strikes very quickly. Once a man catches it, as you did, he goes north. These mountains are a trap. They're shaped like a funnel, so anyone with the fever inevitably heads into the pass, as you did. They are drawn through the mirage, which looks like a wall of rock. No one who wasn't—sick—would try to go through that cliff."

Vanning grunted, remembering. "Keep talking. I'm beginning—"

"There isn't much more. The victims fall into the pits, and stay there till the fever has run its course. The Swamja run no risks of being infected themselves. After the sickness has passed, it's easy to find the way out of the pits—and all the tunnels lead to this place."

"God!" Vanning whispered. "And you say this has been going on for centuries?"

"Very many centuries. First the natives, and now the Earthpeople as well. The Swamja need slaves—none live long here. But there is always a supply trickling in from outside."

Thousands of helpless victims, through the ages, drawn into this horrible net, dragged northward to be the slaves of an inhuman race.... Vanning licked dry lips.

"Many die," the girl said. "The Swamja want only the strongest. And only the strongest survive the trip north."

"You—" Vanning looked at Lysla questioningly.

She smiled sadly. "I'm stronger than I look, Jerry. But I almost died.... I still haven't completely recovered. I—was much prettier than I am now."

Vanning found that difficult to believe. He couldn't help grinning at the girl's very feminine admission. She flushed a little.

"Well," he said at last, "you're not Venusian, I can see that. How did you come to get sucked into this?"

"Just bad luck," Lysla told him. "A few months ago I was on top of the world, in New York. I've no parents. My father left me a trust fund, but it ran out unexpectedly. Bad investments, I suppose. So I found myself broke and needed a job. There weren't any jobs for unskilled labor, except a secretarial position in Venus Landing. I was lucky to get that."

"You've got nerve," Vanning said.

"It didn't help. The North-Fever hit me, and the next thing I knew, I was ... here. A slave."

"How many Earthmen are there here?"

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