and it will
probably knock you off your pedestal. But the more I think of it the
more certain I am that the whole things is at least a variation of my
idea. And the brains behind it, if my guess proves even approximately
correct, will be too great for us to win mastery except by some
miraculous accident favoring us--and true miracles come but seldom in
these days."

"No? What do you call this?"

Jeter shrugged.

With many ports all around the cabin, all fitted with unbreakable glass,
it was possible for the partners to see out in all directions. The
tentacle fingers had now climbed up to a height sufficient to smother
both windows. The fuselage was about half swallowed.

"I can almost hear the stuff sigh inwardly with satisfaction as it takes
us in," said Eyer.

"I have the same feeling. There's a peculiar sound about it too; do you
hear it?"

They listened. The sound which came into the cabin was such a sound as
might have been heard by a man inside a cylinder lying on the bottom of
a still pond. A whisper that was less than a whisper--a _moving_
whisper. In it were life and death, and grim terror.

* * * * *

And then--remembering that contact with the propeller would shatter it,
Tema cut the switch--the propeller stopped, the motor died, and utter
silence, in the midst of an utter absence of vibration, possessed the
comfortable little cabin. It was hard to believe. The cabin was a breath
of home. It was a home. And it was being swallowed by some substance
concerning which Eyer had no ideas at all and Jeter but a growing
suspicion.

The plane sank lower and lower. The surface of the field was now almost
to the top of the cabin doors. Most of the windows had been erased, but
it made no particular difference in the matter of light. Jeter had put
out his hand to snap on the lights, but stayed it when he saw that light
came through to them.

Moment by moment the mystery of the swallowing deepened. It was like
sinking into a snow bank. There was a sensation of smothering, though it
was not uncomfortable because the cabin itself was self-sufficient in
all respects to maintain life for a long period of time.

It was like sinking slowly into the depths of the sea.

The last port on the sides of the plane was erased. Now the two sat in
their chairs and stared up at the ceiling, and at the glass-protected
ports there. It was grim business. They almost held their breath as they
wai