-flung formation, each submarine separated from its neighbor to right and left by something like a hundred miles, easy cruising radius for the little aero-subs carried inside the monsters. That each submarine did carry such spawn of Satan was plainly seen, for MONSTERS OF MOYEN 39 as the great submarines moved land- ward, scores of aero-subs sported glee- fully about the mother ships. There was no counting the number of them. Two hours Maniel needed for his labors, which meant that for two .hours the flower of the country's manhood must try to hold in check the mighty hordes of Moyen. "Somewhere there," stated Prester Kleig, "in one or the other of those monsters, is Moyen himself. I know that since, he wished Charmion saved ^ for his attentions I Do your work with I your apparatus, Munson, while I go out to the radio tower to broadcast an ap- peal for volunteers. Charmion — Car- los " ' But Prester Kleig found that he- could not continue. Not that it was necessary, for Charmion and Carlos knew what was in his mind. Charmion was a lady of vast intelligence, from whom life's little ironies had not been hidden — and Kane and Kleig had al- ready discussed the activities of Moyen where women were concerned. PRESTER KLEIG hurried to the Central Radio Tower, and as he passed through each of the many doors leading out to the roof of the new Capitol Building the guards at the doors left to form a guard for him, at this moment the most precious man in the country, because he knew best the terrible trials which faced her. ' The country was in turmoil. It seemed almost impossible that a whole day had passed since Prester Kleig had returned and entered the Secret Room. In the meantime a fleet of battleships had been drawn by some mysterious agency out to sea from Hampton Roads, and a fleet of fighting planes which had followed the ghost'- column outward had not returned. News-gatherers had spread the stories, distorted and garbled, across the western continents, and throughout the western confederacy men, women ♦and children lived In the throes of the greatest fear that had ever gripped them. Fear held them most because they could not give the cause of their fear a name — save one .... Moyen .... And the name was on the lips of everyone, and frenzied women stilled their sdUalling babes with its mention. No word yet from the Secret Room, but Prester Kleig had scarcely ap- peared from it than someone started the radio signal which informed the frenzied, waiting world of the west that information; exact if startling, would new be forthcoming. In millions of homes, in thousands of high-flying planes, listeners tuned in at the dear-all hum. PRESTER KLEIG wasted no time in preliminaries . "Prester Kleig speaking. We are threatened by Moyen, with scores of monster submarines, each a mother ship for scores of aero-subs, combina- tions of airplane's and miniature sub- marines. They are moving up on, our eastern coast, from some secret base which we have not yet located.- They are equipped with, death dealing In- struments of which we have but the most fragmentary knowledge, and for two hours I must call upon all flyers to combat the menace i until the Secret Agents, especially Professor Maniel, have had opportunity to counteract the minions of Moyen. "Flyers of the United Americas I In the name of our country I ask that volunteers gather on the eastern coast, each flyer proceeding at once to the nearest coast-landing, after dropping all passengers. Your ' commanders have already been named by your var- ious organizations, as required by fran- chise, and orders for the movement of the entire winged armada will come from this station. However, the orders will simply be this: Hold M oven's forces at bay for a 'period 'of two hours I And know that many of you go* to certain death, and make your own decisions as to whether you shall volunteer I" 40 ASTOUNDING STORIES This ended, Pr ester Kleig, excite- ment mounting high, hurried back to the Secret Room. -\ / Now the public knew, and as the/ American public is given to doinfflt steadied down when it knew the worst. Fear of the unknown had changed the public into a myriad-aouled beast gone berserk. Now that knowledge was ex- act men grew calm of face, determined, and women assumed the supporting role which down the ages has been that of brave women, mothers of men. A PERIOD of silence for a time after Prester Kleig's pronounce- ment. As he entered the first door leading into the Secret Room, Carlos Kane met and passed him with a smile. » "You called for winged volunteers, did you not, Kleig?" hjPasked quietly. Kleig nodded. "You are going?" he laid. "Yes. It is my duty." No other words were necessary, as the men shook hands, Prester yfeig going on to the Secret Room, Carlos Kane .going out to join the mighty armada which must fight against the minions of Moyen. The words of Prester Kleig were heard by the pilots of the sky-lanes. The passenger pits', equipped with self- opening parachutes which dropped jumpers in series of long falls in order to acquire swift but accurate and safe landing — they opened at intervals in long falls of two thousand feet. Stayed the fall, then closed ' again, so that drops were almost/continuous until the last four hundred, feet — and pilot*, swiftly making up their minds, drop- ped their passengers, banked their planes, and raced into the east. ALL over the Americas pilots drop- ped their passengers and their loads if their franchises called for the carrying of freight, and banked about to take part in the first skirmish with the Moyenites. Dropping figures almost darkened the sky as passengers plunged down- ward after the startling signal from Washington. Flowers, which were the umbrellas of chutes, opened and closed like breathing winged orchids, letting their burdens safely to earth. And clouds and fleets of airplanes came in from all directions to land, in rows and rows which were endless, wing and wing, along the eastern coast. Prester Kleig had scarcely entered the Secret Room than the hated voice of Moyen again' broke upon the ears of the machinelike Secret Agents. "This is madness, gentlemen 1 My people will annihilate yours I" put, since time for speech had passed, not one of the Secret Agents made answer or paid the slightest heed tO| the warning, though deep in the heart of each and every one was the be- lief that Molen spoke no more than the truth. Too, there was a growing respect for the half-god of Asia, in that he was good enough to warn them of the holo- caust whrth faced their country. By hundreds and thousands, wing and wing, airplanes dropped to the At- lantic coast at the closest point of con- tact, when the signal reached them. At high altitudes, planes crossing the Atlantic turned back and returned at top speed, dropping their passengers as soon as over Jand. That Moyen made no move to prevent the return of flyers out over the ocean, and now com- ing back, was an ominous circumstance. It seemed to show that he held the American flyers, all of them, in utter contempt. ■\ PRESTER KLEIG regarded thr time. .It had been half an hour since Moyen had spoken of attack, half an hour since the monsters of the deep had started the inexorable move toward land. On the screen the submarines were bulking larger and larger as the moments fled, until it seemed to the Secret Agent* that the great composite shadow of them already was •weeping inland from the coast. MONSTERS fa the coast came close ahead of the muster subs the little aero-subs, to tp. surprise of the Secret Agents, all ^uhr A into their respective mother laps, "But they have to use them," groan- ed Hanson. "For their submarines are atelest in frontal attack against our tkatsr •I am not so sure of that," said Fierier Kleig. "For I have a suspicion that those, submarines have praetors ^uW their keels, and that they can cone out on land I If this is so the Masters can, guarded by armour-plate, penetrate to the very heart of ojir most populated areas before their aer-o-subs are released." None of the Secret Agents as yet had ■topped to ponder how the monsters had reached their positions, and why Moyen was attacking from the east, when the Pacific aide of the continents veoH have appeared to be the obvious point of attack, and would have obviat- ed the necessity of long, secret under- sea jockeys wherein discovery pre- maturely must have been one of the ■any worries of the submarine com- Btsndera. The mere fact of the presence of the ■gotten was enough. ^fy&t had pre- ceded their presence was unimportant, awe that their presence, and their near approach to the shore undetected, farther proved the executive and plan- ning genius of Moyen. Two miles, on an average, off the cattem coast the submarines laid their HP. the aero-subs, which darted from tat sides of the mother ships in flights sad squadrons, made the surface, and kaped into the sky. . Five minutes later and the signal ■est forth to the phalanx of the volun- tas*. Take off 1 Fly east and engage the eaeny, and hold him in check, and the |Gsd«f our fathers go with youl" Oae hour had passed since Moyen's nllaaaliiui when the first vanguard of the American flyers, obeying the jfweajptory signal, took the /air and OF MOYEN 41 darted eastward to meet the winged death-harbingers of Moyen. , CHAPTER X "They Shall Not Pass!" PRESTER KLEIG'S heartfelt de- sire., as the American flyers clos- ed with the first of the aero-subs, was to go out with them and aid them in the attack against the Moyenites. But he knew, and it was a tacit thing, that he best served his country from the safe haven of the Secret Room. As he watched the scenes unfold on the screen of Maniel's genius, with oc- casional glances at the somewhat mys- terious but profound and concentrated labors of Maniel, Channion Kane rose from her place and came to his side. Wide-eyed as she watched the join- ing of battle, she stood there, her tiny hand encased in the tense one of Prester Kleig. x "You would like to be out there," she ' murmured, i "I know it I But your country -needs you here — and I have 1 already given Carlos.!" Prester Kleig tightened his grip on her hand. THERE was deep, silent under- standing between these two, and Prester Kleig, in fighting against the Moyenites,. realized, even above bis realization that his labors/ were primarily for the benefit of his country, that he" really matched wits with Moyen for the sake of Channion. Had anyone asked him whether he would have sacrificed her for the benefit of his country, it would have been a dif- ficult question to answer. He was glad that the question was never aaked. 1 "Yes, beloved," he whispered, "I would like to be out there, but the greatest need for me is here." But even so he felt aa though he was betraying those intrepid flyers he was sending to sure death. Yet they had volunteered, and It was, the only way. Maniel, a j gnomelike little man with 42 ASTOUNDING STORIES a Titan's brain, labored with hi* cal- culations, made swiftly concrete his theories, while . at the Souhd-and- Vision apparatus'-^ excitable General Munson ranged the aerial battlefield to see how the tide of battle ebbed and flowed. \ I That neither 'side would either ask or give quarter was instantly apparent, for they rushed head-on to meet each other, those vast opposing winged armadas, at. top speed, and not a single individual swerved from his course, though at least the Americans knew that death rode the skyways aheati. Then .... The battle was joined. Moyen's forces were superior in armament. Their sky-steeds weie faster, more readily maneuverable, though the fly- ing forces of the ^mericaa in the last five years had made vast, strides in Aviation. But what the Americans lacked in power they made up for in fearless courage. THE plan of battle seemed auto- matically to work itself out. The /first vanguard of American plane^came into contact with the forces of Moyen, and from the noses of count- less aero-subs spurted that golden streak which the Secret Agents, knew and dreaded. The first flight of planes, stretching from horizon to horizon, vanished from the sky with that , dreadful surety which had marked the passing of the Stellar, and such of those warships as had felt the full force of the visible ray- From General Munson rose a groan of anguish. Those convertible fight- ing planes had been the pride of the heart of the old warrior. To do him credit, however, it was the wanton, so terribly inevitable destruction of the flyers " themselves which affected him. It was so final, so absolute — and so ut- terly impossible to combat. "Wait I" snapped Prester Kleig. For the intrepid flyers behind that vanguard which had vanished had wit- nessed the wholesale disintegration a? the leading element of the vast atntk and the pilots realized on the imtm that no headlong rush into the vaj; noses of the aero-subs would avail mff. thing. The vast American formation bnki into a mad maelstrom of whirling, ds& ing, diving planes. Every third pbst plummetted downward, every (teas' one climbed, and the remaining «Hp, even in the face of what*ftad nappese! to the vanished first flight, held Mai lly y> the front. In this mad, seemingly meanuagka) formation, they closed on the as* subs. Without having seen the fight, the Americans were aping the actios*! that one nameless flyer who M charged the aero-sub that had baa destroyed. KLEIG remembered. A score st ships had been destroyed utterly above the graveyard of dreadnoufatt, yef only one aero-sub, and that quite by chance, had been marked off la tat casualty column. Death rode the heavens as the Ame> lean flyers went into action. For beat on fights, flyers went in at top •peat their' planes whirling on the aits at f nselages, all guns going. Planes mm armored against their own bullets, as) they were not under the necessity af watching to see that they did not as* their own friends. Even so, bullets were rather inejfo- tive against the aero-subs, whose, sj- parently flimsy, almost transpaofc outer covering diverted the bolar with amazing ease. s A whirling maelstrom of ships. Tat monsters of Moyden had drawn sot blood, if the expression may be ussifpt an action where no blood at ilTtg drawn; but machines and men sttaqf' erased from existence. '" * Hundreds of planes already fMj when the second flight of ships d**K with the aero-subs. Yellow itrtataj death flashed from aero-sub nosertlt but even as aero-sub operators set law MONSTERS OF MOYEN 43 into motion the American flyers ^\&td-ctn charge rolled, dived or gpned, and kept their guns going. High above the first flight of aero- aa ^ behind Which another flight waa ,itf"p swiftly into 'action, American Ifen tilted the noses of their planes ocr and dived under full power — to sne death by suicide, though none aaew it there at the moment. THESE aero-subs could not be driven from the sky by usual r ^ M | and could destroy ' American attpi even before those planes could go to handgrips ; but they, the flyers pWaly believed, could be crashed out af the sky and so, never guessing what hades death in resulting crashes' they faced, the flyers above the aeroVuba, no ■ aero-subs in rear flashed in to. pereat, dived down straight at the tasks af the aero-subs. Ja a hundred placea the, dives of the Aaaricaaa worked successfully, an«ob, the aero-subs and planes were attantly blotted from view by the yel- **■ golden flames from the heart of la winged harbingers of Moyen. Golden flames, blinding in their brightness, dropping down, mere shape- less blotches, then fading out to noth- ingness in a matter of seconds — with aero-sub and airplane totally erased from action' and from existence. The American flyers saw and knew now the manner of death they faced. Yet all along the battle front not an American tried to evade the issue and draw out oft the fight. A sublime, in- spiring exhibition of mass ctmragt which had not been witnessed down the years sintie that general engagement which men of the time had called the Great War. Prester Kleig turned to look at Maniel. Drops of perspiration bathed the cheeks of the master scientist, but his eyes were glowing like coals of fire. His face was set in a white mask of concentration, and Prester Kleig knejfr that Maniel would find the an- swer, to the thing he sought if. such answer could be found. Would the American flyers be able to hold off the minions of Moyen until Maniel was ready? The fight out there above the waters was a terrible thing, and the Americans fought and died like men inspired, yets inexorably the winged armada of Moyen, preceded^ by those licking-golden tongues, was mov- ing landward, "Great God I" cried Munson. "Lookl" Tt HERE was really no need for the / order, for every Secret Agent saw as soon as did Munson. Under the sea, just off the coast, the mother-subs had touched their blunt nose against the upward shelving of the sea bottom — had touched bottom, and were slowly but surely following the underwater curve of the land, up toward the sur- face, like unbelievable antedeluvian monsters out of some nightmare "Yea," said Kleig quietly, "those monsters of Moyen can move on land, and the aero-subs can operate from them as easily on land aa under water." Kleig regarded the time, whirled to look, at Professor Maqiel. One hour and forty minutes had ASTO passed since Maniel had begged for two hours in which to prepare some mode of effectively combatting the might of Moyen. Twenty minutes to go; yet the mother-subs would be ashore, dragging their sweating, mon- strous' sides out of the deep, within ten minutes I ' Ten minutes ashore and there was no guessing the havoc they could cause to the United Americas I "Hurry, Maniel I Hurry I Hurry I" said Pr ester Kleig. But he spoke the words to himself, though even had he spoken them aloud Maniel would not have heard. For Maniel, for two: hours, had closed his mind to everything that transpired outside his own thoughts, devoted to foiling the power of Moyen^ "I've found him I" snapped Munson. T-yB^pbinted with a shaking fore- JT1 finger to one of the mother-subs Crawling up the slant of the ocean bed, twisted one of the little nubs of the Sound-and-Vision apparatus, and the angelic face and Satanic eyes, the twisted body, of Moyen came into view. •» The face was calm with dreadful pur- pose, and Moyen stood in the heart of one of his monsters, his eyes Jumed toward the land. With .a gasp of terror, dreadfully afraid for the first time, Pr ester Kleig* turned and looked into the eyes of Charmion. . . . "No," she said. "It will never happen. I have faith in you I" There were still ten minutes of the two hours left when the mother^subs broke water and started crawling in- land, swiftly, surely, without faltering in the slightest as they changed their element from 'water to land. As though their appearance had been the signal, the aero-subs in action against the first line of American planes broke out of the one-sided fight and dived for their mother ships, while a mere handful of the American planes started back for home to prepare anew to continue the struggle. ASTOUNDING STORIES ' Prester Kleig gave the signal ttfc second monster armada which aelfe mained in reserve. "Do everything in your posMt s halt the march of Moyen's amphQaWp Ten minutes to go, and Pros) Maniel still labored like a Titan, CHAPTER XI ^Caucasia Fall* Silent AS the scores of amphibian came lumbering forth upoa aj land it became instantly apparent wbf the Ijaero-subs had returned to mother ships. For a few momestt, m of the water, the amphibians wm A most helpless, with practically as isy of attack or defense — as hclplea a huge turtles turned legs up. But as each aero-sub enteral it proper slot in the side of the arataa amphibian, it waa turned about and lb nose thrust back into the opeaaf which closed down to fit tightly skat the nose of the aero-sub, so that thai flame - breathing monsters protrooal from the sides of the amphibian k many places — transforming the 'am- phibians into monsters with hondtsfc of golden, licking tongues 1 7 As, with each and every aertwek in place, thfr amphibians started ant- ing inland, Professor Maniel made til first move. With the tiny appssks upon which he had been working, at stepped to the table before the Basal and- Vision apparatus and spoke Milk to his compatriots. "Gentlemen," he said, "I hm t> ished, and it will work effectireiyP _ Though Maniel spoke softly, it am plain to be seen that he "was prood si his accomplishment, which rrmiineds*' ly to be attached to start performs** A matter of seconds. ... Yet during those seconds wsaA real might, the real power for att* devastation, of Moyen fully eipflsW THE amphibians got under nay* the airplanes of the swept into the fight MONSTERS OF MOYEN 45 fiai the sides of the monsters It fr rf out those golden tongues of fme— and from the front; Bitf ■ dozen amphibians clipped in- „ Dew York from the harbor side and parted into the heart of the city. And fetwten the time when Maniel had ■jd he was ready' and the moment vhen he made his nrst active move apinit Moyeh, a half-dozen skyscrap- er vanished into nothingness, the spots jhere they had stood swept as clear of |£rii is though the land had never lam reclaimed from Nature I Hone was ever destined to know how stay lives were lost in that first attack al the monsters of the golden, myriad toafocs; but the monsters struck in the gjfct of a working day when the sky- ■aspen were filled with office workers. And resolve struck deep into the ■arts of the Secret Agents: if Moyen van tamed back, he must -be made to fgf for the slaughter. ' A matter of seconds. . . — THEN a moment of deathly silence as Hanson gave way at the screen lor the gnomelike little Professor NanieL "Now, gentlemen I" snapped Maniel. "If my theory is correct," manipulating lastrmnenta with lightning speed as he talked, "the reversion of the principal tf my Vibration-Retarder — which cap- ture! vibrations speeding outward from 1st earth and transforms them once •jap into sound and pictures audible Invisible to the human ear-ythis apr ^Wss will disintegrate the monsters ■ ear boats and planes were disinte- grated! In this I have -been even been com- pelled to manipulate in the matter of tee I I must not only defeat and an- nulate the minions of Moyen, but Bast work from a mathematical ab- SSrdity, so that at the moment of im- pact that moment itself must become part of the past, sufficiently remote to Move the monsters at such distance ■SB the earth that not even the mighty (tarns of Moyen can return them I" The whirring, gentle as the whirring of doves' wings. In the- center of the picture on the screen were those half- dozen amphibians laying waste Man- hattan. Manjel set his intricate, delicate machinery into motion. Instantly the amphibians there seemed to become misty, shadowy, and to lift out of Manhattan up above the roof-tops of skyscrapers still remain- ing, nebulous and wraithlike as ghost- shrouds — yet swinging outward from the earth with speed almost too swift for the to detect. But where the amphibians had rested there stood, reclined — in all sorts of postures, surprising and even a bit ridiculous — the men of Moyen who had operated the monsters of Moyen 1 FROM the Central Radio tower went forth a mighty voice of com- mand to the planes, which had been engaging the aero-subs off the coast. "Slay I Slay l" Down flashed the planes of the AmericaB, and their guns were blazing, inaudibly, but none the less deadly of aim and of purpose, straight into the midst of the men of Moyen who had thus been left maroofted and almost helpless with the vanishing of their amphibians. And, noting how they fell in stran- gled, huddled heaps before the vengeful fire of the American planes, the Secret Agents sighed, and Maniel, his face alight with the pride of accomplish; ment, switched to another point along the- coast. And; as a new group of the monsters of Moyen came into view, and Maniel bent to his labors afresh, the hated voice of the master mobster broke once more in the Secret Room. "Enough, Kleig I Enough I We will surrender to save lives I I stipulate only that my own life be spared I" To which Prester Kleig made instant reply. "Did you offer us choice of surrender? Did you spare the lives of our people which, with your control of your 46 ASTOUNDING STORIES golden rays, you could easily have done? Not Nor will we spare lives, least of all the life of Moyen I" The whining again, as of the whir- ring of doves' wings. More metal monsters, even as golden tongues spewed forth from^their many sides, vanished from view, leaping Skyward, while the operators of them were left to the mercies ^of the remaining air- man of the Americans. VOICELESSLY the word went forth: "SUyl SUyl" It was Charmion who begged for mercy for the vanquished as, one by one, as surely as fate, the monsters with their contained aero-subs were blotted out, leaving pilots and operators behind them. Down upon these dropped the airmen of the West, sUying .with- out mercy. . . . "Please, lover I" Charmion whispered. "Spare them I" "Even. . . V he began, thinking of Moyen, who would have taken Char- mion. He felt her shudder as she read his mind, understood what he would have asked. "There he UP came softly from Munson. 1 An amphibian had just been disinte- grated, had just climbed mistily, swift- ly, into invisibility in the skies. And there in the midst- of . the conquerors left behind, his angel's face set in a moody mask, hU pale eyes awful with fear, hit misshapen body sagging, ter- rible in its realization of failure, wji Moyen I ■ Even as Eleig prepared to give mercy signal; a plane, dived down a the group about Moyen, and the Stem Agents could see the hand of the pQg, ..lifted high, as though he signals!! " ' ' The plane waa a Maytherl The aQa> was Carlos Kane I JUST aa Kane went into action,*! the noiseless bullets. from bis jt crashed into that twisted body, casS it to jump and twitch with the i "'" of them, Prester Eleig gave the i Even aa the figure of Moyen « to the soil and the man's soul i its mortal casement, Eleig co "Spare all who surrender I Make aw prisoner^* to be used to repair fla damage they have done to our comnrfl Guards will be instantly placed war the amphibians and the aero tubs- jar the s day may come when we shall sjpl to know their secrets I" j And, as men, hands lifted hlfhifcs token of surrender, quitted the am motionless- amphibians, and flyaaj dropped down to make them prisaaaa, Maniel sighed, pressed various bottosi on his apparatus, and the mad tern of carnage they had witnessed fat hours faded slowly out, and darkasai and silence filled the Secret Room. But darkness U the joy of lofen, and; in the midst oi silence that «* > almost appalling by contrast, Klelgaai Charmion were received info est other's arms. Everyone Is Invited To * 4 Come Over in 'THE READERS' CORNER' w ! Vampires of Venus By Anthony Pelcher Ht ttiati a ikarl hmift mi threw himttlf ferwvd. IT Was as if someone had thrown a bomb into a Quaker meeting, when adventure suddenly began to croud itself into the life of the tfadious and methodical Leslie Lamer, swfissnr of entomology. Fame had been hi since early ■nbood, when he •tfsn to distin- fiiflh himself in several sciences, bat the adventure mi thrills he had longed for had al- «ats fallen to the lot of others. 47 LmUm Lmramr, mn ontovalofiat t iai uw i l from tho Earth, pita him— If aaainat the niabt-fijus TBmpina that «r tin «■ of Vaau. His ; father, a college professor, had left him a good working brain and noth- ing else. Later his mother died and he was left with no relatives in the world, so far as he knew. So he gave hrs life over to study and hard work. Still youthful at twenty-five, he was 48 ASTOUNDING STORIES hoping that fate would "give him a break." It did. He was in charge of a Government deparfment having to do with Oriental beetles, Hessian flies, boll, weevils and such, and it seemed his life had been just one bug after another. He took creeping, crawling things seriously and believed that, unless curbed, insects would some day crowd man off the earth. He sounded an alarm, but hu- manity was not disturbed. So Leslie Lamer fell back on his microscope and concerned himself with saving cotton, wheat and other crops. His only diversion was fishing for the elusive rainbow trout. , He managed to spend a month each year in the Colorado Rockies angling for speckled beauties. Lamer was anything but a clock- watcher, but on a certain bright day In June he was, seated in his laboratory doing just that: "Just five minutes to go," he mused. . It was just 4:25 P. M. He had finished his work, put his affairs in order, and in five minutes would be free to leave on a much needed and well earned vacation. His bags were packed and at the station. His fishing tackle, the pride of his young life, was neatly rolled ,in oiled silk and stood near at hand. "I'll just fill, my calabash, take one more quiet smoke, and then for the moon tains and freedom," he told him- self. He settled back with his feet on his desk. He half closed his eyes in solid comfort. Then the f bomb fell and exploded. B-R-R-R-Rf The buzzer on his desk buzzed and his feet came off the desk and hit the floor with a thud. His' eyes popped open and the calabash was immediately laid aside. That buzzer usually meant business, and it would be his usual luck to have trouble crash in on him just as he was on the edge of aTralnbow trout paradise. A messenger was ushered into" the room by an assistant. The boy hunts' him an envelope, said, "No annrtr,' and departed. Lamer tore open the envelope lazuy. He read and then re-read its contend, while a look of puzzled surprise ds> turbed his usually iplacid countenance. He spread the sheet of paper out ansa desk, and for the tenth time he real; Confidential. Memorize this address and destroy this paper: Tula Bela, 1726 88th Street, West, City of Hesper, Repub- lic of Pan a. Planet Venus. Will meet you in the Fry- ing Pan. * '• That was alL It was enoojk. Lamer lost his temper. He crumples the paper and tossed it in the wash) basket. He was not given to profanhy, but he could Bay "Judas Priest" is I way that sizzled. " Judas Priest I" he spluttered. "Anj> one who would send a man a any bunch of nonsense like that, at a baa like this, ought to be snuffed out. like a beetle I " "'Meet you in the Frying Pan," " he quoted. Then he happened to real something. "By golly, there is s fiaV ing district in Colorado known as Ik Frying Pan. That's not so crazy, bit the planet Venus part surely s cuckoo." He fished the paper out of tat waste basket, found the envelope, placed the strange message within sal put it in his inside coat pocket Tan he seized his suitcase and fisUaj tackle, and, rushing out, hailed a taxi Not long after he was on his way ass) by plane. AS the country unrolled under Ub he retrieved the strange as* from his pocket. He read it again sai again. Then be examined the envelope It was an ordinary one of good qoatttf, designed for business rather than as- dal usage. The note paper appears! VAMPIRES OF VENUS' 49 quite different. It was unruled, pure white, and of a texture which might be described as pebbly. It was strongly made, and of a nature unlike any paper. Lamer had ever seen before. It ap- peared to have been made from a fiber rather than a 'pulp. "Wonder who wrote it?" Lamer asked himself. "It is beautiful hand- writing, masculine yet artistic. Won- der where he got the Frying Pan idea? At any rate, I'm not going to the Fry- ing Pan this year — I'm camping on Tennessee Creek, in Lake County, Colorado. The country there is more beautiful and restful. "But this street address on the planet Venus. Seems to me I read somewhere that Marconi had received mysterious signals that he believed eame from the planet Venus. Hesper, Hesper ... it sounds familiar, some- how. Wonder if there could be any- thing to it ?" Something impelled him to follow out the instructions in the note. He •pent the next few hours repeating the address over and over again. When he was satisfied that he had memorized it thoroughly, he tore Jthe strange, paper into bits and sent it fluttering earth- ward like a tiny snowstorm. Lamer waa not a gullible individual, but neither was he unimaginative. He was scientist enough to know that "the impossibilities of to-day are the accomplishments of to-morrow." So . while not convinced that the note was a serious communication, still his mind was open. The weird address insisted on creep- ing into his mind and driving out other thoughts, even those of his •peckled playfellows, the rainbow trout. "I've a notion to change my plans and go from Denver to the Frying Pan," he cogitated. Then he thought, >^No, I won't take it that seriously." ANYONE who knows the Colorado Rockies knows paradise. There is no more beautiful country on the globe. Lake County, where Lamer had chosen his fishing grounds, has as , its seat the old raining camp of Lead- vijle. It has been visited and settled more for its gold mines than the golden glow of its sunsets above the clouds, but the gold of the sunsets is eternal, while the gold of the mines is fading quickly away. Leadville, with its 5;000 inhabitants, nestles above the clouds, at an altitude of more than 10,000 feet. Mount Mas- sive with its three peaks lies back of the town in panorama and rises to a height of some 14,400 feet. In the rugged mountains thereabouts are hundreds of lakes fed by wild streams and bubbling crystal springs. All these lakes are above the clouds. Winter sees the whole picture dec- orated with bizarre snowdrifts from twenty to forty feet deep, but spring comes early. .The beautiful columbines and' crocuses bloom before the snow , is all off the ground in the valleys. The lands up to 12,000 feet altitude are carpeted with, a light green grass and moss. Giant pines and dainty aspens, with their silvery bark and pinkish, leaves blossom forth and whisper) whiletthe eternal snows still linger in the higher roclrg cliffs and. peaks above. , Indian-paint blooms its blood red 'in contrast to the milder colorings. Blackbirds and bluebirds chatter*Vnd chipmunks chirp. The gold so hard to find in the mines glares from the skies. The hills cuddle in banks of snowy clouds, and above all a- pure , clear blue sky sweeps. The lakes and 'streams abound with rainbow trout, the gamest of any fresh water fish. It is indeed a paradise for either poet or sportsman/' In any direction near to Leadville a man can find Heaven and recreation and rest. Finding himself on Harrison Ave- nue, the ■ main street of the county seat. Lamer, after renewing some old acquaintanceships, started west in a flivver for Tennessee Creek. The 50 ASTOUNDING STORIES flrrver is a modern adjustment. Un- til a few years ago the only means >of traversing these same hills was by patient, sure-footed donkeys, which carried the pack while the wayfarer^ walked along beside. THE first day's fishing was good. Trout seemed to greet him cheerily, and sprang eagerly to the fray. They bit at any sort of silken fly he cast. The site chosen by Lamer for his camp was in a mossy clearing separated from the stream. by a fringe of willows along the