These were the fumeroles where only a month before he and Harkness and Diane had found clustering savages who were more apes than men; they had been roasting meat at these flames. And below, where the lava stopped, was the open glade where the little stream splashed and sparkled: in the high rock walls that hemmed the glade the caves showed black. And, beyond the open ground, was the weird forest, where tree-trunks of ghostly white were laced with a network of red veining. They grew close, those spectral columns, in a shadow-world beneath the high roof of greenery they supported. Here was the scene of an earlier adventure. Chet was swept up in the flood of recollections born of familiar sights and scents. Herr Schwartzmann, cursing steadily in a guttural tongue, came from the ship to bring Chet's thoughts back to the more immediate problem. * * * * * There were five others who followed--the pilot and Schwartzmann's four men. There had been another, but his body lay huddled upon the bare lava. He had followed his master far--and here, for him, was the end. Kreiss' pistol was still in his hand as he came after. Harkness and Diane were last. Harkness pointed with his gun. "Over there!" he ordered. "Get them away from the ship, Chet. Line them up down below there; all the ape-men have cleared out since we had our last fight. Get them down by the stream. Diane and I will bring them some supplies, and then we can send them off for good." Chet sent Kreiss down first, where an easy slope made the descent a simple matter; it had been the bow-wave of the molten lava--here was the end of that inundation of another age--and the slope was wrinkled and creased. Schwartzmann followed; then the others. The last man was ready to descend when Diane and Walt came back. They had packages of compressed foods. This was all right with Chet, but he raised his eyebrows inquiringly at sight of several boxes of ammunition and an extra gun. Harkness smiled good-naturedly. "I will give them one pistol," Walt told him, "and a good supply of shells. We don't need to be afraid of them with only one gun, and we can't leave the poor devils at the mercy of every wild beast." "You're the boss," said Chet briefly; "but, for me, I'd sooner give this Schwartzmann just one bullet--right where it would do the most good. "Let's make him work for it," he suggested, and called to the men below: "Come back up here, Schwartzmann! A little present for you--and I'm saying you don't deserve it." He watched the return trip as Schwartzmann dragged his heavy bulk up the slope; he was enjoying the man's explosive, panted curses. Beside him were Diane and Walt. With them, it was as it had been with him at first. They had eyes only for the familiar ground below: the stream, the open ground, the trees.... * * * * * Each of them was looking down at that lower ground.