"Yeah. How'd it work?" The red-headed one set a soldering iron in place and began to jack up the rear wheel to get at the tire. "Crazy idea, if you ask me. I told Miss Evelyn so. She laughed and said she'd be in the ball when it was tried. Did it work?" "Too damn well," said Tommy briefly. "I've got to repair that solenoid. How about a job helping?" The red-headed man unfastened the lugs of the rim, kicked the tire speculatively, and said, "Gone to hell." He put on the spare tire with ease and dispatch. "Um," he said. "How about that Mr. Von Holtz? Is he goin' to boss the job?" "He is not," said Tommy, with a shade of grimness in his tone. * * * * * The red-headed man nodded and took the soldering iron in hand. He unwound a strip of wire solder, mended the radiator tube with placid ease, and seemed to bang the cooling-flanges with a total lack of care. They went magically back into place, and it took close inspection to see that the radiator had been damaged. "She's all right," he observed. He regarded Tommy impersonally. "Suppose you tell me how come you horn in on this," he suggested, "an' maybe I'll play. That guy Von Holtz is a crook, if you ask me about him." Tommy ran his hand across his forehead, and told him. "Um," said the red-headed man calmly. "I think I'll go break Mr. Von Holtz's neck. I got me a hunch." He took two deliberate steps forward. But Tommy said: "I saw Denham not an hour ago. So far, he's all right. How long he'll be all right is a question. But I'm going after him." The red-headed man scrutinized him exhaustively. "Um. I might try that myself. I kinda like the Professor. An' Miss Evelyn. My name's Smithers. Let's go look through the dinkus the Professor made." They went together into the laboratory. Von Holtz was looking through the dimensoscope. He started back as they entered, and looked acutely uneasy when he saw the red-headed man. "How do you do," he said nervously. "They--the Ragged Men--have just brought in a dead man. But it is not the Herr Professor." Without a word, Tommy took the brass tube in his hand. Von Holtz moved away, biting his lips. Tommy stared into that strange other world. * * * * * The steel sphere lay as before, slightly askew upon a bank of glossy ferns. But its glass windows were shattered, and fragments of everything it had contained were scattered about. The Ragged Men had made a camp and built a fire. Some of them were roasting meat--the huge limb of a monstrous animal with a scaly, reptilian hide. Others were engaged in vehement argument over the body of one of their number, lying sprawled out upon the ground. Tommy spoke without moving his eyes from the eyepiece. "I saw Denham with a club just now. This man was killed by a club."