e maps of the daylight
portion of Antri. From the information conveyed to me by the messenger
of the people of darkness--the Chisee they called themselves, as
nearly as I could get the sound--I rapidly sketched in the map of the
other side of Antri, locating their principal city with a small black
circle.

Realising that the location of the city we sought was only
approximate, we did not bother to work out exact bearings. We set the
_Ertak_ on her course at a height of only a few thousand feet, and set
out at low atmospheric speed, anxiously watching for the dim line of
shadow that marked the twilight zone, and the beginning of what
promised to be the last mission of the _Ertak_ and every man she
carried within her smooth, gleaming body.

* * * * *

"Twilight zone in view, sir," reported Croy at length.

"Thank you, Mr. Croy. Have all the exterior lights and searchlights
turned on. Speed and course as at present, for the time being."

I picked up the twilight zone without difficulty in the television
disc, and at full power examined the terrain.

The rich crops that fairly burst from the earth of the sunlit portion
of Antri were not to be observed here. The Antrians made no effort to
till this ground, and I doubt that it would have been profitable to do
so, even had they wished to come so close to the darkness they hated.

The ground seemed dank, and great dark slugs moved heavily upon its
greasy surface. Here and there strange pale growths grew in
patches--twisted, spotted growths that seemed somehow unhealthy and
poisonous.

I searched the country ahead, pressing further and further into the
line of darkness that was swiftly approaching. As the light of the sun
faded, our monstrous searchlights cut into the gloom ahead, their
great beams slashing the shadows.

In the dark country I had expected to find little if any vegetable
growth. Instead, I found that it was a veritable jungle through which
even our searchlight rays could not pass.

How tall the growths of this jungle might be, I could not tell, yet I
had the feeling that they were tall indeed. They were not trees, these
pale, weedy arms that reached towards the dark sky. They were soft and
pulpy, and without leaves; just long naked sickly arms that divided
and subdivided and ended in little smooth stumps like amputated limbs.

That there was some kind of activity within the shelter of this weird
jungle, was evident eno