Ted was the first to step out, and as he did so, he saw a party of people not more than fifty feet away on the same platform. Instantly he recognized the slender figure of Maza, still in her shining armor, being dragged along between two burly warriors while P’an-ku walked ahead. They had just stepped out of a car similar to the one in which he and his companions had come up, and P’an-ku, one foot on a winding stairway which led up into the rock, was saying: “So now, little white Princess, I will show you the conquest of a world, after which you will perhaps not think so ill of me as a prospective husband. At the head of these stairs is my—” He did not finish the sentence, for Ted, at this instant, blasted the heads from both the warriors who held Maza, with his degravitors, and the sound of their armored bodies clattering to the floor interrupted him. He whirled, whipping out a green ray projector, but before he could level it, Ted had destroyed it with a flash from one of his degravitors. He could as easily have destroyed his arch enemy then and there, but preferred to take him prisoner. “Halt!” he commanded, “or—” The sentence remained unfinished, for P’an-ku, with an alacrity which was astounding for one of his weight and years, had suddenly turned and darted up the winding stairway, disappearing beyond a curve in the wall. In the meantime, the professor and the three Ho brothers had stepped out on the platform and were gazing at Ted, the Princess, and the two fallen warriors in an effort to understand just what had taken place. “Guard the Princess,” Ted called to them. “I’m going after P’an-ku.” With one terrific leap he landed at the foot of the stairway, then bounded up taking ten steps at a time with ease, momentarily expecting to overtake the yellow monarch around each curve. But P’an-ku had had a good start, and evidently was climbing with a speed far greater than that of which he appeared capable. At length Ted sighted him, climbing a metal ladder which led upward from a platform at the head of the stairway to a room above which was filled with an intricate array of machinery worked by more than a score of armed men and guarded by an equal number. Just above it the giant green ray flashed out horizontally. This time it was no part of Ted’s intention to waste words on P’an-ku. Deliberately he raised a degravitor and sighted for the bullet head of the monarch. But before he could press the trigger there was a blinding flash of light, and the monarch, ladder, men, machinery and projector—all disappeared from view as completely as if they had never existed. Then there hove into view the prow of a flying vessel on which was inscribed the word “Luna,” and Ted shouted for joy, waving frantically at two figures in the control cabin whom he recognized as Roger and Bevans.