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Tom was capable of damaging my arrangements seriously.
    "Stop it," bawled Tom, behind me.
    A man in my path landed a futile blow on my body case as I swept him aside. Before me was the biggest of all the clothcovered erections.
    "Here," I thought, "there will be plenty of room to hide."
    I was wrong. Inside, in a circular space, stood a line of fourfooted animals. They were unlike the others I had met, in that they had no spikes on their heads and were of a much slenderer build, but they were just as primitive. All around, in tier upon tier of rings, sat hundreds of human beings.
    Just a glimpse, I had, and then the animals saw me. They bolted in all directions and shouts of terror arose from the crowd.
    I don't remember clearly what happened to me, but somewhere and somehow in the confusion which followed I found Tom in the act of starting his car. His first glance at me was one of pure alarm, then he seemed to think better of it.
    "Get in," he snapped, "we've got to get clear of this somehow—and quick."
    Although I could make far better speed than that preposterous machine, it seemed better to accompany him than to wander aimlessly.
THE CRASH
    Sadly, that night I gazed up at the red, fourth planet.
    There rolled a world which I could understand, but here, all around me, was chaos, incredible, unreasoning madness.
    With me, in the machine, sat three friends of Tom's whom he had picked up at the last town, and Tom himself who was steering the contraption. I shut my plate off from their thoughts and considered the day I had spent.
    Once he was assured that we were free from pursuit, Tom had said to himself: "Well, I guess that deserves a drink."
    Then he stopped on a part of the hard strip which was bordered by a row of artificial caves.
    Continually, as the day wore on, he led me past gaping crowds into places where every man held a glass of coloured liquid. Strange liquids they were, although men do not value water on the third planet. And each time he proudly showed me to his friends in these places, he came to believe more firmly that he had created me.
    Towards sunset something seemed to go seriously wrong with his machinery. He leaned heavily upon me for support and his voice became as uncertain as his thoughts were jumbled.
    "Anybody comin' my way?" he had inquired at last and at that invitation the other three men had joined us.
    The machine seemed to have become as queer as the men. In the morning it had held a straight line, but now it swayed from side to side, sometimes as though it would leave the track. Each time it just avoided the edge, all four men would break off their continuous wailing sounds to laugh senselessly and loudly.
    It was while I struggled to find some meaning in all this madness that the disaster occurred.
    Another machine appeared ahead. Its lights showed its approach and ours must have been as plain. Then an astounding thing happened. Instead of avoiding one another as would two intelligent machines, the two lumbering masses charged blindly together. Truly this was an insane world.
    There came a rending smash. Our machine toppled over on its side. The other left the hard strip, struck one of the growths at the side of the road and burst into naked flames.
    None of the four men seemed more than a little dazed. As one of them scrambled free, he pointed to the blaze.
    "Thash good bonfire," he said. "Jolly good bonfire. Wonder if anybody'sh inshide?"
    They all reeled over to examine the wreck while I, forgotten, waited for the next imbecility to occur on this nightmare world.
    "It'sh a girl," said Tom's voice.
    One of the others nodded solemnly.
    "I think you're right," he agreed with difficult dignity.
    After an interval, there came the girl's voice.
    "But what shall I do? I'm miles from home."
    "'S'all righ'," said Tom. "Quite all righ'. You come along with me. Nishe fellow I am."
    I could read the intention behind his words—so could the girl.
    There was the sound of a scuffle.
    "No, you