There were few women or girls to be seen about the mounds. Rokk said, with a horrible irony, "We have sent most of them to the Ice City. It is a very beautiful place--we men have sent our women there. The women----" He laughed sarcastically. "They are very stupid. They do not guess our purpose." They rode in silence. Then Rokk spoke again. "My woman, Mobah"--he glanced behind at the patient figure riding behind them--"I have kept Mobah with me. She is good to work in the mound. But you, my Lady Leela----" He chuckled. "We shall get rid of Mobah all in good time. We do not want her around, do we? But I will not make you work, Leela. In your city of Crescent, little white woman, you and I will be very great people. I shall be the leader of all our men----" Again Leela did not answer. A red day plunged into night. Far to the left across the snowy wastes to the distant horizon, Leela saw a white radiance in the sky. A vague patch of silver, as of light reflected from some remote distance below the horizon. Rokk waved his hand. "You see that, Leela? That is where I found the drugs. This globe is very fair, off there. Longer days and nights. A warm, fruitful summer. Food is there. Trees, with fruit. But it is all owned by another race of people. They will not let us in. They are very powerful--very far advanced in civilization. A wonderful age of science. . . . They know everything. I crept into one of their cities and stole the drugs." To Leela then was driven home the conception of how vast is God's great plan of the Universe. This miserable region owned by Rokk's people was no more than the Polar waste of this globe. A fairer land of science lay there where the distant radiance showed. A great, cultured civilization perhaps. And farther beyond it--other races--all on this one tiny globe whirling among these stars. . . . * * * * * They came at last within sight of the City of Ice. In the starlight it glittered with a pale sheen. It stood on a broad plateau above the surrounding valleys--a place of white spires, glittering under the stars, the whole surrounded by a high white wall of ice. And as they came closer, Leela saw within the city a yellow-red glare. Behind it, a high tower of stone dominated the scene; the glare painted the tower a yellow-red upon one side. "The pit of fire," said Rokk. "The one place in all our realm where the fires underground come near the surface. It brings a warmth--a beauty. You shall see." He laughed his horrible laugh. "That is why we tell the women they should like it here----" They approached the wall. Rokk gazed around. "We are but just in time." In the farther distance beyond the city was a red sheen against the ground. Rokk understood it, though at the moment Leela did not. "Just in time, little woman. I had thought we might better enter by the tunnel under the wall. But that is not necessary."