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diff --git a/old/25780.txt b/old/25780.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9216a9a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/25780.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8295 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Fire People, by Ray Cummings + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Fire People + + +Author: Ray Cummings + + + +Release Date: June 13, 2008 [eBook #25780] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIRE PEOPLE*** + + +E-text prepared by Greg Weeks, Christina, and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 25780-h.htm or 25780-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/7/8/25780/25780-h/25780-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/7/8/25780/25780-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + This e-text was produced from _Argosy All-Story Weekly_, + October 21 and 28 and November, 4, 11, and 18, 1922. + + + + + +THE FIRE PEOPLE + +by + +RAY CUMMINGS + +Author of "The Golden Atom," etc. + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I. THE COMING OF THE LIGHT. + CHAPTER II. THE UNKNOWN ENEMY. + CHAPTER III. THE LANDING OF THE INVADERS. + CHAPTER IV. THE MEETING. + CHAPTER V. CAPTURED! + CHAPTER VI. MIELA. + CHAPTER VII. THE MERCUTIAN CAMP. + CHAPTER VIII. THE ESCAPE. + CHAPTER IX. FUTILE ATTACKS. + CHAPTER X. MIELA'S STORY. + CHAPTER XI. TO SAVE THE WORLD. + CHAPTER XII. THE LANDING ON MERCURY. + CHAPTER XIII. THE CAPTIVE EARTH-MAN. + CHAPTER XIV. THE RULER OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY. + CHAPTER XV. THE MOUNTAIN CONCLAVE. + CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRE PLANET. + CHAPTER XVII. THE FIGHT AT THE BAYOU. + CHAPTER XVIII. REVOLUTION. + CHAPTER XIX. THE NEW RULER. + CHAPTER XX. IN THE TWILIGHT COUNTRY. + CHAPTER XXI. ANOTHER LIGHT-RAY! + CHAPTER XXII. THE THEFT OF THE LIGHT-RAY. + CHAPTER XXIII. THE STROM. + CHAPTER XXIV. THE WATER CITY. + CHAPTER XXV. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. + CHAPTER XXVI. THE BATTLE. + CHAPTER XXVII. THE SIEGE OF THE LONE CITY. + CHAPTER XXVIII. THE END OF TAO. + CHAPTER XXIX. THE RETURN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +THE COMING OF THE LIGHT. + + +The first of the new meteors landed on the earth in November, 1940. It was +discovered by a farmer in his field near Brookline, Massachusetts, shortly +after daybreak on the morning of the 11th. Astronomically, the event was +recorded by the observatory at Harvard as the sudden appearance of what +apparently was a new star, increasing in the short space of a few hours +from invisibility to a power beyond that of the first magnitude, and then +as rapidly fading again to invisibility. This star was recorded by two of +the other great North American observatories, and by one in the Argentine +Republic. That it was comparatively small in mass and exceedingly close to +the earth, even when first discovered, was obvious. All observers agreed +that it was a heavenly body of an entirely new order. + +The observatory at Harvard supplemented its account by recording the +falling, just before dawn of the 11th, of an extraordinarily brilliant +meteor that flamed with a curious red and green light as it entered the +earth's atmosphere. This meteor did not burn itself out, but fell, still +retaining its luminosity, from a point near the zenith, to the horizon. + +What the farmer saw was a huge fire burning near the center of his field. +It was circular in form and about thirty feet in diameter. He was +astonished to see it there, but what surprised him more was its peculiar +aspect. + +It was still the twilight of dawn when he reached the field. He beheld the +fire first from a point several hundred yards away. As he explained it, +the light--for it was more aptly described as a light than a +fire--extended in parallel rays from the ground directly upward into the +sky. He could see no line of demarkation where it ended at the top. It +seemed to extend into the sky an infinite distance. It was, in fact, as +though an enormous searchlight were buried in his field, casting its beam +of light directly upward. + +But more than all this, the farmer was struck by the extraordinary color +of the light. At the base it was a deep, solid green. This green color +extended upward for perhaps fifty feet, then it shaded into red. The +farmer noticed, too, that the fire did not leap and dance with flames, but +seemed rather to glow--a steady light like the burning of colored powder. +In the morning half-light it threw a weird, unearthly reddish-green glow +over the field. + +The farmer approached to within twenty feet of the light. He looked to see +what was burning, but could not determine, for the greenish base extended +directly down into the ground. He noticed also that it gave out +extraordinarily little heat. The morning was not exceptionally cold, yet +he stood within twenty feet of the fire without discomfort. + +I was on the staff of the Boston _Observer_ at this time. I reached +Brookline about noon of the 11th of November, and went directly to the +field where the fire was burning. Nearly a thousand people were there, +watching. + +By daylight the fire still held its green and red color, although its +light was much less intense. It held its characteristic shape. Though +clearly definable, under the rays of the sun it became quite transparent. +Looking through it, I could see plainly the crowd of people on the farther +side of the field. The effect was similar to looking through a faintly +tinted glass, except that now I noticed that the light had a sort of +crawling motion, like the particles of a heavy fog. The fire came from a +hole in the ground; by daylight now the hole could be seen plainly. + +For some moments I stood silent, awestruck by this extraordinary +spectacle. Then a man standing beside me remarked that there was no smoke. +I had not thought of that before, but it was true--indeed, the fire +appeared phosphorescent. + +"Let's get up closer," said the man beside me. + +Together we walked to within ten feet of the outer edge of the fire. We +could feel its heat now, although it was not uncomfortable except when it +beat directly on our faces. Standing so close, we could see down into the +hole from which the light emanated. + +Lying at the bottom of the hole, perhaps ten feet below the surface, I saw +the jagged top of an enormous gray sphere, burned and pitted. This was the +meteor--nearly thirty feet in diameter--that in its fall had buried itself +deep in the loam of the field. + +As we stood there looking down into the hole some one across from us +tossed in a ball of paper. It seemed to hang poised a moment, then it +shriveled up, turned black, and floated slowly down until it rested on top +of the sphere. + +Some one else threw a block of wood about a foot long into the hole. I +could see it as it struck the top of the sphere. It lay there an instant; +then it, too, turned black and charred, but it did not burst into flame. + +The man beside me plucked at my sleeve. "Why don't it burn?" he asked. + +I shook myself loose. + +"How should I know?" I answered impatiently. + +I found myself trembling all over with an unreasoning fear, for there was +something uncanny about the whole affair. I went back to Brookline soon +after that to send in the story and do some telephoning. When I got back +to the field I saw a man in front of me carrying a pail of water. I fell +into step beside him. + +"What do you suppose it'll do?" he asked as we walked along. + +"God knows," I answered. "Try it." + +But when we got down into the field we found the police authorities in +charge. The crowd was held back now in a circle, a hundred yards away from +the light. After some argument we got past the officials, and, followed by +two camera men and a motion-picture man who bobbed up from nowhere, walked +out across the cleared space toward the light. We stopped about six or +eight feet from the edge of the hole; the heat was uncomfortably intense. + +"I'll make a dash for it," said the man with the pail. + +He ran forward a few steps, splashed the water into the light, and hastily +retreated. As the water struck the edge of the light there came a roar +like steam escaping under tremendous pressure; a great cloud of vapor +rolled back over us and dissolved. When the air cleared I saw that the +light, or the fire of this mysterious agency, was unchanged. The water +dashed against it had had absolutely no effect. + +It was just after this incident that the first real tragedy happened. One +of the many quadruplanes that had been circling over the field during the +afternoon passed directly over the light at an altitude of perhaps three +thousand feet. We saw it sail away erratically, as though its pilot no +longer had it under control. Then it suddenly burst into flame and came +quivering down in a long, lengthening spiral of smoke. + +That night the second of the meteors landed on the earth. It fell near +Juneau, Alaska, and was accompanied by the same phenomena as the one we +were watching. The reports showed it to be slightly smaller in size than +the Brookline meteor. It burned brightly during the day of November 12. +On the morning of the 13th wireless reports from Alaska stated that it had +burned out during the previous night. + +Meanwhile the light at Brookline was under constant surveillance. It +remained unchanged in all respects. + +The next night it rained--a heavy, pelting downpour. For a mile or more +around the field the hissing of steam could be heard as the rain struck +the light. The next morning was clear, and still we saw no change in the +light. + +Then, a week later, came the cold spell of 1940. Surpassing in severity +the winters of 1888 and 1918, it broke all existing records of the Weather +Bureau. The temperature during the night of November 20, at Brookline, +fell to thirty degrees below zero. During this night the fire was seen to +dwindle gradually in size, and by morning it was entirely extinguished. + +No other meteors fell that winter; and, as their significance remained +unexplained, public interest in them soon died out. The observatories at +Harvard, Flagstaff, Cordoba, and the newer one on Table Mountain, near +Cape Town, all reported the appearance of several new stars, flaring into +prominence for a few hours and visible just after sunset and before dawn, +on several nights during November. But these published statements were +casually received and aroused only slight general comment. + +Then, in February, 1941, came the publication of Professor Newland's +famous theory of the Mercutian Light--as the fire was afterward known. +Professor Newland was at this time the foremost astronomer in America, and +his extraordinary theory and the predictions he made, coming from so +authoritative a source, amazed and startled the world. + +His paper, couched in the language of science, was rewritten to the public +understanding and published in the newspapers of nearly every country. It +was an exhaustive scientific deduction, explaining in theory the origin of +the two meteors that had fallen to earth two months before. + +In effect Professor Newland declared that the curious astronomical +phenomena of the previous November--the new "stars" observed, the two +meteors that had fallen with their red and green light-fire--were all +evidence of the existence of intelligent life on the planet Mercury. + +I give you here only the more important parts of the paper as it was +rewritten for the public prints: + + ... I am therefore strongly inclined to accept the theory advanced by + Schiaparelli in 1882, in which he concluded that Mercury rotates on + its axis once in eighty-eight days. Now, since the sidereal revolution + of Mercury, _i.e._, its complete revolution around the sun, occupies + only slightly under eighty-eight days, the planet always presents the + same face to the sun. On that side reigns perpetual day; on the + other--the side presented to the earth as Mercury passes us--perpetual + night. + + The existence of an atmospheric envelope on Mercury, to temper the + extremes of heat and cold that would otherwise exist on its light and + dark hemispheres, seems fairly certain. If there were no atmosphere on + the planet, temperatures on that face toward the sun would be + extraordinarily high--many hundred degrees hotter than the boiling + point of water. + + Quite the other extreme would be the conditions on the dark side, for + without the sheltering blanket of an atmosphere, this surface must be + exposed to the intense cold of interplanetary space. + + I have reason to believe, however, particularly from my deductions + made in connection with the photographs taken during the transit of + Mercury over the face of the sun on November 11 last, that there does + exist an atmosphere on this planet--an atmosphere that appears to be + denser and more cloudy than our own. I am led to this conclusion by + other evidence that has long been fairly generally accepted as fact. + The terminating edge of the phases of Mercury is not sharp, but + diffuse and shaded--there is here an atmospheric penumbra. The + spectroscope also shows lines of absorption, which proves that Mercury + has a gaseous envelope thicker than ours. + + This atmosphere, whatever may be its nature I do not assume, tempers + the heat and cold on Mercury to a degree comparable to the earth. But + I do believe that it makes the planet--on its dark face + particularly--capable of supporting intelligent life of some form. + + Mercury was in transit over the face of the sun on November 11, of + last year, within a few hours of the time the first meteor fell to + earth. The planet was therefore at one of her closest points to the + earth, and--this is significant--was presenting her _dark face_ toward + us. + + At this time several new "stars" were reported, flashing into + brilliancy and then fading again into obscurity. All were observed in + the vicinity of Mercury; none appeared elsewhere. I believe these + so-called "stars" to be some form of interplanetary vehicle--probably + navigated in space by beings from Mercury. And from them were launched + the two meteors that struck our planet. How many others were + dispatched that may have missed their mark we have no means of + determining. + + The days around November 11 last, owing to the proximity of Mercury to + the earth, were most favorable for such a bombardment. A similar time + is now once more almost upon us! + + Because of the difference in the velocities of Mercury and the earth + in their revolutions around the sun, one synodic revolution of + Mercury, _i.e._, from one inferior conjunction to the next, requires + nearly one hundred and sixteen days. In eighty-eight days Mercury has + completed her sidereal revolution, but during that time the earth has + moved ahead a distance requiring twenty-eight days more before she can + be overtaken. + + After the first week in March of this year therefore Mercury will + again be approaching inferior conjunction, and again will pass at her + closest point to the earth. + + We may expect at this time another bombardment of a severity that may + cause tremendous destruction, or destroy entirely life on this planet! + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +THE UNKNOWN ENEMY. + + +When, in February, 1941, Professor James Newland issued this remarkable +statement, my paper sent me at once to interview him. He was at this time +at the head of the Harvard observatory staff. He lived with his son and +daughter in Cambridge. His wife was dead. I had been acquainted with the +professor and his family for some time. I first met his son, Alan, during +our university days at Harvard. We liked each other at once, and became +firm friends--possibly because we were such opposite physical types, as +sometimes happens. + +Alan was tall, lean and muscular--an inch or so over six feet--with the +perfect build of an athlete. I am dark; Alan was blond, with short, curly +hair, and blue eyes. His features were strong and regular. He was, in +fact, one of the handsomest men I have ever seen. And yet he acted as +though he didn't know it--or if he did, as though he considered it a +handicap. I think what saved him was his ingenious, ready smile, and his +retiring, unassuming--almost diffident--manner. + +At the time of the events I am describing Alan was twenty-two--about two +years younger than I. It was his first year out of college. He had taken a +scientific course and intended to join his father's staff. + +Beth and Alan were twins. I was tremendously interested in Beth even then. +She seemed one of the most worth-while girls I had ever met. She was a +little wisp of femininity, slender and delicate, hardly more than five +feet one or two. She had beautiful golden hair and an animated, pretty +face, with a pert little snub nose. She was a graduate of Vassar, and +planned to take up chemistry as a profession, for she had the same +scientific bent as her father and brother. + +I called upon Professor Newland the evening of the day his statement was +published, and found