e we can get the dope in less than the six months we
have to work in."

"I know that you are serious, Dick. Now you know that I do not want to
discourage any one, but I can see small basis for optimism," Crane spoke
slowly and thoughtfully. "I hope that you will be able to control the
zone of force--but you are not studying it yourself. You seem to be
certain that somewhere in this system there is a race who already knows
all about it. I would like to know your reasons for thinking that such a
race exists."

"They may not be upon this system; they may have been outsiders, as we
are--but I have reasons for believing them to be natives of this system,
since they were green. You are as familiar with Osnomian mythology as I
am--you girls in particular have read Osnomian legends to Osnomian
children for hours. Also identically the same legends prevail upon
Urvania. I read them in that lieutenant's brain--in fact, I looked for
them. You also know that every folk-legend has some basis, however
tenuous, in fact. Now, Dottie, tell about the battle of the gods, when
Osnome was a pup."

"The gods came down from the sky," Dorothy recited. "They were green, as
were men. They wore invisible armor of polished metal, which appeared
and disappeared. They stayed inside the armor and fought outside it with
swords and lances of fire. Men who fought against them cut them through
and through with swords, and they struck the men with lances of flame so
that they were stunned. So the gods fought in days long gone and
vanished in their invisible armor, and----"

"That's enough," interrupted Seaton. "The little red-haired girl has her
lesson perfectly. Get it, Mart?"

"No, I cannot say that I do."

"Why, it doesn't even make sense!" exclaimed Margaret.

"All right, I'll elucidate. Listen!" and Seaton's voice grew tense with
earnestness. "Visitors came down out of space. They were green. They
wore zones of force, which they flashed on and off. They stayed inside
the zones and projected their images outside, and used rays _through the
zones_. Men who fought against the images cut them through and through
with swords, but could not harm them since they were not actual
substance; and the images directed rays against the men so that they
were stunned. So the visitors fought in days long gone, and vanished in
their zones of force. How does that sound?"

"You have the most stupendous imagination the world has ever seen--but
there may be some