hroat. Not until the Drilgo had been reduced to a heaving,
half-strangled hulk did Cain leave him.

Then Cain, bending until his stomach almost touched the ground, came
worming toward Jim, making signs of obeisance.

What had happened that Jim had won the Drilgo's faith? Why did Cain
now look upon him, apparently, as his master? It was impossible to
gauge the processes of the black man's mind, and at the moment Jim was
in no mood to wonder. The stunning disaster that had overtaken him
monopolized his thoughts.

Lucille and Parrish were once more in Tode's power. That was the
dominating fact. The only gleam of comfort in the situation was that
Tode had given him the clue to his movements.

Beyond a doubt Tode had taken his captives into Atlantis with him. It
was impossible to disbelieve Tode's statement that he had been offered
the supreme power in the city. Tode's egotism would have compelled him
to blurt out that fact. Besides, Tode had certainly not gone back to
earth.

Jim must force his way into Atlantis. He would find and rescue the two
prisoners or die there.

He turned away from the groveling Cain and the chattering Drilgoes,
who, inspired by Cain's example, now seemed animated by the same
instinct to obey him, and went into the cave. But at the entrance he
turned for a moment and looked back.

* * * * *

It was night. The valley was swathed in mists, the volcano opposite
was spouting a shaft of lurid fire. On the water was a path of
moonlight, where the clouds had been dispersed by the Atlanteans. Jim
took in the scene, he raised one arm and shook his fist. Then, without
a word, he passed inside.

There was a soft light in the cave, streaming out from an inner
chamber, access to which was through a narrow orifice in the rock.
Jim passed through, and found himself in Tode's laboratory.

He was astonished at its completeness, still more so at the existence
of numerous pieces of apparatus whose purpose it was difficult to
understand. There was a radio transmitter and receiver, but improved
out of all recognition from those in use in the prosaic year 1930.
Three or four tiny dynamos, little more than toys in appearance, were
generating as much voltage, from the indicators, as a modern power
station. And overhead was a dial, with two series of figures in black
and red, and two needles, both of which were swinging briskly,
indicating that there was an intense electrical dist