all three discussing it. + +"You want me to talk for publication, don't you, Bob Trevor?" the +professor asked suddenly, after we had exchanged a few pleasantries. + +He was a wiry little man, about sixty, smooth-shaven, with sparse gray +hair, a rugged face of strong character, and a restless air of energy +about him. He was an indefatigable worker; indeed, I am confident that, +for any single continuous period of work without sleep, he could have run +Alan and me into the ground and still have been comparatively fresh. + +"You want an exclusive follow-up story from me to-night, don't you?" he +repeated. + +I admitted that I did. + +"What you'll get won't be just what you expect. Look at this." + +He pulled one of the evening papers toward him vigorously. "They think it +is humorous. There--read that." + +The item to which he pointed was a sprightly account of the weird beings +that might shortly arrive from Mercury. + +"They think it's a joke--some of them. There's another--read that." + +The attitude of the press was distinctly an inclination to treat the +affair from the humorous side. I had seen indications of that during the +day at the office. + +"Look here, Bob"--the professor swept all the papers aside with his hand. +"You put it to them this way. Make them see this is not a prediction of +the end of the world. We've had those before--nobody pays any attention to +them, and rightly so. But this Mercutian Light is more than a theory--it's +a fact. We fought it last November, and we'll have to fight it again next +month. That's what I want to make them realize." + +"They'll think it is worth being serious about," Alan put in, "if one of +those lights drop into Boston or New York--especially if it happens to +play in a horizontal direction instead of vertical." + +We went into the whole subject thoroughly, and the professor gave me a +second signed statement in which he called upon the nations of the world +to prepare for the coming peril. + +The actual characteristics of the Mercutian Light we had discussed before +several times. A good deal had been printed about it during the previous +December--without, as I have said, attracting much public attention. The +two meteors had been examined. They were found to be of a mineral that +could have originated on Mercury. They were burned and pitted like other +meteorites by their passage through the earth's atmosphere. + +Of the light itself Professor Newland had already given his opinion. It +was, he said, some unknown form of etheric vibration. It radiated heat +very slightly, but it had the peculiarity of generating intense heat in +anything it touched directly. + +"You'd better explain that, father," said Beth, when we reached this point +in our summary that evening. + +"Heat is the vibration of molecules of matter," the professor began. + +I nodded. + +"Make it clear when you write it up, Bob," Alan put in. "It's like this. +All molecules are in motion--the faster the motion, the hotter the +substance, and vice versa." + +"And this Mercutian Light," Beth added, "has the power of enormously +increasing the molecular vibration of anything it comes in contact with--" + +"But it doesn't radiate much heat itself," Alan finished. + +Professor Newland smiled. "The old man doesn't have much of a show, does +he?" + +Alan sat down somewhat abashed, but Beth remained standing beside her +father, listening intently to everything he said. + +"This light I conceive to be the chief weapon of warfare of the +Mercutians," the professor went on. "There has been some talk of those two +meteors being signals. That's all nonsense. They were not signals--they +were missiles. It was an act of aggression." + +I tried to get him to give some idea of what the inhabitants of Mercury +might be like, for that was what my editor chiefly desired. + +At first he would say nothing along those lines. + +"That is pure speculation," he explained. "And very easy speculation, too. +Any one can allow his imagination to run wild and picture strange beings +of another world. I don't predict they will actually land on the +earth--and I have no idea what they will look like if they do land. As a +matter of fact, they will probably look very much like ourselves. I see no +reason to doubt it." + +"Like us?" I ejaculated. + +"Why not?" said Alan. "Conditions on Mercury are not fundamentally +different from here. We don't have to conceive any very extraordinary sort +of being to fill them." + +"Here's what you can tell your paper," said the professor abruptly. "Take +it down." + +I took out my notebook, and he dictated briskly. + +"Regarding the possible characteristics of inhabitants of Mercury, it is +my conception that intelligent life--let us say, human life--wherever it +exists in our universe does not greatly differ in character from that of +our own planet. Mars, Venus, Mercury, even Neptune, are relatively close. +I believe the Creator has constructed all human life on the same general +plan. + +"I believe that, being neighbors--if I may be permitted the expression--it +is intended that intercourse between the planets should take place. That +we have been isolated up to the present time is only because of our +ignorance--our inability to bridge the gap. I believe that migration, +friendship, commerce, even war, between the inhabitants of different +planets of our solar system was intended by Almighty God--and, in good +time, will come to pass. + +"This is not science; and yet science does not contradict it, in my +opinion. Human life on Mercury, Venus or Mars may need bodies taller, +shorter, heavier, lighter, more fragile or more solid than ours. The +organs will differ from ours, perhaps, but not materially so. The senses +will be the same. + +"In a word, I believe that nearly all the range of diversity of human life +existing on any of the planets exists now on this earth, or has existed in +the past, or will exist in the future through our own development, or at +most the differences would not be greater than a descent into our animal +kingdom would give us. + +"Mercutians may have the sense of smell developed to the point of a dog; +the instinct of direction of the homing pigeon; the eyes of a cat in the +dark, or an owl in the light; but I cannot conceive of them being so +different that similar illustrations would not apply. + +"I believe the Creator intends intercourse of some kind, friendly or +unfriendly, to take place between the worlds. As China was for centuries, +so for eons we of this earth have been isolated. That time is past. The +first act was one of aggression. Let us wait for the next calmly but +soberly, with full realization of the danger. For we may be--indeed, I +think we are--approaching the time of greatest peril that human life on +this earth has ever had to face!" + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +THE LANDING OF THE INVADERS. + + +March 8, 1941, was the date at which Mercury was again to be in inferior +conjunction--at her closest point to the earth since her transit over the +face of the sun on November 11 of the previous year. During +February--after Professor Newland's statements--the subject received a +tremendous amount of publicity. Some scientific men rallied to Professor +Newland's support; others scouted the idea as absurd. + +Officially, the governments of the world ignored the matter entirely. In +general, the press, editorially, wrote in a humorous vein, conjuring up +many ridiculous possibilities of what was about to happen. The public +followed this lead. It was amused, interested to a degree; but, as a mass, +neither apprehensive nor serious--only curious. + +In some parts of the earth--among the smaller Latin nations +particularly--some apprehension was felt. But even so, no one knew what to +do about it--where to go to avoid the danger--for the attack, if it came +at all, was as likely to strike one country as another. + +The first week in March arrived with public interest steadily increasing. +Mercury, always difficult of observation, presented no spectacle for the +public gaze and imagination to feed upon. But, all over the world, there +were probably more eyes turned toward the setting and rising sun during +that week than ever had been turned there before. + +Professor Newland issued no more statements after that evening I have +described. He was taken with a severe cold in the latter part of February, +and as Beth was in delicate health and did not stand the Northern winters +well, the whole family left for a few months' stay at their bungalow home +in Florida. They were quite close to the little village of Bay Head, on +the Gulf coast. I kept in communication with them there. + +The 8th of March came and passed without a report from any part of the +earth of the falling of the Mercutian meteors. Satirical comment in the +press doubled. There was, indeed, no scientific report of any unusual +astronomical phenomena, except from the Harvard observatory the following +morning. There Professor Newland's assistant, Professor Brighton, stated +he had again observed a new "star"--an interplanetary vehicle, as +Professor Newland described it. Only a single one had been observed this +time. It was seen just before dawn of the 9th. + +Then, about 4 P.M., Atlantic time, on the afternoon of the 9th, the world +was electrified by the report of the landing of invaders in the United +States. The news came by wireless from Billings, Montana. An +interplanetary vehicle of huge size had landed on the desert in the +Shoshone River district of northern Wyoming, west of the Big Horn +Mountains. + +This strange visitor--it was described as a gleaming, silvery object +perhaps a hundred feet in diameter--had landed near the little Mormon +settlement of Byron. The hope that its mission might be friendly was +dispelled even in the first report from Billings. The characteristic red +and green light-fire had swept the country near by--a horizontal beam this +time--and the town of Byron was reported destroyed, and in all likelihood +with the loss of its entire population. + +The Boston _Observer_ sent me to Billings almost immediately by +quadruplane. I arrived there about eight o'clock on the evening of the +10th. The city was in a turmoil. Ranchers from the neighboring cattle +country thronged its streets. A perfect exodus of people--Mormons and oil +men from Shoshone country, almost the entire populations of Cody, Powell, +Garland, and other towns near the threatened section, the Indians from the +Crow Reservation at Frannie--all were streaming through Billings. + +The Wyoming State Airplane Patrol, gathered in a squadron by orders from +Cheyenne, occasionally passed overhead, flashing huge white searchlights. +I went immediately to the office of the Billings _Dispatch_. It was so +crowded I could not get in. From what I could pick up among the excited, +frightened people of Billings, and the various bulletins that the +_Dispatch_ had sent out during the day, the developments of the first +twenty-four hours of Mercutian invasion were these: + +Only a single "vehicle"--we called it that for want of a better name--had +landed. Airplane observation placed its exact position on the west bank of +the Shoshone River, about four miles southwest of Byron and the same +distance southeast of Garland. The country here is typically that of the +Wyoming desert--sand and sagebrush--slightly rolling in some places, with +occasional hills and buttes. + +The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad runs down its spur from the +Northern Pacific near Billings, passes through the towns of Frannie--near +the border of Montana and Wyoming--and Garland, and terminates at Cody. +This line, running special trains throughout the day, had brought up a +large number of people. During the afternoon a bomb of some kind--it was +vaguely described as a variation of the red and green light-rays--had +destroyed one of the trains near Garland. The road was now open only down +to Frannie. + +The town of Byron, I learned, was completely annihilated. It had been +swept by the Mercutian Light and destroyed by fire. Garland was as yet +unharmed. There was broken country between it and the Mercutian invaders, +and the rays of the single light which they were using could not reach it +directly. + +Such, briefly, was the situation as I found it that evening of the 10th. +In Billings we were sixty-five miles north of the Mercutian landing place. +What power for attack and destruction the enemy had, we had no means of +determining. How many of them there were; how they could travel over the +country; what the effective radius of their light-fire was; the nature of +the "bomb" that had destroyed the train on the C., B. and Q. near the town +of Garland--all those were questions that no one could answer. + +Billings was, during those next few days, principally a gathering place +and point of departure for refugees. Yet, so curiously is the human mind +constituted, underneath all this turmoil the affairs of Billings went on +as before. The stores did not close; the Billings _Dispatch_ sent out its +reports; the Northern Pacific trains from east and west daily brought +their quota of reporters, picture men and curiosity seekers, and took away +all who had sense enough to go. The C., B. and Q. continued running trains +to Frannie--which was about fifteen miles from the Mercutian landing +place--and many of the newspaper men, most of those, in fact, who did not +have airplanes, went there. + +That first evening in Billings, Rolland Mercer--a chap about my own age, +who had brought me from the East in one of the Boston _Observer's_ +planes--and I, decided on a short flight about the neighboring country to +look the situation over. We started about midnight, a crisp, cloudless +night with no moon. We had been warned against venturing into the danger +zone; several of the Wyoming patrol and numbers of private planes had been +seen to fall in flames when the light struck them. + +We had no idea what the danger zone was--how close we dared go--but +decided to chance it. To fly sufficiently high for safety directly over +the Mercutians appeared difficult, since the light-fire already had proven +effective at a distance of several miles at least. We decided not to +attempt that, but merely to follow the course of the C., B. and Q. +southwest to Cody, then to circle around to the east, and thence back +north to Billings, passing well to the east of the Mercutians. + +We started, as I have said, about midnight, rising from the rolling +prairie back of Billings. We climbed five hundred feet and, with our +searchlight playing upon the ground beneath, started directly for Frannie. +We passed over Frannie at about eight hundred feet, and continued on the +C., B. and Q. line toward Garland. We had decided to pass to a +considerable extent to the west of Garland, to be farther away from the +danger, and then to strike down to Cody. + +We were flying now at a speed close to a hundred and forty miles an hour. +Off to the left I could see the red and green beam of the single light of +the Mercutians; it was pointing vertically up into the air, motionless. +Something--I do not know what--made me decide to turn off our searchlight. + +I looked behind us. Some miles away, and considerably nearer the +Mercutians than we were, I saw the light of another plane. I was watching +it when suddenly the red and green beam swung toward it, and a moment +later picked it up. I caught a fleeting glimpse of what I took to be a +little biplane. It remained for an instant illuminated by the weird red +and green flare; then the Mercutian Light swung back to its vertical +position. A second later the biplane burst into flames and fell. + +The thing left me shuddering. I turned our searchlight permanently off and +sat staring down at the shadowy country scurrying away beneath us. + +Mercer had evidently not seen this tragedy. He did not look at me, but +kept facing the front. We were now somewhat to the west of Garland, with +it between us and the Mercutians. The few lights of the town could be seen +plainly. The country beneath us seemed fairly level. To the west, half a +mile away, perhaps, I could make out a sheer, perpendicular wall of rock. +We seemed to be flying parallel with it and about level with its top. + +We were rising a little, I think, when suddenly our engines stopped. I +remember it flashed through my mind to wonder how Mercer would dare shut +them off when we were flying so low. The sudden silence confused me a +little. I started to ask him if he had seen the biplane fall, when he +swung back abruptly and gripped me by the arm. + +"Turn on the light--you fool--we've got to land!" + +I fumbled with the searchlight. Then, just as I turned the switch, I saw, +rising from a point near the base of the Mercutian Light, what appeared to +be a skyrocket. + +It rose in a long, graceful arc, reached the top of its ascent, and came +down, still flaming. I remember deciding it would fall in or near Garland. + +It seemed to go out just before it landed--at least I did not follow it +all the way down. Then there came a flash as though a huge quantity of red +and green smokeless powder had gone off in a puff; a brief instant of +darkness, and then flames rose from a hundred points in the little town. +The next second our wheels ground in the sand. + +I heard a splintering crash; something struck me violently on the +shoulder; then--blackness. