ASTOUNDING STORIES 20¢ _On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month_ W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor DR. DOUGLAS M. DOLD, Consulting Editor ====================================================================== The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees: _That_ the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by the Authors' League of America; _That_ such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American workmen; _That_ each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit; _That_ an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages. _The other Clayton magazines are:_ ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE-NOVELS MONTHLY, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, RANGELAND LOVE STORY MAGAZINE, WESTERN ADVENTURES, and WESTERN LOVE STORIES. _More Than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand for Clayton Magazines._ ====================================================================== VOL. V, No. 1 CONTENTS JANUARY, 1931 COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSO _Painted in Water-Colors from a Scene in "The Gate to Xoran."_ THE DARK SIDE OF ANTRI SEWELL PEASLEE WRIGHT 9 _Commander John Hanson Relates an Interplanetary Adventure Illustrating the Splendid Service Spirit of the Men of the Special Patrol._ THE SUNKEN EMPIRE H. THOMPSON RICH 24 _Concerning the Strange Adventures of Professor Stevens with the Antillians on the Floor of the Mysterious Sargasso Sea._ THE GATE TO XORAN HAL K. WELLS 46 _A Strange Man of Metal Comes to Earth on a Dreadful Mission._ THE EYE OF ALLAH C. D. WILLARD 58 _On the Fatal Seventh of September a Certain Secret Service Man Sat in the President's Chair and--Looked Back into the Eye of Allah._ THE FIFTH-DIMENSION CATAPULT MURRAY LEINSTER 72 _The Story of Tommy Reames' Extraordinary Rescue of Professor Denham and his Daughter--Marooned in the Fifth Dimension._ (A Complete Novelette.) THE PIRATE PLANET CHARLES W. DIFFIN 109 _Two Fighting Yankees--War-Torn Earth's Sole Representatives on Venus--Set Out to Spike the Greatest Gun of All Time._ (Part Three of a Four-Part Novel.) THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US 132 _A Meeting Place for Readers of_ ASTOUNDING STORIES. ======================================================================