ip arrived. It settled down slowly into
the ravine on its repeller rays until it was but a few feet above the
tree tops. There it was stopped, and floated steadily, while a little
cage was let down on a wire. Into this I was hustled and locked,
whereupon the cage rose swiftly again to a hole in the bottom of the
hull, into which it fitted snugly, and I stepped into the interior of a
craft not unlike the one with which I had had my fateful encounter, the
cage being unlocked.

The cabin in which I was confined was not an outside compartment, but
was equipped with a number of viewplates.

The ship rose to a great height, and headed westward at such speed that
the hum of the air past its smooth plates rose to a shrill, almost
inaudible moan. After a lapse of some hours we came in sight of an
impressive mountain range, which I correctly guessed to be the Rockies.
Swerving slightly, we headed down toward one of the topmost pinnacles of
the range, and there unfolded in one of the viewplates in my cabin a
glorious view of Lo-Tan, the Magnificent, a fairy city of glistening
glass spires and iridescent colors, piled up on sheer walls of brilliant
blue, on the very tip of this peak.

Nor was there any sheen of shimmering disintegrator rays surrounding it,
to interfere with the sparkling sight. So far-flung were the defenses of
Lo-Tan, I found, that it was considered impossible for an American
rocket gunner to get within effective range, and so numerous were the
_dis_ ray batteries on the mountain peaks and in the ravines, in this
encircling line of defenses, drawn on a radius of no less than 100
miles, that even the largest craft, in the opinion of the Hans, could
easily be brought to earth through air-pocketing tactics. And this, I
was the more ready to believe after my own recent experience.

* * * * *

I spent two months as a prisoner in Lo-Tan. I can honestly say that
during that entire time every attention was paid to my physical comfort.
Luxuries were showered upon me. But I was almost continuously subjected
to some form of mental torture or moral assault. Most elaborately staged
attempts at seduction were made upon me with drugs, with women.
Hypnotism was resorted to. Viewplates were faked to picture to me the
complete rout of American forces all over the continent. With incredible
patience, and laboring under great handicaps, in view of the vigor of
the American offensive, the Han intell