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE MEETING. + + +Professor Newland and his family were living in seclusion in their Florida +home at the time the Mercutian invaders landed in Wyoming. The curious +events in Florida, which connected them so directly with the invasion and +caused Alan later to play so vital a part in it, are so important that I +am impelled to relate them chronologically, rather than as they were told +me afterward by Alan and Beth. + +When, on March 9, the news that the Mercutians had landed in Wyoming +reached Professor Newland, he immediately established telegraphic +communication with Harvard. Thus he was kept fully informed on the +situation--indeed, he saw it as a whole far better than I did. + +On March 12, three days after the landing, orders from Washington were +given out, regulating all passenger transportation in the direction of the +danger zone. One hundred miles was the limit set. State troops were placed +on all trains, State roads were likewise guarded, and the State airplane +patrols united in a vigilant effort to keep outside planes from getting +in. On the 13th the President of the United States issued an appeal to all +persons living within the hundred-mile limit, asking them to leave. + +On March 14 the Canadian government offered its assistance in any way +possible--its Saskatchewan airplane patrol was already helping Montana +maintain the hundred-mile limit. Similar offers were immediately made by +nearly every government in the world. + +Such were the first main steps taken to safeguard the people. + +By March 14 the actual conditions of affairs in the threatened section of +Wyoming was fairly well known. The town of Garland was destroyed by fire +on the night of the 10th, and the towns of Mantua and Powell--north and +south of Garland respectively--the following morning. On the evening of +the 11th a government plane, flying without lights, sacrificed itself in +an attempt to drop a bomb into the Mercutian camp. It was caught by the +light when almost directly over the Mercutians, and was seen to fall in +flames. + +It was estimated that the single light was controlling an area with a +radius of about ten miles. To the south and west there was practically +nothing but desert. To the west Garland, Mantua and Powell were burned. To +the north Deaver and Crowley--on another branch of the C., B. and Q., +about ten miles from the Mercutians--were as yet unharmed. They were, +however, entirely deserted by the 15th. + +During these days the Mercutians did not move from their first landing +place. Newspaper speculation regarding their capabilities for offensive +action ran rife. Perhaps they could not move. They appeared to possess but +one ray of light-fire; this had an effective radius of ten miles. The only +other offensive weapon shown was the rocket, or bomb, that had destroyed +the C., B. and Q. train near Garland and the town itself. Reports differed +as to what had set fire to the town of Powell. + +All these points were less than ten miles away from the Mercutian base. +Obviously, then, the danger was grossly exaggerated. The unknown invaders +could safely and easily be shelled by artillery from a much greater +distance. Mercury had passed inferior conjunction; no other Mercutian +vehicles had been reported as landing anywhere on the earth. A few days, +and the danger would be over. Thus the newspapers of the country settled +the affair. + +On March 14th it was announced that General Price would conduct the +military operations against the Mercutians. Press dispatches +simultaneously announced that troops, machine guns and artillery were +being rushed to Billings. This provoked a caustic comment from the +Preparedness League of America, to the effect that no military operations +of any offensive value could be conducted by the United States against +anybody or anything. + +This statement was to some extent true. During the twenty years that had +elapsed since the World War armament of all kinds had fallen into disuse. +Few improvements in offensive weapons had been made. The military +organization and equipment of the United States, and, indeed, that of many +of the other great powers, was admittedly inadequate to cope with any very +powerful enemy. + +Professor Newland telegraphed to the War Department at Washington on the +14th, stating that in his opinion new scientific measures would have to be +devised to deal with this enemy, and that whatever scientific knowledge he +had on the subject was at their disposal at their request. To this +telegram the government never replied. + +It was a day or two after that--on the morning of the 16th, to be +exact--that the next most important development in this strange affair +took place. Alan Newland rose that morning at dawn and took his launch for +a trip up one of the neighboring bayous. He was alone, and intended to +fish for an hour or so and return home in time for breakfast. + +He went, perhaps, three miles up the winding little stream. Then, just +after sunrise, he shut off the motor and drifted silently along. The bayou +split into two streams here, coming together again a quarter of a mile +farther on, and thus forming a little island. It was just past the point +of this island that Alan shut off his motor. + +He had been sitting quiet several minutes preparing his tackle, when his +eye caught something moving behind the dark green of the magnolia trees +hanging over the low banks of the island. It seemed to be a flicker of red +and white some five feet above the ground. Instinctively he reached for +the little rifle he had brought with him to shoot at it, thinking it might +be a bird, although he had never seen one before of such a color. + +A moment later, in the silence, he heard a rustling of the palmettos near +the bank of the bayou. He waited, quiet, with the rifle across his knees. +His launch was still moving forward slowly from the impetus of the motor. +And then, quite suddenly, he came into sight of the figure of a girl +standing motionless beside a tree on the island a few feet back from the +water and evidently watching him. + +Alan was startled. He knew there was no one living on the island. There +were, in fact, few people at all in the vicinity--only an occasional negro +shack or the similar shack of the "poor white trash," and a turpentine +camp, several miles back in the pines. + +But it was not the presence of the girl here on the island at daybreak +that surprised him most, but the appearance of the girl herself. He sat +staring at her dumbly, wondering if he were awake or dreaming. For the +girl--who otherwise might have appeared nothing more than an +extraordinarily beautiful young female of this earth, somewhat +fantastically dressed--the girl had wings! + +He rubbed his eyes and looked again. There was no doubt about it--they +were huge, deep-red feathered wings, reaching from her shoulder blades +nearly to the ground. She took a step away from the tree and flapped them +once or twice idly. Alan could see they would measure nearly ten feet from +tip to tip when outstretched. His launch had lost its forward motion now, +and for the moment was lying motionless in the sluggish bayou. Hardly +fifty feet separated him from the girl. + +Her eyes stared into his for a time--a quiet, curious stare, with no hint +of fear in it. Then she smiled. Her lips moved, but the soft words that +reached him across the water were in a language he could not understand. +But he comprehended her gesture; it distinctly bade him come ashore. Alan +took a new grip on himself, gathered his scattered wits, and tried to +think connectedly. + +He laid his rifle in the bottom of the launch; then, just as he was +reaching for an oar, he saw back among the tall cabbage palms on the +island in an open space, a glowing, silvery object, like a house painted +silver and shining under the rays of a brilliant sun. + +Then the whole thing came to him. He remembered the press descriptions +from Wyoming of the Mercutian vehicle. He saw this white rectangle on the +little Florida island as a miniature of that which had brought the +invaders of Wyoming from space. And then this girl-- + +Fear for an instant supplanted amazement in Alan Newland's heart. He +looked around. He could see back into the trees plainly, almost across the +island. He stood up in the boat. There seemed no one else in sight. + +Alan sat down and, taking up the oar, sculled the launch toward the spot +where the girl was standing. His mind still refused to think clearly. The +vague thought came to him that he might be struck dead by some unknown +power the instant he landed. Then, as he again met the girl's eyes--a +clear, direct, honest gaze with something of a compelling dignity in +it--his fear suddenly left him. + +A moment later the bow of the launch pushed its way through the wire grass +and touched the bank. Alan laid aside his oar, tied the boat to a +half-submerged log, and stepped ashore. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +CAPTURED! + + +When I recovered consciousness I found myself lying in the sand with +Mercer sitting beside me. It was still night. The tangled wreckage of our +airplane lay near by; evidently Mercer had carried me out of it. + +I sat up. + +"I'm all right," I said. "What happened?" + +He grinned at me with relief. + +"The damned engine stopped. I don't know what was the matter. You had the +light off. I couldn't see anything when we got down close." + +He waved his hand toward the wrecked plane. + +"It's done for," he added; "but I'm not hurt much. Are you?" + +"No," I said. "I'm all right." + +I climbed to my feet unsteadily; my head seemed about to split open. + +"Garland's burning," he added. + +Over the desert, some two or three miles away, the burning town could be +seen plainly. + +"What are we going to do?" Mercer asked after a moment. + +I was pretty weak and badly bruised all over. Mercer seemed to have fared +better than I. We talked over our situation at length. Finally we decided +to rest where we were until daybreak. I would feel better then, and we +could start back on foot for Mantua and Frannie. + +I lay down again--my head was going round like a top--and Mercer sat +beside me. It was pretty cold, but we were warmly dressed and not +uncomfortable. The fact that we were so close to the Mercutians--not much +over seven or eight miles--worried us a little. But we reasoned that we +were in no great danger. We could still see their light-ray standing +vertically in the air. + +Occasionally it would swing slowly to one side or the other. Once it swung +toward us, but as its base was in a hollow, it was cut off by the higher +ground between as it swung down, and we knew it could not reach us from +that position. + +After a while I fell asleep. When Mercer woke me up it was dawn. + +"Let's get started," he said. "I'm hungry as the devil." + +I felt much better now. I was hungry myself, and stiff, and chilled. + +"You'll feel better walking," he added. "Come on. It'll take us a deuce of +a while over this sand." + +We decided to strike for the railroad at its closest point to us. The +State automobile road to Cody ran along near the railroad, and we planned +to follow that up to Mantua. + +After a last look at our plane, which was hopelessly demolished, we +started off, heading north of Garland. We had been walking along a few +minutes when Mercer suddenly gripped me by the arm. I followed the +direction of his glance. Another rocket was rising from the Mercutian +base. It was still dark enough for us to see its flare as it rose and +curved in a long, graceful arc. We stopped stock still and stood watching. +The rocket arched over to the north. As it came down we lost sight of it. + +"That went into Mantua," said Mercer in a horrified whisper. + +A moment later we saw, in the direction of Mantua, that brief, silent, +smokeless red and green flash. Then the sky lighted up a lurid red, and we +knew Mantua was burning. + +We stood looking at each other for a time, too frightened and horrified +for words. The thing was not like modern warfare. It was uncanny in its +silent deadliness, and there seemed a surety about it that was appalling. + +"We're cut off," said Mercer finally. + +His face was white and his voice trembled. + +We were both pretty much unnerved, but after a moment we got ourselves +together and talked calmly about what was best for us to do. + +We concluded finally to go ahead to the road. We calculated we were not +over two miles from the nearest part of it. We would strike it about +halfway between Garland and Mantua, and we thought it just possible we +would find passing along it some refugees from the two towns. I couldn't +quite see how meeting them could help us any, unless we encountered some +vehicle that would give us a lift. However, the walking would be easier, +and when we got to the road we could decide which way to go--north to +Frannie, or south around Garland to Powell. + +The sun was just rising when we started again. It took us nearly an hour +to reach the road. As far as we could see it was deserted. We stopped here +and held another consultation. + +"It's easily twelve miles up to Frannie," I said, "and I don't believe +more than eight to Powell. Let's go that way. We can get down to Cody from +there. I guess there are still people left in Powell." + +We started down the road toward Garland. It seemed the sensible thing to +do. We were both famished by now and thirsty also. I had an idea that, +since the fires in Garland were about burned out, there might be an +isolated house unharmed, where we could find food and water. + +I sometimes wonder now at our temerity in venturing so calmly to face this +unknown danger. We were in the enemy's country--an enemy whose methods of +attacking us might at any moment prove a hundred times more efficacious +than they had so far. But we did not consider that then. + +There was, indeed, nothing else we could have done advantageously. This +road we were on was the only one within twenty or thirty miles. To have +struck west from our wrecked plane--away from the Mercutians--would have +brought us to face a hundred miles or more of desert over to the +Yellowstone. + +It was now broad daylight--and almost cloudless, as is usual in this +locality. Half an hour of walking brought us nearly to the outskirts of +Garland. There was less smoke all the time. We judged the fire must be +pretty well burned out by now. Behind us the smoke of Mantua, a much +larger town than Garland, rose in a great rolling cloud. + +We were walking along, wondering what we should find ahead, when suddenly +behind Garland and off to the right we saw another huge cloud of smoke +rising. + +"Powell!" ejaculated Mercer, coming to a dead stop in the road. "Good God, +they've got Powell, too!" + +There was no doubt about it--the town of Powell was also in flames. We sat +down together then at the side of the road. We didn't quite know what else +to do. We were both faint. Our situation seemed every moment to be getting +worse; we appeared further from even comparative safety now than when we +left our plane at dawn. + +There seemed nothing else to do now but go ahead into Garland, a distance +of only half a mile. There we might find food and water; and, thus +refreshed, we could start back north to cover the fifteen miles to +Frannie. + +Garland, a few days before, was a town of about five hundred inhabitants; +but I do not suppose that, at the time of its destruction, there were more +than a score or two of people remaining in it. + +We started off again, and within twenty minutes were among the smoldering +houses of the town. It consisted practically of only one street--the road +we were on--with the houses strung along it. The houses had been, most of +them, small frame structures. They were nothing now but smoldering heaps +of ashes with the chimneys left standing, like gaunt, silent sentinels. As +we passed on down the road we saw several twisted forms that we took for +the remains of human beings. It is unnecessary for me to describe them. We +hurried on, shuddering. + +Our objective was the lower end of the town, for there, perhaps a quarter +of a mile off to one side with a branch road leading to it, we saw a +single house and out-buildings left standing. We turned down this road and +approached the house. It was a rather good-looking building of the +bungalow type with a wide-spreading porch. Beside it stood a long, low, +rectangular building we took to be a garage. There was an automobile +standing in the doorway, and behind it we caught the white gleam of an +airplane wing. + +"We're all right now," cried Mercer. "There's a car, and there's a plane +inside. One of them ought to run." + +At this unexpected good fortune we were jubilant. We could get back to +Billings now in short order. + +We climbed up the porch steps and entered the house. We did not call