"Yes," Loetta said, reading his mind, "I have even read Kipling. And I like it." As days passed, Captain Hawes became more and more impressed with the power of thought. He found himself conjuring up fancy motor cars from nothing. He could dream of wealth and awaken surrounded by chests filled with gold and precious jewels. Thought had become a tangible substance, and as material as a piece of cheese. His thoughts became so prolific that the people of this land grew fat and comfortable. But continual thinking is not a pleasant occupation for a man of action. The first weeks in the land of the Green Clouds had been full of novelty. Beyond that, only Loetta's presence made the place endurable. But there were times when Loetta was busy and Captain Hawes was left alone to produce thoughts. Life became boring. Thinking no longer was an easy task. When he considered escaping, no one complained of the thought, for it was good food. The only difficulty was that the green clouds devoured his escape plans as fast as he made them. * * * * * Anyhow, the escape looked impossible. Hawes' and Duerkes' parachutes had been taken away from them and a drop to the earth, eight miles straight down, would be quite fatal. Even if the men survived the fall, there was the difficulty of getting started. Gravity seemed absent here as far as the earth was concerned. True, if one jumped up toward the sky, gravity worked as it always had. But if one tried to dive toward the earth, he was pulled back to the clouds just the same. "Anyway, it's a slick arrangement," Hawes decided. Dr. Duerkes shuddered. "How can these people like your hashy thoughts?" he asked. "This mystery would startle the world of science and you dismiss it with the words, 'slick arrangement.'" "Well, maybe it ain't so slick. I'm sort of tired of it. I'd give a lot for a ham sandwich, with mustard." In front of Hawes' eyes a ham sandwich on rye bread, dripping with mustard, appeared. Hawes reached out to grab it, but a green cloud swooped from behind a bush and seized it. "Tut, tut!" chided the green cloud. "You mustn't eat your own thoughts. That's cannibalism." "But I'm hungry," said Captain Hawes. "Then have a ham sandwich on me," said the cloud. In the air in front of Hawes appeared another sandwich, exactly like the first. Hawes reached and seized it. He tasted it. It had a slightly sour taste, as if it were impregnated with ozone, but it was better than nothing. "Swell!" said the captain. "I can't understand it," Duerkes, who also was supplied with a sandwich, moaned. "It's beyond comprehension. This is a different world from ours. There isn't a single law of the universe applicable to it." "It looks pretty logical to me," Hawes said. "These people think concrete thoughts, instead of abstract ones." He turned to the green cloud. "Could you think up an airplane--a stratosphere ship, like the one we rode to get here?" "Easily," the green cloud said.