eeting. We expected to find you in the
Frying Pan district. When you did not appear there we tuned our radio
locator to your heart beats and in that way located you here. It was
hardly a second's space-flying time from where we were."

Larner said nothing. He could only stand and gape.

"I do not wonder that you are surprised," said the strange little man.
"I will explain that I am Nern Bela, of the City of Hesper, on the
planet Venus. This is my sister Tula. We greet you in the interest of
the Republic of Pana, which embraces all of the planet you know as
Venus."

When Larner recovered his breath, he lost his temper.

"I don't know what circus you escaped from, but I crave solitude and I
have no time to be bothered with fairy tales," he said with brutal
bruskness.

Expressions of hurt surprise swept the countenances of his visitors.

The man spoke again:

"We are just what we assert we are, and our finding you was made
necessary by a condition which grieves the souls of all the 900,000,000
inhabitants of Venus. We have come to plead with you to come with us and
use your scientific knowledge to thwart a scourge which threatens the
lives of millions of people."

There was a quiet dignity about the man and an air of pride about the
woman which made Larner stop and think, or try to. He rubbed his hand
over his brow and looked questioningly at the pair.

"If you are what you say you are, how did you get here?" he asked.

"We came in a targo, a space-flying ship, capable of doing 426,000 miles
an hour. This is just 1200 times as fast as 355 miles an hour, the
highest speed known on earth. Come with us and we will show you our
ship." They looked at him appealingly, and both smiled a smile of
wistful friendliness.

Larner, without a word, threw down his frying pan and followed them
through the aspens. The brother and sister walking ahead of him gave his
eyes a treat. He surveyed the perfect form of the girl. Her perfection
was beyond his ken.

"They certainly are not of this world," he mused.

* * * * *

A few hundred yards farther on there was a beach of pebbles, where the
stream had changed its course. On this plot sat a gigantic spherical
machine of a glasslike material. It was about 300 feet in diameter and
it was tapered on two sides into tees which Larner rightly took to be
lights.

"This is a targo, our type of space-flyer," said Nern Bela. "It is
capable of making two