out, +for it seemed obvious that no one would be there after what had occurred +in Garland so near by. + +"There must be something to eat here," I said. "Let's find out--and then +get back to Billings." + +The big living room was empty, but there was no sign of disorder. A closed +door stood near at hand. + +"That might be the way to the kitchen," I suggested. "Come on." + +I pushed open the door and entered, with Mercer close behind me. It was a +bedroom. The bed stood over by a window. I stopped in horror, for on the +bed, hunched forward in a sitting position, was the body of a man! + +With the first sudden shock of surprise over, we stopped to note details. +The man's hand, lying on the blanket, clutched a revolver. A mirror +directly across from him was shattered as though by a bullet. A small +bedroom chair was overturned near the center of the room. + +"He--he isn't burned." Mercer spoke the words hardly above a whisper. +"Something else killed him--there's been a fight. They--" + +He stopped. + +A sudden panic seized me. I wanted to run--to do something--anything--that +would get me away from the nameless, silent terror that seemed all about. + +"Come on," I whispered back. "God! Let's get out of here." + +As we got out into the living room we heard slow, dragging footsteps on +the porch outside. We stopped again, shrinking back against the wall. + +"They--they--it's--" Mercer's whispered words died away. We were both +terrified beyond the power of reasoning. The dragging footsteps came +closer--a sound that had in it nothing of human tread. Then we heard soft +voices--words that were unintelligible. + +"It's the Mercutians," I found voice to whisper. "They--" + +A figure appeared in the porch doorway, outlined against the light +behind--the figure of a short, squat man. He seemed to have on some sort +of white, furry garment. He was bareheaded, with hair falling to his +shoulders. + +At the sight of him my terror suddenly left me. Here was an enemy I could +cope with. The dread fear of supernatural beings that had possessed me +evaporated. + +With a shout to Mercer I dashed forward directly at the doorway. I think +the Mercutian had not yet seen us; he stood quite still, his body blocking +the full width of the doorway. + +I let fly with my fist as I came up and hit him full in the face. At the +same instant my body struck his. He toppled backward and I went through +the doorway. I tripped over him on the porch outside and fell sprawling. +Before I could rise three other Mercutians fell upon me and pinned me +down. + +Mercer was right behind me in the doorway. I saw him pause an instant to +see what was happening. There seemed to be five Mercutians altogether. The +one I had hit lay quite still. Three others were holding me. + +The fifth stood to one side, watching Mercer, but apparently inactive. + +I saw Mercer hesitate. An expression of surprise came over his face. His +body swayed; he took a single step forward, half turned, and then fell in +a crumpled heap. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +MIELA. + + +The girl stood quiet beside the tree, watching Alan as he tied up his +boat. She continued smiling. Alan stood up and faced her. He wondered what +he should say--whether she could understand him any better than he could +her. + +"You speak English?" he began hesitantly. + +The girl did not answer at once; she seemed to be trying to divine his +meaning. Then she waved her hand--a curious movement, which he took to be +a gesture of negation--her broadening smile disclosing teeth that were +small, even, and very white. + +At this closer view Alan could see she was apparently about twenty years +old, as time is reckoned on earth. Her body was very slender, gracefully +rounded, yet with an appearance of extreme fragility. Her slenderness, and +the long, sleek wings behind, made her appear taller than she really was; +actually she was about the height of a normal woman of our own race. + +Her legs were covered by a pair of trousers of some silky fabric, grayish +blue in color. Her bare feet were incased in sandals, the golden cords of +which crossed her insteps and wound about her ankles, fastening down the +lower hems of the trousers. A silken, gray-blue scarf was wound about her +waist; crossing in front, it passed up over her breast and shoulders, +crossing again between the wings behind and descending to the waist. + +Her hair was a smooth, glossy black. It was parted in the middle, covered +her ears, and came forward over each shoulder. The plaits were bound +tightly around with silken cords; each was fastened to her body in two +places, at the waist and, where the plait ended, the outside of the +trouser leg just above the knee. + +Her skin was cream colored, smooth in texture, and with a delicate flush +of red beneath the surface. Her eyes were black, her face small and oval, +with a delicately pointed chin. There was nothing remarkable about her +features except that they were extraordinarily beautiful. But--and this +point Alan noticed at once--there was in her expression, in the delicacy +of her face, a spiritual look that he had never seen in a woman before. It +made him trust her; and--even then, I think--love her, too. + +Such was the strange girl as Alan saw her that morning standing beside the +tree on the bank of the little Florida bayou. + +"I can't talk your language," said Alan. He realized it was a silly thing +to say. But his smile answered hers, and he went forward until he was +standing close beside her. She did not appear so tall now, for he towered +over her, the strength and bigness of his frame making hers seem all the +frailer by contrast. + +He held out his hand. The girl looked at it, puzzled. + +"Won't you shake hands?" he said; and then he realized that, too, was a +silly remark. + +She wrinkled up her forehead in thought; then, with a sudden +comprehension, she laughed--a soft little ripple of laughter--and placed +her hand awkwardly in his. + +As he released her hand she reached hers forward and brushed it lightly +against his cheek. Alan understood that was her form of greeting. Then she +spread her wings and curtsied low--making as charming a picture, he +thought, as he had ever seen in his life. + +As she straightened up her eyes laughed into his, and again she spoke a +few soft words--wholly unintelligible. Then she pointed toward the sun, +which was still low over the horizon, and then to the silver object lying +back near the center of the island. + +"I know," said Alan. "Mercury." + +The girl repeated his last word immediately, enunciating it almost +perfectly. Then she laid her hand upon her breast, saying: "Miela." + +"Alan," he answered, indicating himself. + +The girl laughed delightedly, repeating the word several times. Then she +took him by the hand and made him understand that she wished to lead him +back into the island. + +They started off, and then Alan noticed a curious thing. She walked as +though weighted to the ground by some invisible load. She did not raise +her feet normally, but dragged them, like a diver who walks on land in his +heavily weighted iron shoes. After a few steps she spread her wings, and, +flapping them slowly, was able to get along better, although it was +obvious that she could not lift her body off the ground to fly. + +For a moment Alan was puzzled, then he understood. The force of gravity on +earth was too great for the power of her muscles, which were developed +only to meet the pull of Mercury--a very much smaller planet. + +The girl was so exceedingly frail Alan judged she did not weigh, here on +earth, much over a hundred pounds. But even that he could see was too much +for her. She could not fly, and it was only by the aid of her wings that +she was able to walk with anything like his own freedom of movement. + +He made her understand, somehow, that he comprehended her plight. Then, +after a time, he put his left arm about her waist. She spread the great +red wings out behind him, the right one passing over his shoulder; and in +this fashion they went forward more easily. + +The girl kept constantly talking and gesturing. She seemed remarkably +intelligent; and even then, at the very beginning of their +acquaintanceship, she made Alan understand that she intended to learn his +language. Indeed, she seemed concerned about little else; and she went +about her task systematically and with an ability that amazed him. + +As they walked forward she kept continually stooping to touch objects on +the ground--a stick, a handful of sand, a woodland flower, or a palmetto +leaf. Or, again, she would indicate articles of his clothing, or his +features. In each case Alan gave her the English word; and in each case +she repeated it after him. + +Once she stopped stock still, and with astonishing rapidity and accuracy +rattled off the whole list--some fifteen or twenty words +altogether--pointing out each object as she enunciated the word. + +Alan understood then--and he found out afterward it was the case--that the +girl's memory was extraordinarily retentive, far more retentive than is +the case with any normal earth person. He discovered also, a little later, +that her intuitive sense was highly developed. She seemed, in many +instances, to divine his meaning, quite apart from his words or the +gestures--which often were unintelligible to her--with which he +accompanied them. + +After a time they reached the Mercutian vehicle. It was a cubical box, +with a pyramid-shaped top, some thirty feet square at the base, and +evidently constructed of metal, a gleaming white nearer like silver than +anything else Alan could think of. He saw that it had a door on the side +facing him, and several little slitlike windows, covered by a thick, +transparent substance which might have been glass. + +As they got up close to it Alan expected the girl's companions to come +out. His heart beat faster. Suddenly he raised his voice and shouted: +"Hello, inside!" + +The girl looked startled. Then she smiled and made the negative gesture +with her hand. + +Alan understood then that she was alone. They went inside the vehicle. It +was dark in there. Alan could make out little, but after a moment his eyes +grew accustomed to the darkness. + +He noticed first that the thing was very solidly constructed. He expected +to see some complicated mechanism, but there was little or nothing of the +kind so far as he could make out in the darkness in this first hurried +inspection. + +Fastened to one wall was an apparatus which he judged was for the making +of oxygen. He looked around for batteries, and for electric lights, but +could see nothing of the kind. + +All this time Alan's mind had been busily trying to puzzle out the mystery +of the girl's presence here alone. Evidently she came in the most friendly +spirit; and thus, quite evidently, her mission, whatever it was, must be +very different from that of the invaders who had landed almost +simultaneously in Wyoming. + +Whatever it was that had brought her--whatever her purpose--he realized it +must be important. The girl, even now, seemed making no effort to show or +explain anything to him, but continued plying him with questions that gave +her the English words of everything about them that she could readily +indicate. + +Alan knew then that she must have something important to +communicate--something that she wanted to say as quickly as possible. And +he knew that she realized the only way was for her to learn his language, +which she was doing with the least possible loss of time, and with an +utter disregard of everything else that might have obtruded. + +Alan decided then to take the girl back home with him--indeed, it had +never been in his mind to do anything else--and let Beth care for her. +Meanwhile he would do everything he could to help her get the knowledge +necessary to make known what it was that had brought her from Mercury. +That she had some direct connection with the Wyoming invaders he did not +doubt. + +Alan had just reached this decision when the girl made him realize that +she had the same thought in mind. She pointed around the room and then to +herself, and he knew that she was insisting upon a general word to include +all her surroundings. + +Finally Alan answered: "House." + +After pointing to him, she waved her hand vaguely toward the country +outside the open doorway, and he understood she was asking where his house +was. + +Alan's decision was given promptly. "We'll go there," he said. + +He put his arm about her and started out. By the way she immediately +responded he knew she understood, and that it was what she wished to do. + +They got back to Alan's launch in a few moments. He seated her in the +stern of the boat, where she half reclined with her wings spread out a +little behind her. So assiduous was she--and so facile--in her task of +learning English, that before she would let him start the motor she had +learned the names of many of the new objects in sight, and several verbs +connected with his actions of the moment. + +There was a large tarpaulin in the launch, and this Alan wrapped about the +girl's shoulders. He did not want her vivid red wings to be seen by any +one as they passed down the bayou. + +Finally they started off. + +Professor Newland's home was some three miles from the village of Bay +Head, on the shore of a large bay which opened into the Gulf of Mexico. +The bayou down which they were heading flowed into this bay near where the +house stood. Their home was quite isolated, Alan thought with +satisfaction. There was no other habitation nearer than Bay Head except a +few negro shacks. With the girl's wings covered he could take her home and +keep her there, in absolute seclusion, without causing any comment that +might complicate things. + +On the way down the bayou the girl showed extreme interest in everything +about her. She seemed to have no fear, trusting Alan implicitly in his +guidance and protection of her in this strange world. She continued her +questions; she laughed frequently, with almost a childlike freedom from +care. Only once or twice, he noticed, as some thought occurred to her, the +laughter died away, her face suddenly sobered, and a far-away, misty look +came into her beautiful eyes. + +Alan sat close beside her in the stern, steering the launch and +occasionally pulling the tarpaulin back onto her shoulders when it +threatened to slip off because of her impetuous gestures. + +They saw only a few negroes as they passed down the bayou, and these paid +no particular attention to them. Within an hour Alan had the girl safely +inside the bungalow, and was introducing her, with excited explanations, +to his astonished father and sister, who were just at that moment sitting +down to breakfast. