Here and there above their heads were numerous air-ships darting about, while an occasional war-ship making signals to its confrères scattered abroad long streaks of light of every colour of the rainbow. There was no moon visible, so the sky was dotted with innumerable stars, among which Jupiter and Mars were shining brightly, and in the far distance was Sirius gleaming angrily amidst a crowd of lesser lights. Flora shuddered somewhat when she noticed his threatening glare, and the slight tremor that passed over her limbs attracted the notice of Alec Brandon, and he, following the direction of her gaze, divined the cause of her alarm.
'Our only rival to universal dominion,' he said somewhat anxiously, and then he put her into an air-ship and returned with her to her father's house.
The hours of the night fled on, but although everything without the city, with the exception of the ever arriving and departing interstellar ships, seemed to de-
