TOO MUCH STATIC

Myles Cabot had returned to the earth to study the latest of modern science for the of the Cupian nation. He was the of Cupia the of his son, King Kew the Thirteenth. The Prince Toron the in his absence. The last of the ant-men and their ally, the Cupian Prince Yuri, had in an attempt to by through the steam-clouds which in Poros. What the no man knew.

During his on my farm, Cabot had the matter-transmitting apparatus, with which he had himself off into space on that October night on which he had the message from the skies: “S O S, Lilla.” A had been all that evening, and just as Myles had himself the of his machine and had up the which ran from his to the apparatus, there had come a flash. Lightning had his aerial.

How long his he not. He was some time in his senses. But when he had and recovered, he himself on a beach a and a sky.

He to wondering, and pleasantly, where he was and how he had got here.

Suddenly, however, his ears were by a familiar sound. At once his cleared, and he to the of a motor. Yes, there be no mistake; an was approaching. Now he see it, a in the sky, the beach.

Nearer and nearer it came.

Myles to his feet. To his surprise, he that the him a into the air. Instantly the idea through his mind: “I must be on Mars! Or some other planet.” This idea was of something.

But while he was trying to catch this train of thought, his attention was by the that, for some reason, his and most of the which had his together were missing, so that his came to pieces as he rose, and that he had to it in order to avoid his movements. He at the of this.

But his were cut by the of the plane a hundred yards the beach.

What was his when out of it clambered, not men but ants! Ants, six-footed, and six high. Huge ants, four of them, toward him over the sands.

Gone was all his languor, as he a piece of and prepared to himself.

As he thus expectant, Myles that his present position and condition, the scenery, and the of the ant-men were exactly, item for item, like the opening events of his on the Poros. He one of the ant-men as old Doggo, who had him on his previous visit.

Could it be that all his in Cupia had been but a dream; a dream, in fact? Were his dear wife Lilla and his little son Kew of his imagination? Horrible thought!

And then events to differ from those of the past; for the three other Formians halted, and Doggo alone. By the of the beast’s the earth man see that it was talking to him. But Myles no longer the which he had and his previous visit to that planet, so as to talk with Cupians and Formians, of which are and by means of from their antennae.

So he up two from the beach, and them from his forehead; then them to the ground with a of and pointed to his ears.

Doggo understood, and with his in Cupian on the the message: “Myles Cabot, you are our prisoner.”

“What, again?” Myles, then a of submission.

He the bite which Formians to their victims, and which he had twice in the past; but, fortunately, it was not now forthcoming.

The other three away from him as Doggo him to the airplane, and soon they were along skies, as it later out.

Far them were silver-green and woods, with and little ponds.

This was Cupia, his Cupia. He was home once more, again upon the which all that was dear to him in two worlds.

His with the of homecoming. What it that he was now a prisoner, in the hands (or, rather, claws) of his old enemies, the Formians? He had been their before, and had escaped. Once more he escape, and the Princess Lilla.

Poor girl! How he was to her side, and save her from that peril, it was, which had her to that “S O S” a hundred miles across the from Poros to the earth.

He what have in Cupia since his departure, only a ago. How was it that the ant-men had their across the seas? What had them to return? Or these were a group who had and thus had the of their race. In either event, how had they been able to Cupia? And where was their leader, Yuri, the Cupian prince?

These and a hundred other questions in upon the earth-man, as the Formian him, a captive, through the skies.

He again at the below, and now noted one from the Porovian landscape, for ran the which the two-wheeled of the Cupians to all parts of their continent. What of Cupia this be, over which they were now passing?

Turning to Doggo, Myles his left palm, and a motion as though on it with the thumb and of his right hand. But the ant-man a negative with one of his forepaws. It was that there were no materials the ship. Myles would have to wait until they their landing place; for they would soon in some city or town, though just which one he not guess, as the country was unfamiliar.

Finally a small settlement ahead. It was of the familiar of toy-building-block by the ant-men, and, from its appearance, was very new. On its operations were in progress. Apparently a of the of Formians were their position and attempting to up a new in some out-of-the-way of the continent.

As the earth-man was these over in his mind the plane settled upon one of the roofs, and its disembarked. Three of the toward Myles, but Doggo them off. Then all of the party one of the to the of the building.

Narrow window openings gave onto courtyards, where played and of and yellow flowers bloomed, gray-branched with red and twig-knobs. It was in just such a garden, through just such a window, that he had looked upon the blue-eyed, golden-haired Lilla, Crown Princess of Cupia.

The earth-man sighed. Where was his wife now? That she needed his help was certain. He must therefore busy. So once again he of on the of his left hand with the thumb and of his right; and this time the language produced results, for Doggo the and Cabot into a room.

It was a plain room, of any a small table, for ant-men have no use for chairs and couches. The sky was already to with the sun.

With a of his paw, Doggo that this was to be Cabot’s quarters. Then, with another wave, he pointed to the table, where a of paper and stylus, not a pencil-like as by the Cupians, but one with for attaching it to the of a Formian.

Even so, it was than nothing. The earth-man it eagerly, but he an entered a Cupian toga, short-sleeved and with Grecian designs in blue. Myles put on this garment, and then a with questions:

“How is my and my son, the king? Whence come all you Formians, I had been exterminated? What part of Cupia is this? What is this city? Where is Prince Yuri? And what do you to do with me this time?”

Then he passed the paper and over to his old friend Doggo. They were alone together at last.

The ant-man’s reply after of paper; but, owning to the of Porovian shorthand, did not take so very much more time than speaking would have required. As he each he passed it over to Myles, who read as follows:

“As to your and your son, I know not, for this is not Cupia. Do you how, when your army and air to the southern of what had been Formia, a of our rose in from the of our last and the of the steam clouds which the seas? Our leader was Prince Yuri, for the of Cupia, in defeat.

“It was his brain that our plan of escape. If there were other lands the seas, the lands which were the of the Cupian race, then there we might and up a new empire. At the we should meet death in another form, than at your hands. So we essayed.

“Your us, but as we the area of heat. Soon the closed over us, our and our native land from view.”

For page after page Doggo, the ant-man, related the of that across the seas, with the words:

“Here we are, and here are you, in Yuriana, of New Formia. But how is it that you, Myles Cabot, have here on this in the same manner and condition in which I you in old Formia eight years ago?”

When Myles the end of reading this narrative, he in turn took the and and related how he had gone to the Minos (which we call the Earth) to learn the latest and there, and how his calculations for his return to Poros had been by some just as he had been about to himself back. Oh, if only he had by upon the same beach as on his through the skies!

Wisely he from the “S O S” message from Lilla. But his of her him to be about her rescue.

His problem was to learn what the ant-men planned for him; so the which he upon the were: “And, now that you have me in your power, what shall you do with me?”

“Old friend,” Doggo in reply, “that upon Yuri, our king, you now have on.”