-47-. with & young moon floating in its dark blue Sipaces showed above then. — June at the controls obeyed Derek's command, and the "Arc" shot at full speetdhrough the gas laden atmosphere of the earth, and into the cold, unknown Space. Away from the Earth, drawing rapidly nearer the Moon, Derek calculated the position of Venus; the controls were changed, and . the "Arc" sped on its new course towards the dim uncertainty of a new life; Certain death had been behind them, but a gleam of light, of hope, of life, shone in front of the refugees. Hour after hour they continued, June- standing her watch at the switch board and controls with the others,helping them, cheering them, and encouraging them in the venturethey had undertaken together. Three earthly days passedbefore gravity began to attract them to Venus, and they flew with increasing velocity towards their goal. Through the observation windows they saw the gigantic size of the planet. Tliey viewed for the first time the narrow, twisting lines and serra'bed edges which were the rivers and mountains of their future home. At last they were within the atmosphere of Venus, and the "Aro" hovered lower and lower towards the lake and mountains of the new land. With trepidation they speculated about the con dition of the atmosphere of Venus; would it support their life, or had they travelled these millions of miles to die, to suffo cate through lack of oxygen ? Softly they sank to the Venus. and by mutual consent, they flung wide the hermetically sealod entrance to the ".Arc" — If they were to die, they would all die at once, and not languish on in the stagnant air of their ship. Tcutheir surprise, to their unbounded relief, nothing happened ! no air rushed in or out, the atmosphere of Venus was identical with that of the earth. Gathering courage, they peer ed out on to their new heritage. It was dawn. They were on the shores of a lake. As the sun rose it revealed a lardsoape of weird and fajitastic beauty, — rrimeval forests lined the shore, and rugged hills formed the skyline. Ner.rby ar estuary bi-o.^dened into a lake, and to their snrpfine they saw three clumsy dug-outs wallowing across the mouth. .As noon as they reached the land, strange creatures, hulf ape, half man., .sprang out, and dragged with them their screaming captives Women. They had returned from the fir3ttnav|l attack in the history of Venus. AjvAwardly, they carried tireir oaptires meet others of their kind, who, with c-ruuts of ioy weoa.^r---'
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