"I'll come back to you, Jain. Warn my father that this Togarite horde may try to make a rush out, or get out by trickery. Warn him--and make arrangements so that he can distinguish you Mitans from the Togarites. Then, in small parties, we will go out." Drake, Ahlma, and Alt started upon their journey. They went swiftly. Thousands of miles, perhaps, from Dianne and me at the beginning. Like us, they got safely ahead of the Togarites. At one stage they sighted a Togaro party, but managed to avoid and pass it without being discovered. The dwindling space near the top brought them in our vicinity. They were standing on the caldron rim, and saw our black and white flag as I tentatively waved it for Dianne. They waved their own. We were cautious approaching one another, each suspecting an enemy ruse. But we came together at last. Reunion! The five of us here, with all the Togarites presumably behind us; and father and the safety of our blessed earth close overhead. It seemed, with Drake and Alt here with me--with Ahlma and Dianne babbling news of what had happened to each other--that all our dangers were at an end. It was an inexpressible relief. We grew out of the caldron into the space above, the huge familiar valley. I remembered it; but it seemed rather darker now than it had been before. With our flags out, we stood expanding. Above this valley was the upper surface of the rock fragment. Once we got up there to the summit, father would see us. I wondered if he would be on guard. Or Foley? Or the other man--Ransome--whom we employed? It had only been a few days since Alt and I left here. Days? The events which had crowded them made them seem months to my memory. The valley shrank and closed in upon us. A pit now. "Drake, shall we climb out? Or wait a little longer?" It seemed best for us to start climbing. It was no more than a hundred feet up. Easy enough, with us three men to help the girls. We scrambled up the rocky slope. We were halfway up when it had dwindled so that the upper rim was barely ten feet above us. There was light up there, and vague, blurred shadows of form in the hazy sky. "Jump, Dianne. Here, I've got you." We scrambled out of the closing pit, and stood a moment expanding upon the upper surface. Jagged rock spires were around us, a broken area of crags upon the summit of the rock. A few acres up here, and down over an abyss was the surface of the granite slab. The scene shrank further, and then the last drug we had taken ceased its action. We stood on a narrow, jagged peak of rock. A slope led down beside us to a broad, undulating plain. It was only ten feet down. Alt stood with the girls. Drake and I were together, waving our flags. We saw things dimly at first--the brighter light up here confused us. "Frank, you think he sees us?" "What is that, off there?"