hat ended in a lava
tip; but at the base of the tube, where it joined the cylinder, was a
sliding sleeve that checked the flame to nothing when it was moved, or
opened it to the full blast.

He had a hundred of them in the room when at last he was through--one
hundred fearful instruments of destruction. And still he told no one
of his plans; he only told Gor what he wanted done later on. "It may
not work," he had to admit to himself. "I'm just guessing at the
thickness of the rock and the power of these machines. It's a gamble,
nothing but a gamble."

He arranged the flame-throwers in a circle along the outer wall. The
tops of the cylinders were curved, but the bottoms were flat and they
set solidly on the rock. But he tipped them backward and braced them
firmly with fragments of stone until every crooked-neck tube was
pointed upward and toward the center. Finally he was done.

* * * * *

It was only a matter of a few hours later when Rawson stood on the
island's end by the mouth of the shaft. In his ears was the ceaseless
rush of the air as it entered the pit; it was the only sound in a
silent world. And for the first time there came overwhelmingly upon
him a realization of what this moment meant.

The time had come. Loah was beside him, her lovely eyes unnaturally
bright in her face from which all the blood seemed to have flowed. He
felt the slight trembling of her body as she pressed against him; he
knew she was struggling to keep back the tears. Then Rawson half
turned with one final entreaty that she let him go alone; but he left
the words unsaid--he had argued it several times before.

Before them stood Gor, then the Wise Ones, the Servants of the
Mountain, deserting their post for the first time since the Mountain
had been given a voice. Beyond them all the people of this little
world were gathered.

It had seemed only a fanciful dream, this thought of going; in fact,
he had been too busy, too pressed with his own preparations, to give
it thought. Now he was learning to his own surprise how closely he had
identified himself with this world and its people. It had given him
Loah; it had been a haven, a sanctuary.

He let his eyes slowly take in the full splendor of that emerald sea,
the shining land under a green-gold sun, the Mountain in white,
crystal purity against a green-blue sky. And he was leaving it, he and
Loah; they were going to--death!

* * *