creek. Then came a border of aspens backed by a forest of silver- tipped firs. It was ideal and his eyes swept the scene with satisfaction. Then he be- gan whittling bacon to grease his pan for frying trout over the open fire. Suddenly he heard a rustle in the aspens, and, looking up, beheld a pic tore which made his eyes bulge. A man and a woman, garbed seemingly in the costumes of another world, walked toward him. Neither were iinore than five feet tall but were physi- cally perfect, and marvelously pleasing to the eye. There was little difference in their dress. Both wore helmets studded with what Lamer believed to. be sapphires. He learned later they were diamonds. Their clothing consisted of tight trouserlike garments surmounted by tunics of some white pelt resembling chamois, save for color. A belt studded with precious stones encircled their waists! Artistic laced sandals graced their small firm feet. Their skin was a pinkish white. Their every feature was perfection plus, and their bodies curved just enough wherever a curve should be. The woman was daintier and more fully developed, and her features were even more finely chiseled than the man. Otherwise it would have been difficult to distinguish their sex. Lamer took in these details sub- consciously, for he j/ms awed beyond expression. All he could do was to stand seemingly froaen, half bent over the campfire with his frying pan in his hand! THE man spoke. "I hope we did not startle you," he said. *T thought my - note would, partly prepare you for this meeting. We expected to find you in the Frying Pan district. When you did not appear there we tuned our radio locator to your heart beats and in that way located you here. It was hardly a second's space-flying time from where we were." Lamer said nothing. He could only stand and gape. "I do not wonder that you are sur- prised," said the strange little man. "I will explain that I am Nern Bela, of the City of Helper, on the planet Venus. This is my sister Tula. We greet you in the interest of the Repub- lic of Pan a, which embraces all of the planet you know as Venus." When Larner recovered his breath, he lost his temper. _ "I don't know what circus you es- caped from, but I crave solitude and I have no time to be bothered with fairy tales," he said with brutal brusk^ ness. Expressions of hurt surprise swept the countenances of his visitors. The man spoke again: "We are just what we assert we are, and our finding you was made neces- sary by a condition which grieves the souls of all the 900,000,000 inhabitants of Venus. We have come to plead with you to come with us and use your scientific knowledge to . thwart a scourge which threatens the ljves of millions of people." / There was a quiet dignity about the man and an air of pride about the w y oman which made Larner stop and think, or try to. He rubbed his hand over his brow and looked question- ingly at the pair. "If you arc what you say you are, how did you get here?" he asked. I VAMPIRES -z. "We came in a' tar go, a space-flying ■hip, capable, of doing 426,000 miles an hour. This is just 1200 times as fast as 355 miles an hour, the highest- speed known on earth. Come with us and we will show you our ship." They looked at him appealingly, and both smiled a smile of wistful friendliness. Lamer, without a word, threw down his frying pan and followed them through the aspens. The brother and sister walking ahead of him gave his eyes a treat. He surveyed the perfect form of the girl. Her perfection was beyond his ken. "They certainly are not of this world," he mused. A FEW hundred yards farther on there was a beach of pebbles, where the stream had changed its course. On this plot sat a gigantic spherical machine of a glasslike ma- terial. It was about 300 feet in diameter and it was tapered on two sides into tees which Lamer rightly took to be lights. This is a targo, our type of space- flyer," said Nern Bela. "It is capable of making two trips a year between Venus and the earth. We have visited this planet often, always landing in some mountain or jungle fastness as heretofore we did not desire earth- dwellers to know of our presence." "Why not?" asked Lamer, his mouth agape and his eyes protruding. His mind was so full of questions that he fairly blurted his first one. "Because," said Bela, slowly and frankly, "because our race knows no sickness and we feared contagion, as your racnhas not yet learned to con-j trol its fleing." "Oh," said Lamer thoughtfully. He realized that humans of the earth, whom he had always regarded as Cod's most perfect beings, were not so per- fect after alL "How do you people control your being, as you express it?" he asked. "It is simple," was the reply. "For ninety centuries we have ceased to OF VENUS 51 breed imperfection, crime and d inw We deprived no one of the pleasures of life, but only the most perfect men- tal and physical specimens of our peo- ple cared to have children. In other ycirds, while we make no claim to con- trolling our sex habits, we do control results." "Oh," said Lamer again. Nern Bela led the way to a door which opened into the side of the space-flyer near its base. "We have a drew of four men and four women," he said. They handle the entire ship, with my Bister and I in command, mak- ing six souls aboard in all." "Why men and women?" thought Lamer. As if in answer to his thought Bela said: * "On the earth the two sexes have struggled for sex supremacy. This has thrown your civilization out of balance. On Venus we have struggled for sex equality and have accomplished It This is a perfect balance. Han and women engage in all endeavor and share all favors and rewards alike. "In war, too?" asked Lamer. There has not been war on Venus for 600,000 years," said Bela. There is only the one nation, and the people all live in perfect accord. Our only trouble in centuries is v a dire peril which now threatens our people, and it is of this that I wish to talk to you more at length." THEY were standing close to the targo. Lamer was struck by the peculiar material of which it was con- structed. There was sV question in his eyes, and Nern Bela answered it: The metal is d uranium ; it Is metalized quartz. It is frictionlesa, conducts no current or ray except re- pulsion and attraction ray NTR69X6 by which it is propelled. It is prac- tically transparent, lighter than air and harder than a diamond. It Is cast in moulds after being melted or, rather, fused. "We use cold light which we pro- 52 ASTOUNDING STORIES dace by forcing oxygen through air tube* into a vat filled with the fat of a deep tea fish resembling your whale. Yon are aware, bf course, that that is exactly how cold light is produced by the firefly, except for the fact that the. firefly uses his own fat." ' Lanier was positively fascinated. He smoothed the metal of the targo in ap- preciation of 'its marvelous construc- tion, but he longed most to-* see the curious light giving mechanism, for this was closer to his own line of entomology. He had always believed that the light giving organs: of firefly* and deep-sea, fishes could be reproduced mechanically. The interior of the ship resembled in a vague way that of an ocean liner. It was controlled by an instrument board at which a man and a girl sat. They did not raise their heads as the three people entered. When called by Beta and. his sister, who seemed to give commands in unison, the crew assembled and were presented to the visitor. "Earth-dwellers are not the curi- osity to us that we seem to be to you," ■aid Tula Bela, speaking for the first time and smiling sweetly. Lamer was too. engrossed to note the remark further than to nod his head. He was lost in 'contemplation of these strange people, all garbed exactly alike and all surpassingly lovely to look upon. AN odor of food wafted from the galley, and Lamer remembered he was hungry, with, the , hunger of health. He had swung his basket of fish over his shoulder when he left his campfire, and Tula toolc it from him. "Would you like to havje our chef prepare them for you?" she said, as she caught his hungry glance at his day's catch. This time Lamer an- swered her. "If you will pardon me," he said awkwardly. "Really I am famished." "You will not miss your fish dinner," ■aid the girL "I believe there is enough for all of us," said Lamer. "I caught twenty beauties. I never knew fish to bite like that. Why, they—" and he was off on a voluminous discourse on a favorite subject. Those assembled listened sym- pathetically. Then Tula took the fish, and soon the aroma of broiling trout mingled with the other entrancing galley odors. After a dinner at which some weird yet satisfying viands, were served and much unusual conversation indulged in, Nern Bela led the way to what ap- peared to be the captain's quarters. The crew and their visitor sat down to discuss a subject which proved to be of such a terrifying nature as to sear human souls. "People on Venus," said Nern, as his eyes took on a worried expression, "are unable . to leave their- homes after nightfall due to some strange nocturnal beast which attacks them and vampir- ishly drains all blood from their veins, leaving- the dead bodies limp and empty." "What? How?" questioned Lamer leaning far forward over the .confer- ence table. The others nodded their heads', and in the eyes of the women there was terror. Lamer could not but believe this. "The beasts, or should I say insects, are as large as your horses and they fly, actually fly, by night, striking down humans, domestic animals and all creatures of warm blood. How many there are we have no means of knowing, and we cannot find their hid- ing and breeding places. They are not native to our planet, and where they come -from we cannot imagine. They are, actually monstrous flys, or bugs, or some form of insects." LARNER was overcome by in- credulity and showed it. "In- sects as big as horses?" he questioned and he could hardly suppress a smile. "Believe us, In the name of the God VAMPIRES OP VENUS 53 of us all," insisted Nern. "They have a mouth which consists of a large suc- tion disk, in the center of which is a lancelike tongue. The lance is forced into the body at any convenient point, and the suction disk drains out the blood. If we only knew their source! They attack young children and the aged, up to. five hundred years, alike." "What I Five hundred years?" ex- ploded Lamer again. "I ., should have explained," said Nern, simply, "that Venus dwellers, due to our advanced knowledge of sanitation and health conversation, live about 800 years, and then die in- variably of old age. The only un- natural cause of death encountered is this giant insect. Accidents do occur, but they are rare. There are no deliber- ate killings on Venus." Lanier did not answer. He only pondered. The more he ran over the strange happenings of the last week in his mind the more he believed he was dreaming. His thoughts took a strange turn: "Why do these vain people go around dressed in jeweled ornaments?" Nern again anticipated a question. ■Diamonds, gold and many of what you call precious stones are common on Venus," he volunteered. ' "Talc and many other things are more valuable." "Talc?" "Yes, we use an immense quantity of it. We have a wood that is harder than your steel. We build machinery with it. We cannot use oil to lubricate these wooden shafts and bearings as it softens the wood, so all parts exposed to friction are sprayed constantly by a gust of talc from a blower. "You use talc mostly for toilet pur- poses. We use it for various purposes* There is little left on Venus, and it is more valuable to us than either gold or diamonds. ' We draw on your planet now for talc. You dump immense quantities. We just shipped one hundred 1,000-ton globes of it from the Cripple Creek district, and the district never missed it. We drew most of it from your mine dumps." NERN tried not to look bored aa he explained more in detail: "We brought 100. hollow spheres con- structed of dura ninm, We suspended these over the Cripple Creek district at an altitude of 10,000 feet above the earth's surface. Because of the crystal glint of duranium they were invisible ■to earth dwellers at that height. Then we used a suction draft at night, draw- ing the talc from the earth, filling one drum after another. This is done by tuning in a certain selective attraction that attracts only talc. It draws it right out of your ground in tiny par- ticles and assembles it in the trans- portation drums as pure talc. On the earth, if noticed at all, it would have been called a dust storm. "The drums, when loaded with talc, are set to attract the proper planetary force and they go speeding toward Venus at the rate of 426,000 miles an hour. They are prevented* from collid- ing with meteors by an automatic magnetic device. This is controlled by magnetic force alone, and when the targo gets too close to a meteor it changes its course instantly. The passenger targo we ride in acts similarly. And now may I return to the .-subject of the vampires of Venus?" "Pardon ntf ignorance," said Lamer, and for, the first time in his life, he felt very ignorant indeed. "I know little more than I have told you," said Nern, rather hopelessly. "Our knowledge of your world, your people and your language comes from our' listening in on you and observing you without being observed or heard. ' This might seem like taking an ad- vantage of you, were it not for the fact that we respect confidences, and sub- jugate all else to science. We have helped you at times, by telepathically suggesting ideas to your thinkers. "We would have given you all our inventions in this way, gladly, but in many instances we were unable to find minds attuned to accept such advanced ideas. We have hid the advantage of 54 ASTOUNDING STORIES you because our planet is so many mil- lions of years older than your own." There was a plaintive note in Nern's" voice aa he talked. "| J UT now we are on our knees to XJ you, so to speak. We do not know everything and, desperately, we need, the aid of a man of your caliber. In behalf of the distraught people of Venus, I am asking you bluntly to make a grtat sacrifice. Will you face the dangers of a trip to Venus and use your knowledge to aid ua in ex- terminating' these creatures of helW There was positive pleading in his voice, and in the eyes of his beautiful sister there were tears. "But what would my superiors in the Government Bureau think?" feebly protested Larner, "I could not ex- •plain. . . "You have no superiors in your line. Our Government needs you at this time more than any earthly govern- ment. Your place here is a fixture. You* can always return to it, should you live. We are asking you Jo face a hor- rible death with ua. You can name your own compensation, but I know you are not interested so much in re- ward. "Now, honestly, my good professor, there is no advantage to be gained by explanation. Just disappear. In the name of God and in the interests of science and the salvation of a people who are at your mercy, just drop out of sight. Drop out of life on this planet. Came with us. The cause is worthy of the man I believe you to be." *T will go," said Larner, and his hosts waited for no more. An instant later the targo shot out into interstellar ■pace. "How do you know what course to follow?" asked Larner after a reason- able time, when he had recovered from his surprise at the sudden take-off. "We do not need to know- Our ma- chine is tuned to be attracted by the planetary force of Venus alone. We could not go elsewhere. A repulsion ray finds ua as we near Venus and pro- tects ub against too violent a landing. We will land on Venus like a feather about three months from to-night." The time of the journey through t outer space was of little moment save fof one incident. Larner and the other travelers were suddenly and rather rudely jostled about the rapidly flying craft. Lamer lost his breath but not his speech. "What happened?"' he in- quired. "We just automatically dodged a meteor," explained Nem. MOST of the time of the trip was spent by Larner in listening to explanations of customs and traditions of the people of the brightest planet in the universe. There was a question Larner had de- sired to ask Nem Bela, yet he hesi- tated to do so. Finally one evening during the journey to Venus, when the travelers had been occupying them- selves in a scientific discussion of 'com- parative .evolution on the two planets. Lamer saw his opportunity. "Why?' he asked rather hesitatingly, "did the people of Venus always re- main so small? Why did. you ,not strive more for height? The Japanese, who are the shortest in stature of earth people, always wanted to be talL" "Without meaning any offense," re- plied Nem, "I must Bay that it is char- acteristic of earth dwellers to want something without knowing any good reason why they want it. It is per- fectly all right for you people to be tall, but for us it is not so fitting. You. see, Venus is smaller than the earth. Size is comparative. You think we are not tall because you are used to., taller people. Comparatively we are tall enough. In proportion to the size of our planet we are exactly the right size. We keep our population at 900,- 000,000, and that is the perfectly exact number of people who can live com- fortably on our planet." VAMPIRES ARRIVING op Venus, Lanier «m assigned a- laboratory anil office in one of the Government buildings. It was a world seemingly made of glass. Quartz, of rose, white - and crystal coloring. Lamer found, was the com- monest country rock of the planet. In many cases it was shot full of splinters of gold which the natives had not taken the "trouble to recover. This quartz was of a terrific hardness and was used in building, paving, and pub- lic works generally. The effect was bewildering. It was a world of shim- mering crystal. The atmosphere of Venus had long puzzled Larner. While not an as- tronomer in the largest sense of the word, yet he had a keen interest in the heavens as a giant puzzle picture, and he had given some spare time to the study. He knew that from all indications Venus had a most unusual atmosphere, He had read that the atmosphere was considerably denser than that of the earth, and that its presence made ob- servation difficult. The actual surface of the planet he knew could hardly be Been due, either to this atmosphere, qt seemingly perpetual cloud banks. He had read that the presence of atmosphere surrounding Venus is in- dicated to earthly astronomers, during the planet's transit, by rings of light due to the reflection .and scattering of collected sunlight by its atmos- phere. Astronomers on earth, he knew, had long been satisfied of the presence of great cloud banks, as rocks and soils could notvhave such high reflecting power. He knew that like the moon, Venus, when viewed from the earth, presents different phases from the crescent to the full or total stage. Looking up at the sky from the quartz streets of Venus, Larner beheld, In sweeping grandeur, massed cloud- banks, many of them apparently rain clouds. Nern noted his skyward gaze, and said: OF VENUS 55 t "We have accomplished meteorologi- cal control. Those clouds were brought under control when < we conquered in- terplanetary force, and what you call gravity. We form them and move them at will. They are our rain fac- tory. We make rain when and where we will. This insures our crops and makes for health and contentment. "The air, you will note, is about the same or a little more moist than the earth air at sea level. This is due to tbe planet's position nearer the sun. \"We have been striving for centuries tq make the air a little drier and more rare, but we have not succeeded yet. vCThe heavy content of disintegrated 'quartz in our soil makes moisture very necessary for our crops, so our moist atmosphere is evidently a provision of _ providence. We are used to breathing ' this moist air, and when I first visited the earth I was made uncomfortable by your rarified atmosphere. Now I can adjust myself to: breathing the air of either planet. However, I find myself drinking a great deal more water on earth than on Venus." IN this fairyland which had enjoyed centuries of peace, health and ac- "icord, stark terror now reigned. In some instances the finely-bred, marvel- lously intelligent people were in a mental condition bordering on mad- ness. This waa especially true in the farm- ing districts, wher&Jthole herds of lata had been wiped Cut. Lata, Larner gleaned, were a common farm animal similar to the bovine species op earth, only more wooly. On these creatures the Venus dwellers depended for their milk and dairy supplies,' and for their warmer clothing, which was made from the skin. The hairVwas used for brushes, in the/building trades, and a thousand ways in manufacturing. Besides the domestic animals hun- dreds of people continued to meet death, and only a few of the flying vampires had been hunted down. The giant insects were, believed to breed 56 ASTOUNDING STORIES slowly as compared to earth insect*, their females producing not more than, ten eggs, by estimate, alter which death overtook the adult. In spite of this they were reported to be increas- ing- i In the Government building Lamer was placed m touch with all the Gov- ernment scientists of Venus. His nearest collaborator was one Zom Zada, most profound scientist of the planet. The two men, with; a score of assistants, worked elbow to! elbow on the most gigantic scientific Mystery in the history of two planets. A specimen of the dread iuvader^was mounted and studied by the scientists, who were so engrossed in their work that they hardly took time to eat. As for sleep, there was little off it. Days were spent in) research and; nights in hunting the monsters. This hunting was done by newly recruited soldiers and scientists. The weapons: used were a short ray-gun of high destructive power which disintegrated the bodies of the enemies by atomic energy blasts. The quarry was wary, however, and struck at isolated individuals rather' than massed fighting lines. SEATED at his work-bench Lamer asked Zom Zada what h»d become of Nem Bela. In his heart; he had a horrible lurking fear that thij beautiful Tula Beta might fall beforci a swarm of the strange vampires, but he did not voice this anxiety. . "Nem and his sister are explorers and navigators," was the reply. "They have been assigned to carry you any- where on this or any other planet where your work may engage you. They await your orders. They are too valuable as space-navigators to be placed in harm's way." Breathing a sigh of relief. Lamer bent to his labors. "What other wild animals or harmful insects have you on this planet?" he asked Zom. "I get your thought," replied the first scientist of Venus. "You aie seeking a natural enemy to this deadly flying menace, are you not?" "Yes," admitted Lamer. "All insects left, on Venus with this ode exception are beneficial," said Zom. "There are no wild animals, and no harmful insects. All animals, in-, sects and birds have been domesticated and are fed by their keepers. We gef fabrics from forms of what you call' spiders and other web-builders and co- coon spinners. All forms of birds, beasts and crawling and flying things have been brought under the dominion of man. We will have to seek another way out than by finding an enemy para- site." "Where do you think these insect in- vaders came from?" asked Lamer. "You have noticed they are unlike anything you have on earth in anatomi- cal construction,"* said the savant. "They partake of the general features of , Coleoptera (beetles), in that they wear a sheath of armor, yet their mouth parts are more on the order of the Dip- tera (flys). I regard them more as a fly than a beetle, because most Coleoptera are helpful to humanity while practi- cally all, if not all, Diptera are malig- nant " v "As to their original habitat, I believe they migrated here from some other planet." "They could not fly through space," said Lamer. "No, that is the mystery of it," agreed Zom. "How they got here and where they breed are the questions that we have to answer. v 1 %. LONG days passed on Venus. Long days and sleepless nights. The< big insects were hunted nightly by nfcn armed with ray-guns, and nightly the blood-sucking monsters took their toll of humanity and animals. Finally Lamer and Zom determined to capture one of the insects alive, muzzle its lance and suction pad, and give it sufficient freedom to find its way the shackled monster the scientists back to its hiding place. By following VAMPIRES OF VENUS 57 ^ped to find the breeding grounds. - AD the provinces of the planet joined ■ the drive. Hen turned out in auto- mat vehicles, propelled by energy inhered from the atmosphere. They ose an foot and in aircraft. Mobiliza- fan was at given points and, leading At. van, were Zorn and Lamer and &dr confreres in the targo of Nem ax) Tola Bern. The great army of Ve- nt carried giant searchlights and was Bated with deadly ray-guns. HEADQUARTERS of the vast Army of Offense was in the targo af the Belas. Lamer was in supreme caonaod. Just before the big army set tot. to scour the planet to seek the heeding place of the monsters Lamer baaed a bulletin that set all Venus, by the on. Addressed to President Vole Vesta of the Republic of Pana and the good people of Venus, it read : Ai is generally known, it has been the habit of the. nation's ■pace-flying merchantmen to visit the sunlit side of the planet Mer- cury to obtain certain rare woods and other materials not found on tail planet One side of Mercury, as is known, is always turned from the am and is in a condition of per- petual night. In this perpetual daiku e ss and dampness, where aony rivers flow into warm black nramps, the vampires have bred for centuries. Conditions were ideal for their growth, and so through the ages they evolved into the Boosters we have encountered lately on Venufc Daring some comparatively re- cent visit to Mercury the grubs of these insects have found their way abroad a vegetation-laden targo left standing near the edge of the black • i swamps of Mercury. These grubs were thus transported to Venus sad underwent their natural meta- ■orpboca here. Reaching adult j *"f*> they have found some place to hide and breed, and thus is ex- plained the origin of the vampires of Venus. This was widely read and discussed and was finally accepted as the means of the invasion of peaceful, beautiful Venus by a horror that might well have originated in hell. However, this did not reveal the breeding grounds, or remove the na- tion-wide scourge of the, horrible winged vampires, so the mobilization of all the forces of the planet continued. AS day followed day the hordes of fighting Venus dwellers grew in the concentration camps. In the targo of the Belas, Lamer, brain-weary and body-racked as he was with overwork, found a grain of happiness in being in the presence of Nem and his beautiful, petite sister. With Zom, Lamer was supervising the construction of a big net of strongly woven wire mesh, in which it was hoped to catch one of the vampires. It was decided to bait the trap with a fat female lat. Zom, Lamer and the Belas fared forth from the concentration camp fol- lowed by a company of soldiers carry- ing the big net. Tula (with her own hand led the fat lat heifer. His eyes were filled with commiseration for the poor animal. Thousands of soldiers and citizenry, in fighting array, watched the depar- ture of the little group. In a glade the trap was set and the net arranged to fall over the monster once it attacked the calf. From a thicket, in utter darkness, Zom and Lamer arid the two Belas waited for the possible catch. The whole nation stood awaiting the order to advance. On the fourth night the vigil waa re- warded in a manner frightful to relate. A clumsy flutter of giant wings broke the stillness. The four waiting forms in the thicket rejoiced, believing the faf lat was about to be attacked. - \ Onward came the approaching bor- Si ASTOUNDING STORIES ror. The measured flap, flap of its armored wings drawing nearer ' and nearer. Then, horror— horrors I, A feminine scream rent the air. Cries loud and thrill arose above a hysterical feminine' cry for help. . The monster had; chosen Tula Bela for its prey 1 \ ZORN exploded an alarm bomb. A compressed ait; siren brought the army forward on the run. Giant flood- lights began to light up the scene. The blood o'f Lamer and Nern froze. The monster had borne the girl, to the ground. Its frightful lance and cupper was upraised to strike. Larner was the nearest and the quickest* to act. He grabbed for his ray-gun, swung at his belt. It was gone! In horror he re- membered he had left it at the base. He seized a short knife and threw him- self forward, rolling his bod/ between that of the girl arid the descending lance and cupper. As the lance pierced his shoulder Larner, in one wild gesture of frenzy, drove his knife through the soft, yield- ing flesh of the vampire's organ of suc- tion. Protected by no bony structure the snout of the monster was amputated. The terrible creature had been dis- armed of his most formidable weapon, but he continued to fight. Larner felt the spikes on the monster's legs tear at his flesh. "Don't kill the thing," he shouted. "Bring on the net. For the love of God bring on the netl" Then he lost con- sciousness. It was daylight when Larner, some- what weakened from loss of blood, re- gained consciousness. The beautiful Tula Bela was leaning over him. She whispered comforting words to him in a language be did not fully understand.' She whispered' happy ex- clamations in words he did not know the meaning of, but the tone was un- mistakably those of a sweetheart towards- her lover. Finally, in answer to a true tcbe> tist's question in his eyes, she ssfcffa English: / "They caught the thing alive, lb- await your order to advance." "Let us' be on our way," said lamer, and he started to arise. "You are hardly strong enpugh," sal Tula. . , "Believe me, I am all right," Larner, and after several trials he aft to his feet. His constitution' was nta> rally strong and his will was, stronger, so he fought back all feelings of weak- ness and soon announced himself ready to go ahead with the project at >"~i For speed was all important, and the young professor found himself usable to remain inactive. HE rejoiced when Zorn told him that the big insect that hid it- tacked Tula Bela had been captures' alive and had been kept well nouriaM by Iat's blood injected into its stomdL With Zom Larner went to inspect the hideous monstrosity and found ft in leash and straining. It was retefy to be used to lead the way back to la breeding place. Its wings shackled, the lumberisf .insect floundered on its way straight north. Ponderously and half bUndh; it crawled as the searchlights' glen was kept far enough in advance to keep from blinding the monster. True" to instinct it finally brought as at early drawn under a high cliff of smoky quartz. Here, in the graf crevices, the drove of diabolical vaaV pires were hiding. • As the light struck their dens, they attempted clumsily to take wing, bats interlacing network of devastating dis- integrating rays from the ray-goat shattered their bodies to dust, whkh was borne away by the wind. ' The neat few months was spent hT combing the quartz crags of Venal fat similar infested areas, but only the oat breeding nest was found. The scourge had been conquered in its first and oafy stronghold. VAMPIRES OF VENUS 59 SO coded the greatest reign of terror • ja the history of Venus. ' Lailk Lamer was given a vote of ^■ta, sod riches were showered upon |fe by the good people of the sky's brightest star. Bfc modesty was characteristic and btteisted that his part in saving hu- ^uty on the planet had been small Pustge back to earth was offered bai bat Nem and Tula Bela urged bbi to itay and live his life on Venus, fbn be finally agreed to do. If I returned," he said, "I would thnyi be tempted to tell my experi- tr—m while away, and there is not a jny in the world which would account ae one after I had once spoken." THAT the story of Larner's adven- tures reached earth dwellers at all is due to the fact .that Nem Bela on a subsequent jvisit to the earth narrated it to a Colorado quartz miner. This miner, a bronzed and bearded prospec- tor for gold,- stumbled on the targo in a mountain fastness, and there was nought to do 'but make him welcome and pledge him to secrecy. (' The miner surveyed the crystal targo in rapt wonderment and said : "And to think I am the only earth man who ever viewed such a craft 1" "No," answered Nem Bela, "there is one other." And then the stirring story of Leslie LAmer's life on Venus was told. ' •wVTVV &AFE FLYING IN FOGS ; outstanding development in aviation amy, and one of the most significant few In aviation history was the "blind" Mjm ml Lieut, James H. DoolirUe, daredevil «f tfca Army Air Corps, at Mitchel Field, U L, which led Harry P. GuggeriheirrirPresi- sstf of the Daniel Goggenheim Fund for the hssaonon of Aeronautics, Inc., \o announce gat the problem of fog-flying, one of avi- itkai'i greatest bugbears, had been solved at sst There has been "blind flying" done in the past but never before in the history of avi- tnon has any pilot taken off, circled, crossed, it-crossed the field, then landed only a short essence, away from his starting point while tying tender conditions resembling the densest ng, as Lieut. "Jimmy" DoolirUe has done, in ha Wright-motored "Husky" training -plane, ft was something uncanny to contemplate. The "dense fog'' was produced artificially to (he simple device of making the cabin of lie plane entirely light-proof. Once seated ■side, the flyer, with his co-pilot, Lieut, ftcajsmhi Kelaey, also of Mitchel Field, were osaplctcly shut off from any view of the wadd outside. AD they had to depend on am three new flying instruments, developed oaring die past year in experiments conducted ffer the rail-flight laboratory established by *e Fund at Mitchel Field. The chief factors contributing to the solu- ■88 of the problem of blind flying consist of *i «w applica tion of the visual radio beacon, ■t development of an improved instrument' to indicating the longitudinal and lateral po- ™* o f an airplane, a new directional gy- and a sensitive barometric altimeter, ** defl ate aa to measure the altitude of aa * yne within a few feet of the ground. 