surface and then set off by a
torch in the hand of some unseen giant of the cosmos. A strange
electrical storm that agitated the cloud blanket mightily, then left it
more densely closed in than before.

Through the forward port the satellite could be seen with the naked eye,
growing larger now and resolving itself into a tiny globe. To Carr it
seemed that the diminutive moon winked provocatively as he turned to
regard it without the rulden's aid. Off to the west, Saturn and her
rings almost filled the sky, and their baleful light shone cold and
menacing against the black velvet of the heavens.

* * * * *

Mado took the controls when the _Nomad_ entered the atmosphere of Titan
and drifted over the sea of clouds. He corrected the altimeter for the
mass of this body of three thousand miles diameter, and noted that they
were up about six thousand feet. Test samples indicated that the outside
air, although thin, was pure. But they did not open the ports as they
had no intention of landing.

Ora had not yet awakened and Carr hoped fervently that she would not do
so until they had left the immediate vicinity of Titan. It was vastly
better if she missed seeing anything of the barbarians of the cloudy
satellite. Besides, with her adventuresome and fearless nature, she'd
not be satisfied merely to look on from afar--she'd want them to land.
And that must not be done.

Something tinkled metallically against the hull plates of the vessel.
Again and again the sound was repeated, and soon they saw that the air
was filled with driving particles which clattered on the thick glass of
the ports and contacted resoundingly with the hull. A vast cloud of
black loomed directly ahead, springing up from the tossing cloud banks;
and Mado yanked at the controls, swerving the _Nomad_ sharply from her
course.

But there was no escaping the fury of that sudden squall; they were in
the thick of it in an instant, and the ship was buffeted and tossed
about as if it were a toy. Millions of the driving particles battered
the _Nomad_ and the din of their pounding was terrific as the ship was
whirled deeper into the midst of the tempest.

* * * * *

Carr saw that the black particles were piling up around the rim of the
port, sticking fast to the metal of the hull. They were bristling in
fantastic array, like iron filings adhering to the poles of a magnet. In
a flash it came to him tha