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +THE MERCUTIAN CAMP. + + +As I saw Mercer fall to the floor of the porch a sudden rage swept over +me. I struggled violently with the three men pinning me down. They +appeared very much weaker than I, but even though I could break their +holds the three of them were more than a match for me. + +The man who was standing inactive, and who I realized had struck down +Mercer in some unknown, deadly way, appeared to be the leader. Once, as +one of my assailants made some move, the import of which the leader +evidently understood, but which I did not, I heard him give a sharp +command. It occurred to me then that if I offered too much resistance--if +it seemed I was likely to get away from them--I might possibly be struck +as swiftly as Mercer had been. So I gave up abruptly and lay still. + +They must have understood my motive--or perhaps they felt that I was not +worth the trouble of taking alive--for immediately I stopped struggling +they unhanded me and rose to their feet. + +I stood up also, deciding to appear quite docile, for the time being at +any rate, until I could comprehend better with what I had to contend. + +The man who appeared to be their leader issued another command. One of +the men with whom I had been struggling immediately stepped a few feet +away, out of my reach. I knew he had been told to guard me. He kept just +that distance away thereafter, following my movements closely and seeming +never to take his eyes off me for a moment. + +I had opportunity now to inspect these strange enemies more closely. The +leader was the tallest. He was about five and a half feet in height, I +judged, and fairly stocky. The others were all considerably shorter--not +much over five feet, perhaps. All were broad-framed, although not stout +to any degree approaching fatness. + +From their appearance, they might all have been fairly powerful men, the +leader especially. But even the short struggle I had had with them showed +me they were not. Their bodies, too, had seemed under my grip to have a +flimsy quality, a lack of firmness, of solidity, entirely belied by their +appearance. + +They were all dressed in a single rude garment of short white fur, made +all in one piece, trousers and shirt, and leaving only their arms bare. +Their feet were incased in buskins that seemed to be made of leather. +Their hair was a reddish-brown color, and fell scraggling a little below +the shoulder line. + +Their skin was a curious, dead white--like the pallor of a man long in +prison. Their faces, which had no sign of hair on them, were broad, with +broad flat noses, and with abnormally large eyes that seemed to blink +stolidly with an owl-like stare. + +Their leader was of somewhat different type. He was, as I have said, +nearly six inches taller than the others, and leaner and more powerful +looking. His hair was black, and his skin was not so dead white. His eyes +were not so abnormally large as those of his companions. His nose was +straight, with a high bridge. His face was hairless. It was a strong +face, with an expression of dignity about it, a consciousness of power, +and a certain sense of cruelty expressed in the firmness of his lips and +the set of his chin. + +None of them was armed--or, at least, their weapons were not visible to +me. + +I was much concerned about Mercer. He and the man I had hit were both +lying motionless where they had fallen. I stooped over Mercer. No one +offered to stop me, although when I moved I saw my guard make a swift +movement with his hand to his belt. My heart leaped to my throat, but +nothing happened to me, and I made a hasty examination of Mercer. + +Quite evidently he was dead. + +Meanwhile the Mercutians were examining their fallen comrade. He also was +dead, I judged from their actions. They left him where he was lying, and +their leader impatiently signed me toward the steps that led down from +the porch to the roadway. We started off, my guard keeping close behind +me. I noticed then how curiously hampered the Mercutians seemed to be in +their movements. + +I have explained how Alan observed the effect of our earth's gravity on +Miela. It was even more marked with the Mercutians here, for she had the +assistance of wings, while they did not. The realization of this +encouraged me tremendously. I knew now that physically these enemies were +no match for me; that I could break away from them whenever I wished. + +But the way in which Mercer had been killed--that I could not understand. +It was that I had to guard against. I was afraid to do anything that +would expose me to this unknown attack. + +I tried to guess over how great a distance this weapon, whatever it was, +would prove effective. I assumed only a limited number of feet, although +my only reason for thinking so was my guard's evident determination to +keep close to me. + +All this flashed through my mind while we were descending the steps to +the roadway. When we reached the ground we turned back toward the garage, +and with slow, plodding steps the leader of the Mercutians preceded me to +its entrance, his companions following close behind me. They had +evidently been here before, I could tell from their actions. I realized +that probably they had all been inside the garage when Mercer and I first +approached the house. + +It was quite apparent now that the Mercutians did not understand the use +of either automobiles or airplanes; they poked around these as though +they were some strange, silent animals. Inside the garage I was ordered +to stand quiet, with my guard near by, while the rest of them continued +what appeared to be a search about the building. + +We passed by the house, and I realized that we were starting for the +Mercutian base some four miles away. I remembered then that I was +extremely hungry and thirsty. I stopped suddenly and endeavored to +explain my wants, indicating the house as a place where I could get food. + +The leader smiled. His name was Tao, I had learned from hearing his men +address him. I do not know why that smile reassured me, but it did. It +seemed somehow to make these enemies less inhuman--less supernatural--in +my mind. Indeed, I was fast losing my first fear of them, although I +still had a great respect for the way in which they had killed Mercer. + +Tao told his men to wait, and motioned me toward the house. The bodies of +Mercer and the man I had struck down were still lying where they had +fallen on the porch. We found food and water in the kitchen, and I sat +down and made a meal, while Tao stood watching me. When I had finished I +put several slices of bread and meat in my coat. He signified that it was +unnecessary, but I insisted, and he smiled again and let me have my way. + +Again we started off. This walk of four miles of desert that lay between +Garland and the point on the Shoshone River where the invaders were +established was about all I could manage, for I was almost exhausted. I +realized then how great an exertion the Mercutians were put to, for they +seemed nearly as tired as I. We stopped frequently to rest, and it was +well after noon when we approached the hollow through which the Shoshone +River ran. + +Several times I noticed where the Mercutian Light had burned off the +scrubby desert vegetation. As we got closer I could see it now in the +sunlight, standing vertically up in the air, motionless. There were signs +all about now where the light had burned. We were passing along a little +gully--the country here was somewhat rough and broken up--when something +came abruptly from behind a rock. Its extraordinary appearance startled +me so I stared at it in amazement and fear. It came closer, and I saw it +was one of the Mercutians. + +He was completely incased in a suit of dull black cloth, or rubber, or +something of the kind. On his head was a helmet of the same material, +with a mask over his face having two huge circular openings covered with +a flexible, transparent substance. On his back was a sort of tank with a +pipe leading to his mouth. He looked, indeed, something like a man in a +diving suit, and still more like the pictures I had seen of soldiers in +the World War with gas masks on. He pulled off his helmet as he came up +to us, and I saw he was similar in appearance to the red-haired +Mercutians who had captured me. + +After a short conversation with Tao he went back to his station by the +rock, and we proceeded onward down the gully to the river bank. I saw a +number of Mercutians dressed this way during the afternoon. They seemed +to be guarding the approaches to the camp, and I decided later this +costume was for protection against the effects of the light-ray. + +The Shoshone River was at this point about two hundred feet wide, and at +this season of the year a swift-moving, icy stream some two or three feet +deep. There were small trees at intervals along its banks. All about me +now I could see where they had been burned by the action of the light. + +The vehicle in which the invaders had arrived lay on the near side of the +river, some five hundred feet below where we came out of the gully. It +was similar in appearance to the one Alan had found in Florida, only many +times larger. It lay there now, with its pyramid-shaped top pointing up +into the air, close beside the river, and gleaming a dazzling white under +the rays of the afternoon sun. + +There were perhaps a hundred Mercutians in sight altogether. Most of them +were down by the vehicle; all of them were on this side of the river. In +fact, as I soon realized, it would have been difficult, if not +impossible, for them to have crossed. The desert on the opposite side of +the Shoshone was level and unbroken. It was swept clear of everything, +apparently, by the light-ray. + +We turned down the river bank, and soon were close to the shining vehicle +that had brought these strange invaders from space. What would I see in +this camp of the first beings to reach earth from another planet? What +fate awaited me there? These questions hammered at my brain as we +approached the point where so much death and destruction had been dealt +out to the surrounding country. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +THE ESCAPE. + + +The Mercutians all regarded me curiously as we came among them. By the +respect they accorded Tao, and his attitude toward them, I decided he was +the leader of the entire party. I stopped, wondering what would happen +next. The man guarding me was still close at hand. Tao spoke a few words +to him and then moved away. My guard immediately sat down. I saw nothing +was required of me at the moment, and sat down also. + +I had opportunity now to examine the strange things and people about me +more in detail. The Mercutians all seemed to be of the same short, squat, +red-haired type. Tao was, indeed, the only one I saw who had black hair; +and he was the tallest, and by far the most commanding looking figure of +them all. + +They wore several different costumes, although the garment of white fur +was the most common. A few were dressed in the black costume of the guard +in the gully. Still others were garbed only in short, wide trousers and +shirts of a soft leather, with legs bare from the knee down, and with +leather buskins on their feet. + +The light-ray was set up near the river, on a metallic structure +supporting a small platform some thirty feet above the ground. A ladder +up one side gave access to this platform from below. The light itself +came from a cubical metallic box, perhaps six feet square, suspended +above the platform in a balancing mechanism that allowed it to swing in +all directions. + +All the metal of this apparatus, the projector, the platform and its +framework, was apparently of the same kind; it had the appearance of +burnished copper. The whole seemed fairly complicated, but not unlike a +huge searchlight would appear if mounted that way. + +Coming out of the projector and running down to the ground were black +wires, which led to a metallic box a few feet away. This box was +rectangular in shape; six feet long, perhaps, two feet broad, and the +same in depth. I judged it to be the dynamo or battery from which the +projector was supplied with the light-ray. + +A short distance back from the river I saw what appeared to be a small +mortar, which I assumed was for the sending of the light-rockets, or +bombs. Several other light-ray projectors, sections of their supporting +structures, and the unassembled parts of other apparatus, were lying +scattered about the ground. A considerable number of the Mercutians were +laboriously bringing out of the vehicle still more apparatus. + +It was obvious to me then that they were only just getting started in +their offensive and defensive preparations. This I could easily +understand when I had watched for a moment the activities going on. All +of the apparatus which they were engaged in bringing out and assembling +was of metal, and it was so extremely heavy here on earth that they could +hardly handle it. + +Standing on the platform beside the light-ray projector were two men +evidently in charge of it at the moment. They were dressed in black, with +black gloves, although without helmets. I noticed that they had little +pads over their ears, with wires running from them down to a small box at +the waist. + +Once I saw one of them look up sharply, as though he had heard something; +and, following the wave of his hand, I saw the tiny black-garbed figure +of a man on the higher ground behind the gully through which we had come. +I reasoned then that this was a lookout stationed there, and that he was +directing the action of the light by some form of wireless telephony. + +For perhaps an hour I sat there, with my guard near by watching me. I was +sorry, now that I found myself in the midst of these enemies, that I had +not made a determined effort to escape earlier in the day, when there +would have been only four of them to cope with. + +I realized that I didn't know any more now about the power this guard had +over me than I had at the beginning. He certainly looked inoffensive, +sitting there, but the very calmness with which he watched me made me +feel I would be taking a desperate chance in attempting to escape. I +decided then to wait until nightfall and to watch a favorable opportunity +to break away. + +Under cover of darkness, if once I could get out of their sight, I was +satisfied they would never catch me. It was my plan to strike back to +Garland. I had noticed carefully the lay of the land coming over, and +believed I could find my way back. Then, with the car or the plane that +was there in the garage, I could get back to Billings. + +These thoughts were running through my mind when Tao abruptly presented +himself before me and ordered me to get up. I did so, smiling in as +friendly a fashion as I could manage. He then made me assist in the work +of carrying the heavy pieces of apparatus. Apparently he was determined +that I, as an earth man, should work hard, since the Mercutians were so +heavily handicapped by the gravity of my planet. I concluded that it +would be my best policy to help them all I could--that by so doing they +might relax a little in their watchfulness, and thus enable me to get +away that night. + +I signified to Tao my understanding of what he was after, and made them +all see my entire readiness and ability to help. For the rest of the +afternoon I was dragging about from place to place, carrying the +projectors to the various positions where they had decided to put them +up. It seemed to be their plan to establish some twenty or thirty +projectors around the vehicle; they were setting them all at points about +a hundred yards away from it. These projectors differed in size and +shape. Some were cubical, others pyramid-shaped, open at the base as +though to send out the light in a spreading ray. + +I saw now, when I had a chance to inspect the projectors closer, that +they were black outside and like burnished copper inside, to reflect the +light. I judged that this black covering must have been like the black +suits worn by some of the men, and that it was impervious to the +light-ray. Near the center of each projector was a coil of wire. The +wires from outside ran to it, and across the open face of the projector +a large number of fine lateral wires ran parallel, very close together. + +These were about all the details I noticed. I wanted to remember them, +although they conveyed very little to me, because I realized all this I +was seeing might prove of immense help to the authorities when I got back +to Billings. + +Night came, and I was still at work. Tao seemed tremendously pleased at +what I was doing, and I noticed with satisfaction that his attitude +toward me seemed gradually changing. My guard still followed me about, +but he did not watch me quite so closely now, I thought. + +My help, that afternoon, was considerable. I was by far the strongest man +in the camp; and, more than that, I was able to move about so much faster +than they that I could do things in a few moments that would have taken +them many times as long. + +Tao personally directed most of my efforts. He told me where to take the +things, and I took them, smilingly, and always coming back to him for new +orders. I moved so fast, indeed, that my guard had difficulty in keeping +close to me. Several times I experimented and found that I could get away +from him quite a little distance without a protest, either from him or +from Tao. + +As it began to grow dark, they lighted up the camp. This was accomplished +by little metallic posts that had been set around at intervals. Each had +a tiny coil of wire suspended at its top, which became incandescent and +threw out a reddish-green light. Around each light was a square black +wire cage some three feet in diameter. I conjectured that these lights +used the same ray as the projectors, only in a different form, and that +the cage was to protect any one from going too close. The light from +these illuminators was much the same in aspect as the ray, except that it +seemed to diffuse itself readily and carried only a comparatively short +distance. + +The scene now, under this red-green glare, was weird in the extreme. The +work all about me went on steadily. The Mercutians were all dressed in +white furry garments now--I concluded because of the cold--with the +exception of those who had on the suits and helmets of black. + +The reddish-green light made them all appear like little gnomes at work. +Indeed, the whole scene, with its points of color in the darkness, and the +huge monstrous shadows all about, was more like some fantastic picture out +of a fairy book than a scene on this earth. + +Soon after nightfall Tao stopped me, and one of his men brought me +something to eat. I still had the slices of bread and meat in my pocket, +but, thinking I might need them later on, I kept them there. Tao and I sat +down near one of the lights and ate together. We were served by one of the +men. My guard still kept close at hand. + +The food was nothing more than hard pieces of baked dough and a form of +sweet something like chocolate. For drink there was a hot liquid quite +comparable to tea. This was served us in small metal cups with handles +that seemed to be insulated from the heat. + +This meal was brought to us from inside the vehicle. While we were eating +I could see many of the Mercutians going inside and coming out with pieces +of this food in their hands, eating as they worked. Quite obviously the +business of assembling their apparatus was uppermost in the minds of all +of them. + +The whole atmosphere about the place, I realized now, in spite of the +opposite effect their dragging footsteps gave, was one of feverish +activity. When we had eaten Tao seemed willing to sit quiet for a while. +My efforts to talk to him amused us both greatly, and I noticed with +satisfaction that he seemed to trust me more and more. + +Finally my guard spoke, asking permission, I judged, to leave us and go +have his dinner. My heart leaped into my throat as I saw him go, leaving +me alone with Tao. I concluded that now, if ever, was my opportunity. Tao +trusted me--seemed to like me, in fact. No one else in the camp was paying +the least attention to us. If only I could, on some pretext, get myself a +reasonable distance away from him I would make a run for it. + +I was turning this problem over in my mind when it was unexpectedly solved +for me. A low throbbing, growing momentarily louder, sounded from the +air--the hum of an airplane motor. I think Tao noticed it first--I saw him +cock his head to one side, listening. + +After a moment, as the sound increased, he climbed to his feet and shouted +an order to the man nearest us. + +The night had clouded over; it was unusually dark. I knew that a plane +without lights was approaching. Work about the camp stopped; every one +stood listening. I looked up at the light-ray platform. The two men there +were swinging the light back and forth, sweeping the sky. + +Suddenly the sound ceased; the plane's motor had been shut off. Almost at +the same instant the light-ray picked up the plane. It was several +thousand feet in the air and almost over our heads, coming down in a +spiral. A moment more and the light-ray swung away. + +The plane burst into flame, and I knew it was falling. An explosion +sounded near at hand. The camp was in chaos immediately. I faced about to +look at Tao; he had disappeared. + +I waited no longer. Turning back from the river, I ran at full speed. