e rasping sound came from one of them again.

"It says you may stay with me," Mildred said. "They will not harm you
unless you try again to get away. If you do, you die--as father did.
They will keep what they took from you."

* * * * *

Several of the creatures went scraping off, carrying the articles they
had taken from us either in their claws or in the metal cases they
wore. Several waited, staring at us with the stalked compound eyes,
and waving the green antennae as if they were organs of some special
sense.

Two of the creatures waited at the foot of the metal ladder, holding
the long slender white tubes of the heat-ray in their claws.

"They say we can go now," Mildred said.

She led the way toward the edge of the brilliant jungle. She seemed to
be without false modesty, for I saw her glancing with evident
admiration at Ray's lithe and powerful white-skinned figure. We
followed her into the giant mushrooms, glad to escape the overpowering
stench of the crabs.

In a few minutes we arrived again at the strange building of the three
blue cylinders. Mildred, noticing our discomfort, produced for each of
us a piece of white silken fabric with which we draped ourselves.

She had noticed my difficulty in walking on bare feet. She had me
bathe them, then dressed them with a soothing yellow oil, and bandaged
them skilfully.

"Anyhow," she said later, "it is good to have both of you here with
me. I am sorry indeed for you that you may never see your country
again. But it is good fortune for me. I was so lonely."

"These damned crabs don't know me!" Ray Summers muttered. "They think
I'll play around like a pet kitten, for the rest of my life! They'll
get their eyes opened. We'll spend the winter on Palm Beach yet!"

"It seems to me that we're rather outnumbered." I said. "And it's
rather more pleasant in here than outside."

"I'm going to get that rifle," Ray declared, "and give these big crabs
a little respect for humanity!"

"Let's rest up a while first, anyhow," I urged.

* * * * *

Presently Mildred noticed how tired we were. She went into the third
of the connected cylinders of blue crystal, was busy a few minutes and
called us to the couches she had prepared there.

"You may sleep," she told us. "The Things never come here. And they
said they would not harm you, if you did not try to go out."

We lay down on the silken beds. In a few m