'j jf instead of relying on the natural ho- for stability, Lieut. Doolfnle uses an "artificial horizon" on the small Instrument which indicates longitudinal and lateral po- sition in relation to the ground at all time. He was able to locate the landing field by means of the direction-finding long-distanr : radio beacon. In addition, another, smaller radio beacon had been installed, casting v a beam fifteen to twenty miles in either direc- tion, which governs the immediate approach to the field. To locate the landing field the pilot watches , two vibrating reeds, tuned to the radio bea- vr con, on a visual radio receiver on his instru- ment board. If he turns to the right or left of his. course ^the right or the left reed, r< spectively, begins doing a sfrt of St. Vitus dance. If the reeds are in equilibrium th- pilot knows it is, clear sailing straight to his field. * . The sensitive altimeter showed Lieut Doc- little his altitude and made it possible for him to calculate his landing to a distance of within a few feet from the ground. Probably the strangest device of all that Lieut. Doo little has been called upon to test in Mr. Guggenheim's war against fog lay a • sort of heat cannon that goes forth to combat like a fire-breathing dragon of old. Like the enemies of the dragon, the fog is supposed to, curl up and die before the scorching breath of the "hot air artillery'* although the funda- mental principle^ e hind the device is a great deal more scientific than such an explanation sounds. It is, in brief, based on the known fact that fog forms only in a very narrow temperature cone which lies between tbe saturation and precipitation points of the at- mosphere. If the air grows a little colder the fog turns into rain and falls; if it ia w aim e d very slightly the mist disappears and thcaT ia once more normally ^cbjar, although Its humidity ia very close to thij maximum. , > ! btci to lack at tkt PUoetara. Brigands of the Moon (The Book of Gregg Haljan) PART TWO OF A* FOUR-PART NOVEL By Ray Ctimmingt MY name, Gregg Haljan. My age, twenty-five yettrs. My occupa- tion, at the time my narrative begins, in 2075, was third officer of the Inter- planetary Space-ship Planetara. Thus I intro- duce myself to you. For this is :a continuation of the book of Gregg Haljan, and of ne- cessity I am the chief actor therein, )! shall recapitu- late very briefly what has happened so far: Unscrupulous Martian brigands were scheming for Johnny Grantline's secret Oat of awful space tumbled the Spaceship Planmtara toward* the Moon, bar officer* de a d, with bandits at bar" balm — and the controls oat of order! radium-ore treasure, dug out of tat Moon and waiting there to be picks! up by the Planetara on her return trif from Mars. The Planetara left, bound for Mm, some ten dm away. SuipicaM inter planettrj passengers wen aboard 1 Mikoasl Moa, a brothel and a sister «i Mars; Sir Arthur Coniston, a or/* terious Englishman; Ob Hahn, a VesM mystic. And amall,f effeminate Geor|l Prince and his sister, Anita. Love, I think, was born instantly between Anitt 60 ad me. I found all too soon that Miko, the ctniiter giant from Mars, also de- and her. v At we neared the Moon we received Goathne's secret message : . "Stop for on on your return voyage. Success tajond wildest hopes I" But I soon' (■covered that an eavesdropper in an Maible cloak had overheard it! Soon afterwards Miko accidentally ■ordered a person identified as Anita Mac*. Tien, in the confusion that resulted, Ifiko struck his great blow. The crew •t the Planetara, secretly in his pay, nte op and killed the captain and all tat -officers but Snap Dean, the radio- Wio operator, and myself. I was beseiged in the chart-room. * George Prince leaped in upon me—and put hia arms around me. I looked at him closer— only to discover it was Anita, disguised as her brother) It was her brother, George, who had been killed! George had been in the brig- ands' confidence — thus Anita was able to spy for us. ^ ' Quickly we plotted. I would sur- render to her, Anita Prince, whom the brigands thought was George Prince. Together we might possibly be able, with Snap's help, to turn, the tide, and reclaim the Planetaia. \\ I was taken to my ftateroom and locked there until Miko the brigand leader, should come to dispose of me. But I cared not what had happened — Anita was alive! • 1 62 ASTOUNDING STORIES CHAPTER XIV The Biigaaii Veadtr THE giant Miko stood confront- ing me. He slid my cubby .door closed behind him. He stood with his hea^ towering close against, my ceiling. His cloak was dis- carded. -In his leather clothes, and with his clanking sword-ornament, his aspect carried the stagger of a brig- and of old. He was; bareheaded; the light from one of my' tubes fell upon his grinning, leering gray face. "So, Gregg Haljanf You have come to your senses at last. , You do not wish me to write my name upojs your chest ? I would not have done that to Dean; he forced me. Sit back." I had been on my bunk. I sank back at the gesture of his: huge hairy arm. His forearm was bare now; the sear of a burn on it was plain to be seen. He remarked my gaze. "True. You did that, Haljan, in Great-New York. But I bear you no malice. I want to talk to you now." He cast about for a seat, and took the little stool which stdod by my desk. i-Hls hand held a small cylinder of the ; Martian paralyzing ray; he rested it i beside him on the desk. "Now we can talk." I remained silent. Alert. Yet my thoughts were whirling. Anita was alive. Masquerading now as her brother. .And, with the joy of ;it, came a shud- der. Above everything, Miko must not know. "A great adventure we are upon, Haljan." MY thoughts came back. Miko was -talking with an assumption of friendly comradshlp. ! "All is well — and we need you, as I have said before. I am no fool. I have been aware of everything that went on aboard this ship. You, of all the officers, are most clever at the routine inathematics. Is that so?" ! "Perhaps," I said. < ,"You are modest." H,e fumbled at a pocket of his jacket, produced a scran, sheaf. I recognized it: BlackttasA figures; the calculation BUckstaa roughly made of the elements of th) asteroid we had passed. ' "I am interested in these," Mibi went on. "I want you to verify tfc^ And this." He held up another smjS, "This is the calculation of our press* position. And our course. Hahn class he is a navigator. We have set 1st ship's gravity plates — see, like this-' He handed me the scrolls ; he wattasj me keenly as I glanced over them. "Well?" I said. ' "You are sparing of words, Hsijsa, By the devils of the airways, I cask) make you talk I But I want to h friendly." I HANDED him back the scrolls. I stood up; I waB almost witMs reach of his weapon, but with a twees of his great arm he abruptly knocked me back to my bunk. "You dare?" Then he smiled. "Lei as not come to blows!" "No," I said. I returned his ndk In truth, physical violence could get bb nothing in dealing with this fellow. I would have to try guile. And I saw now that his face waa flushed and his ejm unaturally bright. He had been drink- ing alcolite ; not enough to befoddk him — but enough to make him trios- phantly talkative. "Hahn may not be much of a mathe- matician," I suggested. "But there It your Sir Arthur Coniston." I mansfai a sarcastic grin. "Is that his nam*?* "Almost. Haljan, will you verify these figures?" "Yes. But why? Where are we go- ing?" ' / He laughed. "You are afraidi wiO not tell you ! Whyj should I not ? Tab great adventure of Wine is progreassf perfectly. A tremendous stake, HsijsJ. A hundred millions of dollars In go* leaf: there will be fabulous riches If ub all, when that radium ore is bbbJ for a hundred million in gold leaf* ' "But where are we going?" BRIGANDS OP THE MOON 63 To that asteroid," he said abruptly. 1 must get rid of these passengers, j da murderer." WITH half a dozen killings in the recent fight this was hardly, convincing- But he was obviously, ahtlty serious. He seemed to read my swoghts. 1 kill only when necessary. We will had upon the asteroid. A perfect place - to maroon the passengers. Is it not m? I will give them the necessities of life. They will be able to signal. And is a month or so, when we are safely ■aisked with our adventure, a police ■sip no doubt will rescue them." "And then, from the asteroid," I sug- gested, "we^are^going— " To the Mcoc, Haljan. What a clever [noser you are I Cooiston and Haihn ■re filiating our course. But I have < ss great confidence in them.- And so I want you." Too have me." Tea. I have you, I would have killed you long ago — I am an impulsive fellow— but my sister restrained me." He gated at me slyly. "Iloa seems strangely to like you, Haljan." Thanks," I said. "I'm flattered." "She still hopes I may really win you to join as," he went on. fGold-leaf is a vsnderf ul thing ; there would be plenty for you in this affair. And to be rich, sad have the love of a woman like Mas.., ." ' Be paused. I was trying cautiously to gauge him, to get from him all the ■formation' I could. I said,' with an- other smile, That is premature, to talk of Boa. I will help you chart your cone. But this venture, as you call h, is dangerous. A police-ship — " There arc not many," he declared. Tat ohancea of us encountering one ■ very slim." He grinned at me. "You mow that aa well aa I do. And we now km those code pass-words— I forced . Dean to tell me where he had hidden tt * B2 - If we should be challenged, our Paaword answer will relieve .sus- picion." "The Planetara," I objected, "being overdue at Ferrok-Shahn, will cause alarm. You'll have a covey of patrol- ships after you." "That will be r two weeks from now," he smiled.^ "I have a ship of my own in Ferrok-Shahn. It lies there waiting now, manned and armed. I am hoping that, with Deaii's help, we may be able to flash it a signal. It will join us on the Moon. Fear not for the danger, Haljan. I have great interests allied with me in this thing. Plenty of money. We have planned carefully." HE was idly fingering ins cylinder ; his 'gaze roved me aa I sat docile on my bunk. "Did you think George Prince was a leader of this? A mere boy. I engaged him a year ago— his knowledge of ores is valuable." My heart vras pounding, bat I strove not to show it. He went on calmly. "I told yui I am impulsive. Half a dozen times I have nearly killed George Prince, and he knows it." He frowned. "I wish I had billed him, instead of' his "sister. That was an error." There was a note of real concern in his voice. Did he love Anita Prince? It seemed so. He added, "That is done — nothing can change it. GeorgejPrince is help- ful to me. Your friend Dean is another. I had trouble' with him, but he is docile now." I said abruptrjl, "I don't know whether your promise means anything or not, Miko. But George Prince said you would use no more torture." v "I won't. Not if you and Dean Obey me." "You tell Dean I have agreed to that. You say he gave you the code-words we took from Johnson?" "Yes. There was a fool I That John- son I You blame me, Haljan, for the killing of Captain Carter? You need not. Johnson offered to try and cap- ture you. Take you alive. He killed Carter because he was angry at him. A stupid, vengeful fool! He is dead, and I am glad of it" 64 ASTOUNDING STORIES MY mind was onjMiko's plans. I ventured. "Thjs treasure on the Moon — did you say '■ it was on the Moon?" ^Don't be an idiot/'i he retorted. "I know as much about Grantline as you do." \ "That's very little."^ "Perhaps." f "Perhaps you know more, Miko. The Moon is a big place, i Where, for in- stance, is Grantline located?" I held my breath. Would he tell me that? A score of questions — vague plans — were in my mind. How skilled at mathematics were i these brigands? iMikp, Hahn, Conistofi— could I fool them? If I could learn Cgrantline'a lo- cation on the Moon, and keep the Plaoe- tara away from it, A| pretended error | of charting. Time lost — and perhaps Snap could find an opportunity to sig- nal Earth, get help. Miko answered my question as bluntly as I asked it "I don't know where Grantline is located. But we will find out He will not suspect the Planetaza. When .we get close tp the Moon, we will signal and ask him. We can trick him into telling ua. You think I do not know what is On your mind, Hal- jen ? There is. a secret code of signals arranged between Dean and Grantline. I have forced Dean to confess it. With- out torture I Prince helped me in that He persuaded Dean not to defy me. A very persuasive fellow, George Prince. More diplomatic than I am, I give him credit" ] I strove to hold my voice calm. "If. J should join you, Miko — my word, if T ever gave it, you would find depend- able — I would say George Prince is very valuable to us. You should rein your temper. He is half your size — you might some \ time, without inten- tion, do him injury.' ' HE laughed. "Moa says so. But have no fear — " "I was thinking," I persisted, "I'd like to have a talk with George Prince." Ah, my pounding, tumultous heart I But I was smiling calmly. And I tried to put into my voice a shrewd note of cupidity. "I really know very not about this treasure, Miko. If that were a million or two of gold-leaf is it for me — " "Perhaps there would be." "I was thinking. Suppose you let a* have a 'talk with Prince? I have saw knowledge off radium ores. His sHH and mine — a calculation of what Grantline's treasure may really be. Yw don't know ; you are only ■ assuming.* I paused. Whatever mat have bets In Miko's mind I cannotl say. Bat abruptly he stood up. I had left aj bunk, but he waved me bask. "Sit down. I am not like Hot. I would not trust you just because yes protested you would be loyaL" He picked up his cylinder. "We will talk again." He gestured to the scrolls at had left upon my desk. "Work as, those. I will judge you by the retain." He was no fool, this brigand leader. "Yes," I agreed. "You want a trie, course now to the asteroid?" "Yea. I will get rid of these passen- gers. Then we VdH plan further. Do your best, Haljan— W error I By tat Gods, I warn you lean check up as you I" > I said meekly, "Very well. But yes ask Prince if he wants my calculi tioa of Grantline's ore-body." I shot Miko a foxy look as he ttses by my door. I added, "You think yes are clever. There is plenty you doat know. Our first night out from the Earth — Grantline's signal*— didn't it ever occur to you that I might am some figures o'n his treasure?" It startled him. "Were are they?" I tapped my forehead. "You dart suppose I was foolish enough to record them. You. ask Prince if he wants t» talk to me. A high thorium content k ore — you ask Prince. A hundred Bil- lions, or two hundred. It would flats a big difference, Miko." "I will think about it" He backed out and sealed the door upon me ooct again. BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 65 BUT Anita did not come. I veri- fied Hahn's figures, which were very nearly correct. I charted a course for the asteroid ; it was almost the one which had been set. Coniston came for my results. "I ■ay, we are not to bad as navigators, ire we? I think we're jolly good, con- sidering our inexperience. Not bad at til eh?" "No." I did not think it wise to ask him tbout Prince. "Are you hungry, Haljan?" he de- manded. "Yet." A steward came with a meal. The ntumine Hahn stood at my door with t weapon upon me while I ate. They were taking no chances — and they were wise not to. The day passed. Day and night, all the same M aspect here in the starry vault of Space. But with the ship's routine it was day. . And then another time of sleep. I slept, fitfully, worrying, trying to plan. Within a few hours we would be near- jag the asteroid. The time of sleep was nearly passed. My chronometer marked five A. M. of our original Earth starting time. The ttal of my cubby door hissed. The door slowly ripened. Anita I She stood there with her cloak around her. A distance away on the shadowed deck-space .Coniston was loitering. "Anita I" I whispered it. "Gregg, dear I" She turned and gestured to the watching brigand. "I will not be long, Coniston." - She came in and half close cVthe door upon us, leaving it open enough so that we could make sure that Coniston did not advance. I stepped back where he could not tee us. "Anita I" She flung herself Into my opened arms. CHAPTER XV The Masqaerader A MOMENT when beyond all thought of the nearby brigand — or the possibility of an eavesdropping ray trained now upon my little cubby — a mdment while Anita and I held each other ; and whispered those things which could mean nothing to the world, but which were all the world to us. Then it was she whose wits brought us back Ijrom the shining fairyland of our love, into the sinister reality of the Planetara. "Gregg, if they are listening — " I pushed her away. This brave little masqueraderl Not for my life, or for all the lives on the ship, would I con- sciously have endangered her. "But the; ore I" I said aloud. "There was, in Grantline's message — See here, Prince." Coniston was too far away on the deck to hear us. Anita went to my door again and waved" at him reassuringly. I put my ear to the door opening, and listened at the space across the grid of the ventilator over my bunk. The hum of a vibration would have been audible at those two points. But there was nothing. "It's all right," Ijvhispered. "Anita — not you who was Killed I I can hard- ' ]y realize, it now. Not you whom Jhey buried yesterday morning." We stood and whispered, and she clung to me — so small beside me. With the black robe thrown aside, it seemed that I could not miss the curves of her woman's figure. A dangerous game "she was playing. Her hair had been cut short to the base of her neck, fn the fashion of her dead brother. Her eye- lashes had been clipped; the line of her brows altered. And now, in the light of my tube as it shone"upon- her earnest face, I could remark other changes. Glutz, the little beauty specialist, was in this secret. With plastic skill he had altered the set of her jaw with hit) wax — put masculinity there. 66 ASTOUNDING STORIES She was whispering: "It was— was poor George whom Mikoishot." I HAD now the true version of what had occurred. Miko bad been forc- ing his wooing upon Anita. George Prince was a weakling whose only good quality was a love for his! sister. Some years ago he had fallen ipto evil ways. Been' arrested, and then discharged front bis position with the Federated Radium Corporation. He bad taken up with evil companions in Great-New- York; Mostly Martians. And Miko had met him. His technical knowledge, his training with the Federated Corpo- ration, made him valuable to Miko's enterprise. And so Prince had joined the brigands. 9. Of all this, Anita had be*n unaware. She had never liked Miko: Feared him. And it seemed that the (Martian hact some hold upon her brother, which puz- zled and frightened Anita. Then Miko had fallen in love with her. George had not liked it. And that night on the Planetafa, Miko had come and knocked upon Anita's door. Incautiously she opened it; he forced himself in. And when she repulsed him, struggled with him,; George had been awakened. She was whispering to n)e now. "My room was dark. We were all three struggling. George was holding me — the shot came — and I screamed." And Mika had fled, hot knowing whom his shot bad hit in the darkness. "And when George died, Captain Carter wanted me to impersonate him. We planned it with Dr. Frank, to try and learn what Miko an feasible. Miko did not altogether trust George Prince; Anita was now unarmed. "But I can make opportunity! I: can get one of their ray cylinders, and an invisible cloak equipment." That cloak — it had been hidden in Miko's room when Carter searched for it in A20 — was ndw in the chart-room by Johnson's body. It had been re- paired now; Anita thought she could get possession of it. WE worked out the details of the plan. Anita would s arm her- self, and come and release me. To- gether, with a paralyzing ray, we could creep aboard the ship, overcome these brigands one by one. There were so few of the leaders. With them felled, and with us in control of the turret and the hello-room, we coald force the crew to stay at their posts. There wen, Anita said, no navigators among Miko's BRIGANDS OF THE MOON crew. They would not dare oppose us. "But it should be done at once, Anita. In a few hours we will be at the asteroid." "Yes. I will go now — try and get the weapons." » "Where is Snap t "Still in the helio-room. One of the crew guards him." Coniston was roaming the ship;. he wis still loitering on the deck, watch- ing our door. Hahn was in the turret. The morning watch cf the crew were it their posts in the hull-corridors ; the itewards were preparing a morning meal. There were nine members of subordinates altogether, Anita had cal- culated. Six of them were in Miko's pay; the other three— our own men who had not been killed in the fighting —had joined the brigands. "And Dr. Frank, Anita?" He was in the lounge. All the pas- sengers were herded there, with Miko and Moa alternating on guard. "I will arrange it with Venza," Anita whispered swiftly. "She will tell the others. Dr. Frank knows about it now. He thinks it can be done." . ,-y- THE possibility of it swept me anew. The brigands were of necessity scattered singly about the ■up. One/by one, creeping under cover of an invisible cloak, I could fell them, and replace them without alarming the others. My thoughts leaped to it. We would strike down the guard in the helio-room. Release Snap. At the tur- ret we could assail Hahn, and replace aim with Snap. Coniston's voice outside broke in epos. us. "Prince." He was coming forward. Anita stood In the doorway. "I have the figures, Coniston. By God, this Haljan is with Ml And clever! We think it will total a hundred and thirty millions. What a stake!" She whispered, "Gregg, dear — I'll be back soon. We can do it — be ready." "Anita— be careful of yourself!. If they should suspect you. . . ." "I'll be careful. In an hour, Gregg, or less, I'll come back. All right, Con- iston. Where is Miko? .1 want to see him. Stay where you are, Haljan ! All in good time Miko will trust you with your liberty. You'll be rich like us all, never fear." ~ She swaggered out upon the deck, waved at the brigand, and banged my cubby door in my face. I sat ijupon my bunk. Waiting. Would she come back? Would she be successful? ^ CHAPTER XVI In the Blue-lit Corridor ^ SHE came. I suppose it was no more than an hour: it seemed an eter- nity of apprehension: There was the slight hissing of the seal of my door. The panel slid. I had leaped from my bunk where in the darkness I was lying tense. "Prince?" I did not dare say, "Anita." "Gregg." Her voice. My gaze swept the deck as the panel opened. Neither Coniston nor anyone else was in sight, save Anita's dark-robed figure which came into my room. "You got it ?"_I asked her in a low whisper. I held her for an instant, kissed her. But she pushed, me away with quick hands. "Gregg, dear — " She was breathless. My kisses, and the tenseness of what lay before us were to blame. "Gregg, see, I have it. Give us a lit- tle light— we must hurry I" In the blue dimness I saw that she was holding one of the Martian cylin ; ders. The smaller size : it would para- lyze, but not kill. "Only one, Anita?" "Yes. I had it before, but Miko took It from me. Ijt was in his room. And this—" The invisible cloak.. We laid it on my grid, and I adjusted its mechanism, 68 ASTOUNDING STORIES A cloak of the renectin{-abaorbing variety.* i I DONNED it, and drew its hood, and threw on its current. \ "All right, Anita?" j "Yes." "Can you see me?" ; "No." She stepped back a foot or two fUrther. "Not from here. But you must let no one approach too close." Then she came forward, jut out her hand, fumbled until she tbund me. It was our plan to have jme follow her out. Anyone observing, us would see only the robed figure df the- sup- posed George Prince, and I] would es- cape notice. v j \ The situation, about the s^ip was al- most unchanged. Anita hfd secured the weapon and the cloak and slipped away to my cubby withoutj b^ing ob- , served. ' "f "You're sure of that I" i j "I think so, Gregg.. I was careful." Moa was now in the loungt, guarding the passengers. Hahn was asleep in the chart-room; Coniston Was in the turret. Coniston would hi off duty presently, Anita said, with jHahn tak- ing his place. There were l of the Twentieth century. In the caae of this invisible cloak, the tending light rays, by making visible what waf behind the cloak's blackness, thus destroyed its solid black outline and gave a pacud£>- in visibility which waa fairly effective under favorable conditions. THIS was; unfortunate. That guard could see all the deck clearly. He might be suspicious of George Prince wandering around; it would be difficult to get near enough to assail him. This cylinder, I knew, had an effective range of only some twenty feet. Anita and I were swiftly whispering. It-was necessary now to decide exactly what we were to do ; once under obser- vation outside, there must be no hesi- tation, no fumbling. \ "Coniston is sharpest, Gregg. He will be the hardest to get near." The languid-spoken Englishman was the one Anita most feared. His alert eyes seemed to miss nothing. Perhaps he was suspicious of this Qeorge Prince — Anita thought, so. "But where is Miko?" I whispered. The brigand leader had gone below a few moments ago, down into the hull- corridor. Anita had seized the oppor- tunity to come to me. "We can attack Hahn in the chart- room first," I suggested. "And get the other weapons. Are they still there?" "Yes. But Gregg, the forward deck is very bright." We were approaching the asteroid. Already its light like a brilliant moon was brightening the forward deck- space.- It made me realize how much haste was necessary. We decided to go down into the hull- corridors. Locate Miko. Fell him, and hide him. His non-appearance back on deck would very soon throw the others into confusion, especially now with our impending landing upon the asteroid. And under cover of this confusion we would try and release Snap. We had been arguing no more than a minute or two. We were ready. Anita slid my door wide. She stepped through, with me soundlessly scurrying after her. The empty, silent deck was alternately dark with shadow-patches and bright with blobs of starlight. A sheen of the Sun's corona was mingled with it; and from forward came the radiance of the asteroid's mellow silver glow. BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 69 \ ANITA turned to seal my door; within my faintly humming cloak I stood beside her. Was I invisible in this light? Almost directly 'over us, close under the dome, the look-out sat in his little tower. He gazed down at Anita. Amidships, high over the cabin superstructure, the helio-room hung dark anil silent. The guard on its bridge was visible. He, too, looked down. A tense instant. Then I breathed again. There was no alarm. The two guards answered Aqjta's gesture. Anita said aloud into my empty cub- by: "Miko will come for you presently, Haljan. He told me to tell you that he wants you at the turret controls to land in on the asteroid." She finished sealing my door and turned away ; started forward along the deck. I followed. My steps were. soundless in my elastic-bottomed shoes. Anita swaggered with a noisy tread. Near the door of the smoking room a small incline passage led downward. We went into it. The passage was dimly blue-lit. We descended its length, came to the main corridor, which ran the length of the hull. A vaulted metal passage, with doors to the control rooms opening from it. Dim lights showed at inter- vals. THE humming of the ship was more apparent here. It drowned the slight humming of my cloak. I crept after Anita ; my hand under (the cloak clutched the ray weapon. 1 A steward passed us. I shrank aside to avoid him. Anita spoke to him. "Where is Miko, Ellis?" j "In the ventilator-room, Mr. Prince. There was difficulty with the air re- newal." Anita nodded, and moved on. I could have felled that steward as he passed me. Oh, if I only had, how different things might have been I But it seemed needless. I let him go, and he turned into a nearby door which led to the galley. Anita moved forward. If we could come upon Miko alone. Abruptly she turned, and whispered, "Gregg, if other men are with 'him, I'll draw him away. You watch your chance." What little things may overthrow one's careful plans! Anita had not realized how close to her I was follow- ing. And her turning so unexpectedly caused 'me to collide with her sharply. "Oh I" She exclaimed it involuntari- ly. Her outflung hand had unwittingly gripped my wrist, caught the electrode there The touch burned her, and close-circuited my robe. There was a hiss. My current burned out the tiny fuses. My invisibility was gonel I stood, a talPblack-hooded figure, revealed to the gaze of anyone who might be near! The futile plans of humans I We had planned so carefully! Our calcula- tions, our hopes of what we could do, came clattering now in a sudden wreck- age around us. "Anita, run!" If I were seen with her, then her own disguise would probably be discovered. That above everything would be dis- aster. * "Anita, get away from me I I must try it alone I" I COULD hide somewhere, repair the cloak perhaps. Or, since now I was armed, why could I not boldly start an assault? "Gregg, we must get you- back to your cubby I" She was clinging to me in a panic. ''No I You run I Get away from me I Don't you understand? George Prince has no business here with me I They'd kill you I" Or worse — Miko would discover 'it was Anita, not George Prince. "Gregg, let's get back to the deck." I pushed at her. Both of us In sud- den confusion. From behind me there came a shout. That accursed steward I He had re«. 70 'ASTOUNDING STORIES turned, to ' investigate perhaps what Geprge Prince was doing in this cor- ridor. He heard our voice*; his shout in the silence of the ship squnded hor- ribly loud. The white-clothed shape of him was in the nearby doorway. Hs stood stricken in surprise at seeing me. And .then turned to run. I fired my paralyzing cylinder through my cloak. Got him I He fell. I shoved Anita violently "Run I Tell Miko to come — tell' him you heard a shout I He w^n't suspect you I" "Birl Gregg—" "You mustn't be found out! You're our only hope, Anita I , I'll-hide, fix the cloak, or get back to my chubby. Wc 11 try it again." * It decided her. She scurried down the corridor. I whirled th* other way. The steward's shout might not have been heard. Then realization flashed to me. That steward would be revived. ,He was one of Miko's men : for two voyages he had been a spy upon the Pltattara. He would be revived and tell what he had seen and heard. Anita's disguise would be revealed. A cold-blooded killing J. do protest went against me. But it was necessary. I flung myself upon himJ I beat his skull with the metal of my cylinder. I stood up. My hoo<] had fallen back from my head. I wiped my bloody hands on my useless cloak. I had smashed the cylinder. "Haljan I" ANITA'S voice I A sharp note of horror and warning. I became aware that in the corridor, forty feet down its dim length, Miko . had ap- peared, with Anita behind him. His rifle-bullet-projector was leveled. It spat at me. But Anita had pulled at his arm. The explosive report was sharply deafening in th confined space of the corridor. With ' a spurt of, flame the leaden pellet struck over my head against the vaulted ceiling Miko was struggling with Anita, "Prince, you idiot I" "Miko, don't 1 Ifs Haljan I Don't kill him—" The turmoil brought members of the crew. From the shadowed oval near me they came running. I flung the use- less cylinder at them. But I was trapped in the narrow passage. I might have fought my way out. Or Miko might have shot me. But there was the danger that, in her horror, Anita would betray herself. I 'backed against the wall. "Don't kill me! See, I will not fight P I flung up my arms. And the crew, emboldened, and courageous under Miko's gaze, leaped on me and bore me down. The futile plans of humans I Anita and I had planned so carefully, and in a few brief minutes of action it had come only to this I CHAPTER XVII A Woman of Mars "QO, Gregg Haljan, you are not t) k3 loyal as you pretend I" Miko was livid with suppressed an- ger. They had stripped the cloak from me, and flung me back in my cubby. Miko was now confronting me; at the door Moa stood watching. And Anita was behind her. I sat outwardly de- fiant and sullen on my bunk. But I wh alert and tense, fearful still of what Anita's emotion might betray her into doing. "Not so loyal," Miko repeated. "And a fool t Do you think I am such a child you can escape me I' l He swung around. "How did he get out of here? Prince, you came in herer My heart was wildly thumping. But Anita retorted with a touch of spirit: "I came to tell him what you com- manded. To check HahnV latest fig- ures — and to be ready to take the con- trols when we go into the ^teroid'l atmosphere." "Well, how did he get out?" BRIGANDS OF THE MOON \ 71 "How should I know?" she parried. Little actress I Her spirit helped to allay my fear. She held her cloak close around her in the fashion they had come to expect from the George Prince who had just buried tils sister. "How should I know, Miko,? I sealed his door." "But did you ?" "Of course he did," Moa put in. "Ask your look-outs," said Anita. They saw me — I waved to them just as I sealed the door." I ventured, "I have been taught to open doors." I managed a sly, lugubri- ous smile. "I shall not try it again, Miko." Nothing had been said about my kill- ing of the steward. I thanked my con- stellations now that he was dead. "I ■hall not try it again," I repeated. A glance passed between Miko and his sister. Miko said abruptly, "You leem to realise that it is not my pur- pose to kill you. And you presume npon it." "I shall not again." I eyed Moa. She was gazing at me steadily. She laid, "Leave me with him', Miko. . ." She smiled. "Gregg Haljan, we are no ■bore than twenty thousand miles from die asteroid now. The calculations for retarding are now in operation." v / IT was what had taken Miko below, that and trouble with the ventilat- ing system, which was soon rectified. But the retarding of the ship's velocity when nearing a destination required accurate manipulation. These brigands were fearful of their own skill. That was obviouB. It gave me confidence. I was really needed. They would not harm me. Except for Miko's impulsive temper, I was in no danger from them —not now, certainly. Moa was saying, "I think I may Bake you understand, Gregg. We have tremendous riches within our grasp." "I know it." I added with sudden thought, "But there are many with whom to divide this treasure. . . ." Miko caught my intended implica- tion. "By ihe infernal, this fellow may have feltJhV could seize the treasure for himself I Because he is a navi- gator I" Moa said vehemently, f Do not be an idiot, Gregg I You could not do it I There will be fighting with Grantline." My purpose was accompished. They seemed to see me a willing outlaw like themselves. As though it were a bond between us. And they could win mc. "Leave me with him," said Moa. Miko acquiesced. "For a few minntcs only." He proffered a heat-ray cylinder, but she refused it. "I am not afraid of him." Miko 'swung on me. "Within an hour we will be nearing the atmosphere. Will you take the controls?" "Yes." HE set his heavy jaw. His eyes bored into me. "You're a strange fellow, Haljan. I can't make you out. I am not angry now. Do you think, when I am deadly serious, that I mean what I say?" . His calm words set a sudden shiver over me. I checked my smile. "Yes,'.' I said.' "Well then, I will tell you this: not for all of Prince's well-meaning inter- ference, or Moa's liking for you, or my own need of your skill, will I tolerate more trouble from you. The next time — I will kill you. Do you believe me ?" "Yes." * 'That is all I want to say. You kill my men, and my Bister says I must not hurt you. I am not a child to be ruled by a woman I" He held his' huge fist before my face. "With these fingers I will twist your neck I Do you believe it?" A Y«s." I did indeed. t He swung on his heel. "If Moa wants to try and put sense into your head — I hope she does. ( Bring him to the lounge; when you are finished, Moa. Corner Prince — Hahn will need us." H,e chuckled grimly. "Hahn seems to fear we will plunge into this asteroid like. 72 ASTOUNDING STORIES a wild comet gone suddenly tangent I" Anita moved aside to let him through the door. I caught a glimpse of her set white face as she followed him down the deck. Then Moa's bulk* blocked the door- way. * She faced me. "Sit where you are, Gregg." She, turned and closed the door upon us. "I am not afraid of you. Should I be!" "No," I said. ' She came and sat do%n beside me. "If you should attempt to leave this room, the stern rook-out has orders to bore' you .through." "I have no intention o|f leaving the room." I retorted. "I i do not want to commit suicide." "I thought you did.