y. Nothing of the sort happened. The days passed with
monotonous slowness, yet daily and, indeed, hourly, the planet Mars
faded to a red star and the green point of light which marked their
destination grew larger. Damis cast many a longing glance at Venus, but
he remained steadfast to the faith which Turgan had engendered in him.
During the long hours Turgan had opportunity to tell the Nepthalim of
some of the sacrifices made by Terrestrials for the cause of liberty.
They filled Damis with amazement and moved him to awe to think of the
loyalty and bravery displayed by those whom he had been taught from
childhood to regard as a race of slaves, created solely to minister to
their overlords.

Damis pushed the ship to the greatest acceleration which he dared to
use, and, as they approached the Earth, he cast many an anxious glance
at the diminishing fuel supply. For thirteen days he drove at high speed
until the Earth seemed almost at hand. Using almost the full power of
his bow motors, he checked its speed. For a time he thought he had
overestimated the power of his motors and that it would be necessary to
avoid the atmosphere belt, run past the Earth and return. At the middle
of the fifteenth day, with the Earth less than a thousand miles away, he
threw in his last notch of power.

The deceleration pressed them so tightly to the nose of the ship that
they could hardly breathe. Damis lay with his hand on a side motor to
throw them out of danger. Gradually the forward motion of the ship
ceased and at last Damis rose with an effort and shut off the bow
motors.

"We are falling under the influence of terrestrial gravity," he
announced. "In another three hours, we will land."

* * * * *

He was as good as his word. Three hours later he dropped the space ship
to a landing at a spot half a dozen miles distant from the beleaguered
capital of the Sons of God. As he landed, the sun was just peeping over
the eastern horizon.

Their approach had been seen and the ship was surrounded by hundreds of
Terrestrial swordsmen. As the airlock opened and Damis and Turgan
appeared there was silence for a moment and then a thunderous shout of
joy rose to the heavens. From the forefront of the crowd, a
crimson-robed man ran toward the ship.

"Turgan, my lord," he cried as fell on his knees and strove to kiss the
Kildare's hand. "You are spared to us who had given you up for lost. Our
spies rep