hen half the ground had been
covered, Seaton spoke suddenly.

"Forgot about DuQuesne, Mart. We'd better iron him, hadn't we? Then
we'll decide whether we want to keep him or turn him loose."

"I will go fetch him," replied Crane, and turned to the stairs.

He returned shortly, with the news of the flight of the captive.

"Hm ... he must have made himself a parachute. I didn't think even he
would tackle a sixty-thousand-foot drop. I'll tell the world that he
sure has established a record. I can't say I'm sorry that he got away,
though. We can get him again any time we want him, anyway, as that
little object-compass in my drawer is still looking right at him," said
Seaton.

"I think he earned his liberty," declared Dorothy, stoutly, and Margaret
added:

"He deserves to be shot, but I'm glad he's gone. He gives me the
shivers."

At the end of the calculated time they saw the lights of a large city
beneath them, and Crane's fingers clenched upon Seaton's arm as he
pointed downward. There were the landing-lights of Crane Field, seven
peculiarly-arranged searchlights throwing their mighty beams upward into
the night.

"Nine weeks, Dick," he said, unsteadily, "and Shiro would have kept them
burning nine years if necessary."

The Skylark dropped easily to the ground in front of the testing shed
and the wanderers leaped out, to be greeted by the half-hysterical Jap.
Shiro's ready vocabulary of peculiar but sonorous words failed him
completely, and he bent himself double in a bow, his yellow face
wreathed in the widest possible smile. Crane, one arm around his wife,
seized Shiro's hand and wrung it in silence. Seaton swept Dorothy off
her feet, pressing her slender form against his powerful body. Her arms
tightened about his neck as they kissed each other fervently and he
whispered in her ear:

"Sweetheart wife, isn't it great to be back on our good old Earth
again?"

THE END

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Transcriber's Notes & Errata |
| |
| The editorial notes associated with the three installments |
| of the story have been placed in ASCII text boxes and |
| incorporated at the appropriate places in the text. |
| |
| Ill