ng? It seemed that the sideline of mountain-tops had a
little light on them. The opalescent beam from Earth had swept this
portion of the sky and was gone below the horizon.

Apparently there was no pursuit from the city. Behind me, Venza
panted, "Say, I'm about finished. Can't we rest?"

With this altitude we could cease our efforts and drift down. It would
take several minutes.

We gathered together, falling with a slow drift toward the dark forest
under us. The trees seemed huge and spindly, a porous growth something
on the Martian style, with huge leaves and a tangle of matter vines.
They came mounting up at us as we fell with slowly gathering speed.

"Shall we go on?" I suggested.

"Yes." But she was tired, and Anita as well.

"Girls," I asked, "where is the _Star-Streak_?"

They did not know.

Anita said, "Perhaps we can land in the trees, and examine what
devices we have here."

The girls had carefully watched Molo upon several occasions. They
thought we might find we had a hand-globe or a couple of the repulsive
rays. With these we could attain rapid flight without effort.

We sank, fluttering, into a dark and tangled mass of the forest
tree-top growth. I had understood that Wandl was crowded with its
human population, yet this dark and silent forest evidently was
uninhabited. We clung, like awkward birds, to a swaying limb of a
tree-top. The trees were close together.

"Let's see what you've got," Venza demanded.

We handed the girls the various devices we had taken from Wyk. Most of
them were the size of my fist: globular metallic projectors like hand
bombs; ray cylinders; a device with multiple barrels the size of one's
finger, set in a small circumference of a circular grid of wires.

Anita said, "I saw Molo with one of these. He killed an unwilling
worker on the ship."

"I'll take a look around," Snap said anxiously. "Suppose we're being
followed? Give me that weapon."

There was vegetation partly over us, so that the sky was half
obscured. Snap took the weapon, and like a monkey swaying
precariously, he ran and leaped among the upper branches, crashing his
way until he could see back toward the horizon beyond which lay the
city of Wor.

We heard his voice. "All clear. Nothing in sight. You coming up?
Better get started."

I put the weapons in my pocket. Snap had one now in the branches over
us. I was examining an electronic bolt, when suddenly there came
Snap's call. "Gregg! Look out