He climbed the long, gradual slope of a dune; and, after surveying the endless stretch of sand which met his view at the top, slid down the steep side, and crawled doggedly on. Night was falling. The blue dome above him steadily darkened until it began to take on the appearance of his own native sky. He was dead tired within an hour. He lay still for a time, breathing deeply--marshalling his strength. He was in excellent physical condition, but here his body was so heavy that the slightest motion was a strain. Soon, however, his eager spirit drove him onward. At the end of another hour, happening to raise his head, he uttered an involuntary cry. Points of light glimmered in the sky.... So he was to see the stars after all!--though only at night, it seemed. He was relieved. In the back of his mind had been the ever-growing certainty that he would not be able to keep a direct course. He rested again, and picked out certain designs that would be helpful as guides. He wondered if one of them were Loten. They were very dim and they blinked strangely; and their arrangement was meaningless to him. He fixed upon one of them--the brightest--and imagined that it might be _his_ world--where his friends were, and his enemies; where his wives grieved for him perhaps; where his children laughed and played; where he might one day return.... He crawled along through the sand. It was not really dark--only twilight. He wondered if this were night on Toon. It must be. Almost directly ahead of him--just a little to the right--was a radiance close to the horizon. It puzzled him. Soon it was spreading over the sky--a pale, ghostly light. Then a bright point appeared--a line; it grew. He stared in abject wonder while a great, white disk mounted into the sky, illuminating the scene around. He rested a while, and watched it. It was Toon's satellite. It could be nothing else. But beside it the two luminaries of his own world were as pygmies. He was still watching it, fascinated, when he resumed his journey. CHAPTER II. Signs of Life All through the night he travelled; and into the rising sun. The noonday heat forced him to take a prolonged rest, but he fought on as soon as possible; and sunset found him crawling weakly onward. The cool of night revived him somewhat. He knew that the strain under which he labored would hasten his time of sleep, and that worried him. Even now, he was often in a semi-conscious state. Still, he could not stop. When the sun rose again, it shone through trees; and far across the yellow sand his tired eyes saw green hills. The sight invigorated him--spurred him on to stronger efforts. Soon after midday he lay panting in the shade of trees.