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The ray Ominous clouds billowed restlessly and low Beneath thements scudded toward the northwest From herTara of Helium looked out upon this unusual scene Dense clouds seldom overcast the Barsoomian sky At this hour of the day it was her custom to ride one of those small thoats that are the saddle ani clouds lured her to a new adventure Uthia still slept and the girl did not disturb her Instead, she dressed quietly and went to the hangar upon the roof of the palace directly above her quarters where her oift flier was housed She had never driven through the clouds It was an adventure that always she had longed to experience The as strong and it ith difficulty that she ar without accident, but once away it raced swiftly out above the twin cities The buffeting winds caught and tossed it, and the girl laughed aloud in sheer joy of the resultant thrills She handled the little ship like a veteran, though few veterans would have faced the ht a craft Swiftly she rose toward the clouds, racing with the scudding streaments, and aabove Here was a neorld, a world of chaos unpeopled except for herself; but it was a cold, da after the novelty of it had been dissipated, by an overpowering sense of theabout her Suddenly she felt very lonely and very cold and very little Hurriedly, therefore, she rose until presently her craft broke through into the glorious sunlight that transfor masses of burnished silver Here it was still cold, but without the dampness of the clouds, and in the eye of the brilliant sun her spirits rose with theat the clouds, now far beneath, the girl experienced the sensation of hanging stationary inof her propellor, the wind beating upon her, the high figures that rose and fell beneath the glass of her speedometer, these told her that her speed was terrific It was then that she determined to turn back

The first attempt she made above the clouds, but it was unsuccessful To her surprise she discovered that she could not even turn against the high wind, which rocked and buffeted the frail craft Then she dropped swiftly to the dark and wind-swept zone between the hurtling clouds and the glooain to force the nose of the flier back toward Heliu and hurled it re it as it were a cork in a cataract At last the girl succeeded in righting the flier, perilously close to the ground Never before had she been so close to death, yet she was not terrified Her coolness had saved her, that and the strength of the deck lashings that held her Traveling with the stor her? She pictured the apprehension of her father anduess that soled o out in search of her, risking their lives; and that lives would be lost in the search, she knew, for she realized now that never in her life-tied upon Barsoom