rface at such terrific speed, and seemed surprised that it had
suffered no injury and that they had felt no jar. Seaton turned on the
powerful searchlights and kept close enough so that he could see the
monster through the transparent walls. Deeper and deeper the quarry
dove, until it was plainly evident to the pursuers that it was just as
much at home in the water as it was in the air. The beams of the lights
revealed strange forms of life, among which were huge, staring-eyed
fishes, which floundered about blindly in the unaccustomed glare. As the
karlon bored still deeper, the living things became scarcer, but still
occasional fleeting glimpses were obtained of the living nightmares
which inhabited the oppressive depths of these strange seas. Continuing
downward, the karlon plumbed the nethermost pit of the ocean and came to
rest upon the bottom, stirring up a murk of ooze.

"How deep are we, Mart?"

"About four miles. I have read the pressure, but will have to calculate
later exactly what depth it represents, from the gravity and density
readings."

As the animal showed no sign of leaving its retreat, Seaton pulled it
out with the attractor and it broke for the surface. Rising through the
water at full speed, it burst into the air and soared upward to such an
incredible height that Seaton was amazed.

"I wouldn't have believed that anything could fly in air this thin!" he
exclaimed.

"It is thin up here," assented Crane. "Less than three pounds to the
square inch. I wonder how he does it?"

"It doesn't look as though we are ever going to find out--he's sure a
bear-cat!" replied Seaton, as the karlon, unable to ascend further,
dropped in a slanting dive toward the lowlands of Kondal--the terrible,
swampy region covered with poisonous vegetation and inhabited by
frightful animals and even more frightful savages. The monster neared
the ground with ever-increasing speed. Seaton, keeping close behind it,
remarked to Crane:

"He'll have to flatten out pretty quick, or he'll burst something,
sure."

* * * * *

But it did not flatten out. It struck the soft ground head foremost and
disappeared, its tentacles apparently boring a way ahead of it.

Astonished at such an unlooked-for development, Seaton brought the
Skylark to a stop and stabbed into the ground with the attractor. The
first attempt brought up nothing but a pillar of muck, the second
brought to light a couple of wings an