of molten lava came splashing down from time to time, preventing him from entering the hole and following up his work. Acrid, choking fumes began to fill the tunnel, but Klalmar-lan refused to let Denny or Art take over, on account of their burned hands. It was two hours before daylight began to show, fifty feet above.

"Now, while those rocks are cooling sufficiently for us to crawl out, I'll show you what my plan is," said Klalmar-lan. "Has anyone a chrono?" Elene slipped one from her wrist, handed it to him. Quickly, he slipped it out of its case, began removing various parts. He attached it to the trigger ring of his pistol, made a delicate adjustment. Then he set the gun to full disintegrator. He rigged it so that the muzzle pointed through the peep-hole, aimed at the ships below.

"We've got six hours to get out of here and put plenty of miles between us and this place," he informed them. Hurriedly they scrambled up the chimney he had made. The rock had cooled rapidly, as it was pouring rain above, and water ran down in little rivulets. The four of them were drenched by the time they reached the surface. The rain was beating down in such a torrent that they could hardly get their breath. It was warm, like a tepid shower. It was difficult to see more than a few feet, but it was evident that they were in thick jungle.

"Let's head West," shouted Denny. "There's a bay that runs in here, toward the city. We came in that way before, from the sea. Shouldn't be far from here. If we can get on the open beach, it'll be lots better going than this damned jungle." With this they had to agree, and no time was lost in plunging into the jungle in the direction he had indicated. The four were now weaponless, and would have fallen easy prey to any one of a dozen varieties of carnivorous monsters who habitually roamed the forest. But the creatures evidently did not consider the rain conducive to good hunting, and so they were unmolested. Two hours of exhausting struggle brought them out on the beach, which had not been over a mile away.

"Now we can make time," said Denny. "This narrow strip of beach will take us almost straight away from the space port for about twenty miles."

"We'll do our best to cover it in the four hours we have left," Art chuckled. They set out at a rapid clip, keeping a wary eye on both jungle and sea, from either of which might spring sudden death at any moment. The rain stopped, but lead-colored clouds still swirled overhead, for Venus was eternally overcast. Plenty of drinking water was to be 

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