- You seem minded in such a fashion! Gregg, why are you so foolishV I REMAINED silent, j "Why?" she demanded. I said carefully, "This [treasure — you are many who will divide; it. You have all these men' on the PJinetara. And in Ferrok-Shahn, others, no doubt." I paused. Would she tell me? Could I make her talk of that other brigand ship which Miko had said was wait- ing on Mars? I wondered if he had been able to signal it [The distance from here to Mars was greafj yet upon other voyages Snap's signals had got- ten through. My heart sank' at the thought. Our situation here was des- perate enough. The passengers soon would be cast upon the asteroid ; there would be left only Snap, Anita and my- . self. We might recapture the ship, but I doubted it now. \ My thoughts were turning to our arival upon the Moon. We three might, perhaps, be able to thwart the attack upon Grant- line, hold the brigands off until help from the Earth might come. But with another brigand ship, fully manned and armed, coming from Mara, the condition would bej immeasurably worse. Grantline had ! tome twenty men, and Us camp, I khew, would be reasonably fortified. I knew, too, that Johnny Grantline would fight to bit last man. Moa was saying, "I would like to tell you 'our plans, Gregg." Her gaze was on my face. Keen eyes, but they were luminous now — an emo- tion in them sweeping her. But out, wardly she was calm, stern-lipped. "Well, why don't you tell me?" I said. "If I am to help you. . . ." "Gregg, I want you with us. Don't you understand? We are, not many. My brother and I are guiding this affair. With your help, I would feel differently." "The ship at Ferrok-Shahn—" MY fears were realized. She said, "I think our signals reached it Dean tried, and Coniston was checking him." "You think the ship is coming?" "YeB." "Where will it join us?" "At the Moon. We will be there is thirty hours. You figures gave that, did they not, Gregg?" "Yes. And the other ship— how fast is it?" "Quite fast. In eight days— or nine, perhaps — it will reach the Moon." She seemed willing enough to talk There was indeed, no particular reason for reticence ; I could not, she naturally felt, turn the knowledge to account "Manned — " I prompted. "About forty men." "And armed? Long range projectorsr "You ask very avid questions, Gregg f "Why should I not? Don't you sup- pose I'm interested?" I' touched her. "Moa, did it ever occur to you, if once you and Miko trusted me — which yon don't — I might show more interest in joining you?" The look on her face emboldened me. "Did you ever think of that, Moa? And some arrangement for my abate of this treasure? I am not like Johnson, to be hired for a hundred ^pounds of gold-leaf." "Gregg, I will see that you get your share. Riches, for you — and me." BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 73 "I was thinking, Moa, when we land at the Moon to-morrow — where is our equipment?" The Moon, with its lack of atmos- phere, needed special equipment. I had never heard Carter mention what ap? paratus the Planetara was carrying. MOA laughed. "We have located air-suits and helmets — a variety of suitable apparatus, Gregg. But we were not foolish enough to leave Great- New York on this voyage without our own arrangements. My brother, and Coniston and Prince — all of us shipped crates of freight consigned to Ferrok- Shahn — and Rankin had special bag- gage marked 'theatrical apparatus.' " I understood it now. These brigands had boarded the Planetara with their own Moon equipment, disguised as freight and personal baggage. Shipped in bond, to be inspected by the tax offi- cials of Mars. "It is on board now. We .will open ft when we leave the asteroid, Gregg. We are well equipped." She bent toward me. And suddenly her long lean fingers were gripping my shoulders. "Gregg, look at me I" I gazed into her eyes. There was passion there; and* her voice was sud- denly intense. "Gregg, I told you once a Martian^ girl goes after what she wants. It ft you I want — " Not for me to play like a cad upon a woman's emotions I "Moa, you flatter M me. "I love you." She held me off, gazing at me. "Gregg — " I must have smiled. And abruptly she released "So you think it amusing?" "No. But on Earth—" "We are not on the Earth. Nor am I of .the Earth I" She was gauging me keenly. No note of pleading was in her voice;. a stern authority; and the passion was swinging to anger, "I am like my brother : I do not un- derstand you, Gregg Haljan. Perhaps you think you are clever? It seems Stupidity, the fatuousness of man I" "Perhaps," I said. THERE was a moment of silence. "Gregg, I said I loved you. Have- you no answer?" "No." In truth, I did not know what sort of answer it would be best to make. Whateyer > she must have read in my eyes, it stirred her to fury. Her fingers with the strength of a man in them, dug into my shoulders. Her gaze searched me. "You think you love someone else? Is that it?" That was horribly startling; but she did not mean it just that way. She amended, with caustic venom: "That little Anita Prince 1 You thought you loved her I Was that it?" ?No I" But I hardly deceived her. "Sacred to her memory 1 Her ratlike little face — soft voice like a purring, sniveling cat I Is that what you're remembering, Gregg Haljan?" she sneered. I tried to laugh. "What nonsense I" "Is it? Then why are you cold under my touch? Am I — a girl descended from the Martian flame-workers — im- potent now to awaken a man?" A woman scorned I In all the Uni- verse there could be no more dangerous an enemy. An incredible venom shot from her eyes. That miserable mouselike creature! Well for her that my brother killed her." • It struck me cold. If Anita was un- masked, beyond all the menace of Miko's wooing, I knew that the venom of Moa's jealousy was a greater danger. I said sharply, "Don't be simple, Moa I" I shook off her grip. "You imagine too much. You forget that I am a man of the Earth and you a girl of Mars." "Is that reason why we should not love?" 3 "No. But our instincts are different. Men of the Earth are bom to the chase." 74 ASTOUNDING STORIES I WAS smiling. With thought, of Anita's danger I could findjit readily in my heart to dupe this Amazon. "Give me time, Moa. You attract me." "You lie!" j "Do you think so?" I gripped her arm with all the power of mjjr fingers. It must have hurt her, but she gave no sign; her gaze clung to me sjreadily. "I don't know, what to thirtk, Gregg Haljan.'. ." ! I held my grip. "Think What you like. Men of Earth have been known to kill the thing they love." ' "You want me to fear you?-' "Perhaps." She smiled scornfully. '"That is absurd." ! I released her. I said earnestly. "I want you to realize that if you treat me fairly, I can be of great advantage to this, venture. There will be fighting — I am fearless." Her venomous expression was soften- ing. "I think that is true, Gregg." "And you need my navigating skill. Even now I should be in the turret." I stood up. I half expected fhe would stop me, but she did not. i I added, "Shall we go?" i She stood beside me. Her height brought her face level with mine. "I think you will cause 'no more trouble, Gregg?" "Of course not. I am not wholly wit- less. i "You have been." i "Well, that is over." I hesitated. Then I added, "A man of E^rth does not yield to love when there is work to do. This treasure — " I think that of everything ■ I said, this last most convinced her.- She interrupted, "That I un< lerstand." Her eyes were smoldering. 'When it is over — when we are rich — then I will claim you, Gregg." • SHE turned from me. ''Are » you ready?" "Yes. Not I must get that sheet of Hahn's last figures." "Are they checked?" -Yes." I picked the sheet up from my /desk. "Hahn is fairly accurate, Mob." "A fool nevertheless. An apprehen- sive fool." A comradeship seemed coming be- tfveen us. It was my purpose to es- tablish it. \ ' "Are we going to'marootk Dr. Frank with the passengers?" I asked. "Yes." . "But he may be of use to us." I wanted Dr. Frank kept aboard. I still felt that there was a chance for us to recapture the ship. But Moa shook her head decisively. "My brother has decided not. We will be well rid of Dr. Frank. 'Are you ready, Gregg?" "Yes." She opened the door. Her gesture reassured the look-out, who was alertly watching the stern watch-tower. "Come, Gregg." I stepped out, and followed her for- ward along the deck, which now was bright with the radiance of the nearby asteroid. CHAPTER XVIII Marooned on an Asteroid A FAIR little world. I had thought so before; and I thought so now as I gazed at the asteroid hanging so close before our bow. A huge, thin crescent, with the Sun off to one side behind it. A silver crescent, tinged with red. From this near viewpoint, all of the little globe's disc was visible. The shadowed portion lay dimly red, mysteriously; the sunlit crescent — widening visibly as we approached— was gleaming silver. Inky moonlike shadows in the hollows, brilliant light upon the mountain heights. The s seal lay in gray patches. The convexity of the disc was sharply defined. So small a world I Fair and beautiful, shrouded with clouded areas. * "Where is Miko?" "In the lounge, Gregg." "Can we stop there?" BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 75 Moa turned into the lounge archway. Strange, tense scene, I saw Anita at once. Her robed figure lurked in an inconspicuous corner; her eyes were upon me as Moa and I entered, but she did not move. The thirty-odd passen- gers were huddled in a group. Solemn, white-facpd men, frightened women. Some of them were sobbing. One Earth- woman — a yourjg widow — sat holding her little girl, and wailing with uncon- trolled-hysteria. The child knew me. As I' appeared now, with my gold-laced white coat over my shoulders, the little child shaped to see in my uniform a mark o Authority. She left her mother and ran to me. "You, please — you will help us? My moms is crying." I sent her gently back. Hot there came upon me then a compassion for these innocent passengers, fated to have embarked upon this ill-starred voyage. Herded here in this, cabin, with brigands like pirates of old guard- ing theml Waiting now to be marooned on an uninhabited asteroid roaming in space. A sense of responsibility swept me. I swung upon. Miko. He stood with a nonchalant grace, lounging against the wall with a cylinder dang- ling in his hand. He anticipated me. "So, Haljan — she put some sensie into your head? No more trouble? Then get into the turret. Moa, stay there with him. Send Hahn here. Where is that ass Coniston? We will be in the atmosphere shortly." L said, "No more trouble from me, Miko. But these passengers — what preparation are you making lor them on the asteroid ?" t HE stared in surprise. Then he laughed. "I am no murderer. The crew is preparing food, all we can spare. And tools. They can build themselves shelter — they will be picked up in a few weeks." Dr. Frank was here. I caught his gaze, but he did not speak. On the lounge couches there still lay the quarter-score bodies. Rankin, who had been killed by Blackstone in the fight ; a man passenger killed; a woman and a man wounded. Miko added, "Dr. Frank will take his medical supplies — he will care for the wounded. There are other bodies among (the crew." His gesture was deprecat- ing, f "I have not buried them. ,We will put them ashore; easier that .way." The passengers were all eyeing me. I said: "You have nothing to fear. I will guarantee you the best equipment we can spare. You will give them ap- paratus with which to signal?" I de- , manded of Miko. "Yes. Get to the turret." I turned away, with Moa after me. Again the little girl ran forward. "Come — speak to my moms I She is crying." It was across the cabin from Miko. Coniston had appeared from the deck; it created a slight diversion. He joined Miko. "Wait," I said to Moa. "She is afraid of you. This is humanity." I pushed Moa back. I followed the child. I had seen that Venza was. sit- ting with the child's weeping mother. This was a ruse to get word with me. I stood before the terrified woman while the little girl clung to my legs. I said gently, "Don't be so frightened. Dr. Frank will tale care of you. There is no danger — you will be safer on the asteroid than here on the ship." I leaned down and touched her shoul- der. "There' is no danger." I WAS between Venza and the open cabin. Venza whispered swiftly, "When we are landing, Gregg, I want you to make a commotion — anything —just as the women passengers go ashore." f "Why? No, of course you will have food*, Mrs. Francis." "Never mind I An instant. Just confusion. Go, Gregg — don't speak now I" ■ I raised the child. "You take care of mother." I kissed her. 76 ASTOUNDING STORIES From across the cabin Miko's sar- donic voice made me turn. "Touching sentimentality, Hal j an! Get; to your post in the turret I" His rasping note of annoyance brooked no delay. I set the child flown. I said, "I will land us in an hiur. De- pend on it." Hahn was; at the controls when Moa and I reached the turret. j "You wilt land us safely, Haljan? he demanded anxiously. I pushed him away. "Miko Wants you in the lounge." "You take command here 7"' "Of course, Hahn. I am no mote an- xious for a crash than you." He sighed with relief. "That is true. I am no expert at atmospheric entry, Haljan — nor Coniston, nor Miko." "Have no fear. Sit down, Moa." I waved to the look-out in the for- ward watch-tower, and got his routine gesture. I rang the corridor bells, and the normal signals came promptly back. "It's correct, Hahn. \jGet away with you." I called after him. "Tell Miko that things are all right here." Halm's small dark figure, lithe as a leopard in his tight fitting; trousers and jacket with his robe now discarded, went Swiftly down the spider incline and across the deck. t j "Moa, where is Snap? By the in- fernal; if he has been injured I- 1 -" i - : UP on the helio-room bridge the brigand guard still sat. Then I uw that Snap was out there sitting with jhim. I waved from ithe turret windqw, and Snap's cheery gesture an- swered me. His voice carried down through the silver moonlight: "Land us safely, Gregg. These Weird ama- teur navigators I" Within the, hour I had ut dropping into the asteroid's atmosphere. The ship heated steadily. The pressure went up. It kept me busy with the instruments and the calculations. But my signals were always promptly an- swered from below. The brigand crew did its part efficiently. At a hundred and fifty thousand feet I shifted the gravity plates to the land- ding combinations, and started the electronic engines. ''All safe, Gregg?" Moa sat at my elbow; her eyes, with what, seemed a glow of admiration in them, followed my busy routine activities. "Yes. The crew works welL" The electronic Btreams flowed, out like a rocket tail behind us. The Plane- tat a caught their -impetus. In the rari- fied air, our bow lifted slightly, like a ship riding a gentle ground swell. At a hundred thousand feet we sailed gently forward, hull down to the aster- oid's surface, cruising to seek a land- ing space. A little sea was now beneath us. A shadowed sea, deep purple in the night down there. Occasional green-verdured islands showed, with the lines bf white surf marking them. Beyond the sea, a curving coastline was visible. Rocky headlines, behind which mountain foot- hills rose in serrated, verdured ranks. The sunlight edged the distant moun- tains; and presently this rapidly turn- ing little world brought the .sunlight forward. / IT was day beneath us. We slid gently downward. Thirty thou- sand feet now, above & sparkling bjue ocean. The coastline 1 was just ahead; green with a lush, tropical vegetation. Giant trees, huge-leaved. Long dang- ling vines ; air plants, with giant pods and vivid orchid|ike blossoms. I sat at the turret window, staring through my glasses. A fair little world, yet obviously unhabited. I could fancy that all this was newly-sprung vege- tation. This asteroid had whirled in from the cold of the interplanetary |pace far outside our Sorar System. A few 'years ago — as time might be mea- sured astronomically, it was no more than yesterday — this fair landscape was; congealed white and bleak with a sweep bf glacial ice. But the seeds of life i miraculously wete here. The miracle of life I Under the warming, BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 77 germinating sunlight, the verdure sprung. "Can you find landing space, Gregg?" Moa's question brought back my wan- dering fancies. I saw an upland glade, a level spread of ferns with the forest banked around it. A cliff-height near- by, frowning down at the sea. "Yes. I can land us there." I shoved her through the glasses. I rang the sirens, and we spiraled, descending further. The mountain tops were now close beneath us. Clouds were over- head, white masses with blue sky be- hind them. A day of britiant sunlight. But soon, with our forward cruising, it was night. The Sunlight dropped beneath the sharply convex horizon; the sea and the land went purple. A night of brilliant stars; the Earth was a blazing blue-red point of light. The heavens visibly were revolving ; in an hour or so it would be daylight again. On the forward deck now Coniston had appeared, commanding half a dozen of the crew. They were carrying up caskets of fpod and the equipment which was to be given the morooned passengers. And making ready., the disembarking incline, loosening the seals of the side-dome windows. Sternward on the deck, by the lounge oval,' I could see Miko standing. And occasionally the roar of his voice at the passengers sounded. ■RiTY vagrant thought flung back in- AVX to Earth's history. Like, this, ancient travelers of the surface of the tea were hearded by pirates to Walk the plank, or put ashore, marooned upon some fair desert island of the tropic Spanish main. Hahn came mounting our turret in- cline. "All is well, Gregg Haljan?" "Get to your work," Moa told him sharply. "We land-in an hour-quadrant." He retreated, joining the bustle and confusion which now was beginning on the deck. It struck me— could I turn that confusion to account? Would it be possible, now at the last moment, to attack these brigands? Snap still sat outside the helio-room doorway. But his guard was alert with upraised projector. And that guard, I saw, in his position high amidships, commanded all the deck. And I says} to, as the passengers now were herdea in a line from the lounge oval, that Miko had roped and bound all of the men. And a clanking chain connected them. They came like a line of convicts, .marching forward, and stopped on the open deck-space near the base of the turret. Dr. Frank's grim iace gazed up at me. Miko ordered the women and chil- dren in a group beside the chained men. His words to them reached me: "You are in no danger. When we land, be careful. You will find gravity very different — this is a very small world." I flung on the landing lights; the deck glowed with the blue radiance; the search-beams shot down beside our hull. We hung now a. thousand feet above the . forest glade. I cut off the electronic streams. We poised, with the gravity-plates set at normal, and only a gentle night-breeze to give us a slight side drift. This I could con- trol with the lateral propeller rudders. For all my busy^landing rputine, my mind was on other things. Venza'i swift words back there in the lounge. I was to create a commotion while the passengers were landing. Why? Had she and Dr. Frank, perhaps, some last minute desperate purposes? I DETERMINED I would do what she said. Shout, or mis-order the lights. That would be easy. But to what advantage? I was glad it was night — I had, in- deed, calculated our descent so that the landing would be in darkness. But £o what purpose? These brigands were very alert. There was nothing I could think of to do which would avail us anything more than a possible swift death under Miko's anger. "Well done, Gregg I" said Moa. I cut off the last of the propellers. 78 ASTOUNDING STORIES With 'Scarcely a perceptible jar, the Planetara grounded, rose like 1 a feather and settled to rest in the glade. The deep rjurple night with stars overhead 1 was around us. I hissed oijt our in- terior air through the dome land hull- ports, and admitted the night-air of the astroid. My calculations — of ne- cessity mere mathematical approxima- - tions — proved fairly accurate. In tem- perature and pressure there was no ''radical change as* the dom.f-windows slid back. j We had landed. Wbf te- <)T Venz'a's purpose, her moment w/s a{ hand. I was tense. But I was aware; also, 'that beside: me Moa was very aldrt. I had thought her unarmed. She wa|s noj. She sat back from me; in her hand was a small thin knife-blade. She- murmured tensely, "You have done jour part, Gregg. Well and skill- fully Jdone. Now we will sit here quietlfand watch them land." Snap's guard was standing, keenly watching. The look-outs in the forward and stern §fewers were also; armed; I could see them both gazing keenly down at the confusion of tie blue-lit deck. ! The incline went over thf hull-side and touched the ground. "Enough I" Miko roared. jl-'The men first. Hahn, move the women back I Conisson, pile those caskets ^o the side. Get out of the way, Prince.'' ANITA was down there. ; I saw her at the edge of the group of wo- men. Venza was near her. ! Miko shoved her. "Get out of the way, Prince. You can help, Coniston. Have the things ready to throw off." Five of the steward-crew w^re at the head of the incline. Miko 4 shouted up at me : ! "Haljan, hold our shipboard gravity normal." "Yes," I responded. \ I had done so. Our magniitizers had been adjusted to the shifting calcula- tions of our landing. They were hold- ing now at intensities, so [that npon the Planetara no change from fairly normal Earth-gravity was apparent. I 'rang a tentative inquiry signal; the operator in the hull-magnetizer control answered that he was at his post. The line of men were first to descend, pr. prank led them. He flashed a look of farewell up at me and Snap as he went down the incline with the chained men passengers after him. Motley- procession I Twenty odd, dishevelled, half-clothed men of three worlds. The changing, lightening gravity on the incline caught them. Dr. Frank bounded up to the rail under the I impetus of his step; caught and held, himself, drew himself back. The line; swayed. In the dim, blue-lit glare it seemed unreal, craiy. A grotesque dream of men descending a pjank. They reached the forest glade. Stood swaging, afraid at first to move. The purple night crowded them ; they stood garjng at this strange world, their new prison. "Now the women." Miko was shoving the women to the head of the incline. I could feel Moa's steady gaze upon me. Her knife-blade gleamed in the turret light. She murmured again, "In a few minutes you can ring Ua away, Gregg." I FELT like an actor awaiting hit 'cue in the wings of some turgid drama the plot of which he did not know. Venza was near the head of the incjine. Some of the women and chil- dren were on it. A woman screamed. Her child had slipped from her hand, bounded up over the rail, and fiHen. Hardly fallen — floated down to the ground, with flailing arms and legs; landing in the dark ferns, unharmed. Its terrified wail came up. There was a confusion on the incline. Venza, still On the deck, seemed to send a look of appeal to the turret. My. cue? I slid my hand to the light switch- board. It was near my knees. I pulled a switch. The blue-lit deck beneath the turret went dark. t BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 79 I recall an instant of horrible, tense silence, and in the gloom beside me I was aware of Moa moving. I felt a thrill of instinctive fear — would she plunge that knife into me? The silence of the darkened deck was broken with a confusion of sounds. A babble of voices; a woman passen- ger's scream; shuffling of feet; and above it all, Miko's roar : "Stand quiet I Everyone I No move- ment P On the descending incline there was" chaos. The disembarking women were clinging to the gang-rail ; some of them had evidently surged over it and fallen. Down on the ground in the purple- shadowed starlight I could vaguely see the chained line of men. They too were in confusion, trying to shove them- selves toward the fallen women. Miko roared: "Light those tubes! Gregg Haljanl By the Almighty, Moa, are you up. there? What is wrong? The light- tubes—" Dark drama of unknown plot I I won- der if I should try and leave the turret. Where was Anita? She had been down there on the deck when I flung out the lights. I think twenty seconds would have covered it all. I had not moved.. I thought, "Is Snap concerned with this?" Moa's knife could have stabbed me. I felt her lunge against me; and sud- denly I was gripping her, twisting her wrist. But she flung the knife away. Her strength was almost the equal of my own. Her hand went for my throat, and with the other hand she was fumbling. THE deck abruptly sprang into light again. Moa had found the switch and threw it back. "GreggP She fought me as I tried to reach the switch. I saw down on the deck Miko gazing up at us. Moa panted, "Gregg — stop I If hef-sees you doing this, hell kill you—" The scene down there was almost unchanged. I had answered my cue. To what purpose? I saw Anita near Miko. The last of the women were on the plank. I had stopped struggling with Moa. She sat back, panting; and then she called: "Sorry, Miko. It will not hap- pen again." ^ 'Miko was in a towering rage. But he was too busy to bother with me ; his anger swung on those nearest him. He shoved the last of the jwomen violently at the incline. She bounded over. Her body, with the gravity-pull of only a few Earth-pounds, sailed in an arc and dropped to the sward near the swaying line of men. ' , Mike swung back. "Get out of my way !"& sweep of his huge arm knocked Anita sidewise. "Prince, damn you, help me with those boxes I" The frightened stewards were lift- ing the boxes, square metal storage- chests each as long as~a man, packed with food, tools, and equipment. "Here, get out of my way, all of you P My breath came again ; Anita nimbly retreated before Miko's angry rush. He dashed at the stewards. Three of them held a box. He took it from them; raised it at the top of the incline. Poised it over his head an instant, with his massive arms like gray pillars beneath it. And flung it. The box catapaulted, dropped; and then- passing the Plane- tara's gravity area, it sailed in a long flat arc over the forest glade and crashed into the purple underbrush. / "Give me another I" THE stewards pushed another at him. Like an angry Titan, he flung it. And another. One/ by one the chests sailed out and crashed. "There is your food — go pick it up I Haljan, make ready to ring us awayP On the deck lay the dead body of Rance/Rankin, which the stewards had carried out. Miko seized it, flung it " "There! Go to your last resting place !" And die other bodies. Balch Black- atone, Captain Carter, Johnson — Miko 80 ASTOUNDING STORIES flung them. And the course masters and those of our crew who had been killed; the stewards appeared with them ; Miko unceremoniously cast them off. K The passengers were all on the' ground now. It was dim down there. I tried to distinguish Venza, but could not. I could see Dr. Frank's figure at the end of the chained line of men. The passengers were gazing in horror at the bodies hurtling over them, j "Ready, Haljan?" ' Moa prompted me. "Tellhim yes I I called, "Yes I" Had Vjenza- failed in her unknown purpose? \ It seemed so. On the helio-room bridge Snap and his guard stood like silent statues in the blue-lit gloom. The disembarkation was $ver. "Close the ports," Miko commanded. The incline came folding up with a clatter. The ports and dome-windows slid closed. Moa hissed against my ear : "If you want life, Gregg Haljan, you will start your duties I" Venza had failed. Whatever it was, it had come to nothing. D'own in the purple forest, disconnected now from the ship, the last of our friends stood marooned. I could distinguish them through the blur of the clqsed dome- only a swaying, huddled group was visible. But my fancy pictured this last sight of them — Dr. Frank, Venza, Shac and Dud Ardley. They were gone. There were left only Snap, Anita, and myself. I WAS mechanically ringing us away. I heard my sirens sounding down below, with the answering clangs here in the turret. The; Planetara's respiratory controls started; the pres- sure equalizers began operating, and the gravity plates shifted' into lifting combinations. The ship was hissing and quivering with it, combined with the grating of the fast of the dome ports. And.Miko's C °"Jift? Haljan." Hahn had been mingled with the confusion of the deck, though I. had -hardly noticed him; Coniston had re- Vnained below, with the crew answer- ing my signals. Hahn stood now with Miko, gazing down through a deck window, Anita was alone at another. "Lift, Haljan." I lifted us gently, bow first, with a repulsion of the bow plates. And started the central electronic engine. Its thrust from our stem moved, us diagonally over the purple forest trees. The glade slid downward and away. I caught a last vague glimpse of the huddled group of marooned passen- ger's, staring up at us. Left to their fate, alone on this deserted little world. With the three engines going we slid smoothly upward. The forest dropped, a purple spread of tree-tops, edged with starlight and Earth-light. The sharply curving horizon seemed following us up. I swung on all the power. We mounted at a forty degree angle, slowly circling, with a bank of clouds over us to the side %nd the shining little sea beneath. "Very good, Gregg." In the turret light Moa's eyes blazed at me. "I do not know what you meant by darken- ing the deck-lights." Her fingers dug at my shoulders. "I will tell my brother it was an error." I said, "An erTor — yes." "An error ? I don't know what it was. But you have me to deal with now. You understand?, I will tell my brother so. You said, 'On Earth a man may kill the thing he loves.' A woman of Mars may do that I Beware of me, Gregg Haljan.'