and in almost the
same fashion, as were Jeter and Eyer themselves. He wore no oxygen tanks
or clothing to keep out the cold.

The partners, lips firmly set, nodded to each other and began to open
their doors. Imperturbably the dark man came to meet them.

Still other dark faces emerged from the door.

CHAPTER IX

_A Scheme Is Described_

The hands of the two wayfarers into the stratosphere dropped to their
weapons as the men came through that door which masked the inner mystery
of the white globe.

One of the men grinned. There was a threat in his grin--and a promise.

"I wouldn't use my weapons if I were in your place, gentlemen," he said.
"Come this way, please. Sitsumi and The Three wish to see you at once."

Jeter and Eyer exchanged glances. Would it do any good to start a fight
with these people? They seemed to be unarmed, but there were many of
them. And probably there were many more beyond that door. Certainly this
strange globe was capable of holding a small army at least.

Jeter shrugged. Eyer answered it with an eloquent gesture--and the two
fell in with those who had come to meet them.

"How about our plane?" said Jeter.

"You need concern yourself with it no longer," replied one. "Its final
disposal is in the hands of Sitsumi and The Three."

A cold chill ran along Jeter's spine. There was something too final
about the guide's calm reply. Both adventurers remembered again, most
poignantly, the fate of Kress.

The leaders stepped through the door. A flight of steps led downward.

Several of the swarthy-skinned folk walked behind Jeter and Eyer. There
was no gainsaying the fact that they were prisoners.

Jeter and Eyer gasped a little as they looked into the interior of the
white globe. It was of unusual extent, Jeter estimated, a complete
globe; but this one was bisected by a floor at its center, of some
substance that might, for its apparent lightness, have been aluminum.
Plainly it was the dwelling place of these strange conquerors of the
stratosphere. It might have been a vast room designed as the dwelling
place of people accustomed to all sorts of personal comforts.

On the "floor" were several buildings, of the same material as the
floor. It remained to be seen what these buildings were for, but Jeter
could guess, he believed, with fair accuracy. The large building in the
center would be the central control room housing whatever apparatus of
any kind was needed in the working o