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +FUTILE ATTACKS. + + +There seemed to be no pursuit. In a few moments I was clear of the camp +and hidden in the darkness of the desert. I ran perhaps half a mile, then +I slowed down to a walk, completely winded. Turning, I could see behind me +the lights of the camp. I doubted if even now they had missed me. The bomb +dropped by the airplane and the plane itself falling almost, in their +midst must have plunged them for the time into confusion. + +I kept on walking rapidly. The desert here was almost pathless; +occasionally I would cross a wandering wagon track, but none of them +seemed going in my direction. After a time I was not sure what my +direction was; all about me was a luminous darkness--and silence. + +I found myself now almost exhausted from my exertions of the day. I +decided to go possibly a mile farther--to be well away from the +Mercutians--and then to lie down and sleep until daylight. + +In about fifteen minutes more I concluded I had gone far enough, and, +lying down on the sand, was soon fast asleep. When I awoke it was +daylight, with the sun just rising. + +With returning consciousness I looked about me in sudden fear, but there +was no one in sight. I ate the bread and meat I had in my pocket, and, +feeling much refreshed, but thirsty, I started again for Garland. + +I made the town soon after noon that day. The little automobile was still +standing in the garage, and I started it without trouble. Before I left I +went up to the porch of the house. + +The bodies of Mercer and the Mercutian were still lying there. I dragged +Mercer's body down the steps and put it into the back seat of the car +Then I started off. I stuck to the main road, and went through Mantua at +top speed, apprehensive that some of the Mercutians might be there. This +town, like Garland, was completely burned. Only the chimneys were left +standing amid piles of ashes. + +At Frannie I took on two passengers. There was much curiosity on the part +of those I met along here, but I was unwilling to explain, deciding it +best to wait and tell my whole story to the military authorities at +Billings. + +It was early afternoon when I got back to Billings. This was March 12. I +turned Mercer's body over to the police, who promptly took me in charge. I +gave them a brief outline of what had occurred. General Price, whose +command of the United States military operations against the Mercutians +was announced to the country two days later, had arrived that morning in +Billings by airplane. I demanded to see him, and when my business was +explained to him he granted me an immediate interview. + +General Price was a man about fifty, a kindly gentleman of the old +Southern type, yet of thoroughly military demeanor. I told him everything +that had happened to me in detail as complete as I possibly could. +Mercer's body was examined that same afternoon. It was found to have been +drilled completely through the chest by a hole about the diameter of a +lead pencil. This hole did not seem to have been made by the passage of +any foreign object, but had more the aspect of a burn. I understood +then--Mercer had been killed by a tiny light-ray projector, with a short, +effective radius, aimed probably like a revolver. + +What I was able to tell General Price about the Mercutians naturally was +invaluable to him. He asked me then to remain close to him during the +forthcoming operations. We arranged that I was on honor to give nothing +out to my paper without his approval. + +The situation, as it appeared during the next few days, was not one of +grave danger. We were able to gage now with fair probability of +correctness the offensive strength of our enemies. They had no means of +transportation--could only move from their present position slowly and +with extreme difficulty. The possibility of the vehicle itself moving +occurred to us; but, as I pointed out, the task of replacing their heavy +apparatus in it, and then reassembling the apparatus in a new position, +made such a step impractical. + +The only weapon the Mercutians had displayed so far was the light-ray in +its several forms. This seemed effective for ten miles at most. That the +Mercutians could be attacked by our artillery and destroyed seemed +certain. + +By the 20th General Price had mobilized some ten thousand men. They +encamped on the prairie near Billings. The artillery was moved down to a +point near the Wyoming State line, about fifteen miles directly north of +the Mercutian camp. + +Six days before this, forty-eight hours after I had returned to Billings, +observation planes had reported the establishment of two more light-rays, +similar in appearance to the first. During the succeeding days others +rapidly appeared. By the 20th there were probably thirty of them +altogether. + +The reports stated that all were set up within a space seemingly of a few +hundred yards. They were of different diameters; some projected in +parallel rays, others spread out fan-shaped. These latter appeared not to +carry so far. The first one that had appeared, it was judged, had the +longest effective radius of them all. + +During these days and nights preceding the 20th the light-rockets had been +fired with increasing frequency, but none was observed to carry over six +or eight miles. By this time the burned area for a circle of ten miles all +around the Mercutian camp was entirely depopulated, and no additional +destruction was reported. + +On the night of the 20th, firing by directions from captive balloons, the +United States artillery began its bombardment from the Montana-Wyoming +line. After sending over some twenty shells, the firing ceased. It was +learned then that they had proven utterly ineffective. The diverging rays +of the Mercutian light had thrown a barrage around their position. The +shells striking the light had all exploded harmlessly in the air. + +Subsequent bombardments made that night met with no better success. The +fact became obvious then that to artillery fire the Mercutians were +impregnable. For several days no further military operations were +attempted, with the exception of an occasional shell futilely thrown +against the light-rays. + +The newspapers during these days were full of discussions--scientific and +otherwise--as to how this strange enemy of mankind could be destroyed or +dislodged. This was like no other warfare in history. The newspaper +statements gave the inference that General Price was entirely at a loss +how to proceed. + +As a matter of fact, the press was quite correct in that assumption; and, +since the Mercutians were making no offensive moves, General Price decided +to do nothing until he was better informed. + +I was fortunate enough to be present the next day at a conference the +general had with several scientific men who had come to Billings to meet +him. It was the opinion of these men of science that no artillery fire +could penetrate the light-barrage the Mercutians had thrown about them. No +airplane attack was practical, and to attack them from the ground with +infantry would be absurd. + +On the other hand, it seemed obvious that the Mercutians could make no +offensive move either. They had probably already done all the damage that +they could. If matters were allowed to remain as they now were--thus +avoiding the useless sacrifice of men--inevitably the time would come when +the food supply the Mercutians had brought with them would be exhausted. +Meanwhile, if the invaders decided to move in their vehicle to another +location, they could not do so suddenly without abandoning their +apparatus. + +Any lessening in the number of light-rays in operation could be taken as +an indication that a move of this kind was in preparation, and the warning +would give General Price time to execute any attack that in the meantime +might be planned. + +It was decided then to remain comparatively inactive and await +developments from the opposite side. + +During the three months that followed this decision artillery bases were +located at intervals on a circumference of about fifteen miles around the +Mercutian center. These were all on desert country. Lines of communication +between them were established, and the air above was thoroughly patrolled +night and day. + +The ten thousand men under General Price it was not thought necessary or +advisable to augment. They were deployed around this circumference in +front of the artillery, nearer the ten-mile limit. Machine-gun outposts, +manned by volunteers exclusively, were established in Garland, Mantua and +other points within the area controlled by the light. These were for the +purpose of preventing, or reporting, any possible movements on foot of the +Mercutians. + +During this time the government was, naturally, subjected to much harsh +criticism for its waiting attitude. It was suggested that armored +tanks--relics of the World War--could be put into commission. These, under +cover of darkness, could be used to rush the Mercutian position. This +obviously was an absurd plan, since the light-ray would instantly raise +the temperature of the metal composing the car to such a height that the +men inside would be killed--not to mention the fact that all explosives +in the car would be instantly detonated. + +Another suggestion was that a night raid be made upon the outposts of the +camp by a few men armed with machine guns fired from the shoulder, in an +effort to capture one of the Mercutians garbed in a suit impervious to the +light. With this suit even one man with a machine gun would probably be +able to clean out the Mercutian camp. + +This plan evoked much favorable comment. This black material, once in our +possession, could be analyzed and possibly be duplicated in quantity by +us. It seemed the logical way of making progress. + +But, unfortunately, conditions around the Mercutian camp at present were +not the same as that night when I escaped. At that time it would have been +feasible; now it was impossible, for all the invaders were within the +small circle of projectors, and the ground outside this circle was never +free from the diverging rays of the light. Also, as one newspaper article +replied, even with such a suit of armor a man with a machine gun could do +little, for the light would instantly render useless the gun itself. + +So the controversy went on, and General Price waited, knowing that each +day must bring the enemy nearer starvation. Such was the condition of +affairs in the latter part of June. + +Then, one morning, I received a telegram from Alan Newland in Florida. I +had been corresponding with him at intervals, but he had never given me a +hint of what had happened down there. + +The telegram read: + + Important Mercutian development here. + Keep absolutely secret. Join us here at once. + Answer. + +I wired him immediately. Three days later I was at Bay Head. + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +MIELA'S STORY. + + +When I reached the little Florida town Alan was there to meet me. He would +have none of my eager questions, but took me at once by launch to their +bungalow. No one was on the porch when we landed, and we went immediately +into the living room. There I found Beth and Professor Newland talking to +this extraordinary girl from another world, of whose existence, up to that +moment, I had been in complete ignorance. She was dressed especially for +my coming, they told me afterward, exactly as she had been that morning +when Alan found her. They wanted to confound me, and they succeeded. + +I stood staring in amazement while Beth quietly introduced me. And Miela +spread her wings, curtsied, and replied in a quaint, soft little voice: "I +am honored, sir." Then she laughed prettily and, extending her hand, +added: "How do you do, Bob--my friend?" + +When I had partially recovered from my astonishment Miela put on the big +blue-cloth cape she wore constantly to cover her wings. Then Alan and Beth +plunged into an excited explanation of how he had found Miela, and how all +this time she had remained in seclusion with them there studying their +language. + +"You never have seen such assiduous young people," Professor Newland put +in. "And certainly she has been a wonderful pupil." + +He patted Miela's hand affectionately; but I noticed then that his eyes +were very sad, as though from some unvoiced trouble or apprehension. + +They had decided, the professor said, to keep the girl's presence a secret +from the world until they had learned from her in detail what her mission +was. The vehicle in which she had come was still on the island up the +bayou. Alan had stationed there three young men of Bay Head whom he could +trust. They were living on the island, guarding it. + +During these two months while Miela, with uncanny rapidity, was mastering +their language, the Newlands had of course learned from her all she had to +tell them. The situation in Wyoming did not necessitate haste on their +part, and so they had waited. And now, with a decision reached, they sent +for me. + +That evening after supper we all went out on the bungalow porch, and Miela +told me her story. She spoke quietly, with her hands clasped nervously in +her lap. At times in her narrative her eyes shone with the eager, earnest +sincerity of her words; at others they grew big and troubled as she spoke +of the problems that were harassing her world and mine--the inevitable +self-struggles of humanity, whatever its environment, itself its own worst +enemy. + +"I am daughter of Lua," Miela began slowly, "of the Great City in the +Country of Light. My mother, Lua, is a teacher of the people. My father, +Thaal, died when still I was a child. I--I came to your earth--" + +She paused and, turning to Beth, added appealingly: "Oh, there is so +much--to begin--how can I tell--" + +"Tell him about Tao," Beth said. + +"Tao!" I exclaimed. + +"He leads those who came to your earth in the north," Miela went on. "He +was my"--she looked to Alan for the word--"my suitor there in the Great +City. He wished me for his wife--for the mother of his children. But +that--that was not what I wished." + +"You'd better tell him about conditions in your world first, Miela," said +Alan. He spoke very gently, tenderly. + +I had already seen, during supper, how he felt toward her; I could readily +understand it, too, for, next to Beth, she seemed the most adorable woman +I had ever met. There was nothing unusually strange about her, when her +wings were covered, except her quaint accent and sometimes curious +gestures; and no one could be with her long without feeling the sweet +gentleness of her nature and loving her for it. + +"Tell him about your women," Beth added. + +I noticed the affectionate regard she also seemed to have for Miela; and I +noticed, too, that there was in her face that vague look of sorrow that +was in her father's. + +The habitable world of Mercury, Miela then went on to tell me, was divided +into three zones--light, twilight and darkness. There was no direct +sunlight in the Light Country--only a diffused daylight like the light on +our earth when the sky is clouded over. The people of the Light Country, +Miela's people, were the