pons in the cabin. There were two heavy
sporting rifles and two .45 automatics. There were also two smaller
automatics, which, he supposed, had been intended for Agnes' use. And
there was abundant ammunition.

Then he inspected the plane. It looked to be in excellent condition in
every way. The gasoline and oil tanks were full.

He set about starting the motor, using the plane's inertia starter,
which was driven by an electric motor. Soon the engine coughed,
sputtered, and gave rise to a roaring, rhythmic note that Larry found
musical.

When the motor was warm, he opened the throttle and taxied out from
beneath the colossal table, and across the laboratory floor toward the
Titanic mechanism in the center of the room. The disk of crystal was
set almost flush with the floor, its edge beveled. The plane rolled
easily upon it, and out into the Cyclopean pillar of violet flame.

Once more, Larry felt the sensation that everything about him except
the plane itself, was expanding inconceivably in size. Soon the
laboratory's walls and roof were lost in hazy blue distance. He could
distinguish only the broad, bright field formed by the surface of the
crystal disk, with the floor stretching away beyond it like a vast
plain. And above, the green-blue sphere of the tiny planet, bright on
one side and dark on the other, so that it looked like a half-moon,
immensely far-off.

* * * * *

As he waited, he noticed a curious little dial, in a lower corner of
the instrument board, which he had not seen at first. One end of its
graduated scale was marked, "Earth Normal," the other, "Pygmy Planet
Normal." A tiny black needle was creeping slowly across the scale,
toward "Pygmy Planet Normal."

"That's how we tell what size we are without having to look at a
bottle," he muttered.

When the area of the crystal platform appeared to be about half a
square mile, he decided that he would now have sufficient space to
spiral up the violet ray toward the planet. If he waited too long to
start, the distance would become impossibly great.

He gave the little plane the gun. The motor thundered a throbbing
song; the ship rolled smoothly forward over the polished surface,
gained flying speed and took the air without a shock.

"Feels good to hold the stick again!" Larry murmured.

Making small circles to keep within the upright pillar of violet
radiance, he climbed steadily and as rapidly as possible, keeping hi