ny fountains.

In addition to Rupin-Sang, there were three of his male attendants and
about twenty women. On this ceremonial occasion they supplemented their
usual scanty garb with long and graceful robes that gleamed like silk.
Thin veils were attached to jeweled circlets. Catching a glimpse of the
sullen discontent on Olga Stark's face, Gerry suddenly realized that the
Earth woman was jealous of her own appearance.

"Probably hating my guts right now for making her wear her uniform!" he
thought. "Women are queer!"

To Gerry Norton, that meal was a peaceful interlude between the
monotonous strain of the long interplanetary voyage and the uncertainty
of what lay ahead. Though some of the native dishes tasted strange to
his Earthly palate, the food was generally good. Fragrant, heady wines
from the hill country bordering Savissa were served in colored glass
goblets. A sound of distant singing drifted across the garden.

Gerry was wondering what disaster had overtaken the first expedition
that had set out to reach this planet, the space-ship _Stardust_ that
had left Earth over two years ago under command of Major Walter
Lansing. Perhaps it had landed in some less friendly part of the planet
and been overwhelmed by the natives before it could get away again.
Perhaps it had met some swift disaster in outer space and was now
spinning endlessly in the void--a lifeless and man-made planetoid. In
any case, he would make a thorough search for some trace of the
_Stardust_ before he started back to Earth again.

* * * * *

When the meal was over and they all arose from the table, Gerry noticed
that Angus and Olga Stark walked out into the garden together. It struck
him as an odd combination, for Olga was the one person on board with
whom the genial Scot was not friendly. Then he forgot about it.

A few minutes later Closana took Gerry's arm and led him out into the
garden. Colored lanterns hung here and there along the paths, but most
of the light came from globes of glowing metal that were concealed near
the tops of the trees. The effect was much like Earthly moonlight,
except that the moon was golden instead of silver. Angus and Olga should
have been a few yards ahead of them, but both had disappeared. Gerry
wondered about it--and then a dim figure rose up in the shadows
immediately before him. A cloud of choking gas, hurled squarely in his
face from some sort of flask, filled his lungs with