"So you are human, after all!" she gasped. "I'll just take you up on that before you change your mind, but in order not to have a misunderstanding I'll let it be known that I'm going to pay half my pearls, whether you like it or not. Don't stand there grinning like an ape! You act as though I ought to throw in a kiss for good measure." "Go ahead," snorted Link Raeburn smirkingly. "Right on that muddy kisser." Climbing back into the upper mists, Lonny almost regretted his decision. She had donned a slicker suit and a pair of mud-shoes and was ready to go. The mist swirlers were tumbling about as though alive, and Lonny had never felt so uncomfortable in his whole life. III He had to admit that Lana Hilton was adept on her mud-shoes, but she was short of wind and soon began to lag. I would get stuck with a woman--he thought bitterly, not realizing that he spoke out loud. She didn't know what she was talking about--he decided, but for the sake of not starting an argument he kept that to himself. In the meanwhile he slowed his pace to match her own and said nothing. Tiny sparks of miniature lightning shot up from matted mud-kelp and rippled along the supple curvature of her body. She was just goodlooking enough to be a constant cause for trouble among the more populated centers of interplanetary civilization--a regular jinx for a fellow who wanted to get along with the least effort possible. He led the way along the thicker clumps of vegetation, choosing the firmer directions for her faltering steps, and for long moments he heard nothing but their own heavy breathings and the sounds of their feet slogging. A whirl-ray came out of the mire, sending its tiny maelstrom careening away at a tangent, and leaving a phosphorescent wake. He saw the girl shudder and avert her eyes. Lonny's own hand had slipped quickly inside his slicker to clutch the holster of a Z-type ray gun. "Back at home," she said thoughtfully, "the suckers all thought Uranus was something of a paradise, something like the south seas. And I fell for that stuff." "Yeh," agreed Lonny grimly. "And after you got here you were too thick-headed to give up the thing as a bad job, too afraid to face your friends with failure. So you punish yourself with your own temper." "I suppose that's advice from one who knows," she retorted sarcastically, pausing to rub the cramped muscles of her leg, then going on as he looked back. "Don't--think--I'm crazy--if--" "Now what's the matter?" demanded Lonny irritably, pausing to see that she was stopped, and was clutching desperately at her throat, pulling at her collar. "Air--I can't get air," she gasped. "How--about--you?" Almost instantly, breathing was becoming difficult for Lonny. He peered around with dismay and saw that the mist was rising dangerously and that visibility was much stronger. Out of the distance came a faint eerie whisper, as of distant winds dying.