VOL. IV, No. 3 CONTENTS DECEMBER, 1930 COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI Painted in Oils from a Scene in “The Ape-Men of Xlotli.” SLAVES OF THE DUST SOPHIE WENZEL ELLIS 295 Fate’s Retribution Was Adequate. There Emerged a Rat with a Man’s Head and Face. THE PIRATE PLANET CHARLES W. DIFFIN 310 It is War. Interplanetary War. And on Far-Distant Venus Two Fighting Earthlings Stand Up Against a Whole Planet Run Amuck. (Part Two of a Four-Part Novel.) THE SEA TERROR CAPTAIN S. P. MEEK 336 The Trail of Mystery Gold Leads Carnes and Dr. Bird to a Tremendous Monster of the Deep. GRAY DENIM HARL VINCENT 354 The Blood of the Van Dorn’s Ran in Karl’s Veins. He Rode the Skies Like an Avenging God. THE APE-MEN OF XLOTLI DAVID R. SPARKS 370 A Beautiful Face in the Depths of a Geyser—and Kirby Plunges into a Desperate Mid-Earth Conflict with the Dreadful Feathered Serpent. (A Complete Novelette.) THE READERS’ CORNER ALL OF US 421 A Meeting place for Readers of Astounding Stories.