pole. "So. There must be a narrow band of country where the sun is only
partly above the horizon, and where the climate is temperate."

"Then--" the architect almost shouted in his excitement, an excitement
only slightly greater than that of the other two--"then, if there were
people on Mercury at one time--"

The doctor nodded gravely. "There may be some there now!"



II

A DEAD CITY


From a height of a few thousand miles Mercury, at first glance, strongly
reminded them of the moon. The general effect was the same--leaden disk,
with slight prominences here and there on the circumference, and large,
irregular splotches of a darkish shade relieved by a great many
brilliantly lighted areas, lines, and spots.

A second glance, however, found a marked difference. Instead of the
craters, which always distinguished the moon, Mercury showed ranges of
bona fide mountains.

The doctor gave a sigh of regret, mixed with a generous amount of
excitement. "Too bad those mountains weren't distinguishable from the
earth," he complained. "We wouldn't have been so quick to brand Mercury
a dead world."