* Her passion-filled eyes bored into me. Love? Hate? The venom of s woman scorned — a mingling of turgid emotions. . . . I TWISTED away from her grip and ignored her; she sat back, silently watching my busy activities; the cal- culations of the shifting conditions of gravity, pressures, temperatures; ■ checking of the score or more of in- struments on the board before me. ' BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 81 Mechanical routine My mind went to Venza, bacV there on the asteroid. The wandering little world was already shrinking to a convex surface beneath us. Venza, with ner last unknown play, gone to failure. Had I failed my cue? Whatever my part, it seemed now that I must have horribly mis-acted it. The /crescent Earth was presently swinging over our bow. We rocketed out of the asteroid's shadow. The glow- ing, flaming Sun appeared, making a crescent of the Earth. With the glass I could see our tiny Moon, visually seeming to hug the limb of its parent Earth. We were away upon our course for the Moon. My mind flung ahead. Grantline with his treasure, unsuspect- ing this brigand ship. And suddenly, beyond Ml thought of Grantline and his treasure, there came to me a fear for Anita.' In God's truth I had been, so far, a very stumbling inept champion —doomed to failure with everything I tried. It swept me, so that I cursed my own incapacity. Why had I not contrived to have Anita desert at the asteroid? Would it not have been far better for her there? Taking her chance for rescue with Dr. Frank, Venza and the others? But not I had, like an inept fool, never thought of that! Had left her here on board at the mercy of these outlaws. And I swore now that, beyond every- thing, I would protect her. Futile path! If I could have seen ahead a few hours! But I sensed the catastrophe. There was a shudder with- in me as I sat in that turret, docilely guiding us out through the asteroid's ■tmsphere, heading us upon our course for the Moon. CHAPTER XIX In the Zed-light Glow •VTV RY again. By the infernal, Snap J. Dean, if you do anything to balk us!" ^ Miko scanned the- apparatus with keen eyes. How much technical knowl- edge of signaling instruments did this brigand leader have? I was tense and cold with apprehension as I sat in a corner jof the helio-room, watching Snap. Could Miko be fooled? Snap, I knew, was trying to fool him. The Moon spread close beneath us. My log-chart, computed up to thirty minutes ' past, showed us barely some thirty thousand miles over the Moon's surface. The globe lay in quadrature beneath our bow quarter — a huge quad- rant spreading across the black starry vault of the 4°wer heavens. A silver quadrant. The sunset caught the Lunar mountains, flung slanting shadows over the empty Lunar plains. All. the disc was plainly visible. The mellow Earth- light glowed serene and pale to illumine the Lunar night.' The Planetara was bathed in silver. A brilliant silver^ glare swept the for- ward deck, clean white and splashed with black shadows. We had partly circled the Moon, so as now to approach it f(om the Earthward side. I had worked with extreme concentration through the last few hours, plotting the trajectory of our curving sweep, set- ting the gravity pines with constantly shifting combinations. And with it a necessity for the steady retarding of our velocity. \ MIKO for a time was at my 'elbow in the turret. I had not seen Coniston and Hahn of recent hours, T had slept, awakened refreshed, and had a meal. Coniston and Hahn remained below, one or the other of them always with the crew to execute my sirened orders^ Then Coniston came to take my place in the turret, and I went with Miko to the helio-room. "You are skilful, Haljan." A mea- sure of 'grim approval was in Miko's voice. "You evidently have no wish to try and fool me in this navigation." I had not, indeed. It is delicate work at best, coping with the intricacies of celestial mechanics upon a semi- circular trajectory with retarding ve- 82 ASTOUNDING STORIES |locity, and with a make-ahi^t crew we could easily have come upon real dif- ficulty. f We hung at last, hull-down, facing the earthward hemisphere of the Lunar disc! The giant ball of the Earth lay' behind and above us — the Sun over our stem 1 quarter. With forward velocity almost checked, we poised, and Snap began his signals to ^he unsuspecting Crantline. My work momentarily was over. I sat watching the helio-rooni Moa was here, close 1 beside me; I felt always h«r watchful gaze, so that even the play of my expression needed reining. Miko worked with Snap.; Anita too was here. To Miko and Moa it was the somber, taciturn George Prince, shrouded always in his black mourning cloak, disinclined to. talk; sitting alone, brooding and cowardly sullen. Miko repeated, "By the infernal, if you try to fool me. Snap Dean I" The small metal room, with its grid floor and low-arched ceilfng, glared with moonlight through its windows. The m^ing figures of Snap and Miko were aped by the grotesque! misshapen shadows of them on the walls. Miko gigantic-f-a great, menacing! ogre. Snap . small and alert — a trim, pale figure in his tight-fitting white troupers, broad- flowing belt, and white shirt open at the throat. His face wap pale and drawn from lack of sleep and the tor- ture to which Miko had subjected him. But he grinned at the brigand's words, and pushed his straggling ; hair closer under the red eyeshade. "I'm doing my best, Miko — you dan "believe it." i THE room over long periods was deadly silent, with Mi^o and Snap bending watchfully at the crowded banks of instruments. A; silence in which my own pounding heart seemed to echo. I did not dare loqk at Anita, nor she at me. Snap was trying to sig- nal Earth, not the Moon I ; His'main helios were set in . the reverse. The infra-red waves, flung frotn the bow window, were of a frequency which Snap and I believed that Grantline could not pick up. And over against the wall, close beside me and seemingly ignored by Snap, there was a tiny .ultra- violet sender. Its faint hum and the quivering of its mirrors had so far f assed unnoticed. Would some Earth-station pick it up? I' prayed so. There was a thumb nail mirror here which could bring an answer. I prayed that it might swing. Would' some Earth telescope be able to see us? I doubted it. The pin- point of the Planetara's infinitesimal bulk would be beyond them. Long silences, broken only by the faint hiss and murmur of Snap's in- struments. "Shall I try the 'graphs, Miko?" "Yes." I helped him with the spectrohelio- graph. At every level the plates showed us nothing save the scarred and pitted Moon-surface. We worked for an hour. There was nothing. Bleak cold night on the Moon here beneath us. A touch of fading sunlight upon the Apennines. Up near the South Pole, Tycho with its radiating open rills stood like a grim dark maw. Miko bent oyer a plate. "Something here? Is there?" An abnormality upon the frowning ragged cliffs of Tycho? We thought so. But then it seemed not. ANOTHER hour. No signal came from Earth. If Snap's calls were getting through we had no evidence of it. Abruptly Miko strode at me from across the room. I went cold and tense; Moa shifted, alert to my every movement. But Miko was not inter- ested in me. A sweep of his clenched fist knocked the ultra-violet sender and its coils and mirrors in a tinkling crash to the grid at my feet. s "We don't need that, whatever it isl" He rubbed his knuckles where the violet waves had tinged them, and turned grimly back to Snap. "Where are your Gamma ray mir- BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 83 tors? If the treasure is exposed — " This Martian's knowledge was far greater than we believed. He grinned sardonically at Anita. '"If our, treasure is on this hemisphere. Prince, we should pick up Gamma rays? Don't you think so? Or is Grantline so cau- tious it will all be protected ?" Anita spoke in a careful, throaty drawl. "The Gamma rays came plain enough when we. passed here on the way out." "You should know," grinned Miko. "An expert eavesdropper, Prince)— I will say that for you % Come Dean, try something else. BjfGod, if Grantline does not signal uST I will be likely to blame you — my patience is shortening. Shall we go closer, Haljan?" "I don't think it would,help," I said. He nodded. "Perhaps not. Are we checked?" "Yes." We were poised, very nearly motionless. "If you wish an advance, I can ring it. But we need a surface destination now." "True, Haljan." He stood thinking. "Would a zed-ray penetrate those crater-cliffs? Tycho, for instance, at this angle?"* | "It might," Sntap agreed. "You think he may be on flt Northern inner side of Tycho?" "He may be anywhere," said Miko shortly. "If you think that," Snap persisted, "suppose we swing the Planetara over the South Pole. Tycho, viewed from there—" "And take another quarter-day of time?" Miko sneered. » "Flash on your Kd-ray ; help him hook it up, Haljan." I MOVED to the lens-box of- the spectroheliograph. It seemed that Snap was very strangely reluctant. Was it because he knew that the Grant- line camp lay concealed' on the north * An tltatka to the use of the zed-ray light for making spectro-photographs of what might lie behind obscuring rock masses, sun- Ob to the old-style X-ray. inner wall of Tycho's giant ring? I thought so. But Snap flashed a queer look at Anita. She did not see it, but I did. And I could not understand it. My accursed, witless incapacity I If only I had taken warning I "Here," commanded Miko. "A score of 'graphs with the zed-ray. I tell you I -will, 'comb this surface if we have to stay here until our ship comes from Ferrok-Shahn to join us I" The Martian brigands were coming. Miko's signals bad been answered. In ten days the other brigand ship, ade- quately manned and armed, would be here. Snap helped me connect the zed-ray. He did not dare even to whisper to, me, with }Moa hovering always so close. And for all Miko's sardonic smiling, we knew that he would tolerate noth- ing from us now. . He was fully armed, and so was Moa. I recall that Snap several times tried to touch me significantly. Oh, if only I had taken warning 1 ^ We finished our connecting. The dull gray point of zed-ray gleamed through the prisms, to mingle with the moonlight entering the main lend. I stood with the shutter trip. . "The same interval, Snap?" "Yea." Beside me, I was aware of a faint reflection of the zed-light — a gray Cathedral shaft crAsihg the helio-room and falling upon the opposite wall. An unreality there, as the zed-light faintly strove to penetrate the metal room-side. I said, "Shall I make the exposure?" SNAP nodded. But that 'graph was never made. An exclamation from Moa made us all turn. The Gamma mirrors were quivering I Grantline had pioked our signals! With what un- doubtedly was an intensified receiving equipment which Snap had not thought Grantline able to use, he had caught our faint zed-rays, which Snap . whs sending only to deceive Miko. And Grantline had recognized the J?/ane- tptfs, and had released hia occulting 84 ASTOUNDING STORIES screens surrounding the radium ore. The Gamma rays were here^ unmistak- ablel And upon their heels c&me Grant- line's message. Not in the j secret sys- tem he had arranged with! Snap, but unsuspectingly in open cod*.. I could read the swinging mirror, apd so could Miko. I And Miko decoded it triumphantly aloud: ' ! "Surprised but pleased jlour return. Approach Mid-Northern hemisphere, region of Archimedes* tor\y thousand toises* off nearest Apennifie range." , The message broke off. .But even its importance was overshadowed^ Miko stood in the center of the j helio-room, triumphantly reading the light-indicat- or. Its beam swung on the pcale, which chanced to be almost directly over Anita's hea'd.f I saw Miko's expression change. A look of surprise, amaze- ment, came to him. "Why—" He gasped. He stood staring. Al- most stupidly staring fori an instant. And as I regarded him with fascinated horror, there came upon bis, heavy gray face a look of dawning comprehension. And I heard Snap's startled intake of breath. He moved to the apectrohelio- graph, where the zed-ray j connections were still humming. j But with a leap Miko flung him away. "Off with you I jMoa, watch him! Haljan, don't move If AGAIN Miko stood spring. Oh dear God, I saw now! that he was staring at Anita! , "Why, George Prince I How strange you look!" ■ Anita did not move. She {wis stricken with horror; she shrank (tack against the wall, huddled in her cloak. Miko's sardonic voice came again j "How strange you look, prince I" He took a step forward. He was grim and calm. Horribly calm. ! Deliberate. Gloating — like a great gray monster in * About fifty mile*. human form toying with a fascinated, imprisoned bird. "Move just a little Prince. Let the zed-ray light fall more fully." r Anita's head was bare. That pale, 'Hamletlike face\ Dear God, the zed- light reflection lay gray^and penetrat- ing upon it I Miko took another step. Peering. Grinning. "How amazing, ^ George Prince ! Why, I can hardly believe it I" Moa was armed with an electronic cylinder. . For all her amazement — what turgid emotions sweeping her I can only guess — she never took Her eyes from Snap and me. i ; "Back! Don't move, either of you!" She hissed it at us. Then Miko leaped at Anita like giant gray leopard pouncing. "Away with that cloak. Prince I" I STOOD cold and numbed. And realization came at last. The faint zed-light glow had fallen by chance upon Anita's face. Penetrated {he flesh; exposed, faintly glowing, the bone-line of Her jaw. Unmasked the waxen art of Glutz. And Miko had seen it. "Why George, how surprising I Away with that cloak!" He seized her wrist, drew her for- ward, beyond the shaft of zed-light, into the brilliant light of the Moon. And ripped her cloak from her. The gentle curves of her woman's figure were so unmistakable I And as Miko gazed at them, all his calm triumph swept away. "Why, Anita!" I heard Moa mutter: "So that Is it?" A venomous flashing look — a shaft from me to Anita and back again. "So that is it?" v "Why, Anita!" Miko's great arms gathered her up as though she were a child. "So I have you back ; from the dead delivered back to me I" "Gregg!" Snap's warning, and his grip over my shoulders brought me a measure of sanity. I had tensed to BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 85 spring. I stood quivering, and Moa thrust her weapon, against my face. The helio mirrors were swaying again with another message from Grantline. But it came ignored by us all. In the glare of moonlight by the for- ward window, -Miko held Anita, his great hands pawing her with trium- phant possessive "caresses. "So, little Anita, you are given back to me." Against her futile struggles he held her. Dead God, if only I had had tifes.wit to have prevented this I A CHAPTER XX Tie Grantline Camp IN the mid-northern hemisphere upon the Earthward side of the Moon, the giant; crater of Archimedes stood- brooding in silent majesty. Grim, lofty walls, broken, pitted and scarred, rising precipitous to the upper circular rim. Night had just fallen.', The sunlight clung to the crater-heights; i( tinged with flame the jagged peaks of the Apennine Mountains which rose in tiers at the horizon; and it flung great inky shadows over the intervening low- lands. Northward, the Mare Imbrium stretched mysterious and purple, its million rills and ridges and crater holes flattened by distance and the gathering darkness into a seeming level surface. The night slowly deepened. The dead-black vault of the sky blazed with its brilliant starry gems. The gibbous Earth hung high above the horizon, motionless, save for the invis- ible pendulum sway over the tiny arc of its libration; widening to quad- rature, casting upon the bleak naked Lunar landscape its mellow Earth-glow. Slow, measured process, this coming of the Lunar night I For an Earth-day the sunset slowly faded on the Apen- nines; the poised Earth widened a lit- tle further — an Earth-day of time, with the Earth-disc* visibly rotating, ( the faint tracery of its oceans and conti- nents passing in slow, majestic review. Another Earth-day interval. Then another. And another. Full night now ejiveloped Archimedes. Splotches of Earth-light and starlight sheen slowly shifted as the night advanced. Between the great crater and the nearby 'mountains, the broken, pseudo- level lowlands lay wan in the Earth- light. A few hundred miles, as dis- tance would be measured upon tEarth. A million million rills were here. Val- leys and ridges, ravines, sharp-walled canyons, cliffs and crags — tiny craters like pock-marks. Nalted, gray porous rock everywhere. This denuded landscape I Cracked and scarred and tumbled, as though some inexorable Titan torch had seared and crumbled and broken it, left it now con- gealed like a wind-lashed sea abruptly frozen into immobility. MOONLIGHT upon Earth so gently shjnes to make romantic a lover's smile I But the reality of the Lunar night Is cold beyond human rationality. Cold and darkly silent. Grim desolation. Awesome. Majestic. A frowning majesty that even to the most intrepid human beholder is incon- ceivably forbidding. And there were) humans here now. On this tumbled plain, between Archi- medes and the mountains, one small crater amid the million of its fellows was distinguished this night, by the presence of humans. The Grantline camp! It huddled in the deepest pur- ple shadows on the side of a bowl-like pit, a crudely circular orifice' with a scant two miles across its rippling rim. There was faint light here to mark the presence of the living intruders. The blue-glow radiance of Morrell tube- lights/under a spread of glassite. The Grantline camp stood mid-way up one of the inner cliff-walls of the little crater. The broken, rock-strewn floor, two miles wide, lay five hundred feet below the camp. Behind it, the jagged precipitous cliff rce another five hundred to the heights of th'e 86 ASTOUNDING STORIES upper rim. A broad level' shelf hung midway up the cliff, and upon it Grant- line had built his little group of glas- site dome shelters. Viewed from above there was the darkly purple) crater floor, the upflung circular rim; where the Earth-light tinged the spiijes and crags with yellow sheen; and qn the shelf, like a huddled group of birds' nests, Grantlihe's domes clung; and gazed down upon the inner vallejy. , : Intricate task, the building of these glassite shelters! There\ were three. The main one stood close at the brink of the ledge. ' A quadrangle of glassite walls, a hundred feet jn length by half as wide/ and a scant ten feet high to its flat-arched dome roof. B{iilt for this' purpose in Great-New Yoijk, Grantline' had brought his aluminitej girders and braces and the glassite panels in sec- tion*. | ' dous necessity for mechanical equip- ment had burdened Grantline'B small ship to its capacity. The chemistry of manufactured air, the pressure equal- izers, renewers, respirators, the light- ing and temperature-maintenance sys- tems — all the mechanics of a space- flyer were here. And within the glassite double walls, there was necessity, for a constant cir- culation of the Erentz temperature in- sulating system.* ■ There was this main Grantline build- ing, stretching, low and rectangular along the fropt edge of the ledge. Within it were living rooms, mess- room and kitchen. Fifty feet behind it, connected by a narrow passage of glassite, was a similar, though smaller structure. The mechanical control rooms, with their hummiqg, vibrating mechanisms were here. And an instru- ment room with signaling apparatus, senders, receivers, mirror-grids and andiphones of several varieties ; and an electro-telescope, small but modern, with dome overhead like a little Earth observatory. From this instrument building, be- side the connecting pedestrian passage, wire cables for light, and air-tubes and strings and bundles of instrument wires (The intricate postulates and mathematical t formulae necessary to demonstrate the opcra- 'tion of the physical laws involved would be out of place here.) The Plwattr* was so equipped, against the explosive tendency of its inner air-pressures when flying in the near-vacuum of apace. In the case of Gran time's glassite shelters, the latent energy of his room interior air pressure went largely .into a kinetic energy which In practical effect resulted only in the alight ac- celeration of the vacuum current, and thus never reached the outer wall. The Brents engineers claimed for their s ystem a pressure absorption of 97.4%, leaving, in Grantline's case, only 2.6% of room pressure to be held by the building's ahuninite bracers. It may be interesting to note in this con- nection that without the Erentz system as a basis, the great sub.sea- developments on Earth and Mars of the twenty-first century would also have been impossible. Equipped with a fluid circulation device of the Erents principle within its double hull, the first sub- marine was able to penetrate the great ocean deeps, withstanding the tremendous ocean pressures at depths of four thousand fathoms. BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 87 ran to the main Btructure — gray snakeB upon the porous, gray Lunar rock. The third building- seemed a lean-to banked against the cliff-wall, a slanting shed-wall of glassite fifty fee: high and two hundred in length. Under it, for months Crantline's borers had dug into the cliffi Braced tunnels were here, penetrating back and downward into this vein of radio-active rock. THE' work was over now. The bor- ers had been dismantled and packed away. At one end of the cliff the mining equipment lay piled in a lit- ter. There was a heap of discarded ore where Grantline had carted and dumped it after his first crude refining process had yielded 'it as waste. The ore-slag lay like gray powder-flakes strewn down the cliff. Tracks and ore- fcarts along the ledge stood discarded, mute evidence of the weeks and months of work these hclmeted miners had undergone, struggling upon this airless, frowning world. But now all that was finished. The radio-active ore was sufficiently con- centrated. It lay — this treasure — in a seven ty-foot pile behind the glassite lean-to, with a cage of, wires over it and an insulation barrage guarding its Gamma rays from escaping to mark its presence. The ore-shelter was dark; the other two buildings were lighted. And there were small lights mounted at intervals about the camp and along the edge of the ledge. A spider ladder, with tiny platforms some twenty feet one above the other, hung precariously to the cjiff-face. It descended the five hun- dred feet to the crater floor; and, be- hind the camp, it mounted the jagged cliff-face to the upper rim-height, where a small observatory platform was placed. SUCH was the outer aspect of the Grantline Treasure Camp near the beginning of this Lunar night, when, unbeknown to Grantline and his score of men. the Planetara with its brigands was approaching. The night was per- haps a sixth advanced. Full night. No, breath of cloud to mar the brilliant starry heavens. The quadrant Earth hung poised like a giant mellow moon over Grahtline's crater. A bright Earth, yet no air was here on this Lunar sur- face to spread its light. Only a glow, mingling with the spots of fclue tube- light on the poles 'along the cliff, and the radiance from the lighted buildings. The crater floor was dimly purple. Beyond the opposite upper rim, from the camp-height, the towering top of distant Archimedes was visible. No evidence of movement showed about the silent camp. Then a pres- sure door in an end of the main build- ing opened its tiny series of locks. A bent figure came out. The lock closed. The figure straightened and gazed about the camp. Grotesque, bloated semblance of a man I Helmeted, with rounded dome-hood suggestion of an ancient sea diver, yet goggled and trunked like a gas-masked fighter of the twentieth century war. He stooped presently and disconnect- ed metal weights which were upon his shoes.* Then he stood erect again, and with giant 'strides bounded along the cliff. Fantastic figure in the blue-lit gloom I A child's dream of crags and rocks and strange lights with a single monstrous figure in seven-league boots. He went the length of the ledge with his twenty-foot strides, inspected the lights, and tnadf adjustments. Came back, and climbed with agile, bounding leaps up the spider ladder to^ghe dome on the crater top. / A light flashed on up there. Then it was extinguished. The goggled, bloated figure came leaping down after a moment. Grant- lineja^ exterior watchman making his round s. He came back to' the', main * Within the Grantline buildings it was found more convenient to use a gravity normal to Earth. This was maintained by the wearing of metal-weighted shoes and raetaffloaded belt. The Moon-gravity la normally approximately one-sixth the gravity of Earth. 88 ASTOUND! building. Fastened the weights on his shoes. Signaled within. \ The lock opened. The! figure went inside. It was early evening, after the din- ner hour and before the time of sleep, according to the camp routine Grant- line was maintaining. Nine P. M. of Earth Eastern-American time, recorded now upon his Earth chronometer. In the living room of the main building Johnny Grantline sat with a dozen of his men dispersed about the room, whiling away as best they could the lonesome hours. u A LL as usual. This cursed Moon I JE\. When I get home— if ever I do get home — " "Say your say, Wilks.j But you'll spend your share of the gold-leaf and thank your constellations that you had your chancel" "Let him alone I Come on, Wilks, take a hand here. This game is no good with three." j The man who had been outside flung his hissing helmet recklessly to the floor and unsealed his suit) "Here, get me out of this. No, I wpn't play. I can't play your cursed game with noth- ing at stake I" i "Commissioner's orders." A laugh went up at th|e sharp lorfk Johnny Grantline flung from where he sat reading in a comer of the room. "Commander's orders. No gambling gold-leaf ers tolerated here." "Play the game, Wilks," Grantline said quietly. "We all know it's infer- nal doing nothing." ''He's been struck by Earth-light," another man laughed. "Commander, I told you not to let that gi)y Wilks out at night." A ROUGH but good-natured lot of men. Jolly and raucous by nature in their leisure hours. But there was too much leisure here how. Their mirth had a hollow sound. In older times, explorers of the frozen polar zones had to cope with inactivity, lone- rc STORIES liness and despair. But at least they were on their native world. The grim, ness of the Moon was eating into the courage of Grantline's men.i An un- reality here. A weirdness. These fan- tastic crags. The*tieadly silence. The nights, almost two weeks of Earth-time in length, congealed by the deadly frigidity of Space. The days of black sky, blazing stars and flaming Sun, with no atmosphere to diffuse the daylight. Days of weird "blending sheen of -il- lamination with most of the Sun's heat radiating so swiftly from the naked Lunar surface that the outer tempera- ture still was cold. And day and night, always the familiar beloved Earth-disc hanging poised up near the zenith. From thinnest crescent to full Earth, and then steadily back again to Crescent. All so abnormal, irrational, disturb- ing to human senses. With the mining work over, an irritability grew upon Grantline's men. And perhaps since the human mind is so wonderful, elu- sive a thing, there lay upon these men an indefinable sense of impending dis- aster. Johnny Grantline felt it. He thought about it now as he sat in the room corner watching Wilks being forced into the plaget-game, and he found it strong within him. Unreason- able, ominous depression! Barring the accident which had disabled his little space-ship when they reached this small crater hole, his -expedition had gone well. His' instruments, and the infor- mation he had from the former explor- ers, had picked up the ore-vein with a scant morfth of search. THE vein had now been exhausted ; but the treasure was here, noth- ing was left but to wait for the Plane- tara. The men were talking of that now. "She ought to be well mid-way from here to Ferrok-Shahn by now. ' When do you figure she'll be back here and signal us?" 4 "Twenty days. Give her another five -now to Mars, and five in' port. That's BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 89 ten. We'll pick her signals in three weeks, mark me." "Three weeks I Just give me three weeks of reasonable sunrise and sun- set I This cursed Moon I You mean, Williams, next daylight." "Hah I He's inventing a Lunar lan- guage. You'll be a Moon-man yet, if you live here long enough." Olaf Swenson, the big blond fellow from the Scandia fiords, came and flung himself down by Grantline. "Ay tank they bane without not enough to do, Commander. If the ore yust would not give out — " "Three weeks — it isn't very long, Ollie." "No. Maybe not." From across the room somebody was laying, "If the Comet hadn't smashed on ub, damn me but I'd ask the Com- mander -to let some of us take her back. The discarded equipment could go." "Shut up, Billy. She is smashed." The little Comet, cruising in search of the ore, had come to grief just as the ore was found. It lay now on the crater floor with its nose bashed into an up- flung spire of rock. 'Wrecked beyond repair. Save- for the pre-arrangement with the Planetara, the Grantline party would have been helpless here on the Moon. Knowledge of that— although no one ever suspected but that the Planetara would come safely — served to add to the men's depression. They were cut off, virtually helpless on a strange world. Their signalling de- vices were inadequate even to reach Earth. Grantline's power batteries were running low.* He could not attempt wide-flung signals without jeopardiz- ing the power necessary for the routine of his camp in the event of the Plane- tara being delayed. Nor was his elec- tro-telescope adequate to pick small objects at, any great distance."* •The Gravely storage tanks — the power ued by the Grantline expedition-*- were heavy and bulky affairs. Economy of space on the Comor allowed but few of them. *• Electro-telescopes of most modern size and power were too large and used too much power to be available to Grantline. All If Grantline's effort, in truth, had gone into equipment for the find- ing and gathering of the treasure. The safety of the expedition had to that ex- tent been neglected. Swenson was mentioning that now. "You* all agreed to it," Johnny said shortly. "Every man here voted that, above everything, what we wanted waa 'to get the radium." ADYNAMIC little fellow, this Johnny Grantline. Short of tem- per sometimes, but always just, and a perfect leader of men. In stature he was almpst as small as Snap./ But he was thick-set, with a smooth shaven, keen-eyed, square-jawed face, and a shock of brown tousled hair. A man of thirty-five, though the decision of his manner, the quiet dominance of his voice, made him seem older. He stood up now, surveying the blue-lit glassite room with its low ceiling close over- head. He was bowlegged ; in movement he seemed to roll with a stiff-legged gait like some sea captain of former day*, on the deck of his swaying ship. Queer-looking' figure I Heavy flannel shirt and trousers, boots heavily weighted, and bulky metal-loaded belt strapped about his waist. He grinned at Swenson. "When we divide this treasure, everyone will be happy, OUle." The treasure vus estimated by Grant- line to be the equivalent of ninety mil- lions in gold-leaf. A hundred and ten millions in the gross as it now stood, with twenty millions Xfi be deducted by the Federated Refiners for reducing it tjP the standard purity of commercial radium.. Ninety millions, with only a million and a half to come off for ex- pedition expenses, and the Planetara Company's share another million. A nice little stake. Grantline strode across the room with his rolling gait. "Cheer up, boys. Who's winning there? I say, you fellows — " An audiphone buzzer interrupted him, a call from the duty man in the 90 ASTOUNDING STORIES instrument room of the liearby build- ing. Grantline clicked the receiver. The room fejil into silence. Any call was unusual — nothing ever happened here in the camp. i The duty man's voice sounded over the room. I V "Signals coming I Not j clear. Will you come over, Commander?" Signals I I IT v^as never Grantliie's way to enforce needless discipline. He offered no objection when every man in the camp rushed through the con- necting passages. They crowded the instrument room where thje tense duty man sat bending over his Ihelio receiv- ers. The mirrors were swafing. The duty man looked {up and met Crantline's gaze. "I ran it up to the highest intensity, Commander. We ought ti get it — not let it pass." "Low scale, Peter?" "Yes. Weakest infra-red. I'm bring- ing it up, even though it uses too much of our power." The duty man was apologetic. "Get it," said Grantline Shortly. "I had a swing a minute Jigo. I think it's the Planetaia." \ "Planetara!" The crowding group of men chorused it. How could it be the Planetaia? ! But it jwas v The call presently came in clear. Unmistakably tne Planetara, turned back now from h^r course to Ferrok-Shahn. [ "How far away, Peter?"! The duty man consulted: the needles of his dial scale. "Close I j - Very weak infra-red. ' But close. Around thirty thousand miles, maybe. It's Snap Dean calling." The Planetara here withirj thirty thou- sand miles! Excitement and pleasure ■wept the room. The Planetara's com- ing had fos so long been; awaited so eagerlyl The excitement communicated to Grantline. It was unlike! him to be incautious; yet now with no thought save that some unforeseen and pleasing circumstance had brought the Planetara ahead of time; incautious Grantline certainly was. "$aise the ore-barrage." "I'll go! My suit is here." A WILLING volunteer rushed out to the ore-shed. The Gamma rays, which in the helio-room of the Plane- tara came so unwelcome to Snap and me, were loosed. Can you send, Peter?" Grantline de- manded. "Yes, with more power." "Use it." Johnny dictated the message of his location which we received. In his incautious excitement he ignored the secret code. An interval passed. The ore was oc- culted again. No message had come from us — just Snap's routine signal in the weak infra-red, which we hoped Grantline would not get. The men crowding Grantline's instru- ment room waited in tense silence. Then Grantline tried the telescope. Its' current weakened the lights with the drain upon the distributors, and cooled the rqjpm with a sudden deadly chill as the* Erentz insulating system slowed down. The duty man looked suddenly fright- ened. "You'll bulge out our walls. Commander- The internal pressure — " "We'll chance it." They picked up the image of the Planetara! It came from the telescope and shone clear on the grid — the seg- ment of star-field, with a tiny cigar- shaped blob. Clear enough to be un- mistakable. The Planetara I Here now over the Moon, almost directly over- head, .poised at what the altimeter scale showed to be a fraction under thirty thousand miles. The men gazed in awed silence. The Planetara coming. . . . But the altimeter needle was motion- less. The Planetara was hanging poised. A sudden gasp went about the room. BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 91 The men stood with whitening faces, gazing at the Planetaia's image. And at the altimeter needle. It was moving. The Planetaia was 'descending But not with an orderly swoop. .The image showed the ship clearly. The bow tilted up, then dipped down. But then in a moment it swung up again. The ship turned partly over. Righted itself. Then swayed again, drunkenly. The watching men were stricken in- to horrified silence. The Planetara's image momentarily, horribly, grew larger. Swaying. Then turning com- pletely over, rotating slowly end over end. The Planetaia, out of control, was falling I CHAPTER XXI The Wreck of the Planetara ON the Platiitara, in the helio-room, Snap and I stood with Moa's weapon upon us. Miko held Anita. Triumphant. Possessive. Then as she struggled, a gentleness came to this strange Martian giant. Perhaps he really loved her. Looking back on it, I sometimes think so. "Anita, do not fear me." He held her away from him. "I would not harm you. I want your love." Irony came to him. "And I thought I had killed you I But it was only your brother." He partly turned. I was aware of how alert was his attention. He gTinned. "Hold them, Mpa — don't let them do anything foolish. So, Anita, you were masquerading to spy upon me? That was wrong of you." He was again Ironic. Anita had not spoken. She held her- self tensely away from Miko; she had flashed me a look — just one. What hor- rible mischance to have brought this catastrophe I The completion of Grantline's mes- sage had come unnoticed by us all. "Look I Crantline again I" Snap said abruptly. But the mirrors were steadying. We had no recording-tape apparatus; the rest of the message was lost. The mir- rors pulsed and then steadied. ^ No further message came. There was an interval while Miko waited. He held Anita in the hollow of his great arm. "Quiet, little bird. Do not fear me. I have work to do, Anita — this is our gx.eat adventure. We will be rich, you and I., All the luxuries three worlds can offer, all for us when this is over. Careful, Moal This Haljan has no wit." Well could he say it! I, who had been so witless to let this come upon ust Moa's weapon prodded me. Her voice hissed at me with all the venom of a reptile enraged. "So that was your game, Gregg Haljan I .And I was so graceless to admit love for you I" SNAP murmured in my ear, "Don't move, Gregg I She's reckless." She heard it. She whirled on him. "We have lost George Prince, it seems. Well, we will survive without his ore knowledge. And you, Dean — and this Haljan — mark me, I will kill y6u both if you, cause trouble!" Miko as gloating. "Don't kill them yet, Moa. What was it Grantline said? Near the crater of Archimedes? Ring ub down, Haljan 1 We'll land." He signaled the turret. Gave Conis- ton the Grantline message, and audi- phoned it below to Hahn. The news spread about the* ship. The bandits were jubilant. "We'll land now, Haljan. Ring us down. Come, Anita and I will go with you to the turret." I found my voice. "To what destina- tion?" "Near Archimedes. The Apennine side. Keep well away from the Grant- line camp. We will probably sight it as. we descend." There was no trajectory needed. We were almost over 1 Archimedes now. I could drop us with a visible, instru- mental course. My mind was whirling with a confusion of thoughts. What could we do? What could we dare attempt to do? I met Snap's gaze. 92 j ASTOUNDING STORIES "Ring us down, Gregg," he said quietly. I nodded. I pushed Moa's weapon away. "You don't need 1 that. I obey orders." E went to the . turret. Mob watched me and l^nap, a grim, cold Amazon. She avoided looking at Anita, whom Miko helped down the ladders with a strange mixture of cour- tierliks 1 grace and amused irony. Con- iston: gazed at Anita with falling jaw. "I say I Not George Wince ? The girl—" "No time for argument now" • Miko commanded. "It's the girl, masquerad- ing as her brother. Get below, Conis- top. Haljap takes us down. The astounded Englishman continued gazing at Anita. "I mean to say, where to; on the Moon? Not! to encounter Grantline at once, Miko? Our equip- ment is not ready." "Of course not. We will land well away. He won't be suspicious — we can signal him again after We land. We will have time to plan, to assemble the equipment. Get below. I; told you." The reluctant Coniston left us. I took the controls. Mikd, still holding Anita as though she were a child, sat beside ma "We will watch him, little Anita. A^skilled fellow at this sort of work." ,a il rang my signals for the shifting of the gravity plates. The 'answer should nave come from below within a second or two. But it did not. Miko regarded me with his great bushy eyebrows up- raised. ''Ring again, Haljan." I duplicated. No answer. The silence was frightening. Ominous. Miko muttered, "That accursed HaSmh" Ring again I" I sent the imperative emergency demand. NO answer. A second or two. Then all of us in the turret were startled. TransExed. From below came a sudden hiss. It sounded in. the turret ; it came from shifting-room call-grid. The hissing of the pneumatic valves of the plate-shifters in the lower con- trol room . The valves were opening ; the plates automatically shifting into neutral, and disconnecting! An instant of startled silence. Miko may have realized the significance of what had happened. Certainly Snap and I did. The hissing ceased. I gripped the- emergency plate-shifter switch which hung over my head. Its disc wai dead I The plates were dead in neutral In the positions they were only placed while in port I And their shifting mechanisms were imperative! I was on my feet. "Snap! Good God, we're in neutral I" Miko, if he had not realized it before, was aware if it now. The Moon-disc moved visibly as the Planetara lurched. The vault of the heavens was slowly swinging. Miko ripped out a heavy oath. "Hal- jan I What is this?" He stood up, still holding Anita. But there was nothing that he could do in this emergency. "Haljan — what — " The heavens turned with a giant swoop. The Moon was over us. It swung in dizzying arc. Overhead, then back past our stern; under us, then appearing over our bow. The Planetara had turned over. Up- ending. Rotating, end over end. For a moment or two I think all of us in that turret stood and clung. The Moon-disc, the Earth, Sun and all the stars were swinging past our windows. So horribly dizzying. The Plamtan seemed lurching and tumbling. But it was an* optical effect only. T stared with grim determination at my feet The turret seemed to steady. Then I looked again. That horrible swoop of all the heavens I <. And the Moon, as it went past, seemed expanded. We were falling I Out of control, with the Moon-gravity pulling us inexorably down! "That accursed Hahn— " Miko, stricken with his lack of knowledge of these controls, was wholly confused. W BRIGANDS OP THE MOON 93 A MOMENT only had passed.