f struggling Titans had upset
oceans. Thunderous crashes, as if they were demolishing forests.

Eric and Nada clung to each other, in doubt whether to stay or to fly
through the storm. Gradually the sound of the conflict came nearer,
until the earth shook beneath them, and they were afraid to move.

Suddenly the great fallen tree against which they had erected the flimsy
shelter was rolled back, evidently by a chance blow from the invisible
monsters. The pitiful roof collapsed on the bedraggled humans. Nada
burst into tears.

"Oh, if only--if only--"

* * * * *

Suddenly flame lapped up about them, the same white fire they had seen
as they lay on the crystal block. Dizziness, insensibility overcame
them. A few moments later, they were lying on the transparent table in
the Cosmic Express office, with all those great mirrors and prisms and
lenses about them.

A bustling, red-faced official appeared through the door in the grill,
fairly bubbling apologies.

"So sorry--an accident--inconceivable. I can't see how he got it! We got
you back as soon as we could find a focus. I sincerely hope you haven't
been injured."

"Why--what--what--"

"Why I happened in, found our operator drunk. I've no idea where he got
the stuff. He muttered something about Venus. I consulted the
auto-register, and found two more passengers registered here than had
been recorded at our other stations. I looked up the duplicate beam
coordinates, and found that it had been set on Venus. I got men on the
television at once, and we happened to find you.

"I can't imagine how it happened. I've had the fellow locked up, and
the 'dry-laws' are on the job. I hope you won't hold us for excessive
damages."

"No, I ask nothing except that you don't press charges against the boy.
I don't want him to suffer for it in any way. My wife and I will be
perfectly satisfied to get back to our apartment."

"I don't wonder. You look like you've been through--I don't know what.
But I'll have you there in five minutes. My private car--"

* * * * *

Mr. Eric Stokes-Harding, noted author of primitive life and love, ate a
hearty meal with his pretty spouse, after they had washed off the grime
of another planet. He spent the next twelve hours in bed.

At the end of the month he delivered his promised story to his
publishers, a thrilling tale of a man marooned on Venus, with a
beautiful girl. The her