He started away, with the rest of us following in the shadows behind his upheld lantern. At his words, the crimson murmuring things in the darkness again began crowding me. But I was not afraid of them now. On earth, always there are a million tiny sounds, audible if we will but listen, and things constantly to be seen which, through habit, we look at but cease to see. This was like that. With attention upon it, this unreal sub-world of Xenephrene was strange and fearsome. But it never obtruded; and already, as father said, I found myself ignoring it. There was, indeed, so much of strange reality spread now before me! We stepped from our small doorway, upon the solid ground of Xenephrene. The moon was beneath a heavy cloud. The landing lights were extinguished; darkness enveloped us. It seemed a haze; the swinging purple rays of father's lantern showed it as a swaying mist in the air. The night was warm, almost steamingly oppressive. But this feeling, too, soon passed, and I found it wholly comfortable. The lantern, I learned later, was what I had thought--filled with phosphorescent insects, like fireflies; and Zetta had commanded them to shine more brightly! Father led us slowly. The ground was level beneath my feet--a corrugated, metallic surface. Sometimes there seemed a soil, and in the darkness, the deeper shadows of giant vegetation. Great leaves arched up over us, and soon we were under them, walking now on a soft, moldy turf. A heavy, earthy scent rose from it; the damp smell of molding vegetation. In the air, too, there seemed the scent of distant blossoms. A fragrance. It lay in strata, seemingly; for occasionally it was heavy, exotic. * * * * * A moving shadow came up to us--a white-skinned man, darkened by the purple glow of father's light. "Oh, Kean?" "Yes, Professor." He spoke our language! "We're going down. They came safely. Have the guard placed as I directed." "Yes, Master." "Not Master--Professor. You had it right the first time." "Yes--Professor." "Come to me after sunrise, Kean. I'll have plenty to say then." A man gestured. "They are checking too many of them in. A hundred or two more came to-night." "Oh!" exclaimed Hulda. Zetta said quickly. "That woman, Brea--I saw her to-day--" This fellow Kean seemed a young man, my own age or less. His face was serious. "Yes, I saw her. They checked her in--for how long it is they would let her stay I do not know. Too many Brauns are here now. They come, but there seems no record of their going--" "Place the guard," said father. "And after sunrise I'll see you, Kean." Zetta said abruptly: "Kean, will you seek out Graff? I wish to see him--" "No!" father protested. "Yes," she said quietly. A clinging, soft little vine I had thought her, but obviously it was not so. Kean met father's glance. Evidently he also did not approve of Zetta's wish.