where the sweat of fear already glistened.

Suddenly the big man dropped his head, as though in surrender. He gasped
and found voice; this time a voice as shaky and docile as it had been
strong and dominant a moment before.

"Very well," he spoke abjectly. "Very well. I--shall do as you wish." He
seemed to be talking to thin air. "We--will go home at once."

And instantly all four turned about, and in perfect silence took the
back trail.




III

WORLD OF MAMMOTHS


Immediately upon going into tele-consciousness Smith became aware of a
decided change in his surroundings. The interior of the study had been
darkened with drawn shades; now he was using eyes that were exposed to
the most intense sunlight. The first sight that he got, in fact, was
directed toward the sky; and he noted with an engineer's keen interest
that the color of the sky was blue, slightly tinged with orange. This,
he knew, meant that the atmosphere of Sanus contained at least one
chemical element which is lacking on the earth.

For a minute or two the sky remained entirely clear. There were no