"Well that is an amazing story," said Dynamon. "And I would like to see those books you mentioned. How incredibly fortunate that the 'space ship' broke through into this Nether World, where there is an atmosphere that will support life. And it is pretty miraculous too, that the 'space ship' didn't break up from the force of hitting the outer crust." "Well, the books say that it was broken up somewhat," the queen answered, "but nobody was hurt. And after they unloaded the ship, they took it apart so that they could use the metal in it for other things." She was eyeing him admiringly. "And the colony has survived over a thousand years," Dynamon mused. He could not help thinking how, in comparison with the people on Earth, the survivors of Bolton's expedition were a rather poor lot. They had made no progress at all in the thousand years, mentally or culturally; from all evidences they had, on the contrary, retrogressed at least to a degree. Then across his mind flitted a picture of the hardships these brave souls had to endure in establishing themselves on the new planet. At no time could they have even hoped to return to Earth. With their limited equipment they had set out to make the most of their new world. The great caves offered natural shelter so it was small wonder that they made their homes in them. Dynamon, although a soldier to his finger tips, had none of the haughtiness and cruelty which are so often found in the warriors of today. Quickly his pity for the colonists turned into admiration, and he turned gently to face Queen Diana again. "Tell me," he asked, "Are we the first strangers you have seen? You haven't, by any chance, been visited by Martians, have you?" "Martians," said the queen. "What are they?" "At present, they are just about the worst enemies of human beings," Dynamon replied tersely. "No," said the queen, "our only enemies here are the _land-krakens_. We have been fighting them for hundreds of years and we have never been able to exterminate them, because they're so hard to kill." "Land-krakens," said Dynamon. "What sort of creature are they?" "They are great, crawling monsters," the queen told him. "They have a dozen long, flexible arms that curl around their victims and strangle them. They lie in wait for our cows and kill them easily, and now and then, they catch a human being. They're terribly hard to kill even with bullets--they seem to be made of gristle and jelly." Just as the queen spoke, there was a chorus of shouts outside the cave, followed by three or four sharp reports, in rapid succession. The queen stood up quickly, as one of her subjects rushed into the cave. "Land-kraken!" he shouted. "Ter'ble biggun!" * * * * * Without a word, the queen picked up her long skirts and ran to the entrance of the cave, Dynamon and Keltry following close behind. An extraordinary sight met their eyes.