out on Den Hoorn.

The groundcar! Jan straightened and snapped his fingers.

"Doctor!" he explained. "Send a couple of men to drain the rest of the
fuel from my groundcar. And let's get this platform above ground and tie
it down until we can get it started."

Sanchez gave rapid orders in Spanish. Two of the men left at a run,
carrying five-gallon cans with them.

Three others picked up the platform and carried it up a ramp and
outside. As soon as they reached ground level, the wind hit them. They
dropped the platform to the ground, where it shuddered and swayed
momentarily, and two of the men fell successfully on their stomachs. The
wind caught the third and somersaulted him half a dozen times before he
skidded to a stop on his back with outstretched arms and legs. He turned
over cautiously and crawled back to them.

Jan, his head just above ground level, surveyed the terrain. There was
flat ground to the east, clear in a fairly broad alley for at least half
a kilometer before any of the domes protruded up into it.

"This is as good a spot for takeoff as we'll find," he said to Sanchez.

The men put three heavy ropes on the platform's windward rail and
secured it by them to the heavy chain that ran by the dome. The platform
quivered and shuddered in the heavy wind, but its base was too low for
it to overturn.

Shortly the two men returned with the fuel from the groundcar,
struggling along the chain. Jan got above ground in a crouch, clinging
to the rail of the platform, and helped them fill the fuel tank with it.
He primed the carburetors and spun the engines.

Nothing happened.

* * * * *

He turned the engines over again. One of them coughed, and a cloud of
blue smoke burst from its exhaust, but they did not catch.

"What is the matter, _senor_?" asked Sanchez from the dome entrance.

"I don't know," replied Jan. "Maybe it's that the engines haven't been
used in so long. I'm afraid I'm not a good enough mechanic to tell."

"Some of these men were good mechanics when the navy was here," said
Sanchez. "Wait."

He turned and spoke to someone in the dome. One of the men of Rathole
came to Jan's side and tried the engines. They refused to catch. The man
made carburetor adjustments and tried again. No success.

He sniffed, took the cap from the fuel tank and stuck a finger inside.
He withdrew it, wet and oily, and examined it. He turned and spoke to
Sanchez.

"He says tha