most civilized and the ruling race. + +In the twilight zone around them, grading back to the Dark Country, +various other peoples dwelt, and occasionally warred with their neighbors +for possession of land in the light. + +In the center of the Light Country, directly underneath the sun--that is, +where the sun, would always appear near the zenith--was the Fire Country. +Here, owing to violent storms, the atmospheric envelope of the planet was +frequently disturbed sufficiently to allow passage for the sun's direct +rays. Then would ensue in that locality, for a limited time, a heat so +intense as to destroy life. This Fire Country was practically uninhabited. + +"You see, Bob," Alan interrupted, "the dark part of Mercury--that is the +side that continually faces away from the sun--is also practically +uninhabited. Only strange animals and savages live there. And the twilight +zones, and the ring of Light Country, with the exception of its center, +are too densely populated. This has caused an immense amount of trouble. +The Twilight People are an inferior race. They have tried to mix with +those of the Light Country. It doesn't work. There's been trouble for +generations; trouble over the women, for one thing. Anyhow, the Twilight +People have been kept out as much as possible. Now this fellow Tao--" + +"Let Miela explain about the women first," Beth interjected. + +Then Miela went on to tell me that only the females of Mercury had +wings--given them by the Creator as a protection against the pursuit of +the male. At marriage, to insure submission to the will of her husband, a +woman's wings were clipped. For more than a generation now there had been +a growing rebellion on the part of the women against this practice. In +this movement Miela's mother, Lua, was a leader. To overcome this +masculine desire for physical superiority and dominance which he had had +for centuries seemed practically impossible. Yet, Miela said, the leaders +of the women now felt that some progress was being made in changing public +sentiment, although so far not a single man had been found who would take +for mate a woman with wings unclipped. + +This was partly from personal pride and partly because the laws of the +country made such a union illegal, its parties moral outlaws, its children +illegitimate, and thus not entitled to the government benefits bestowed +upon all offspring of legitimate parentage. It was this man-made law the +women were fighting, and of recent years fighting more and more +militantly. + +This was the situation when Tao suddenly projected himself into public +affairs as the leader of a new movement. Tao had paid court to Miela +without success. He was active in the fight against the woman movement--a +brilliant orator, crafty, unscrupulous, a good leader. Leadership was to +him purely a matter of personal gain. He felt no deep, sincere interest in +any public movement for any other reason. + +Interplanetary communication had become of latter years a possibility; +science had invented and perfected the means. So far these vehicles had +only been used for short trips to the outer edge of the atmosphere of +Mercury--trips that were giving scientific men much valuable knowledge of +atmospheric conditions, and which it was thought would ultimately enable +them to counteract the storms and make the Fire Country habitable. No +trips into space had been made. + +Tao now came forward with the proposition to undertake a new world +conquest--a conquest of Venus or the earth. These planets recently had +been observed from the vehicles. This, he said, would solve the land +question, which, after all, was more serious than the clipping of women's +wings. + +He found many followers--adventurers, principally, to whom the +possibilities for untold personal gain in such a conquest appealed. Then +abruptly the women took part. Dropping for the time their own fight, they +opposed Tao vigorously. If Venus or the earth were inhabited, as it was +thought they were, such an expedition would be a war against humanity. It +would result in the needless destruction of human life. + +In this controversy the government of the Light Country remained neutral. +But the women finally won, and Tao and his followers, a number of them men +of science, were all banished by the government, under pressure of popular +sentiment, into the Twilight Country. + +Here Tao's project fell upon fertile soil. The Twilight People had every +reason to undertake such a conquest; and Tao became their leader in +preparing for it. These preparations were known in the Light Country. The +government made no effort to prevent them. It was, indeed, rather glad of +the possibility of being rid of its disturbing neighbors. + +Only the women were concerned, but they alone could do nothing, since by +principle they were as much opposed to offensive warfare against the +Twilight People as against the possible inhabitants of the earth. Miela +paused at this point in her narrative. The thing was getting clearer to me +now, but I could not reconcile this feeble attempt to conquer the earth +which we were then fighting in Wyoming with the picture she drew. I said +so. + +"She hasn't come to that," Alan broke in. "You see, Bob, Tao, with about a +hundred followers, was banished to the Twilight Country a couple of years +ago. There was plenty of brains in the party, scientific men and such. +They had only one vehicle, but they have been at work ever since building +a lot of others. + +"This expedition of Tao to Wyoming--with only about a hundred of the +Twilight People with him--is not intended to be an offensive operation at +all. He's only looking the situation over, finding out what they're up +against. They decided before they started that the light-ray would protect +them from anything on earth, and they have only come to look around. + +"Right now up there"--Alan leaned forward earnestly, and in the moonlight +I could see the flush on his handsome face--"right now up there in the +Twilight Country of Mercury they're working their damnedest over all kinds +of preparations. This Wyoming business this summer does not mean a thing +Tao will quit it any minute. You'll see. Some morning we'll wake up and +find them gone. Probably they'll destroy their apparatus, and not bother +to take it back. + +"And then, in a year or two, they'll be here again. Not one vehicle next +time, but a hundred. They'll land all over the earth at once, not on a +desert--Tao probably only picked that this time to avoid +complications--but in our big cities, New York, Paris, London, all of them +at once. That's what we've got to face. + +"If Tao comes back as he plans, we have not got a chance. That's why Miela +stole this little vehicle and, without it being publicly known in Mercury, +came here to warn us. That's what she was after, to help us, risked her +life to warn us people of another world." + +Alan stopped abruptly, and, dropping to the floor of the porch beside +Miela, laid his arm across her lap, looking up into her face as though she +were a goddess. She stroked his hair tenderly, and I could see her eyes +were wet with tears. + +There was a moment's silence. I could not have known what Professor +Newland and Beth were thinking, but a moment later I understood. + +Then I realized the sorrow that was oppressing them both. + +"What can be done?" I asked finally. + +Alan jumped to his feet. He began pacing up and down the porch before us; +evidently he was laboring under a great nervous excitement. + +"There's nothing to be done," he said--"nothing at all--here on earth. We +have not got a chance. It's up there the thing has got to be fought +out--up there on Mercury--to keep them from returning." + +Alan paused again. When he resumed his voice was pitched lower, but was +very tense. + +"I'm going there, Bob--with Miela." + +I heard Professor Newland's sharply indrawn breath, and saw Beth's dear +face suddenly whiten. + +"I'm going there to fight it out with them. I may come back; I may not. +But if I am successful, _they_ never will--which is all that matters. + +"Miela's mother gave her up to come down here and help us. It is a little +thing to go back there to help us, also. If I can help her people with +their own problems, so much the better." + +He pulled Miela to her feet beside him and put his arm protectingly about +her shoulders. + +"And Miela is going back to her world as my wife--her body +unmutilated--the first married woman in Mercury with wings as God gave +them to her!" + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +TO SAVE THE WORLD. + + +Two days later Alan and Miela were quietly married in Bay Head. She still +wore the long cloak, and no one could have suspected she was other than a +beautiful stranger in the little community. When we got back home Alan +immediately made her take off the cloak. He wanted us to admire her +wings--to note their long, soft red feathers as she extended them, the +symbol and the tangible evidence of her freedom from male dominance. + +She was as sweet about it all as she could be, blushing, as though to +expose the wings, now that she was married, were immodest. And by the way +she regarded Alan, by the gentleness and love in her eyes, I could see she +would never be above the guidance, the dominance, of one man, at least. + +The day before their marriage Alan had taken me up the bayou to see the +little silver car in which Miela had come. I was intensely curious to +learn the workings of this strange vehicle. As soon as we were inside I +demanded that Alan explain it all to me in detail. + +He smiled. + +"That's the remarkable part of it, Bob," he answered. "Miela herself +didn't thoroughly understand either the basic principle or the mechanism +itself when she started down here." + +"Good Lord! And she ventured--" + +"Tao was already on the point of leaving when she conceived the idea. He +had already made one trip almost to the edge of the earth's atmosphere, +you know, and now was ready to start again." + +"That first trip was last November," I said. "Tell me about that. What +were those first light-meteors for?" + +"As far as I can gather from what Miela says," Alan answered, "Tao wanted +to make perfectly sure the light-ray would act in our atmosphere. He +came--there were several vehicles they had ready even then--without other +apparatus than those meteors, as we called them. Those he dropped to earth +with the light-ray stored in them. They did discharge it properly--they +seemed effective. The thing was merely a test. Tao was satisfied, and went +back to arrange for this second preliminary venture in which he is engaged +now." + +"I understand," I said. "Go on about Miela." + +"Well, she and her mother went before the Scientific Society, she calls +it--the men who own and control these vehicles in the Light Country. They +called it suicide. No one could be found to come with her. Lua, her +mother, wanted to, but Miela would not let her take the risk, saying she +was needed more there in her own world. + +"As a matter of fact, the thing, while difficult perhaps to understand in +principle, in operation works very simply. Miela knew that, and merely +asked them to show her how to operate it practically. This they did. She +spent two days with them--she learns things rather easily, you know--and +then she was ready." + +I waited in amazement. + +"For practical purposes all she had to understand was the operation of +these keys. The pressure of the light-ray in these coils"--he was standing +beside a row of wire coils which in the semidarkness I had not noticed +before--"is controlled by the key-switches." He indicated the latter as he +spoke. "They send a current to the outer metal plates of the car which +makes them repel or attract other masses of matter, as desired. + +"All that Miela had to understand then was how to operate these keys so as +to keep the base of the vehicle headed toward the earth. They took her to +the outer edge of the atmosphere of Mercury over the Dark Country and +showed her the earth. They have used terrestrial telescopes for +generations, and since the invention of this vehicle telescopes for +celestial observation have been greatly improved. + +"All Miela had to do was keep the air in here purified. That is a simple +chemical operation. By using this attractive and repellent force she +allowed the earth's gravity and the repelling power of the sun and Mercury +to drive her here." + +He paused. + +"But, doesn't she--don't you understand the thing in detail?" I asked +finally. + +"I think father and I understand it now better than she does," he +answered. "We have studied it out here and questioned her as closely as +possible. We understand its workings pretty thoroughly. But the exact +nature of the light-ray we do not understand, any more than we understand +electricity. Nor do we understand this metallic substance which when +charged with the current becomes attractive or repellent in varying +degrees." + +"Yes," I said. "That I can appreciate." + +"Father has a theory about the light-ray," he went on, "which seems rather +reasonable from what we can gather from Miela. The thing seems more like +electricity than anything else, and father thinks now that it is generated +by dynamos on Mercury, similar to those we use here for electricity." + +"Along that line," I said, "can you explain why this light-ray, which will +immediately set anything on fire that is combustible, and which acts +through metal, like those artillery shells, for instance, does not seem to +raise the temperature of the ground it strikes to any extent?" + +"Because, like electricity, it is dissipated the instant it strikes the +ground. The earth is an inexhaustible storehouse and receptacle for such a +force. That is why the broken country around the Shoshone River protected +Garland and Mantua from its direct rays." + +"Tell me about the details of this mechanism," I said, reverting to our +original subject. "You say you understand its workings pretty thoroughly +now." + +"Yes, I do," he admitted, "and so does father. But I cannot go into it now +with you. You see," he added hastily, as though he feared to hurt my +feelings, "the scientific men of Mercury--some of them--objected to +Miela's coming, on the ground that the inhabitants of the earth, obtaining +from her a knowledge that would enable them to voyage through space, might +take advantage of that knowledge to undertake an invasion of Mercury. + +"As a matter of fact, that was a remote possibility. I could explain to +you all I know about this mechanism without much danger of your ever being +able to build such a car. But Miela promised them that she would use all +possible precautions, in the event of her having any choice in the matter, +to prevent the earth people learning anything about it. + +"Father and I have examined everything here closely. But no one else +has--and I am sure Miela would prefer no one else did. You understand, +Bob?" + +I did understand; and of course I had to be satisfied with that. + +"It seems to me," I said when, later in the day, we were discussing +affairs in Wyoming, "that with things in Mercury as we now know they are, +it would help the situation tremendously if Tao and these Twilight People +with him were prevented from ever returning." + +"That's my idea exactly," Professor Newland agreed. + +I could see by the look on his face he was holding on to this thought as a +possibility that might make Alan's plan unnecessary. + +"I've thought about it constantly," the professor said, "ever since these +facts first came to us through Miela. It would be important. With his +expedition here a total failure, I think we might assume that nothing more +would be done up there in attempting to conquer the earth. I've tried to +make Alan see that we should give the authorities all the information we +have. It might help--something might be accomplished--" + +"Nothing would, father," Alan interrupted. "There wouldn't be time. And +even if this expedition of Tao's were destroyed, I don't see why that's +any guarantee another attempt would not be made. Miela doesn't, either, +and she ought to know. + +"Besides, don't you see, Bob"--he turned to me earnestly--"I can't have +the eyes of the world turned on Miela and her affairs? Why, think of +it--this little woman sent to Washington, questioned, photographed, +written about, made sport of, perhaps, in the newspapers! And all for +nothing. It is unthinkable." + +"You may be right, my boy," said the professor sadly. "I am giving in to +you, but I still--" + +"The thing has come to me," said Alan. "A duty--a responsibility put +squarely up to me. I've accepted it. I'll do my best all the way." + +A week after Alan and Miela were married the report came that the +Mercutians had suddenly departed, abandoning, after partly destroying, +their apparatus. The world for a few days was in trepidation, fearing a +report that they had landed somewhere else, but no such report came. + +Three days later Alan and Miela followed them into space. + +Professor Newland, Beth and I went up the bayou with them that morning +they left. We were a solemn little party, none of us seemingly wishing to +voice the thoughts that possessed us all. + +Professor Newland never spoke once during the trip. When the moment of +final parting came he kissed Miela quietly, and, pressing Alan's hand, +said simply: "Good luck, my boy. We appreciate what you are doing for us. +Come back, some day, if you can." + +Then he faced about abruptly and trudged back to the launch alone, as +pathetic a figure as I have ever seen. We all exchanged our last good-bys, +little Beth in tears clinging to Alan, and then kissing Miela and making +her promise some day to come back with Alan when he had accomplished his +mission. + +Then they entered the vehicle. Its heavy door closed. A moment later it +rose silently--slowly at first, then with increasing velocity until we +could see it only as a little speck in the air above us. And then it was +gone. