She sat beside him, with her hand on his. Dear little Hulda; she would make any man happy to whom she gave the true steadfastness of her love. Freddie was alert and eager to hear all that father had to tell us. So was I, but my mind was divided by thoughts of Zetta. She had not yet appeared; and no one had spoken of her. Father gazed around us. "It's been comfortable here. It must seem very strange to you." Within the vault of this encompassing wall and ceiling of vegetation, the air hung heavy upon us. I had been convinced that a street was overhead; if so, it was untraveled now--in the moonlight up there I could not see the moving figures. There seemed nothing living in sight. A moment later I was not so sure. Vines ran up like ladders from the rooftop of the house to the jungle ceiling. I thought, far up there, a figure was clinging. A brown shape; a man--an animal? Or was it some giant brown insect lying motionless on a great stalk of the vines? And then, down on the ground in front of the house by the front fence, I saw unmistakably a brown crawling thing. The length of a man--crawling prone with several legs; it raised an eye toward our roof--a spot of dull red light with a circle of smaller lights around it. I stared; it came crawling to the gate; raised itself up, standing the height of a man upon a tripod of jointed legs; then sank back and crawled slowly on, following the line of fence. Father remarked my awed, half-frightened gaze. He laughed. "One of our guards. We've half a hundred of them on the ground here, and in the foliage. We're just a little alarmed over Zetta's safety--you'll understand presently." I took advantage of that. "Where is Zetta?" "Sleeping," said Hulda. "They do not sleep very regularly, here on Xenephrene. She'll be up presently--I didn't want to awaken her." * * * * * Father settled himself in his chair. "Before I can make you understand conditions here, I'll have to give you an idea of the history of this world--this race of humans so unlike ourselves physically, yet in their human qualities so very similar. Don't be impatient, Frederick. I know what you want are the cold scientific facts--I'll be as brief as I can. "They have always called Xenephrene 'the Wanderer.' It was their name for their world. Our ancient earth astronomers in their ignorance termed our planets of the Solar System 'wanderers.' They are not. They are chained to our sun. Xenephrene has always been free. Wandering free among the stars. Thus you will understand that the astronomical conditions we have here now are all new to Xenephrene. What they were before is immaterial. Nights of wan starlight; purple days of Pyrena's moonlight.