Relieved from the awful strain of their former peril, the voyagers talked and joked boisterously,
"Any points of interest about this dame Venus?" asked Burgoyne flippantly.
"Only this known with any certainty. Venus lies 24,000,000 miles nearer the sun than the earth, her day is forty minutes shorter than ours, and her year only 224 days long; while her diameter is nearly 400 miles less than the earth's. There is an atmosphere of some description, whether breathable or not we shall soon discover. And a few mountains have been noted, but little is known of the surface. Also she has no moons."
"No moons! Thank heaven for that!" cried Burgoyne fervently.
Little by little the reserves of air and oxygen sank steadily nearer to exhaustion. The Neutralia had not yet reached the atmosphere of Venus when their captain announced the end of the seventh hour. Already he spoke, and breathed, with much difficulty. "We are very near the journey's end; in ten minutes we shall be a mere few miles from the surface of Venus. Then either the air is breathable, or" and he left the sentence unfinished.
Now the planet loomed gigantic beneath them, blotting out everything save its vastness. A pleasant-hued world it was, shaded and lit by various markings as of land and water, wherever its surface could be glimpsed between heavy cloud masses. It was so near, but so was extinction; the last breath of oxygen had been released, and in a few moments their lungs would be gasping and strangling for lack of it. The three friends turned dull, fierce eyes on Kobloth; but for him the air supply would have been ample and to spare. From the start he had been their evil genius, and had forced himself upon them. It was but simple justice that he should be sacrificed for the common weal, and he had richly earned his fate. Burgoyne and Flint staggered toward him. Himself gasping and choking, the Austrian read his doom in their eyes, and shrank away from them.
At that moment a shrill shriek, that rose to a loud roaring, filled the Neutralia.
"Stop!" gasped Carscadden. "We are in the atmosphere. We land in a minute!"
The windows whitened and dulled, and ran with steam as the Neutralia fell headlong through the damp cloudy layers, shrieking and glowing with the last remnants of its great pace. Luckily the atmosphere of Venus was extensive and dense and aided in arresting their descent. The roar abated, the windows cleared, and a forest of waving tree-tops was visible beneath. Then with a terrific jar that threatened to loosen every bolt-nut, plate, and rivet, the Neutralia struck the ground, rocked violently a little, and then was at rest.
"The test-tube!" gasped the scientist hoarsely.
"The door—if we die for it!" choked Burgoyne as he swung madly on the lever, and before Carscadden could interfere, Kobloth had staggered to the lever also. The great door swung open, and a blast of damp, dense air, chilly by comparison with the fetid air within the globe, but pure as liquid life to the suffocating men, swept upon their faces. They breathed in gulping inhalations—they breathed and lived!
You will not want to miss the interest-packed chapters that bring this story to an end in next month's WEIRD TALES. Reserve your copy at your magazine dealer's now.