- My fancy that the Moon-disc was enlarged was merely tile horror of my imagination. We had not fallen far enough yet for that. But we were falling. Unless I could do something, we would crash upon the Lunar surface. "X Anita, killed in this PUaetara tur- ret. The end of everything for us. Action came to me. I gasped, "Miko, you stay here I The controls are dead I You stay here — hold Anita." I ignored Moa's weapon which she was still clutching mechanically. Snap thrust her away. "Sit back! Let us alone I We're fall- ing 1 Don't you understand?" This deadly danger, to level us all 1 No longer were we captors and cap- tured. Not brigands for this moment. No thought of Grantline's treasure! Trapped humans only I Leveled by the common instinct of self-preservation. Trapped here together, fighting for our lives. Miko gasped, "Can you — check us? What happened?" "I don't know. I'll try." I stood clinging. This dizzying whirl! From the audiphone grid Con- iston's voice sounded, "I say, Haljan, something's wrong! Hahn doesn't signal." The look-out in the forward tower wis clinging to his widow. On the deck , below our turret a member of the crew appeared, stood lurching for a moment, then shouted, and turned and ran, sway- ing, aimless. From the lower hull- corridors our grids sounded with the tramping of winning steps. Panic among the crew was spreading over the ship. A chaos below decks. I PULLED at the emergency switch again. Dead But down below there was the manual controls. "Snap, we must get down. The sig- nals." "Yes." Coniston's voice came like a scream from the grid. "Hahn is dead — the con- trols are broken! Hahn is dead It We barely heard him. I shouted, "Miko— hold Anita! Come on, Snap!" We clung to the ladders. Snap was behind me. "Careful, Gregg! Good God!" This dizzying whirl. I tried not to lqok. The deck under me was now a blurred kaleidoscope of swinging patches of moonlight and shadow. We reached the deck. Ran, sway- ing, lurching. It seemed that from the turret Anita's voice followed us. "Be careful!" Within the ship our senses steadied. With the rotating, reeling heavens shut out, there were only the shouts and tramping steps of the panic-stricken crew to mark that anything was amiss. That, and a pseudo-sensation of lurch- ing caused by the pulsing of gravity — a pull when the Moon was beneath our hull to combine its force with our mag- netizers; a lightening when it was over- head. A throbbing, pendulum lurch — that was all. We ran down to the corridor in- cline. A white-faced member of the crew came running up. "What's happened? Haljan, what's happened?" "We're falling!" I gripped him. "Get below. Come on with us!" But he jerked away from me. "Fall- ing?" A steward came running. "Falling?' My God!" Snap swung at them. "Get ahead of us! The manual controls — our only chance — we need all you -men at the compressor pumps!" But it was an instinct to try and get on deck, as though here below we were rats -caught in a trap. The men tore away from me and ran. Their shouts of panic resounded through the dim, blue- lit corridors. CONISTON came lurching from the control room. "I say — falling! Haljan, my God, look at him I" Hahn was sprawled at the gravity- 94 ' ASTOUNDING STORIES plate switchboard. Sprawled, head- down. Dead. Killed by something? Or a suicide? i I bent over him. Hisj hands gripped the main switch. He jhad ripped it loose. And his left hand had reached and broken the fragile! line of tubes that intensified the current of the pneu- matic plate-shifters. A suicide? With his last frenzy determined to kill Vis >|1? ' \ | Then I saw that Hphn had 'been killed! Ndt a suicide 1 jln his hand he gripped a small segment of black fab- ric, a piece torn from an Invisible cloak ? Was it? The questions were Swept away by the necessity for action.! Snap was rig- ging the hand-compressors. If he could get the pressure back in the tanks. . . . I swung on Coniston. "\ / x - YET, with her woman's eyes, Mrs. Baker, looking at the professor's bony mask of a face, with the high- bridged, intrepid nose, the passionless gray eyes, thought that Ramsey Ban would be handsome, 9 a little less ca- daverous and more human. THE SOUL-SNATCHER 103 "The experiment which you ruined by your untimely entrance," continued the professor, "was not a Bafe one." His long white hand waved toward the bunched apparatus, but to her to the room seemed all glittering metal coils of snakelike wire, ruddy copper, dull lead, and tubes of all shapes. Hell cauldrons of unknown chemicals seethed and slowly bubbled, beetle- black bakelite fixtures reflected the hideous light. "Oh," she cried, clasping her hands as though she addressed him in prayer, ^forget yjour science, Professor Burr, and be a/ man. Help me. Three days from noil my boy, my son, whom I love above all the world, is to die." "Three days is a long, time," said Professor Burr calmly. "Do not lose hope : I have no intention of allowing your son, Allen Baker, to pay the price for a deed of mine. I freely confess it was I who was responsible for the death of — what was the person's name? —Smith, I believe.? "It was you who made Allen get poor Mr. Smith to agree to the experiments which killed him, and which the world blamed on my son," she said. "They called it the deed, of a scientific fiend, Professor Burr, and perhaps they are right. But Allen is innocent." "Be quiet," ordered Burr, raising his hand. "Remember, madam, your son Allen is only a commonplace medical man, and while I taught him a little from my vast store of knowledge, he was ignorant and of much less value to science and humanity than myself. Do you not understand, can you not comprehend, also, that the man Smith 'was a martyr to science? He was no loss to mankind, and only sentimental- ists could have blamed anyone for his death. I should have succeeded in the interchange of atoms which we were working on, and Smith would at this moment be hailed as the first man to travel through space in invisible form, projected on radio waves, had it not been for the fact that the alloy which c&nducts-the three types of sinusoidal failed me and burned out. Yes, it was an error in calculation, and Smith would now be called the Lindbergh of the Atom but for that. Yet Smith has not died in vain, for I have finally cor- rected this error — science is but trial and correction of error — and all will be well." "But Allen — Allen must not die at all I" she cried. "For weeks he has been in the death house: it is killing me. The Governor refuses him a par- don, nor will he commute my son's sentence. In three days he is to die in the electric chair, for a crime which you admit you alone are "responsible for. Yet you remain in your labora- tory,' immersed in your experiments, and do nothing, nothing I" THE tears came now, and she sobbed hysterically. It seemed that she was making an appeal to some- one in whom she had only a forlorn hope'. "Nothing?" repeated Burr, pursing his thin lips. "Nothing? Madam, I have done everything. I have, as I have told you, perfected the experi- ment. It is successful. Your son has not suffered in vain, and Smith's name will go down with the rest ot science's martyrs as one who died for the sake of humanity. But if you wish to save your son, you must be calm. You must listen to what I have to say, and you must not fail t6 carry \ut my instruc- tions to the letter. I am ready now." Light, the light of hope, sprang in the mother's eyes. She grasped bis arm and stared at him with shining face, .through tear-dipped eyelashes. "Do — do you mean it? Can you save him? After the Governor has refused me? What can you do? No influence will snatch Allen from the jaws of the law: the public is greatly excited and very -hostile toward him." A quiet smile played at the corners of Burr's thin lips. "Come," he said. "Place this cloak about you. Allen wore it when he as- sisted me.',' < 104 ASTOUNDING STORIES The professor replaced hi* own mask and conducted the woman into the in- terior of the laboratory. k 'l will show you," said Professor Suit. } \ She saw before her npw, on long metal shelves which appeared to' be delicately poised on fine stales whose balance was registered by hair-line in- dicator*, two small metal cages. Professor Burr stepped! over to a row of common cages set along the wall. There was a small menagerie there, guinea pigs— ^the martyrs of the animal kingdom — rabbits, monkeys, and some cats. .time being, so he will get some idea of what I have undergone." 1 He had got down from the oscillating platform, the spirit of her son in Ram- sey's body! "What— what are you doing now?" she asked. "I mute carry out the rest of it my- self," hejaid. "Burr directed me when we talked yesterday. It is more dif- 110 ASTOUNDING STORIES fccult when one subject is out of the laboratory, and the itubes must be Checked." HE went carefully! about his work, and she saw bint replacing four of the tubes with others, new ones, which were ready at hand. Though.it was the body of Ramsey Burr, the movements were diffteftnt from the Blow, precise work of the professor, and more and more, ajie realized that her son inhabited the shell before her. For a moment, the [mother thought of attempting to dissuade her son from making the final change; was it inot better thus, than to chance the dis- integration of the bodies? Suppose 'something went wrong, and the ex- change did not take place, and her son, that is, his spirit, went back to the death house? Midnight struck as he worked fever- iishly at the apparatus, the long face : corrugated as he checked the dials and {tubes. He worked swiftly, but evident; was following a procedure which he had committed to memory, for he was forced to pause often to make sure of himself. "Everything is O.K.," said the iBtrange voice at last. He consulted his watch. "Twelve-thirty," he said. ( She bit her lip in terror, as he cried, : "Now I" and sprang to the table tb take . his place on the metallic platform, .which oscillated to and fro under his weight. The delicate grayish metal 'antenna, which, she knew, would form a glittering halo of blue and 7 gray threads of fire, rested quiescent above his head. . "This is the last thing,' ,N he said calm- ly, as he reached for the big ebony handled switch. "I'll, be myself in a few minutes, mother." "Yes, son, yes." The switch connepted, and Allen Baker, in the form of Ramsey Burr, : suddenly cried out in pain. His mother leaped up to run to his side, but he waved her away. She, stood, wringing her hands, as he began to twist and turn, as though torn by some invisible force. Eery screams came from the throat of the man on, the platform, and Mrs. Baker's cries of sympathy mingled with them. THE mighty motors hummed in a high-pitched, unnatural whine, and suddenly Mrs. Baker saw the tor- tured face before her grow dim. The countenance of the professor seemed to melt, and then there came a dull, muffled thud, a burst of white-blue flame, the odor of burning rubber and the tinkle of broken glass. Back to the face came the clarity of outline, and still it was Professor Ramsey Burr's body she stared at. Her son, in the professor's' shape, climbed from the platform, and looked about him as though dazed. An acrid smoke filled the room, and burning in- sulation assailed the nostrils. Desperately, Without looking at her, his lips set in V determined line, the man went hurriedly over the apparatus again. "Have I forgotten, did I do anything wrong?" she heard his anguished cry. Two tubes were burned out, and these he replaced as swiftly as possible. But he was forced to go all over the wiring, and cut out whatever had been short-circuited so that it could be hooked up anew with uninjured wire. Before he was ready to resume hii seat on the platform, after half an hour of feverish haste, a knock came on the door. The person outside was imperative, and Mrs. Baker ran over and opened the portal. Jared, the whites of kb eyes shining in the dim light, stood, there. "De professah — tell him dat de wahden wishes to talk with him. It is very important, ma'am." The body of Bupr, inhabited by Allen's soul, pushed by her, and she followed falteringly, wringing her hands. She saw the tall figure snatch at the receiver and listen. "Oh, Cod," he cried. At last, he put the receiver back o« THE SOUL-SNATCHER V 111 the book, automatically, and sank down In a chair, his face in his hands. MRS. BAKER went to him quickly. "What is it, Allen?" she cried. "Mother," he said hoarsely, "it was the warden of the prison. He told me that Allen Baker had gone temporarily insane, and claimed to be Professor Ramsey Burr in my body." "But — but what is the matter?" she asked. "Cannot* you finish the experi- ment, Allen? Can't you change the two bodies now?" He shook his head. "Mother — they electrocuted Ramsey Burr in my body at twelve forty-five to-night I" She screamed. She was faint, but ■he controlled herself with a great effort. "But the electrocution was not to be until morning," she said. Allen shook his head. "They are allowed a certain latitude, about twelve hours," he said. "Burr protested up to the last moment, and begged for time." "Then — then they must have come for him and dragged him* forth to die in the electric chair while you were attempting the second part of the change," she said. "Yes. That was why it failed. That's why the tubes and wires burned out and why we couldn't exchange bodies. It began to succeed, then I could feel something terrible bad' happened. It was impossible to complete the Beta circuit, which short-circuited. They took him from the cell, do you see, while I was starting the exchange of the atoms." FOR a time, the mother and her boy sat staring at one another. She saw the tall, eccentric figure of Ramsey Burr before her, yet she saw also the soul of her son within that form. The eyes were Allen's, the voice was soft and loving, and his spirit was with her. "Come, Allen, my son," she said softly. "Burr paid the price," said Allen, shaking his head. "He became a martyr to science." The world has wondered why Pro- fessor Ramsey Burr, so much in the headlines as a great scientist, suddenly gave up all his experiments and took .up the practice of medicine., . Now that the public furor and in- dignation over the death of the man Smith has died down, sentimentalists believe that Ramsey BurV has reformed and changed his icy nature, for he manifests great affection and care for Mrs. Mary Baker, the mother of the electrocuted man who had been his assistant. BY NO MEANS Mitt the Opening Instalment of the Extraordinary Four-Part Novel MURDER MADNESS By Murray Leinster' i Starting In Our Next Issue \ The Ray of Madness By Captain S. P. Meek "That's the oiti-," lie exclaimed. "Hold the glu;> there for a ma- A KNOCK sounded at the door of Dr. Bird's private labora- tory in the Bureau of Stand- ards. The famous scientist paid no attention to the interruption but bent his head lower over the spectroscope with which he was working. The knock was repeat- ed with a quality of quiet insistence upon recognition. The Doctor smoth- ered an exclamation of impatience and Btrode over to the door and threw it open to the knocker. "Oh, hello, Carnes," he ex- claimed as he rec- ognized his vis- itor. „ "Come in and Bit down and 112 Dr. Bird uncover* e dastardly plot, amuiBf in its mwhin ifi l ingenuity, be- hind the Apparently trivial eye trouble of the President. keep your mouth shut for a few min- utes. I am busy just now but I'll be at liberty in a little while." "There's no hurry, Doctor," replied Operative Carnes of the United States Secret Service as he entered the room and sat on the edge of the Doctor's desk. "I haven't got a case up my sleeve this time; I just came in for a little chat." "All right, glad to see you. Read that latent volume of the Zeitschrift Tor a while. That article of Von Beyer's has got me guessing, all right." Carnes picked up the indicated vol- ume and settled himself to read. The Doctor bent over his apparatus. Time and again he made minute adjustments and gave vent to muttered exclama- tions of annoyance at the results he ob- tained. Half an hour later he rose from his chair with a sigh and turned to his visitor. « "What do youJFhink of Von Beyer's alleged discovery?" he asked the oper- ative. AiL St. 113 114 ASTOUNDING STORIES "TT'S too deep for ^ne,. Doctor," re- JL plied the operative. "All that I can make out of it is that he claims to have discovered a new; element named 'lunium,' but hasn't been able to isolate it yet. Is there anything remarkable about that ? It seems to me that I have read of other rfew elements being dis- covered from time to time." "There is nothing remarkable about the discovery of a new! element by the spectroscopic method/' replied D,r. Bird. "We know frojn Mendelejeff's table that there are a j number of ele- ments which we have not discovered as yet, and several of the ones we know were first detected by the spectroscope. The thing which puzzles me is that so* brilliant a man as Von Beyer claims to have discovered it in the spectra of the moon. His name, lunium, is taken from Luna, the moon." "Why not the moon;? Haven't sev- eral elements been first discovered in the spectra of stars ?" I ' "Certainly. The classic example is Lockyer's discovery o< an orange line in the spectra of the skin in 1868. No known terrestrial element gave such a line and he named the new element which he deduced helium, from Helos, the sun. The element helium was first isolated by Ramsey some twenty-seven years later, .Other elements have been found inyfie spectra of stars, but the point I am making is that the sun and the stars are incandescent bodies and could be logically expected to show the characteristic lines of their constituent elements in their spectra. But tne moon is a cold body without an atmos- phere and is visible only by reflected light. The element, lunium, may exist in the moon, but the manifestations which Von Beyer has observed must be, not from the moon, but from the source of the reflected; light which he •pectro-analyzed. t*^^OU are over my depth. Doctor." i "I'm over my own I have tried to follow Von Beyer's reasoning |uid I have tried to check his findings. Twice this evening I thought that I caught a momentary glimpse on the screen of my fluoroscope of the ultra- violet line which he reports as charac- teristic of lunium, but I am not cer- tain. I haven't been able to photograph it yet. He notes in his article that the line seems to be quite impermanent and fades so rapidly that an accurate meas- urement of its wave-length is almost impossible. However, let's drop the subject. How do you like your new assignment?" "Oh, it's all right. I would rather be back on my old work." "I- haven't seen you since you were assigned to the Presidential detail. I suppose that you fellows are pretty busy getting ready for Premier Me- Dougalt visit?" "I doubt if he will come," replied Caraes soberly. "Things are not ex- actly propitious for a visit of that sort just -now." y DR. BIRD sat back in his chair la surprise. "I thought that the whole thing u arranged.- The press seems to think so, at any rate." "Everything is arranged, but ar- rangements may be cancelled. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they were." "Carnes," replied Dr. Bird gravely, "you have either said too much or too little. There is something more to this than appears on the surface. If it U none of my business, don't hesitate to tell me so and I'll forget what you have said, but if I can help you any, epeak up." Carnes puffed meditatively at Hi pipe for a few minutes before reply- ing. "It's really none of your business Doctor," he said at length, "and yet I know that a corpse is a chatterbox com- pared to you when you are told any- thing in confidence, and I really need to unload my mind. It has been kept from the press so far ; but I don't know how long it can be kept muzzled. In THE RAY OF MADNESS strict confidence, the President of the United States acts as though he were crazy." "Quite a section of the press has claimed that for a long time," replied Dr. Bird, with a twinkle in his eye. "I don't mean crazy in that way, Doc- tor, I mean really crazy. Bugst' Nuts I Bats in his belfry I'" DR. BIRD whistled softly. "Are you sure, Cames?" he asked. "As sure as may be. Both of his physicians think so. They were non- committal for a while, especially as the first attack waned and he seemed to recover, but when his second attack came 'on more violently than the first and the President began to act queerly, they had to take the Presidential de- tail into their confidence. He has been quietly examined by some of the great- est psychiatrists in the country, but none of them have ventured on a posi- tive verdict as to the nature of the mal- ady. They admit, of course, that it ex- ists, but they wop't classify it. The fact that it is intermittent seems to have them 'stopped. He was bad a month ago but he recovered and be- came, to all appearances, normal for a time. About a week ago he began to show queer symptoms again and now he is getting worse daily. If he goes od getting worse for another week, it will have to be announced so that the Vice-President can take over the duties of the head of. the government." "\1 THAT are the symptoms?" VV "The first we noticed was a failing of his memory. Coupled with this was a restlessness and a habit of nocturnal prowling. He tosses con- tinually on his bed and mutters and at times leaps up and rages back and forth in his bedchamber, howling and raging. Then he will calm down and compose himself and go to sleep, only to wake in half an hour and go through the same performance. It is pretty ghastly for the men on night guard." "How does he act in the daytime?" "Heavy and lethargic. His memory becomes a complete blank at times and he talks wildly. Those are the timea we must guard against." "Overwork?" queried the Doctor. "Not according to his physicians. His physical \healtb is splendid and his appetite unusually keen. He takes his exercise regularly and suffers no ill health except for a little eye trouble." Dr. Bird leaped to his feet. "Tell me more about this eye trouble, Carnes," he .demanded. "Why, I don't know much about it, Doctor. Admiral Clay told me that it was nothing but a mild opthalmia which should .yield readily to treat- ment. That was when he told me ^to see that the shades of the President's study were partially drawn to keep the direct sunlight out." "/"VPTHALMIA be sugared I What \J do his eyes look like?" ,. "They are rather red and swollen and a little bloodshot. He has a tendency to shut them while he is talking, and he .avoids light as much as possible. I hadn't noticed anything peculiar about it." "Cames, did you ever iee a case of snow bindness?" The operative looked up in surprise. "Yes, I have. I had it myself once, in Maine, now that you mention it, his case does look like snow blindness, but such a thing is absurd in Washing- ton in August." q Dr. Bird rummaged in his desk and drew out a book, which he consulted for a moment. "Now, Carnes," he said, "I want some dates from you and I want them accu- rately. Don't guess, for a great deal may depend on the accuracy of your answers. When was this mental -dis- ability on the part of the President first noticed?" Carnes drew a pocket diary from his coat and consulted it. "The seventeenth of July," he re- plied. "That is, we are sure, in view lljS ASTOUNDIK of ! later developments, that that was the: date it first came on. We didn't realize that anything was wrong until , tfae) twentieth. On the night of the nineteenth the President slept very \ poorly, getting up and creating a dis- turbance twice, and on the twentieth he 'acted so queerly that jit was neces- sary to cancel three conferences." ; DR. BIRD checked off the dates on the book before hiin and nodded. "Go on," he said, "and describe the progress of the malady by days." "It got progressively worse until the night of tht twenty-third^. The twen- ty-fourth he was no worse, aha on the twenty-fifth a slight improvement was noticed. He got steadily! better until, by the third or fourth of August, he was apparently normal. About the twelfth he began to show signs of rest- lessness which have increased daily during the past week.* Last night, the nineteenth, he slept only a few minutes and Brady, who was on; guard, says that his howls were terrible. His mem- ory has been almost a total blank to- day and all of his appointments were cancelled, ostensibly because of his eye . trouble. If he gets any Worse, it prob- ably will be necessary to inform fhe country as to his true condition." When Carnes had finished, Dr. Bird sat for a time in concentrated thought. "You did exactly right in coming to me, Cames," he said presently. "I don't think that this is a job for a doc- tor at all — I believe' that it needs a physicist and a chemist and 'possibly a detective to cure him. We'll get busy." "What do you mean, doctor?" de- manded Carnes. "Do you think that some exterior force is j causing the President's disability ?" ' M T THINK nothing, Carnes,"'replied X the Doctor grimly, *fbut I intend to know something before I am through. Don't ask for explanations: this is not the time for talk, it is the time for action. Can yoii get me into the White House to-nignt,?" \ / G STORIES "I doubt it, Doctor, but I'll try. What excuse shall I give*? I am not supposed to have told you anything about the President's illness." , "Get Bolton, your chief, on the phone and tell him. that you have talked to me when you shouldn't have. He'll blow up, but after he is through ex- ploding, tell him that I smell a rat and that I want him down here at once with carte blanche authority to; do aa I see fit in the White House. ' If he makes any fuss about it, remind him of the fact that he has considered me crazy several times in the past when events showed that I was right. If be' won't play after that, let 1 me talk to him." "AH right. Doctor," replied Carnea as he picked up the scientist's tele- phone and" gave the number of the home of the Chief of the Secret Ser- vice. "I'll try to bully him out of it He has a good deal of confidence in your ability." HALF an hour later the door of Dr. Bird's laboratory opened sud- denly to admit Bolton. "Hello, Doctor," exclaimed the Chief, "what the dickens have you got on your mind now? I ought to skin Carnes alive for talking out of turn, but if you really "have an idea, I'll for- give' him. What do you suspect ?" "I suspect several things, Bolton, but I haven't time to tell you what they are. I want to get quietly into the White House as promptly as possible." "That's easy," replied Bolton, "but first I want to know what the object of the visit is." "The object is to Bee what I can find out. My ideas are entirely top nebu- lous to attempt to lay them out before you just now. You've never worked directly with me on a case before, but Cames can tell you that I have my own methods of /working and that I won't spill my ideas until I have some- thing more definite, to go on than .1 have at -present." "The Doctor U right, Chief," said THE RAY OF MADNESS 117 Carocs. "He has an idea all right, but wild horses won't drag it out of him until he's ready to talk. You'll have to take him on faith, as I always do."' Bolton hesitated a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "Have it your own way, Doctor,", he fiid. "Your reputation, both as a scien- tist and as an unraveller of tangled skeins, is too good for me to boggle about your methods. Tell me what you want and I'll try to get it." *T WANT to get into the White X House without undue promi- nence being given to my movements and listen outside the President's door for a short time. Later I will want to examine his sleeping quarters care- fully and to make a few tests. I may be entirely wrong in my assumptions, but I believe that there is something there that requires my attention." "Come along," said Bolton. "I'll get you in and let you listen, but the rest we'll have to trust to luck on. You may have to wait until morning." "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," replied the Doctor. "I'll get a little stuff together that we may need." In a few moments he had packed some apparatus in a bag and,' taking up it and an instrument case, he followed Bolton and Carnes down the stairs and out onto the grounds of the Bureau of Standards. "It's a beautiful moon, isn't it?" he observed. Games assented absently to the Doc- tor's remark, but Bolton paid no atten- tion to the luminous disc overhead, which was flooding the landscape with its mellow light. "My car is waiting," he announced. "All right, old man, but stop for a moment and admire this moon," pro- tested the Doctor. "Have you ever seen a finer one?" "Come on and let the moon alone," snorted Bolton. "My dear man, I absolutely refuse to move a step until you pause in your headlong devotion to duty and pay the homage due to Lady Luna. Don't you realize, you benighted Christian, that you are gazing upon what has been held to be a deity, or at least the visi- ble manifestation of deity, for ages im- memorial? Haven't you ever had time to study the history of the moon-wor- shipping cuits? They are as old as mankind, you know. The worship of Isis was really only an exalted type of moon worship. The crescent moon, you may remember,, was one of her most sacred emblems." BOLTON paused and looked at the Doctor suspiciously. "What are you doing — pulling my leg?" he demanded. "Not at all, my dear fellow. Carnes, doesn't the sight of the glowing orb of night influence you to pious medita- tion upon the frailty of human life and the insignificance of human ambition ?" "Not to any very great degree," re- plied Carnes dryly. "Carnesy, old dear, I fear that you are a crass materialist. 0l am beginning to despair of ever inculcating in you any respect for the finer and subtler things of life. I must try Bolton. Bolton, have you ever seen a finer moon ? Remember that I won't move a step until you have carefully consid- ered the matter and fully answered my question/' Bolton looked first at the Doctor, then at Carnes, and finally he looked reluctantly at the moon. "It's a fine one," he admitted, "but all full moons look large on clear nights at this time of the year." "Then you have studied the moon?" cried Dr. Bird with delight. "I was sure — " HE broke off his speech suddenly and listened. From a distance came the mournful how} of a dog. It was answered in a moment by another howl from a different direction. Dog after dog took up the chorus until the air was filled with the melancholy wail- ing of the animals. 