devoid of the grace of an earthly aircraft wing, and there
was no tail whatever to give it the appearance of a living thing.
There was merely a long, rectangular wing with a framework beneath it,
and a shimmering thing which was certainly not a screw propeller, but
which seemed to draw it.

* * * * *

It moved on steadily and swiftly, dwindling in the distance, with its
motionless pilot seated before a mass of corded bundles. It looked as
if this were a freight plane of some sort, and therefore made in a
strictly utilitarian fashion.

It vanished in the haze above the monster swamp, going in a straight
line for the golden city at the world's edge.

Tommy stared at it, long after it had ceased to be visible. Then he
saw a queer movement on the earth near the edge of the morass. Figures
were moving. Human figures. He saw four of them, shaking clenched
fists and capering insanely, seeming to bellow insults after the
oblivious and now invisible flying thing. He could see that they were
nearly naked, and that one of them carried a spear. But the
indubitable glint of metal was reflected from one of them for an
instant, when some metal accoutrement about him glittered in the
sunlight.

They moved from sight behind thick, feathery foliage, and Tommy swung
back the brass tube to see the globe again. Denham and his daughter
were staring in the direction in which Tommy had seen those human
figures. Denham clutched his clumsy club grimly. His face was drawn
and his figure tensed. And suddenly Evelyn spoke quietly, and the two
of then dived into the fern forest and disappeared. Minutes later they
returned, dragging masses of tree-fern fronds with which they masked
the globe from view. They worked hastily, desperately, concealing the
steel vehicle from sight. And then Denham stared tensely all about,
shading his eyes with his hand. He and the girl withdrew cautiously
into the forest.

* * * * *

It was minutes later that Tommy was roused by Von Holtz's hand on his
shoulder.

"What has happened, Herr Reames?" he asked uneasily. "The--Ragged
Men?"

"I saw men," said Tommy briefly, "shaking clenched fists at an
aircraft flying overhead. And Denham and his daughter have hidden the
globe behind a screen of foliage."

Von Holtz licked his lips fascinatedly.

"The Ragged Men," he said in a hushed voice. "The Herr Professor
called them that, because they cannot be