In the scarlet star

In Short

Published in 1933, Jack Williamson’s science fiction tale follows Jimmy Miles, a wandering electrician who discovers a five-pointed ruby crystal in a pawnshop. Testing it with a battery and coil, he realizes it acts as a fourth-dimensional doorway. Stepping through, he spends years in a lush, prehistoric jungle alongside primitive cave dwellers before returning in what is only a single minute of terrestrial time. Blending classic pulp imagination with early ideas of relativity and alternate dimensions, the story has endured as a charming relic of early speculative fiction.

The Story

In the scorching summer of 1930 in El Paso, a science fiction writer encounters Jimmy Miles, a destitute electrical engineer living in a stifling rented room. Jimmy reveals his prized possession: a massive, five-pointed scarlet crystal star smuggled from a Mexican ruin near Casas Grandes. Believing it to be a fourth-dimensional boundary, he has rigged a makeshift apparatus using dry cells, a Ford coil, and an electron tube to test it. When he passes an empty sardine tin through the crystal, it vanishes into a rosy mist and returns heavily battered and aged, suggesting that time operates differently on the other side.

Determined to make the crossing himself, Jimmy secures funding from the narrator and steps onto the crystal. The narrator activates the circuit for exactly one minute. When the switch is released, Jimmy does not return as a shabby urban youth; instead, he plunges back through the crimson fog as a rugged, bearded savage clad in a raw leopard skin, bearing deep scars and holding a rawhide rope. To Jimmy, years have elapsed in a lush, rainy, primordial world of giant trees, winged reptiles, and savage prehistoric beasts.

Jimmy recounts his years in that alternate realm. Upon arriving, he is terrified by giant winged creatures in the dark jungle until he is rescued by Harr Garr, a hairy, primitive man of the mountains. Unable to speak each other's language fluently, the two form a deep bond of survival, hunting together and enduring the perils of the jungle. Harr Garr seeks a mate from a rival group, eventually winning Tol-ga, a graceful woman whose family fiercely opposes the union. Jimmy lives alongside them, hoping to introduce civilization, but soon realizes that human survival in this young world relies entirely on primitive strength and wit.

The tribe's brutal leader, Kog, tyrannizes the group and attempts to claim Tol-ga while her mate is away. After a violent clash, Kog subdues Harr Garr and sentences him to be crushed under a heavy boulder as a sacrifice to the jungle's dreaded tiger. Refusing to yield, Tol-ga uses a burning pine-knot—discovered when lightning strikes a giant tree—to keep the tiger at bay. She rallies younger tribe members to overthrow Kog, frees Harr Garr from the stone, and casts the tyrant over a cliff. Harr Garr and Tol-ga become the new leaders of the mountain people, bringing the gift of fire to humanity.

Suddenly, while out hunting a prehistoric horse, Jimmy experiences the dizzying sensation of falling and is instantly jerked back through the crystal portal into the El Paso hotel room. Though years have passed for him in the jungle, only sixty seconds have ticked away on Earth. He sits among his modest belongings, transformed into a hardened survivor yet still bound to the strange gateway that bridged two worlds.

How It Unfolds

The meeting in El Paso A struggling electrical engineer named Jimmy Miles shares a cheap meal with a writer in Texas. He reveals a strange, ruby-red, star-shaped crystal acquired from a Mexican pawnshop.

The fourth-dimensional gateway Jimmy constructs a rudimentary electrical apparatus using a Ford coil and batteries. By sending a current through the crystal, he watches objects vanish into a rosy mist and return aged and battered.

The perilous crossing Backed by financial support from the narrator, Jimmy steps onto the crystal for a trial of exactly one minute. He vanishes into the crimson fog, leaving the narrator to anxiously await his return.

Descent into the primeval jungle Jimmy emerges in a warm, rainy world dominated by towering trees and prehistoric monsters. He is quickly enveloped by the massive, hairy arms of a primitive man named Harr Garr.

Forging an unlikely alliance The civilized engineer and the savage warrior spend months together learning to survive. They hunt game, navigate dense jungles, and evade ferocious predators and hostile rival tribes.