118. ASTOUNDING STORIES "See, Bolton," remarked the Doctor, "eveiiJte: dogs feel the chastening in- fluencrof the Lady of Night and re- pent of the sins of their' youth and the follies of their manhood, or should one say doghood? Come along, I feel that the call of duty must [tear us away from the contemplation at the beauties of nature." He led the way to Bolton's car and got in without further wofrds. A half- hour later, Bolton led the way into the White House. A word to the secret service operative on guard at the door admitted him and his party, and he lea the way to' the newly constructed so- larium where the Presraeot slept. An operative stood outside die door. "What word, Brady Vuiaked Bolton in a whisper. "He seems worse, sir. I doubt if he has slept at all. Admiral Clay has been in several timfes, but he didn't do much good. There! listen I The President is getting up again." > I | of the instrument in a plane parallel to the pane of. glass. By turn- ing 1 these two knobs, one of which gives lateral and the other vertical adjustment, you will' manipulate the instrument until the first telescope is pointing directly toward the Presi- dent's pillow. Now notice that the two telescope barrels are fastened together and are connected to the knobs, so that when the knobs are turned, the scopes are turned in equal and opposite amounts. When one is turned from its present position five degrees to the west, the other automatically turns five degrees to. the east. Whjn one is ele- vated, the other is correspondingly de- pressed. Thus, when the first tube points toward the pillow, the other will point toward the source of the re- flected beam." j "Clever l" ejaculated Bolton. "It is rather crude and may not be accurate enough to locate the source exactly, but at least it Will give us a pretty good idea of where to look. Given time, a much more accurate instrument could have been made, but two telescopic rifle sights and a theo- dolite base were all the materials I could find to work with; Climb out, Camesy, and do your stuff." CARNES climbed out on the win- dow and fastened the hooks of the life saver to the rings set in the window casings. He sat the base of the instrument against the pane of glass and manipulated the telescope knobs as Dr. Bird signalled from the inside. The scientist was hard to please with the adjustment, but at last the cross hairs of the first . telescope were centered on the light in the solai rium. He changed his position and stared through the second tube. "The angle is too acute and the dis- tance too great for accuracy," he said with an air of disappointment. "The beam comes from the roof of a house down 'along Pennsylvania Avenue, but I can't tell from here which one it is. Take a look, Bolton." The Chief of the Secret Service stared through the telescope. "I couldn't be sure. Doctor," he re- plied. "I can see something on the roof of one of the houses, bnt I can't tell what it is and I couldn't tell the house when I got in front of it." "It won't do to make a false move," said the Doctor. "Did you arrange for that plane?" "It is waiting your orders at the field, Doctor." "Good. I'll go up to the office of the Chief of Air Service and get in touch with the pilot over the Chiefs private line. There are -some orders that I wish to give him and some signals to be arranged." DR.' BIRD returned in^a^few minutes. ; "The plane is taking off now and will be over the city soon," he announced. "We'll take a stroll down the Avenue until we are in the vicinity of the house, and then wait for the plane.. Carnes Will take five of your men and go down behind the home and the rest of us will go in front Which building do you think it is, Bolton W "About the fourth from the comer." "All right, the men going down the back will take station behind the house next to the corner and the rest of in will get in front of the same building. When the plane comes oyer, watch it If you receive no signal, go to the neit house and wait for him to make a loop and come over you again. Continue this until the pilot throws a white parachute over. That is the signal that we are covering the right house. When tThe ray of madness 123 you get that signal, Carnes, leave two men outside and break in with the other three. Get that apparatus on the roof and the men who are operating it. Bolton and I will attack the front door at the same time. Does everybody understand ?" Murmurs of assent came from the detail. "All right, let's go. Carnes, lead out with your men and go half a block ahead so that the two parties will arrive zin position at about the same time." CARNES left the building with five of the operatives. Dr. Bird and Bolton waited for a few minutes and then started down Pennsylvania Ave- nue, the five men of their squad fol- lowing at intervals. For three-quarters of a mile they sauntered down the ■treet. 'This should be it, Doctor," said Bolton. "I think so, and here comes our plane." They watched the swift scout plane from Langley Field swing down low over the house and then swoop up into the sky again without making a signal. The party walked down the street one house and paused. Agiin the plane ■wept over them without sign. As they stopped in front of the next house a white parachute flew from the cock- pit of the . plane and the aircraft, its minion accomplished, veered off to the touth toward its hangar. This is the place," cried Bolton. "Haggerty and Johnson, you two cover the street. Bemis, take the lower door. The rest come with me." FOLLOWED closely by Dr. Bird and two operatives, Bolton •printed across the street and up the steps leading to the main entrance of the house. The door was barred, and he hurled hie weight against it with- out result. "One side, Bolton," snapped Dr. Bird. The diminutive Chief drew aside and" Dr. Bird's two hundred pounds of bone and muscle crashed against the door. The lock gave and the Doqtor barely saved himself from sprawling head- long on the hall floor. A woman's scream rang out, and the Doctor swore under his breath. ''Upstairs I To the roof I" he cried. Followed by the rest of the party, he sprinted up the stairway which opened before him. Just as he reached the top his way was barred, by an Ami- 'zonian figure in a green bathrobe. "Who th' divil arre yez?" demanded an outraged voice. "Police," snapped Bolton. "One side I"' "Wan side, is it?" demanded the fiery, haired Amazon. "The divil a stip ye go until ye till me ye'er biznesa. Phwat th' divil arre yez doin' in th' house uv a rayspictable female at this hour uv th' marnin'?" "One Bide, I tell you 1" cried Bolton as he strove to push past the figure that barred the way. "Oh, ye wud, wud yez, little mann?" demanded the Irishwoman as she grasped Bolton by the collar and shook him as a terrier, does a rat. Dr. Bird stifled his laughter with difficulty and seized her by the arm. With a. heave on Bolton's collar she raised him from the ground-arid swung him against the Doctor, knocking him off his feet "Hilpl P'licel Murthert" she screamed at the* top of her voice. "Damn it, woman, we're on — " DR. BIRD'S voice was cut short by the sound of a pistol shot from the roof, followed by two others. The Irishwoman dropped Bolton and slumped into a sitting position and screamed lustily. Bolton and Dr. Bird, with the two operatives at their heels, raced for the roof. Before they reached it another volley of shots rang out, these sounding' from the rear of the building. They made their way to the upper floor and found a ladder running to a skylight in the roof. At the foot of the ladder stood one of Carnes' party. 124 ASTOUNDI "What is it, Williams?? demanded Bolton. "I don't know. Chief. Games and the other two went up thete, and then I heard shooting. My orders were to let no one come down the- ladder." As he spoke, Carnea' hejul appeared at the skylight. ! "It's the right place, all: right, Doc- tor," he called. "Come 'on up, . the shooting is all over." i \ i DR. BIRD mounted, tht ladder and stepped out on \jfe rbof. Set on one .edge was a large piece of ap- paratus, toward which tne scientist eagerly hastened. He benjt over it for a few moments and then straightened up. J "Where is the operator: V he asked. Carnea silently led the, way to the edge of the roof and pfinted down. Dr. Bird leaned over. At the foot of the fire escape he saw a crumpled dark heap, with a secret service operative bending over it. "Ia he dead, O Instead?" called Carnea. j "Dead as a mackerel^" came the reply, ''kichards got him through the head on his first shot." "Good business," said D>. Bird. "We probably could never have secured a conviction and the matter ia best hushed up anyway. Boljton, have two of your men help me get jthis apparatus up to the'Bureau. I want to examine it a little. Have the bodjy taken to the morgue and shut up the press. Find out which room the chap occupied and search it, and bring all! his papers to ine. From a criminal standpoint, this case ia settled, but I want to look into the scientific end of it a little more." "I'd like to know what it was all about. Doctor," protested Bolton. "I have followed your lead blindly, and now I have a housebreaking without search-warrant and a killing to explain, and still I am about at much in the dark as I was at the beginning." "Excuae me, Bolton," said Dr. Bird contritely; "I didn't mean to slight fG STORIES you. Admiral Clay wants to know about it and so does Carries, although he knows me too well to say so. As soon as I have digested the case I'll let you know and 1*11 go over the whole thing with you." A WEEK later Dr. Bird sat in con- ference with the President in^ the executive office of the 'White ' House. Beside him sat Admiral Clay, Carries and Bolton. "I have told the President as much as I know, Doctor," said the Admiral, "and he would like to hear the detaih) from your lips. He haa fully recov- ered from his malady and there ia no danger of - exciting him." "I cannot read Russian," said Dr. Bird slowly, "and so was forced to depend on one of my assistants to translate the papers which Mr. Bolton found in Stokowsky's room. There it nothing in them to definitely connect him with the Russian Union of Soviet Republics, but there ia little doubt in my mind that he was a Red agent and that Russia supplied the money which he spent. It would be disastrous to Russia's plans to have too cjoac an accord between . this country (and the British Empire, and I have nk doubt that the coming visit of Premier Mc- Dougal was the underlying cause of the attempt. So much for the reason. "As to how I came to suspect what was happening, the explanation is very simple. When Carats firat told me of your malady, Mr. President, I hap- pened ■ to be checking Von Beyert results in the alleged Discovery of t new 3 element, lunium. In the articlt describing his experiments. Von Beys mentions that whin he tried to observe the apectra, he Jencountered a mild form of opthahnia which was quite stubborn to treatment. He also men- tions a peculiar mental unbalance and intense exhilaration which the rayi .seemed to cause both in v himself and in his assistants. The analogy between his observations and your case struck me at once. THE RAY OF MADNESS 125 MTT* OR ages the moon has been an C object of worship by various religious sects, and some of the most obscene orgies of which we have rec- ord* occurred in the moonlight. The full moon seems to' affect dogs to a state of partial hypnosis with conse- quent howling and evident pain in the eyes. Certain feeble minded persons have been known to be adversely affected by moonlight as well as. some cases of complete mental aberation. In other words, while moonlight has no practical effect on the normal human in its usual concentration, it does have in adverse effect on certain types of mentality and, despite the laughter of medical science, there seems to be something in the theory of 'moon madness.' This effect Von Beyer at- tributed to the emanations of lunium, which element he detected in the spec- tra of the moon, in the form of a wide band in the ultra-violet region. "T OBTAINED from Carries a his- X tory of your case, and when I found that your attacks grew violent with the full moon and subsided with the new moon, I was sure that I was on the right track, although I had at that time no way of knowing whether it was from natural or artificial causes that the effect was being produced. I interviewed Admiral Clay and found that you were suffering from a form of dermititis resembling sunburn, .and that convinced me that an attack was being made on your sanity, for an excess of ultra-violet light will always tend to produce sunburn. I inquired ■bout the windows of your solarium, for ultra-violet light will not pass through a lead glass. When the Ad- miral told me that the glass had been replaced with fused quartz, which is quite permeable to ultra-violet and that die change had been almost coincident with the start of your malady, I asked hfan to get you out of the solarium and let me examine it. "By means of certain fluorescent substances which I used, I found that your pillow was being bathed In a flood of ultra-violet light, and the fluoro-spectroscope soon told me that lunium emanations were present in large quantities. These rays were not coming to you directly from their source, but one of the windows of the State, War and Navy Building was being used as a reflector. I located the approximate source of the ray by means of an improvised apparatus, and we surrounded the place. Stokowsky. was killed while attempting to escape.' I guess that is about all there is to it." "Thank you. Doctor," said the Presi- dent. "I would be interested in a description of the apparatus which he used to produce this effect." **'T*HE apparatus was quite ajbnple, X Sir. It was merely a large col- lector of moonlight, which was thrown after collection onto a lunium plate. The resultant emanations' were turned into a parallel beam by a parabolic re- flector and focussed, through a rock crystal lens with' an extremely long focal length, onto your pillow." "Then Stokowsky had isolated Von Beyer's new' element?" asked the President. "I am still in doubt whether it is a new element or. merely an allotropic modification of the common element, cadmium. The plate which he used has a very peculiar property. When moonlight, or any other reflected light of the same composition falls on it, it acts on the ray much as the button of a Roentgen tube acts on a cathode ray. As the cathode ray is absorbed and an entirely new ray, the X-ray, is given off by the button, just so is the reflected moonlight absorbed and a new ray of ultra-violet given off. This is the ray which Von Beyer detected. I thought that I could catch traces of Von Beyer's lines in my spectroscope, and I think now that it is due to a trace of lunium in the cadmium plat- ing of the barrels. Von Beyer could have easily made the same mistake. Von Beyer's work, together with Sto- 126 ASTOUNDING STORIES kowsky's, opens up an entirely new field of ' spectroscopic research. I would give a good deal, to go over to Baden and go into the matter with Von Beyer and make some plans for the exploitation of the new field, but I'm afraid that my pocketbook wouldn't stand the trip. "i think that the United States owe* you that trip. Dr. Bird," said the Chief Executive with a smile. "Make your plans to go as soon as you get your data together. I think that the Treasury will be able to take care of the expense without raising the income tax next year." IN THE NEXT ISSUE ^ \ Murder Madness Beginning an Intensely Gripping Four-Part Novel By MURRAY^ LBtNSTER The Atom Smasher A Thrilling Adventure into Time and Space By VICTOR ROUSSEAU Into the Ocean's Depths A Sequel to "From the Ocean'* Depths" By SEWELL PEASLEE WRIGHT Brigands of the Moon Part Three of the Amazing Serial By RAY CUMMINGS And Others! Meeting Place £or Readers of- Astounding Stories Our Thanks Three months ago the Clayton Maga- zines presented to lovers of Science Fiction everywhere a new magazine with a brand-new policy — Astounding Stories — and now it is the Editor's great pleasure to announce to our thousands of friends that this new magazine is enjoying a splendid success. Within twenty-four hours of the time that Astounding Stories was released for sale, letters of praise began pouring into our offices, and — and this u significant — many of them clearly revealed that their writers had grasped the essential difference of the new Science Fiction magazine over the others. ^We cannot better state this differ- ence, this improvement, than by quot- ing what the ..Reader whose letter appears under the caption, "And Kind to Their Grandmothers," says in his very first paragraph: "And I was still more, pleased, and surprised, to find that the Editor seems to know that such stories should have real story interest, besides a scientific idea." It is exactly that. Every story that appears in Astounding Stories not only must contain some of the forecasted scien- tific achievements -of To-morrow, but must be told vividly, excitingly, with all the human interest that goes to make any story enjoyable To-day. The Editor and staff of Astounding Stories express their sincere thanks to all who have contributed to our splen- did start — especially to those who had the kindness to write in with their helpful criticism. Already one of your common sug- gestions has been taken up and em- bodied in our magazine, and so we 127 128 ASTOUNDING STORIES have this new department, "The Readers* Corner," which from now 6n will be an informal meeting place for all readers of Astounding {Stories. We want you never to forget that a cordial \ and perpetual f invitation is extended to you to write in and talk over with all of us anything of interest you may have to say in connection with our magazine. If you can toss in a word of praise, that's fine; if only criticism, we'll wel- cpme that just as much, jfor we may be able to find from it a way to improve our magazine. If you have your own private theory of how airplanes will be run in 2500, or if you thins? the real Fourth Dimension is different from what it is sometimes described — write in and share your views with all of us. This department is all ypurs, and the job of running it and making it inter- esting is largely up, to you. So "come over in 'The Readers' Corner' M and have your share in what everyone will be saying. j — Tjfte Editor. "And Kind to Their Grandmothers!" Dear Editor: I received a pleasant surprise a few days ago when I found a new Science Fiction mag- azine at the newsstand — Astounding Stories. And I was still more pleased, 1 and surprised, to fyid that the Editor seems to know that such stories should have real] story interest, besides a scientific idea. ' . Of course I took with a gijain of salt the invitation to write to the editor and give my preference of the kind of stories I like. I know that every editor, down in his heart, thinks bis magazine is perfect -'as is." In fact, praise is what they want, nt>t suggestions, judging by the letters they print. Well, I can conscientiously igive you some' praise. If Astounding Stories [keep up to the standard of the first issue it will be all right. Evidently you can afford tq hint the best writers obtainable, ^iotice you've signed up some of my favorites, Murray* Leinster, R. F. Starzl, Ray Cummings. I like' their stuff be- cause it has the rare quality [rather vaguely described as "distinction," Which "make the story remembered for a long £ime. The story "Tanks," by Murray Leinster. 'is my idea of What such a story should be. The author does not start out, "Listen my chil- dren, and you- shall hear a story so wonderful you won't believe it. Only after the death of Professor Bulging Dome do I dare to nuke it public to a doubting world.!' No; he simply proceeds to tell the story. , If; I were reading it in the Saturday Evening Post or Ladies Home Journal it would be all right to prepare me for the story by explaining that of coarse the author does not vouch for the story, it having been told to him by a crazy Eurasian in a Cottage Grove black-and-tan speakeasy at 3.30 A. M. In Astounding Stories I expect the story to be unusual, so don't bother tell- ing me it is so. That criticism applies to "Phantoms of Reality," which is a story above the average, though, despite its rather flat title and slow beginning. Here's another good point about "Tanks." Its characters are human. Some authors of stories of the future make their characters all brains — cold monsters, with no humanity in them. Such a story has neither human in- terest nor plausibility. The sky's the limit, I say, for mechanical or scientific accomplish- ments, but human emotions will be the same a thousand years from now. And even sup- posing that they will be changed, your readers have present day emotions. The magazine can not prosper unless those pres- ent-day emotions are aroused and mirrored by thoroughly human characters. The situa- tion may be just as outre as you like— the more unusual the better — but it is the response of normal human emotions to most unusual situations that gives a magazine such as yours its powerful and unique "kick." The response of the two infantrymen in "Tanks" to the strange and terrifying new warfare of the future exemplifies another point? I would like to make — the fact that no matter what marvels the future may bring, the people who will live then will takeouiem in a matter-of-fact way. Their conversation will be cigarettes, "sag^ paste," drinks, women. References to the scientific marvels around them will be casual and sketchy. How many million words of an average car owner's con- versation would you have to report to give a visitor from 1700 an idea of internal combus- tion engines? The author, if skilful, can con- vey that information in other ways. Yet a lot of stories printed have long, stilted conversa- tions in which the author thinks he is convey- ing in an entertaining way his foundation situation. Personally, I like a lot of physical action — violent action preferred This is so, probably, because I'm a school teacher and sedentary in my habits. I have never written a story in my life, but I'm the moBt voracious consumer of stories in Chicago. I like to ses the hero get into a devil of a pickle, and to have him smash his way out. I like 'em big, tough, and kind to their grandmothers. It seems to me that interplanetary stories offer the best vehicle for all the desirable qualities herein enumerated combined. Then is absolutely no restraint on the imagination, except a few -known astronomical facts- plenty of opportunity for violent and danger- ous adventures, strange and terrestially im- possible monsters. The human actors, set down in the midst of such terrifying condi- tions, which they battle dauntlessfy, grinning, as they take their blows and returning them' with good will, cannot fail to rouse the ad- miration of the reader. And make him buy the next month's issue. THE READERS' CORNER 129 But spare its, please, Che stories in which the hero, arriving on some other planet, is ad- mitted to the court of the king of the White race, and leads their battles against the Reds, the Browns, the Greens, and bo on, eventu- ally marrying Xhc king's daughter, who is al- ways golden-haired, of milky white com- plexion, and has large blue eyes. Kindly re- ject stories of interplanetary travel in which a member of the party turns against the Earth party and allies himself with the wormlike Moon men, or what have you. Stories in which a great. Inventor pone crazy threatens to hurl the Earth into the Sun leave me cold and despondent, for the simple reason that crazy men are never great inventors. Name a great inventor who wasn't perfectly sane, if you can. The author makes the great in- ventor insane to make it plausible that he should want to destroy the World. Well, if he is a good author he can find some other motive. ^ One more thing. I like to smell, feel, hear and even taste the action of a story as well as tee it. Some authors only let you see it, and then they don't tell you whether it's in bright or subdued yphL The author^of 'Tanks" ful- fills my requirements in this respect, at least martially. — Walter Boyle, c/o Mrs. Anna Treitr, 4751 North Artesian, Chicago, 111. A Permanent Reader Dear Editor: I want to thank you for the very entertain- ing hours I spent perusing your new maga- zine, Astounding Stories. I read one or two other Science Fiction magazines — it seems that tales of this sort intrigue me. However, I wish to say that the debut number of your magazine contained the beat atones I ever read. Again thanking you and aasuring you mat should the stones continue thus I will be a permanent reader — Irving B. Ertinger, The Seville, Detroit, Mich. We're Avoiding Reprints Dear Editor: I am well pleased with your new magazine and wish to offer you my congratulations and best wishes. As 1 am well acquainted with most of the Science Fiction now being writ- ten, I am in a good position to criticise your magazine. First: The cover illustration is good, but the inside drawings could be greatly improved. Second: Holding the magazine together with two staples is a good idea. Third: The paper could be improved. Fourth: The price Is right. Here I classify the stories. Excellent: "The Beetle Horde," and "Tanks." Very Good: "Csvc of Horror," "Invisible Death," and "Phantoms of Reality." Medium: "Compen- sation.'' Poor: "Stolen Mind.'* Please don't reprint any of Pec's, Wells', or Verne's works. My prejudice to Verne, Well* and Poe la that I have read all their works tn other magazines. However, with all my criticizing, I think that your magazine is a good one. — James Nichols, 1S09 19th Street, Bakerafield, Cali- fornia. Thapks, Mr. Marks! Dear Editor: I purchased a copy of "our" new magazine •to-day and I think it excellent. I am glad to see most of my old author friends contribut- ing for it, but how about looking up E. R. Burroughs, David . H. Keller, M. D., C. P. Wantenbacker and A. Merritt? They are marvelous writers. I see Weseo did your cover, and it's very good. I have been a read- er of a four other Science Fiction monthly magazines and two quarterlies, but I gladly take this one into my fold and I think I speak for every other Science Fiction lover when I say this. Which means, if true, that "our publication will have everlasting success. Here's hoping I — R. O. Marks, Jr., 893 York Avenue, S. W., Atlanta, Ga. A Fine Letter Dear Editor: Having read through the first number of Astounding Stories, my enthusiasm has reached such a. pitch that I find it difficult to express myself adequately. A mere letter such as this can give scarcely an inkling of the unbounded enjoyment I derive from the pages of this unique magazine. To use a trite but appropriate phrase, "It fills a long-felt need.' True, there are other magazines which specialize in Science Fiction; but, to my mind they are not in a class with Astounding Stories. In most of them the scientific ele- ment is so emphasised that it completely overshadows all else. In this magazine, hap- pily, such is not the case. Here we find science subordinated to human interest, which is as it should be. The love element, too, it pres- ent, and by no means) unwelcome. As for the literary quality of the stories, it could not be improved on. Such craftsmen as Cummings, Leinster and Rousseau never fail to turn out a vivid, well-written tale. If the stories in the succeeding issues are on a par with those hi the first, the success of the magazine is assured. By the way, your editorial explanation of Astounding Stones was a gem. So many of us take our marvelous modern inventions for granted that we never consider how miraculous they would seem to our fore* bears. Aa you say, the only real difference between* the Astounding and the Common- place is Time. A magazine such as Astound- ing Stories enables us to anticipate the won- ders of To-morrow. Through Its pages we can Eeer into the viatas of the future and be- old the world that is to be. Truly, you have given us a rare treat — Allen Glasser,' 981 Forest Ave., New York,. N. Y. The Science Correspondence Club Broadcasts Dear Editor: The other day I came upon Astounding Stories on our local newsstand. I immedi- 130 : ASTOUNDING STORIES ■tely procured a copy because Science Fic- tion is my favorite pastime, so to speak. I was very much overjoyed that another good Science Fiction magazine should come out, and a Clayton Magazine too, which enhances its splendid value still further. I have read . various members of the Clayton family and I ' found each of them entertaining. After finishing the first issue I decided to write in and express my feelinjgs. The stories were all good with the exception of "The Stolen Mind." Just keep printing stories by Capt. Meek, Ray Cummings.f Murray IJein- ster, C. V. Tench, Harl Vincent and R. F. Starlz and I can predict now* that your new venture will be a huge success. The main reason of this "Utter is to ask your help in putting over Science Fiction Week. T/his will take place in the early part of February, the week of the 9th or after. We want your cooperation in muring this a big success. You can help by running the at- tached article upon tbe Science Correspon- dence Club in your "Readers' Corner." It will be a big aid. ; I am sure, because you are the Editor of Astounding Stories, that you [will be pleased td- help us in this venture. Science" Fiction is our common meeting ground; and our com- mon ideal. j I hope to have a JBig Science Fiction Week with your help.— Conrad H; Ruppert, 113 North Superior Street, Angola} Indiana. To the Readers of Aatounding Stories: At the present there exists; in the United States an organization the purpose of which is to spread the gospel of Science and Science Fiction, and Science Correspondence Club. I am writing this to induce die readers of Astounding Stories to join usj After reading this ipick up your pen or take pie cover from your typewriter and seud in 1 an application for membership to our Secretary, Raymond A. Palmer, 1431— 38th St., Milwaukee, Wis- consin, or to our President, Aubrey Clements, 6 S^uth Hilllard St, Montgomery, Alabama. They will forward application? blanks to 'you and you will belong to tbe only organization in tbe world that is like it. The Club was formed by twenty young men 'from all over the U. S. We ihave a roll of almost 100, all over the world.! Its expressed furpbse has been to help the cause of Science ictlon, and to increase the ! knowledge of Science. It also affords the advantage of be- ing able to express your ideas 5n airfields.' The Preamble of the Constitution which we have worked out reads: "We, the mem- bers of this organization, In order to promote the advancement of Science in general among laymen of the world through the use of dis- cussion and the creation and exchange of new Ideas, do ordain and establish ! this organiza- tion for the Science Correspondence Club." Article Two reads: "The institution will re- main an organization to establish better co- ordination between the scientifically, inclined laymen of the world, regardless of sex, creed^ color, or race. There will be: no restriction as to age, providing the member can pass an examination which shall be prepared by the membership committee.*' The Club will also pubUah a monthly bul- letin, to which members may contribute. It will also publish dippings, articles, etc, deal- ing with science. * The membership will have no definite limit, and the correspondence will be governed by the wishes of each member. Need more be said? I almost forgot to say that we have two of - the best Science Fiction authors as active members, and three more who are doing their best, but because of much work they cannot be active. I hope my appeal bears fruit and that we shall hear from you soon. — Conrad H. Rup- pert. But—Most Everybody Prefers the Smaller Size — and Price! /Dear Editor: I Last night I was passing a newsstand and \»aw your magazine. I bought it then and there. I do not read any other stories except the fantastic stories. Aatounding Stories looks all right, but may I make a suggestion? Why not increase the sice of the magazine to that of Miss 1930 or Forest and Stream? It would certainly look better! You could also raise your price to twenty-five cents. Please ftrint as many stories as possible by the f Gl- owing authors: Ray Cummings, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Murray Lelnster, Edmond Hamil- ton, A. Hyatt VerriU, Stanton A. Coblents, Ed. Earl Repp and Harl Vincent. My favorite type of story Is the interplan- etary one. I wish you the best of luck in your new venture. — Stephen Takacs, 303 Eck- ford Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. "First Copy Wonderful™ Dear Editor: {* I have read the first copy of Astounding Stories and thin* it wonderful. I am very much interested in science fiction. I prefer interplanetary stories and would like to sec many of them in the new magazine. Your authors are fine. The ones I like particularly are Ray Cummings, Captain S. P. Meek, and Murray Leinster. I wonder if I could sub- scribe to Astounding Stories? Will you let me know 7 Good luck to the new magazine.— Donald Sialer, 3111 Adams Mill Road, Wash- ington, D. C. Congratula tioos Dear Editor: Allow me to congratulate you upon tht starting of your new magazine, Astounding Stories. Have just finished reading 1 the first issue and it is fine. While the class of stories that you publish do not appeal to all, I fed quite sure that there are many like mysefl who win welcome your publication and wish ft all success.— R. E. Norton, P. O. Box 226, Ashtabula, Ohio. Away! fade SPRING is just around the comer. Budding branches will soon be waving to you — beckoning you out to the Open Road. Ride away with the "early birds** this Spring. Get your Harley* Davidson now, so you both will be well ac- 2 minted and rarin* to go when the rst whiff of Spring comes in from the country. ] Drop in on your nearest Harley Davidson Dealer — look over the 1930 models with their scores of im- provements—try out the wonderful , *45" Twin shown here — and ask about the Pay 'As 'You -Ride Plan that makes motorcycle buying so easy. Moil the Coupon for literature showing full line — the Sin* gU, Twins, and Sidecars. 4^ ^■V HAW ftUUfY-DUMDSON HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTOR COMPANY Dept. N. S. C Milwukcc Wii. In yaa ao u t ey da. Bead literature. Km Mr are ii_n ia-19 m □ 2o-jb tuk. □ 31 n*n tad up, (J Under 16 fan. Gbecfc fair ir^ group. witi-i These Improved Miisde Builders lfor^5°S Why par an otmneut price to ttrwiBth— hera'a an oppartunltr to set all the equipment rou reaalra along wltb an Rr*llenl rourae Of tnarrootion* far onir 13.00. Roallso rwr ambition ■Ad develop miuclea of a super-man. net mnmf and amaae tout friend*. Wf thorn na bow to em*Ur ma* or, feau wfalcb now arem difficult— or If rou Just want i>br*tcal culture for rour health'! sale, thl« equipment la fust what rou need. With thu apodal offer iou urf at least 1*0.00, We furnlab a Its rabla cne« expander which la ad- justable to trlre refinance up to Son It*. It In mad> of new lire estra Ktrrnmb. aprlasj rubber so mi to taaure lont wrar and aire the reatnUnoi nu need /or ml munele dmlopmost. Tou also aet a pair of patented band artpa fnr derelopln,! powerful trip and foro- ** . <_f aunen aut aaoatrv II Cnnader product* are fffiaraatatd to tin entire mairfin^m or moor? back. rTnUSADfR APPARATUS CO.. ■ Oept 2004, 44 Parker Are.. NaSleweod. M. J. ■ I I accept your oflVr. Send ma ofrmhlng described In tout I Iadreniwmant of return mall. I will par poatman SS.00 plu.» I pom no on arrlral. It La undrntond If I an not antlralr I IaatlaOed after tram I nation I can return the goad* and rou i will rerund raj mono-- j Note:— Ho C. 0. D. Order* to Ftralan Conntrbja | Nsai* . j B treat . rJ I'lcasc mention Newsstand Gkoup— Men's List, when answering advertisements Serjeant's Dog Medicines have been used by dog' owners for more than fifty years. There could be no better guarantee of| their safety and! effectiveness. / ' Famous Dog Book Free \ We : urge you to write for your "free copy of Sergeant's Dog Hook, which eipjafns in clear everyday language the care qf dogs, the syrapioms of their diseases and the best treat- ments. T*his book, is illustrated "and contains interesting articles on the racing, feeding, and breeding of dogs. Use the couprfh. Sergeant's Dog Food In addition to the famous Sergeant's Dog Medicines, your dealer now has Sergeant's Dog Food. This balanced ration contains a large proportion of freshly coo lied beef. A splendid ration for all dogs and pups. We guarantee your dog a ' I tan iUT nnHiont »e« alar on mu from anotbar, haim«r.iou« rhord* *it& U-.a U prtalad i tnt luiia or.ctii.. No and rtoar ptourva aafet prailuiii mutlcal anovl. Ii mi la Iwa qnkklv. i dec r t.d.d. r»f ta roa olar. iSJ^^EaW U> ' lrn * 00 'j^aiaWa 1 HAWAIIAN QUI TAB. O aarxlam warn AT ONCE tmr atrraciUa aBT«r - -. Wri»a for full lalnutae. tlHBT MWAIiaN COHfUVaTO|Ttf MUBIO, Si Fkwr, WMlaartk lktjk _ _ n Oaart. ■*» Tort Clear-Tone Gears the Skia Oear-Tone It a penetrating, purifying lodca, uied at night with astounding tuccesa Co dew the akin of pimples, blotches, black* head* and other annoying, unsightly skin Irritation* Am to external) came*. Many thouaanda In At last 1 2 years have found! relief by the use of Clear-Tone. "Complexion Tragedlea win. Happy Ennlnga*', filled with facts supplied by : ax-Tone uacra tent Free on request. Ckaa> Clear- Tone cah be had at your druggist— or from ua. GIVENS CHEMICAL CO.. Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City. Mo. 2S37 A Bett er Loo king Note I Mr im ModcV fi" No* Sowar to «*■ aimed to Improrej the b&spo of lha awa Or remoulding ihe e*nil»4» tad B«SJ p*n«, amfalT. and palnjcnlj. Htf* to •oeomplUbaa tbrousb Uhe twt Am precUe kdJuatoifolit wblca on It mr pat" (Died Model U naMuw. Hemilu M lutLnx. Coo be win u alcbi. or oar- Inribt lUy. M •te found In the pocket* of men in tho st-rvicv oo ercry railroad In thii country. Senators. Coocre»meo. nod Goieiiior- keep ilie.r official appointment* by "Sadie Ke Special" tun.-. Army oncers and Private* carried them all through tho Creates War In hlrtorj— thoiwantli of the» splendid wstrhe* are In use all orer the World If Buy and F c Ihank you for making- it possible J'or mc p own a 21 Jewel ~ •Watch Booh. «>rect and Diamond BooJe. ake vol It IMllV .lid I JUST OUTt-Naw "s.m. Fa" Watch Book Send coupon for our firm Watrh Rook— Jiut off the Br***- All the Hewed wateh r*** deNiaie la while or '"■'1. fancy "hapri. tod thin modcL. err .hown. ea.y payment offer. Wear the watch 30 daya He* the ivatrli before you hoy. '■— VfWgXK Meet Vour Bead FHKE. Nothing . Write for New Book Toda' Wateh XOW. VIIW A "tnlted offerl With erery Raata Fo avamaagL s l*C'al. a beautiful fold ehaln or Mrand of exuulalto pearls. Wrlle today. SANTA FE WATCH COMPANY Dept. 455. Tbomaa BIdg.,Topnkn, Stmt No<~Mi>ne V III cents actay- pays firr any of these Watches.: wear 30 days Li/" re Watch Co Thaaaaa Bld«. TOPEKA, KANSAS Diamond Book □ Addres.«_ YOITRE NEXT Now Watch in cms m fBmS\ff^m%» m. magnificent pair of broad. athleUc shoui muscular neck— a mighty, herculean back I And I' not aUI I'm going to make you over Inside, %oo. in r.tren(fthen your Internal or asm-, put new health and energy Into ewery cell OT Vour body! Wbatvw-MAN you'll bel I dorPt Juit pram Lie these miracles— I diAliAXTKi: HKSULTS. Just giro mo a few minutes. a day and wetoh those muscles QftOWl "I Never Pat on Muscles So Fast la All My Life" That's what one man writes. Another writs*: could hutflr tolltwe my own eye" at the great change you have mask. In aval sly muscles crew as fast as the bran-talk in tho atorr of I bo Olant-Klllerl You ban made a NEW HAN of me." Boy. I've done It for thousands! Fat men — thin nun. youns.- siets. oldsters. You're NEXT. amaslng new Bonk. 10- ad •need weaklings Into PAN* TUKR MEN. I*ok at actual photoa of mdhcular giants! See bow EASY It Is to set strong sty way. Hush tbe coupon! TITUS, Dept.N-l4w 855Broatlway,NewYork,N.Y. — — fa— .ws^AII. THIS OOUPON---1 ■-- as- osss TITUS. Dept. N'M9 853 Broadway, New York, N. Bello TUui: Hall me t: "Miracles In Mtuciei." No Name _. Address . Town me that wonderful new -boo* of yours. Please meotipn Nfwsstand Group — Men's List, when answering advertisements Win Nash aiid $500 or $1,845 Cash Savan Brand New 6- Cylinder Can Qlvan Nub (our- dm Sedan, an _ . an Eimi I wo- door fltdu, a Whippet two- doc* Sedan, and a Chevrolet tio-dw Sedan, all s_ '-cylinder latest model Sedans; ilw 4 splendid Mf console type redloa, a Victor Orthe- pbonu VKVota and oUjgr talcnhla prim. Apy person Urine la the United suui outs Id* of Chicago maj tour an answer to ibis ~~ " — ~~ ~~ " ~ ptoli aorpt amp hum of the w. D. Boyro Company or meoib-cn of LheLr families, or winners of automobiles or first prices In any of oar p rollout offers, or members of Ibtlr families. la tbo a I ft an there are T tan In a bad Indie lam. Nana of Ian can move forward, for rich far la blocked by the on« In front of It. One of IMH ears will have lo bo barked oul Which fine I The traffic policeman seems to be Hump- ed. Can jou straighten up this larifle- for blur Only ono car may be moved backward, and If jsu pick oul tbo riant ono, you will sea that It li not necessary to back up any or the others. 8eod ihe nun* bcr of Lba cor which when barked out will relieve thli UiBk He-un. ant If your anrcrr la correct you will bt qualified for thli opportunity. Ye are not only flvlna the Hedani, radios and to forth In our bli prlta Hat -.mounting to oTcr 16.800.00. but are alio living an additional I MO 00 in in for promptness to lb* winner of first prlu If bo or she has been prompt. Thus, tha nm prlie winner will receive the N'ash Sease hook with : ll> A full description 5 Of the position rbrrf«d below: {li A 4T 1L« of U. 8. Oovernment Jobs Obtainable. ^Railway Po.lal CltrLi .-($1900 to 13700) ,«? Poalotlce Clerk ._ t (SI700 to f2300> 7* City Hall Carrier.. (11700 ta CKJ0) / Inspector of Customs . ($2100 up) / General Clerk- File Clcrk-^ * mm tunlty for every- %B ana to develop bis muscle* and obtali (Treat Mrcnaib. by using our heavy ten-iloned mm- •±-rt. Al'prox. 1011 lbn. r*^X- Complete Irui ructions wltb every eierciaer. AUo made- In cable fnra, aa iMreied below. In 4 convenient mzi •. Ba- ■Utnncf in 400 lba. 3 cablr* Tor 12. 10 rabies far 19 rablcn for to and 1*0 cabin for J$. Uuild tout* SEND NO MONEY. Simply pay Ibe postman on delivery, plus a few crnM poatate. .Money bach In 3 daya If diMai^Aed. Write Prorrctaif • Eaerciicr Co. Dept. Sm, Lenaoan BauUaac Daana Stmt aaal firaeeSray far Tork City MONEYS POVLTRVk I you It too tut a ml Job— at real pay or If you tun to mart uroniable buAtiuaa of your own— Bk^^+jm bp-omp & trained roul'rrman. Il'a LnlMemDir beejihrul. prontable. Our famous home atudp four-* liven uliort ciita to ^uotpu. WriU* f'* Fri-o Ilook. "How to lUite l'oulirv for Pmflt."| Rataaiair«kn laattata. DrpL 41S-H. Wui-Hm. U. q l ^lfc Ifc lie* Down i*« iWrlft Wsstoh brmuUfollr MTin iLB W^ah^ lsBthii^^^ 37? H. raji' «3*i3drfTwr*lc*. OunStv Watcb C*^ lit Iibi 3u D>L Vt Htm Ttrfc HAVE YOU A OOOD 1INI1 Tbo "llW QuMatlona" In the "Lom's Cm- panion'MaJvo you a "line" for which they afl fall, lnipnaaloned. brllllani. wiltyl Prlrelesa B) all who would auonoed wlib the oppculie aa Th« mont brllllani wortLi ever written about la* and ranalon. Iswwep 'em hkIil off their feet wtta itaeae brilliant aayinci. Open lh» doer tu (kasr lieartn with (be ardent words of tike arrat writars. Tim appropriate words 10 meet erery orrulon af I^nrr. Send 11.30 sump*, check or II. 0., or par on doUtery (plua pos La cel. tXUCATOB PIE5S. Dtpt tt-41. IS Wear Brwaeway, Hew lam SONG WRITERSf 1 SUBSTANTIAL ADVANCE ROYALTDB are pakd on work found tcceptmblttotvaMt* ' lion. Anyone wiabinff to write diner the unafe* music for konn may aubmit work for fre e est- am in at ion ana advice. PaJtea^arserinutnespan Nrw demand created by "Talking PW*»»l fully described in our free book, write (Off I Toijay. NEWCOMER ASSOCIATES 723 Eorle Building, New York STOP Tobacco No human being can eacape the harmful effect* Don't try to quit without aasUUnce. Lot oar elmnU . remedy help you. A complete treatment coat* hut 12-M. prnnj promptly refunded If yon do not eel desired mwlta. Qnr* la a tin nils— prvpamlmx. carefully csnprrandat* to come Uu condition, that will make qnlUlna* of Urtmocsy pimsaB and euy. it oonum trUn * mooay back mifirilnn Aati-Tobae«o League a !k°tfat Please mention KewsstWnd Group — Men's List, when answering advertisements THE UNDERWORLD EXPOSED — The actual .facts about Rackets and Racketeers — gtmrtiimg- ThrllUmg- Over 100 pages filled with gangs, gun play and the law — Action! and lots of it! Fjnd your nearest news dealer and pet a copy NOW— pay 50c for $Z0O worth of sensational talcs, or send 50c in stamps, money order or cash to: CORP.. 102 NH PUCE. TOW, I. T. DC A RAILWAY Dltraffic inspector EARN UP TO 32SO .JSJKSm "\M dni.pj tor tr>ia«d Traffic InnMTt. lien* ho<» iiutror- Kfawawi ba ■> /n araaki' muf lien* hw» inafrvr lUdDpoitnvlillai.Militriia lgip»llKBW tns (IS) lo SIM par moiOi. pTna .ip«u#., or nFinK foor biUib Rapid ulup nii.pic— la 1175. WW »Hrl«m. Ian bow tear (nnrw tm* ™ tftbHr. Sad for oul frw booklrl no*--ll '"- Act qoiek(r--smi u* nanlrd no*. _ Jrasasjaigals, Dir. 13, Batik. N.Y. PLAY A MUSICAL SAW Yon have heard our "Musical Saw" over the radio, an phonograph records, ud on the vaudeville stage. U li the easiest musical instrument to play. Fun for you and music your friends will enjoy. We wiD send you this Musical Saw with bow. hammer and lessons on five days trial. We will prove that you can play popular pieces in five days. No notes to read, no dreary finger exercises. No obligation to buy. FREE information. MUSSEHL £ WE5TPHAL 13 South 3rd Stmt Fort Atkinson, Wis. " FRENCH LOVE DROPS An mnhsnltni emtio perfume of Irre- slstihls eham. clinging for noun Ilk* lotcrs loath to pan. Jim a few drops an enough. Pull rise bonla age. prepaid or 11. SB C. O. D. plus pan***. Direction* with erery order. rREK: 1 rull also bottle If you yrtarjTlaU. D'ORO CO. B«» Varlek fjtatiea. New York TOBACCO it Oyercqn^rNofty DO mart and wmc used aaparba Kenedy to halp stop BBsUan. Cuan, PbmQwwincarSmift Write for full bqbL CootaiDa tx> (km or habit fariag drug Cooto P m J notsOBg if not SUPEHBA CO.. A-u, Barumorw, Md. lfodioEtpert Ercry rear I sm showing hondndi how U» make more maaer in Iladlo ttisn they were maldni in other lien. H Is where jou find bif growth ihst you find many opportunities. Fin* Jobs Id ItrosdcaMlnK Stations, with Manufacturers, Dealers. Shipping Companies. Talking Mortos and otbor line*, are open- Lug continually. Many cse, •*•, mat tut • WMk J*bm Opaaiag Btswt Teuae* to aVsutU* Here's proof that my training Is raisins salaries. J. A. Yeuchn. 3713 s. KiofPhiibwav. St. Lmils. lie. jumped from 113 to HV) a week. K. K. Wtobome. MM W. 48lh St., Norfolk. Vs.. seldom makes , under 1100 a weak now. Erie L. Chamber*. Zn W. Tib St.. Cincinnati. Oblo. made well over 15.000 uui mi. Iu»U their letters in my book— ate what my training U doing. Mmamw MmaU If T«m Are Mm eWtUfUat Hold your Job nnrll jou are ready for another. I'll train roo at home In Tom spare lime; five you orrr 50 Leaon Testa, orer to Sfrrifc siiirn, wiio autbantlc lnJormailon on serrlelnj dlffrr- eni mshrs of «rt.t. 8 Outfit* of Iladlo pani Tor a borne en«-ri- nifnial laboratorr. and much other mst^dsl and sendee. Take ray course, tiler you finiih If you are not astlsfled wllh my Les- son* and Instruction Strrioe, tell me and I will refund your tuition. Act Now. nasal Oat what ftUdlat Offaatra Tern Get my 01-paie book "Tlleh Bewards In Radio." UaJI tba coupon below. It polnu oul afaere the mod Radio Jobs are. what they pay. It fltes orer lufl lMten from students and mdualr». Many tell you Uieir ksIsjIw lure baas doubled and iriplvd and others tell how Ihey made J2t>J U> gl.000 in tbatr snare lime while Irani In a. After you've read ll you can decide one way or the other. J. E. SMITH, President, National lladio luilinie. Dept. ODM Waahlaitea, D. C Mail litis Coupon idQtlS^' J. F.. Smith. President. National Radio Institute. Dept. ODM. ^jVaihlngioo, D. C. Dear Ur. Bmlth: Sand me your book. ,w lUdlo^l which slw the fact* on Iladlo^ opportunities yimFl practical Radio train I di. This request does not obligate me and 1 understand no i address City BLaie_ Plccfse mention Newsstand Group— Men's List, when answering advertisemcnU His Salary Was {Raised while others were Reduced "Up to thm tints I enrolled for a cotirae with the, International Correspondence Schools, I had only icnool education A Fight Against Rupture Attention NEGLECT „X» abould real 1x0 the tai&n- of Rupture, eras when the pro- trusion In smalt. The brooks Appb> nnoo la Ute Anal kind of "iirhin&il tupport far reducible nipaa Out ll li possible to baud. Hani pada and tUff tpriaai are enturlr ellmlimed. Oer AtUoniatlG Air Cuahlon. UfM, cool and absolutely aaniurp. la protect od tn> patents In tat trolled Stales and all uanonant fca-alfn - countries. Your name and address pinned to Ibis adrenliement wlU tarn*} Since . 1 bave • grai advanced to a much bettor position, where my times aa mqch i Una. I — - - „ , t whei . . a alary ia nearly four tlmea aa mqch aa 1 was making previously. I would not bejable to hold my present position had I not taken your Course. Recently t received a nice Increase In salary, while other men were being reduced." There could be do better proof of the vaJue of an T. C. S. than thai. It shows that the trained man is given preference over all others and paid more money, even In slack times, if bis work deserves it. It shows that there are always bigger, belter jobs open for men who have ihcFforc&ighl to prepare for them In spare lime. ' Why don't you study and get ready too?; We'll be glad to help you If you will only mate the start. Choose the work you like best in the coupon below: then mark and mail it to the I. C. S: today. This doesn't obligate you In the least, but it will bring you information thai will liart you on a successful carerr. This is yqur opportunity. £nnu*J for mi af^aa^aliirtutt^ nplir«l. SUkrn. w»l, liala. All MfUb nd color. Lm prlcad. bpu tullr Iwtan •set HCnuarv amo food without cocn SmiilaMl e|viilH|i«BFMi» tUu« u> itt ria an b Bmm frord ■rfUHMJt iHI la addition U> raBulu pnflu. Ho OUTFIT PIKE, SDID NO MOMCY1 tUrt>omM*i. Umalnnlir or a, lifalla**. Rnab naiaa. maid all* of boao for fraa outilt. WILHNIT HOSIERY COMPANY Dept. 3307 * QSnTXM FIELD, OHIO Moil thm Coupon for From ffooklmt Without ml i let. "Wna Wist Ufa a ntucb 1 TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL $0 URGES Archil ect ArchJiceluraJ PrnfUroao Doll vb ixrrnj urrrt pvtoboumt aaaimr mcHOLoaT t npgr?»i LOVE DROPS jJc TwissaV i rmnrvuB unrr ettbact Wona Co^ Dept. N>7 lu ISO. MjhiI. CM. Pleasa mention Newsstand Croup— Men's List, when answering advertisements Hfftfe 7 why nott? "The Seat of Health' L A Rowing Machine — Body Builder — Reducer Really a Portable Home Gymnasium MDUCER ■by builder Swing machine udominal chair This ingenious apparatus is scientifically designed to aseitivelr re build and strengthen every INTERNAL QIC AN and MUSCLE of the body by an automatic lading motion. Its wonderfully exhilarating action and Uric effect on the entire body seem almost magical ! Fat melts away — strength rapidly increases — digestion Ujrn, constipation and gaseous conditions disappear, tar the "SEAT OK HEALTH" actually helps to build l better, healthier and stronger body, vibrant with I'ep fitt Power. ? Free minutes' daily fascinating >play, brings these as- ■Stishing and guarantied results' in surprisingly short dsk. There lias NEVER been a device like this before. SEVER anything so simple, speedy and sure. Instantly asiasUble for use by weakest child or strongest athlete. the VITAL SPOTS — takes off that "pouch." Compact — Folds- into suitcase PORTABLE NOISELESS INEXPENSIVE PRACTICAL Fully illustrated chart shows every move am] makes fail- ure impossible. Visit Demonstration Salon — New York, Chicago, Phila- delphia, Pittsburgh, Washington. pa-M-CUP AND' MAIL TO-DAY 11 I HEALTH DEVELOPING APPARATUS CO., INC., ■ I Park Place. Dept. N4, Ntw York. N. V. I | Genilt-mra: rieaio Fend FUEB booklet about your "SEAT | ■ OF HEALTH." No obligation- 1 am mtemied. ■ Nsme _ I Address . ■ I City *3 Who Wants an Auto FREE?, STVDEBAKCR-BUICH-NASHI Your cKoImI OR $2000.00 CASH s^ZTZa^ W Thousands of dollars in near auios and grand prises will positive^ be gmn bio advertise and make new Irienda for my ftrm. Choice of Sttaarbeker or t or Nash new 4-door sedan delivered free, or (2000.00 cash. Also Ohk*- ssabile. Ponliac, ChevroleL Fords, diamonds, other fine prises and cash will he ■hut free. No probJUsnaSto do. No fine writing requirad. No words to sates. No figures to add. iBank guarantees all prises. Pick Your Lucky Starl AS bat stars la tba drcla an tuetly auka axerpt on*. That star la dlSansst to sal tkc f a* to mo at oawa. aloof wttbnor name and b tba way to win tba gnmt 13000.00 f raa prise. BE PROMPT— WIN 8650.00 EXTRA * Uha yoo wbo srill wrfta dm at oaea eaa get 1650.(0 eaah hart for batasT proa •" j tacky Stars If^mi aand ynor ana war right caT. No risk. "* ansu taaak iw h_ . ._. tola*. Notbtast bard to do. Ottt fmo.V ta raraabla prtsas wUJ be glwm ttm of e Baal baday sad I wfl J show yog Joat bow yea cu srt tw fna 1 hrSna of tbaaa saineM mm sadsaa or WB.00 eeah. srttboot cat or obligation of any Had. All aria plan] A award for a.wjbodjl HKND NO MONCT. Arawn- AT ONCS. CEO. WILSON. DEPT. 1Q1» AUGUSTA, MAINS laRGED Income E a s 18 to U orders tn a DOOO hour la easy at all rsotdrias. fansa and eonstrnotlon fobs. No aaaan or style ohaacaa. I, onsvear salesmen make money all year 'nsjpd. Writs for wir-aefllnf fits outfit NOW. Dept. NB4." LONCWEAR TROUSERS. 4a* VALUE mSl. U.T. Please menjion Newsstand Croup— Men's List, when answering advertisements Win $3,500^° Prim from 91800.00 \a 14215.00 «*rh hare bmi woo inroufb our unique ulmtliltuj plan. In out lilt. ■□ old nun at 09. out or work. Hon over 15000.00. A bor. only 15. von 1900.00. lonatSorl njoothj Ihouundl ot dollar* will be awarded to loTiunair per torn who lolre our puzzlea afid win ant Him. FIND THE TWIN FLYERS Y?al£h oat ( Thei* twalrr picture* of • ft team vonun fljer ill look alike— BUT- two. a n.* only two. am ciartlj alike. Flad theta twin flitnl Some pie I urn are different In the collar, helmet, (qrglri, or tic. Htmeajbf*. only two aT iho twrlre are eiartly alike. Find ihem. and tend lb* numWri of i ho Iw In fljeri ofi ft now -wner« for both men and Wurnen. No aaeiul or «ipert(nco naadad. Ea*r. pL««aDt awk- 4aU time or apara lima. I ruroi&b tneTT- tblng and anew rw boar. •SB rilfT 5 DAYS TWKaaTbWBWMah Mrs. aTTB. laf asnid ■» the ant wm !MrMtH«^^i5F — b«- Alt-art Ulllk Pram., Wtl Naaaiottn Art*, Claetantll. Obi*. CHASE THE JINX—! Now York'a Latent Fart. Etrnr>»ly U wwiu Ihfl HLACK CAT r:n.- If unlucky In. Lxo or Qtmw nr all 1'nrtrrtakinao wear a Jll.ACK a the J.ni. Ma-hr <-r Solid Siritliu ~r*hcw and one, lurkv c*i wLshlyinn Git AT IS with run. Oarr ll.U aranatd ar Ji.7» C.O.D. Send ring mc«,«urs today. DON'T DK1*AY. r AiuuM rtooucn co„ 757 bWwa-.rw- a. n UiUla it IMm mod «1 *U.«» fast- Ml line Quality _ : **» iiv. AWOM. OHIO WBW AND SIHPLR DISCOVKRY CLEARS-THE-SKIN ■asrore II to too FBBE. SBND HO HONEY. Write today for PROOF and loll detalla ol oar liberal •tatal* FULL SIZE TRIAL PACKAGE. SOABANTKBD FOB ALL SKIN TROUBLES Ootckrr coda Plmplet . Blackbeeda.' Wbiteheada. Coarse ratal. Wrloklea, OUT Sbloy Skin. Krecklea. Ctaroole aeaana. Slabbora Paorlaala. Scalef. Crime. Pollutes Eutera Itcb. Ilcbkar Skin. Scabbkf a. eoffena aod wblicoa aja akin. Jul •ana — a ?at» r anaa* and addreeo. AHDBB at CO. 7SI E.1ZWSL. Soile 79, Caioafa ■OMXTBIMO DimilNT M* rilan . Ho rrtatlaaa MAJUC UP TO $40 A DAY Showing Ut Mj»inrr Li abler to Ma. What Make* It Dibit All Guaranteed. No Flint or Friction. New Prtncipin of Icniiion. Sample wtLh Kales PUn. Uo. Sample Gold or Hllver Plated. 11.00. Agents writs for prow* Ulan, Now ■ atbod Hfg. Co., D«ak GN-2. Bradford. Pa, PATENTS In applying for otlanu. Don't rUk delay La tix Idas*. Send sketch or model for Irwiruc- ■ or write for FT! EE booa. "Uow to Obtain a Patent" "BfBord of Invention" form. No charge for Inform* - I f™ oa how to proceed. Communlcai Ions atrlctlr con 3 den - 1 JftL Pnwni*. careful, efficient eerrlee. Clarence A. IVBrLon. llesLMerrd I'cuem Attorney, 1878 Security Sat- i and Locim'l flank lluildms tdirtcily terras street i Patent Office, Waahiiigion. D. C. ORRECT w Your NOSE / Tbooatnda bare Tiled the AnlLa Nose Adjuster lo Improve their appearance. Shape*. ■•■•n and cartilage of the nose — sxfely. pain ]«•.]>-. while too sleep. Results are UmttTi. Donor* aw- Pttrre It. Uhut berk guarantee. Oo'.il .Medal winnrr. Write for 30-Day TRIAL OFFER and FREE BOOKLET, ■ wimrra, 441 Anita MOULDING A MIGHTY ARM Get a 17 Inch Bioep Complete Course on Arm Building ONLY 25c e Get an arm of .might with the power and grip to obey your physical desire*. Within JO days you can now build your arm from a scrawny piece of akin' and hone to one ot huge muscular size. ' I don't mean just a 17-inch bicep but a 15-inch forearm and an 8-inch wrist. Tbia spec UUy prepared course will build every muscle in the arm be- cause it has been scientifically worked out for that purpose. You can develop a pair of triceps shaped like a horseshoe ond just as strong, and a pair of biceps that will abow their double bead formation. The sinewy cablea between the biceps and elbow will be deep and thick with wire cable lijramenls. In that arm of yours, tbc > forearm will belly with bulk, and the great supinator lifting muscle you can make into a column of power, while your wrist will grow alive and writhe with cord 7 aincw. All this you can get for 25 cents — send for this course today and wilbin JO days' time you can have a be-man's arm built to be as beaull* Tut. brawny and magnificent as the village blacksmith's. You can't make a mistake, Tbc guarantee of the strong* c*t armed man in the worlt* stands behind this course. I give you all the secrets of strenKlb illustrated and ex- plained as you like it. 30 days will give you an unbreak* able grip of sleet and a Herculean arm. Mail your order now while you can still get this ecu/seat my introductory price of only 25c. RUSH THE cbUPON TODAY To each purchaser will be given a FREE COPY of THB THRILL OF BEING STRONG. It is a priceless book to the strength fan and muscle builder. Full of pictures of marvelous bodied men who tell you decisively now you can build symmetry and strength the equal of theirs. IEMX OCT— G EAST TVS SKOAL OFFER J6WETT roSTTTTJTE ti PIYSICAL CULTURE 422 F«pl«r Strttt, Dept. 2-D, Senates, renal. i Dwelt: I am eocJoaina 25c .Pleaee eend me lOULDING'A MIGHTY ARM" and a Irec copy of "THE THRILL OF BEING STRONG." Dear Mr. Jon "M0 Please mention Newsstand G>oup— Men's List, when answering advertisements Using Tobacco Perhaps you've tried to stop using tobacco only to find that the habit has such a hold on you that you gave up trying. You know, better than anyone else, whether tobacco 13 hurting you, and if it is; that sooner or later, it will undermine your health. Heart trouble, indigestion, dyspepsia, nervous- ness, insomnia, poor eyesight— these and many other disorders can often be traced directly to the use of tobacco, according to good medical authority. Besides it is an expensive, utterly useless habit. Let Us Help You To Banish The Habit No matter how firm a grip tobacco has on you— no matter whether you've been smoking cigars, pipe or cigarettes or chewing- plug or fine cut for a month or 60 years-Tobacco Redeemor will in most cases remove all craving for tobacco in any form in a very few daya It does its work so quickly that all tobacco hunger is gone almost before you know it. The desire for a smoke or chew usually begins to decrease after the very first dose. Tobacco Redeemer contains no habit -forming drugs of any kind— it IS in no sense a tobacco substitute . It does notcause , the slightest shock to the nervous system; on/ the contrary, it often helps to quiet the nervesr and make you feel better in every way. SEND for PROOF, Get our free booklet. It tells you all about the deadly effects of tobacco and howeasy it is now to quit. We will also send you copies of letters from confirmed users telling howthis simple, home-treatment,! freed them absolutely from the.habit. Just mail coupon-or a postal will do.^ NEWELL PHARMACAL CO. Dept. 793 Clayton Station St. Louis, Mo. Send me without obligation to me in any way, Eedeemer will positively free me from the Tobacco will be refunded. iroof that Tobacco »bit or my money Name . Street and No... town.. .............. A Book Every Red-Blooded American Will Enjoy Reading Thrilling Adventures By V. E. LYNCH one of the World's famous guides and hunters. It is profusely illustrated and contains true stories of the hunt. Not romances. This book is given free with a year's subscription to fonts Stream at no increase over the regular subscription price. Send $2.50 to the address given below. It is the pioneer publication devoted to bunting, fishing and the outdoor life. This offer saves you considerable money and is made with a view of adding thousands to our sub- scription list. Remit to FOREST and STREAM 80 Lafayette St., New York, N. Y. Forest and Stream 80 Lafayette St., New York, N. Y. Herewith $2.50 for one year's subscription to FOREST AND STREAM and copy of book "Thrilling Adventures" by Lynch. Name . . . ' Address City State. Styled- On Fifth A\e, TIES PAY BIG MAKE' STEADY MONEY with tfais great line--the beat paying full time or spare time Proposition in the countryl You collect liberal commies ions in advance. Finest Tie Line fn America. Beautiful Fifth Avenue patterns. Mturdy, long wearing fabrics. Ties to fit every taste. Direct from factory prices. Write for big new Spring Outfit, sent absolutely FREE. Start earning big money PUBLIC SERVICE MILLS, Inc. S21-J Thirtieth Street, West New York, N.J. Canadian Agents apply to HODundaaSt. London, Ontario, Canada SCIENTIFIC *P mm m «-» N0VELTYC0 Um K ft— ft— PARK PIACE.N.Y.C. ■7o C s?Il a brS c Vit - MEN WANTED FOR RAILROADS Nearest their homes — everywhere — to train for Firemen, Brakf average wages $150-$200 monthly. Promoted to Conductor Engineer— highest wages on railroads. Also olerks. Ba Educational Association, Dept. D-30. Brooklyn. New York. Please mention Newsstand Group— Men's List, when answering advertisements 5 CARS £1VEN m 'era to adrertlM our builneii. In ihli rj*w offer. 1M Grand 1'rlwi totaling MSW.00 will be siren U lM untie onn «ho wire our puula tod win. Hen 11 is — FIND THE "DIFFIEKNT" AUTO Ttio 10 cart In circlo *U look alike. 13 of (hem era exactly alike— but on* la . different frmii the roil. Find thla "different" cor If you can— and in* i* difference may be In fendrn. bumper, una pUU. radiator or lop. C*rtful— dfln l « puulo etump jou. becauio winner mult »l»o puisle enrreetly nrat in Qiosr WW BU1CK SEDAN OH ItNIJI CAM Winner hsi"cholrc of Bulck Sedan or caih If preferred. No more p u n I • » lo eol ft. ^^f^f >rl™» In c4.e of tin. All aitlvelv IntVtftH whs bav* saawtrad eerraetly -111 srlras or caih tsaapcniallsai, Notblng to bur, now. Uter or tier, to tend do For F l PMtJMM -PQB-t delayl Sol»e puulo "T^ 1 ^ '"J ,^ n M Cert mm* coo.1 for 1*05.00 If rou are prompt and win flm prlie. rnaklruj total pro* »200v.OO. Any man, woman, boy. or airl In U. B. A., out tide cl Chicago, - may lulimlt an aniwer. 150 of the people who lake up ihli offeri are going tonln theae iplendld prlui. Be one of then. Bond Dumber of eUI- - fereJU" auio In letlcr or potinrd today. But set promptui ■SB RUPTURE IS NOT A TEAR HowTo Secure A Government rWrttort fear pfaj. A. R. PATTERSON, Civil Sorvle. El port. PATTERSON SCHOOL, I0S4 Wiuar Bids., Rochester. N. Y. Send rue your Blf FREE BOOK tnlllnf h Chauffeur- Carrier ( ) P. O. Clerk { ) Watchman ( ) Skilled Laborer < 1 PoBtmaster ( ) Typist :AU, U2-H, St. Loals, Mo. | lars How To Qualify for pewi- ( ) File Clerk ( ) General Clerk < ) Matron INSTRUCTION BU Send me Fl " tions nitii*a, etc. Name . . Address ALL SENT FREE. aries. locations, opp»rtU- Plcase mention Newsstand Group— Men's List, when answering advertisements FREE To Men Past 40 A WELL-KNOWN scientist's new book about old age reveals facts which to many men will be amazing. Did you know that iwo- ihirds of all men past jniddlc age arc said to have a certain seldom mentioned disorder? Do you know the frequent cause of this de- cline in health? Cmomi Old Age Symptoms Medical men know this condition as hyper- trophy of the prostate gland. Science, now reveals that this swollen gland — painless in itself — not only often cheats men of health, but also bears on the bladder and is often directly responsible fof sciatica, backache, pains in the legs and feet, frequent nightly risings, and dizziness denoting high blood pressure. When allowed to run on it is frequently the cause of the dreaded disease cystitis, a very severe blad- der inflammation. #S% this Gland Disorder Prostate trouble is now reached immediately by i new kind of home treatment — a new safe hy- pcnt that goes directly to the gland itself, without drugs, medicine, massage, lessons, diet or the application of electricity. It is abso- lutely safe. 50,000 men have used it to restore At prostate gland to normal functioning. The principle inured in this treatment is recommended by practically ill the physicians in America. Amazing recoveries arc often made in tlx days. Another grateful effect is usually the immediate disappearance of chronic con&tination- Vsually the entire body ia toned up. These results are guaranteed. Either you feel ten years younger in nix days or ilie treatment costs nothing. Send lor FREE Book If you have gland trouble, or any of the symptoms men- tioned, write today for scientist's free book, "Why Men Are Old at Forty." You cao ask yourself certain frank questions that may Reveal your true condition. Every nian past 40 should maJie this test, as insidious prostate disorder often leads to surgery. This book is absolutely free,* hut mail coupon immediately, as the edition u> limited. Address THE ELECTRO THERMAL CO. 4**9 M*rrU Art. SMbwIll* OU» If you live West of the Rockies, address The Electro Thermal i'o., '.UXl Van NUys Building, Dept. 4s- E, Los Angeles, Calif. In Canada, address The Electro Thermal Co., Desk 4S K, £1 Yoiige St., Toronto, Out.. Canada. > The Electro Thermal Company, I 4(88 Morns Ave, Steuben ville. Ohio , Please send me Free, and without obligation, a copy ■ I of your booklet, "Why Men Are Old at 40. ' Mail | | in plain wrapper. | Name | Addrc WIN*2 18f friendship offer. $3000 In prizes Riven away. 8omeono will win •MOO cash and Nash Sedan, or •2000 cash I Why not you? Over •11,000 already given. Mrs. Ilarrell woo «00; N. LaValle, won S700; fL A. Dobbins won 32500; many others won fine prizes. Nothing w)boy. "Only 3 things to do— name the dogs, advertise us to a few •■opto right around your home, and then play In a Jolly and tisd- •ating fun game that you will enjoy. CO fine cash prizes. mA MRF YBMF AAAOtlli dotni am picture*! hrro.l. Colllo, • mWKt «WW«S> a. PoUre dog. 3. AlrmuUr. 4. Doll. frBw-Ur. 0. Bloodhound. Csn you name them? Mirk the Collie u No. I, gto aog r mail your answer. Costa nothing to win! If you l»n to win send anawnr today for oornpleio particulars. Everything sent teiDJ JPOrtpaM and yon .will not be obligated In any way. Namo lbs mi HENDNO HONKYi Hurry! PrompUias pays! W. M. GOOD. Mgr. Dept. 87. AUGUSTA, MAINE. Please mention Newsstand 7 Group— Mks's "List, when answering advertisements What Do Women Want Most? Women want He-Men for their husbands and sweethearts. None of this 'dhorus- man stuff for the real girl. She w^nts to be proud of his physical make-up; proud of his ijgure in a bathing suit. She -knows that itU he fellow that is full of pep and "italitj^ that gets ahead in this world. He's got the physical backbone tcj back- up the n cntal decisions he makes. He'll win out every time.. Look Yourself Over! \ How do yoyt shape up? Are you giving yourself a square deal? Have yc u got those big, rolling muscles that mean health and strength inside and out? The vitality that gives you the ambition to win out at everything you start? Make that g^rl ad- mire yotrnrst and foremost for a real H*e- Man and the liuicst part in winning her is over. ~ I Can Give It To You in 30 Days In 30 "days I can ilo you over so that phe pill hardly know you. I'll put a whole inch jof lo MjfB muscle on each arm in .TO days, and two whole inches of rippling strength across your cfie t. I've done it for over a hundred thousand other , and I can do it (or you. I .don't care how w ak and >uny -you are. I like to get them weak arid put y, *ity the hopeless cases' that I work with s me a lot of real joy jus^ to see and the surprised look in tti tir eyes step before ..j the mirror at the end of 80 days *|d see what a miracle I have worked a He-Man From Now On! temporary layer of muscle I pot stay! With dims newly broadened feet nock and treat, manly chest, j r se«-ro*peci In any society. Km sr thai you are what ctctw ■ m red-blooded He-Man. I Want You For 90 Days r at Um and of 30 dtys you think you hare 1 set yourself at this end of 60 di _ I'm not railed _ Sly system scientifically build. ' than you over Imagined. ' EARLE UEDERMAN, The Muscle Builder Author of "Muacle Building," "Science of Wrestling," I of Strength." "Here'* Health," "Endurance," Ete. _ Watch Them Turn Around Notice tow erery woman prefers tho fellow yho carries bin tholr ere. ■M .want a dependable He-Man when- 1 hey make i Kcmomber. r nor only promise it. 1 GUAIthNTEK IT. Now dots' i put It off a minute. Got « j.uj Ilo new bsppln ho broad-shouldered man always *i them. And you can be that ft Ml manhood i 3W Broadway. New EARLE LI ED ERM AN Dfpt. I7H Dear ffir ■ - riease M wllhout an otillsaiion on my part whatever your latest book. "Muscular Develop rot-tit.' Name , . ... Slrret , . .„ City , » ftui York City IEE and l copy of :- What do von think of that? I don't ask one cent. And tt'sd * readmit you ever laid your eyes on. I swear fa** ' i turned the last cover. And MB prise-wlonlag yajui eror assembled, lad etcry l*-it one of them b sboutUut my praises. Look them one.B you don't fet a kick out of this book, you had better roll orrr- /ooT» dead. Com* on. then. Take out tho old pen or pedcll and s* v«ur name and address to the coupon. If you haven't a stasaa,.* postal will do. But hnap Into -If. Do if low. To-morrow yoa ssw I EARLE LIEDERMAN .J Dept. 1704 30S BROADWAY, N. Y. I Please mention NEwssTAsto Group— Men's List, when answering advertisements* THE HORSE AWAITS WITHOUT" HIKED UNIH DUZZLEHUItT wjb. "If you ask me," replied Aletia coldly, "you seem to have brought the hoarse in with you. The hoarseness of your voice repels me, sir! If you wish me to go buggy-riding with you, you'd better change to OLD GOLDS. "When my heart leaves me, it will go to the man who smokes this queen- leaf cigarette. There's not a throat- scratch in a trillion." NOT A COUGH IN A CARLOAD FASTEST GROWING CIGARETTE IN HISTORY O I" L Co.