ent while it seemed to study him, it took control.
His hands and feet still manipulated the ship, but _it_ flew!

On the ship hurtled through the thickening mist. He lost sight of
Farson's plane. And, though he was still fighting against the will which
over-rode his, his struggles grew weaker. Then came the order to dive
into the dark heart of the purple mists.

* * * * *

Down they whirled. Once, as the haze opened, Garin caught a glimpse of
tortured gray rock seamed with yellow. Farson had been right: here the
ice crust was broken.

Down and down. If his instruments were correct the plane was below sea
level now. The haze thinned and was gone. Below spread a plain cloaked
in vivid green. Here and there reared clumps of what might be trees. He
saw, too, the waters of a yellow stream.

But there was something terrifyingly alien about that landscape. Even as
he circled above it, Garin wrested to break the grip of the will that
had brought him there. There came a crackle of sound in his earphones
and at that moment the Presence withdrew.

The nose of the plane went up in obedience to his own desire.
Frantically he climbed away from the green land. Again the haze absorbed
him. He watched the moisture bead on the windows. Another hundred feet
or so and he would be free of it--and that unbelievable world beneath.

Then, with an ominous sputter, the port engine conked out. The plane
lurched and slipped into a dive. Down it whirled again into the steady
light of the green land.

Trees came out of the ground, huge fern-like plants with crimson scaled
trunks. Toward a clump of these the plane swooped.

Frantically Garin fought the controls. The ship steadied, the dive
became a fast glide. He looked for an open space to land. Then he felt
the landing gear scrape some surface. Directly ahead loomed one of the
fern trees. The plane sped toward the long fronds. There came a ripping
crash, the splintering of metal and wood. The scarlet cloud gathering
before Garin's eyes turned black.

_CHAPTER TWO_

_The Folk of Tav_

Garin returned to consciousness through a red mist of pain. He was
pinned in the crumpled mass of metal which had once been the cabin.
Through a rent in the wall close to his head thrust a long spike of
green, shredded leaves still clinging to it. He lay and watched it, not
daring to move lest the pain prove more than he could bear.

It was then that he heard the p