Courting under threat Harr Garr pursues Tol-ga, a graceful woman from a rival group, facing fierce opposition from her kin. Jimmy observes their intense devotion while struggling to adapt to an environment where modern tools do not exist.

The tyranny of Kog The brutal tribal leader Kog abuses his power and condemns Harr Garr to a cruel death beneath a heavy boulder. Tol-ga fights back against the tyranny with unmatched courage.

The discovery of fire Lightning shatters an ancient tree, igniting a blaze that keeps the predatory tiger at bay. Tol-ga harnesses the flames, weaponizes them to drive off the beast, and overthrows Kog.

The sudden return While hunting a prehistoric horse years later, Jimmy feels a sudden dizziness. He is violently pulled back through the crystal star into the quiet El Paso hotel room, having aged years in a single minute.

The People

Jimmy Miles is a roving electrical engineer who wants to unlock the secrets of the universe. Impoverished and restless, he risks everything to experiment with the mysterious crystal star, ultimately stepping into an alternate dimension where he is stripped of his modern technology and transformed into a powerful, scarred prehistoric savage who must rely on raw muscle and instinct to survive.

Harr Garr is a massive, hairy mountain man of the alternate world who wants to survive the hazards of the jungle and win a mate. Ignorant of fire or metal, he faces hostile tribe members and brutal leaders, but finds an unexpected kindred spirit in Jimmy. Through mutual loyalty and combat, he ends up defeating the tyrant Kog and becoming the leader of his people.

Tol-ga is a graceful, clear-eyed woman from a rival group who wants to be with Harr Garr. Standing in their way are hostile male relatives and the tyrannical chief Kog, who attempts to claim her. Displaying fierce courage and quick intelligence, she harnesses fire, overthrows Kog, and secures a life of leadership beside her mate.

Kog is the brutish, heavily scarred leader of the mountain tribe who wants absolute control and dominance. Backed by physical strength, he bullies his followers and attempts to steal Tol-ga. His resistance to change and cruelty ultimately lead to his violent downfall when fire and teamwork break his rule.

In Its Own Voice

Reflecting on his desperate financial circumstances while investigating the mysterious star-shaped artifact in a stifling Texas town, Jimmy describes his austere living conditions and strict personal economy:

Dingy little room I have, hot as a furnace.

Describing his initial arrival in the lush, fog-shrouded alternate plane after activating the crystal portal, Jimmy notes the overwhelming scale and height of the primeval vegetation towering overhead:

Above me towered a larger tree than I have ever seen on earth.

Confronting the brutal reality of tribal justice on the young, harsh planet, Jimmy watches as the community enforces its merciless customs upon an unfortunate member:

Shrieking, contorted with pain, his body already turning black and swelling, he was carried to the cave.

What It's Really About

Beneath its pulp adventure exterior, the book explores humanity's fragile relationship with technology and civilization. Jimmy discovers that his advanced knowledge is useless without tools, forcing him to adapt to a brutal, pre-technological existence where survival depends entirely on physical strength, raw instinct, and cooperation. The narrative contrasts the comfort of modern machinery with the primordial realities of early human history. Furthermore, it examines how discovery and progress are driven not by abstract science alone, but by courage, love, and the elemental spark of innovation—symbolized by the mastery of fire and the crossing of unknown dimensional boundaries.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love classic pulp science fiction, imaginative world-building, and briskly paced temporal adventures will find much to enjoy here. Reading the story feels like stepping back into the vibrant, speculative atmosphere of 1930s magazine fiction, where boundless scientific curiosity meets raw prehistoric peril. What stays with you is the striking juxtaposition between a dusty El Paso hotel room and an endless, rainy jungle where human civilization is forged anew from stone and fire.

Modern readers should approach the text with an awareness of its period origins; the prose reflects the vernacular and attitudes of its era, particularly in its depiction of primitive societies and stock characters. Yet, Williamson’s energetic storytelling and vivid descriptions of deep time and alternate dimensions prevent the tale from feeling dry. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the early evolution of science fiction, capturing an era when writers were just beginning to play with the vast implications of relativity, the fourth dimension, and alternate worlds. For anyone curious about the genre's roots or looking for an imaginative, fast-moving adventure featuring a desperate engineer turned cave-dwelling hero, this short novel is a rewarding excursion.