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +THE LANDING ON MERCURY. + + +_(Narrative continued by Alan Newland.)_ + + +With hardly more than a perceptible tremor our strange vehicle came to +rest upon the surface of Mercury. For a moment Miela and I stood regarding +each other silently. Then she left her station at the levers of the +mechanism and placed her hands gently on my shoulders. "You are welcome, +my husband, here to my world." + +I kissed her glowing, earnest face. We had reached our journey's end. My +work was about to begin--upon my own efforts now depended the salvation of +that great world I had left behind. What difficulties, what dangers, would +I have to face, here among the people of this strange planet? I thrilled +with awe at the thought of it; and I prayed God then to hold me firm and +steadfast to my purpose. + +Miela must have divined my thoughts, for she said simply: "You will have +great power here, Alan; and it is in my heart that you will succeed." + +We slid back one of the heavy metallic curtains and looked out through the +thick glass of the window. It was daylight--a diffused daylight like that +of a cloudy midday on my own earth. An utterly barren waste met my gaze. +We seemed to have landed in a narrow valley. Huge cliffs rose on both +sides to a height of a thousand feet or more. + +These cliffs, as well as the floor of the valley itself, shone with a +brilliant glare, even in the half light of the sunless day. They were not +covered with soil, but seemed rather to be almost entirely metallic, +copper in color. The whole visible landscape was devoid of any sign of +vegetation, nor was there a single living thing in sight. + +I shuddered at the inhospitable bleakness of it. + +"Where are we, Miela?" + +She smiled at my tone. It was my first sight of Mercury except vague, +distant glimpses of its surface through the mist coming down. + +"You do not like my world?" + +She was standing close beside me, and at her smiling words raised one of +her glorious red wings and spread it behind me as though for protection. +Then, becoming serious once more, she answered my question. + +"We are fortunate, Alan. It is the Valley of the Sun, in the Light +Country. I know it well. We are very close to the Great City." + +I breathed a sigh of relief. + +"I'll leave it all to you, little wife. Shall we start at once?" + +Her hand pressed mine. + +"I shall lead you now," she said. "But afterward--_you_ it will be who +leads _me_--who leads us all." + +She crossed to the door fastenings. As she loosed them I remember I heard +a slight hissing sound. Before I could reach her she slid back the door. A +great wave of air rushed in upon us, sweeping us back against the wall. I +clutched at something for support, but the sweep of wind stopped almost at +once. + +I had stumbled to my knees. "Miela!" I cried in terror. + +She was beside me in an instant, wide-eyed with fear, which even then I +could see was fear only for me. + +I struggled to my feet. My head was roaring. All the blood in my body +seemed rushing to my face. + +After a moment I felt better. Miela pulled me to a seat. + +"I did not think, Alan. The pressure of the air is different here from +your world. It was so wrong of me, for I knew. It was so when I landed +there on your earth." + +I had never thought to ask her that, nor had she ever spoken of it to me. +She went on now to tell me how, when first she had opened the door on that +little Florida island, all the air about her seemed rushing away. She had +felt then as one feels transported quickly to the rarified atmosphere of a +great height. + +Here the reverse had occurred. We had brought with us, and maintained, an +air density such as that near sea level on earth. But here on Mercury the +air was far denser, and its pressure had rushed in upon us instantly the +door was opened. Miela had been affected to a much less extent than I, and +in consequence recovered far more quickly. + +The feeling, after the first nausea, the pressure and pain in my ears and +the roaring in my head, had passed away. A sense of heaviness, an +inability to breathe with accustomed freedom, remained with me for days. + +We sat quiet for some minutes, and then left the vehicle. Miela was +dressed now as I had first seen her on the Florida bayou. As we stepped +upon the ground she suddenly tore the veil from her breast, spread her +wings, and, with a laugh of sheer delight, flew rapidly up into the air. I +stood watching her, my heart beating fast. Up--up she went into the gray +haze of the sky. Then I could see her spread her great wings, motionless, +a giant bird soaring over the valley. + +A few moments more, and she was again beside me, alighting on the tip of +one toe with perfect poise and grace almost within reach of my hand. + +I do not quite know what feelings possessed me at that moment. Perhaps it +was a sense of loss as I saw this woman I loved fly away into the air +while I remained chained to the ground. I cannot tell. But when she came +back, dropping gently down beside me, ethereal and beautiful as an angel +from heaven itself, a sudden rush of love swept over me. + +I crushed her to me, glorying in the strength of my arms and the frailness +of her tender little body. + +When I released her she looked up into my eyes archly. + +"You do not like me to fly? Your wife is free--and, oh, Alan, it is so +good--so good to be back here again where I _can_ fly." + +She laughed at my expression. + +"You are a man, too--like all the men of my world. That is the feeling you +came here to conquer, Alan--so that the women here may all keep their +wings--and be free." + +I think I was just a little ashamed of myself for a moment. But I knew my +feeling had been only human. I _did_ want her to fly, to keep those +beautiful wings. And in that moment they came to represent not only her +freedom, but my trust in her, my very love itself. + +I stroked their sleek red feathers gently with my hand. + +"I shall never feel that way again, Miela," I said earnestly. + +She laughed once more and kissed me, and the look in her eyes told me she +understood. + +The landscape, from this wider viewpoint, seemed even more bleak and +desolate than before. The valley was perhaps half a mile broad, and wound +away upward into a bald range of mountains in the distance. + +The ground under my feet was like a richly metallic ore. In places it was +wholly metal, smooth and shining like burnished copper. Below us the +valley broadened slightly, falling into what I judged must be open country +where lay the city of our destination. + +For some minutes I stood appalled at the scene. I had often been in the +deserts of America, but never have I felt so great a sense of desolation. +Always before it had been the lack of water that made the land so arid; +and always the scene seemed to hold promise of latent fertility, as though +only moisture were needed to make it spring into fruition. + +Nothing of the kind was evident here. There was, indeed, no lack of water. +I could see a storm cloud gathering in the distance. The air I was +breathing seemed unwarrantably moist; and all about me on the ground +little pools remained from the last rainfall. But here there was no soil, +not so much even as a grain of sand seemed to exist. The air was warm, as +warm as a midsummer's day in my own land, a peculiarly oppressive, moist +heat. + +I had been prepared for this by Miela. I was bareheaded, since there never +was to be direct sunlight. My feet were clad in low shoes with rubber +soles. I wore socks. For the rest, I had on simply one of my old pairs of +short, white running pants and a sleeveless running shirt. With the +exception of the shoes it was exactly the costume I had worn in the races +at college. + +I had been standing motionless, hardly more than a step from the car in +which we had landed. Suddenly, in the midst of my meditations on the +strange scene about me, Miela said: "Go there, Alan." + +She was smiling and pointing to a little rise of ground near by. I looked +at her blankly. + +"Jump, Alan," she added. + +The spot to which she pointed was perhaps forty feet away. I knew what she +meant, and, stepping back a few paces, came running forward and leaped +into the air. I cleared the intervening space with no more effort than I +could have jumped less than half that distance on earth. + +Miela flew over beside me. + +"You see, Alan, my husband, it is not so bad, perhaps, that I can fly." + +She was smiling whimsically, but I could see her eyes were full of pride. + +"There is no other man on Mercury who could do that, Alan," she added. + +I tried successive leaps then, always with the same result. I calculated +that here the pull of gravity must be something less than one-half that on +the earth. It was far more than father had believed. + +Miela watched my antics, laughing and clapping her hands with delight. I +found I tired very quickly--that is, I was winded. This I attributed to +the greater density of the air I was breathing. + +In five minutes I was back at Miela's side, panting heavily. + +"If I can--ever get so I breathe right--" I said. + +She nodded. "A very little time, I think." + +I sat down for a moment to recover my breath. Miela explained then that we +were some ten miles from the fertile country surrounding the city in which +her mother lived, and about fifteen miles from the outskirts of the city +itself. I give these distances as they would be measured on earth. We +decided to start at once. We took nothing with us. The journey would be a +short one, and we could easily return at some future time for what we had +left behind. We needed no food for so short a trip, and plenty of water +was at hand. + +Only one thing Miela would not part with--the single memento she had +brought from earth to her mother. She refused to let me touch it, but +insisted on carrying it herself, guarding it jealously. + +It was Beth's little ivory hand mirror! + +We started off. Miela had wound the filmy scarf about her shoulders again +with a pretty little gesture. + +"I need not use wings, Alan, when I am with you. We shall go together, you +and I--on the ground." + +And then, as I started off vigorously, she added plaintively from behind +me: "If--if you will go slow, my husband, or will wait for me." + +I altered my pace to suit hers. I had quite recovered my breath now, and +for the moment felt that I could carry her much faster than she could +walk. I did gather her into my arms once, and ran forward briskly, while +she laughed and struggled with me to be put down. She seemed no more than +a little child in my arms; but, as before, the heavy air so oppressed me +that in a few moments I was glad enough to set her again upon her feet. + +The valley broadened steadily as we advanced. For several miles the look +of the ground remained unchanged. I wondered what curious sort of metal +this might be--so like copper in appearance. I doubted if it were copper, +since even in this hot, moist air it seemed to have no property of +oxidation. + +I asked Miela about it, and she gave me its Mercutian name at once; but of +course that helped me not a bit. She added that outcroppings of it, almost +in the pure state, like the great deposits of native copper I had seen on +earth, occurred in many parts of Mercury. + +I remembered then Bob Trevor's mention of it as the metal of the apparatus +used by the invaders of Wyoming. + +We went on three or four miles without encountering a single sign of life. +No insects stirred underfoot; no birds flew overhead. We might have +been--by the look of it--alone on a dead planet. + +"Is none of your mountain country inhabited, Miela?" I asked. + +She shook her head. + +"Only on the plains do people live. There is very little of good land in +the Light Country, and so many people. That it is which has caused much +trouble in the past. It is for that, many times, the Twilight People have +made war upon us." + +I found myself constantly able to breathe more easily. Our progress down +the valley seemed now irritatingly slow, for I felt I could walk or run +three times faster than Miela. Finally I suggested to her that she fly, +keeping near me; and that I would make the best speed forward I could. She +stared at me quizzically. Then, seeing I was quite sincere, she flung her +little arms up about my neck and pulled me down to kiss her. + +"Oh, Alan--the very best husband in all the universe, you are. None other +could there be--like you." + +She had just taken off her scarf again when suddenly I noticed a little +speck in the sky ahead. It might have been a tiny bird, flying toward us +from the plains below. + +"Miela--look!" + +She followed the direction of my hand. The speck grew rapidly larger. + +"A girl, Alan," she said after a moment. "Let us wait." + +We stood silent, watching. It was indeed a girl, flying over the valley +some two or three hundred feet above the ground. As she came closer I saw +her wings were blue, not red like Miela's. She came directly toward us. + +Suddenly Miela gave a little cry. + +"Anina! Anina!" + +Without a word to me she spread her wings and flew up to meet the oncoming +girl. + +I stood in awe as I watched them. They met almost above me, and I could +see them hovering with clasped hands while they touched cheeks in +affectionate greeting. Then, releasing each other, they flew rapidly away +together--smaller and smaller, until a turn in the valley hid them +entirely from my sight. + +I sat down abruptly. A lump was in my throat, a dismal lonesomeness in my +heart. I knew Miela would return in a moment--that she had met some friend +or relative--yet I could not suppress the vague feeling of sorrow and the +knowledge of my own incapacity that swept over me. + +For the first time then I wanted wings--wanted them myself--that I might +join this wife I loved in her glorious freedom of the air. And I realized, +too, for the first time, how that condition Miela so deplored on Mercury +had come to pass. I could understand now very easily how it was that +married women were deprived by their husbands of these wings which they +themselves were denied by the Creator. + +Hardly more than ten minutes had passed before I saw the two girls again +flying toward me. They alighted a short distance away, and approached me, +hand in hand. + +The girl with Miela, I could see now, was somewhat shorter, even slighter +of build, and two or three years younger. Her face held the same delicate, +wistful beauty. The two girls strongly resembled one another in feature. +The newcomer was dressed in similar fashion to Miela--sandals on her feet, +and silken trousers of a silvery white, fastened at the ankles with golden +cords. + +Her wings, as I have said, were blue--a delight light blue that, as I +afterward noticed, matched her eyes. Her hair was the color of spun gold; +she wore it in two long, thick braids over her shoulders and fastened at +the waist and knee. She was, in very truth, the most ethereal human being +I had ever beheld. And--next to Miela--the most beautiful. + +Miela pulled her forward, and she came on, blushing with the sweet shyness +of a child. She was winding her silken silver scarf about her breast +hastily, as best she could with her free hand. + +"My sister, Anina--Alan," said Miela simply. + +The girl stood undecided; then, evidently obeying Miela's swift words of +instruction, she stood up on tiptoe, put her arms about my neck, and +kissed me full on the lips. + +Miela laughed gayly. + +"You must love her very much, Alan. And she--your little sister--will love +you, too. She is very sweet." + +Then her face sobered suddenly. + +"Tao has returned, Alan. And he has sent messengers to our city. They are +appealing to our people to join Tao in his great conquest. They say Tao +has here with him, on Mercury, a captive earthman, with wonderful strength +of body, who will help in the destruction of his own world!" + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +THE CAPTIVE EARTH-MAN. + + +As we came out of the valley I had my first view of the Great City. It +occupied a huge, mound-shaped circular mountain which rose alone out of +the wide plain that spread before me. As far as I could see extended a +rich muddy soil partially covered with water. A road led out of the +valley, stretching across these wet fields toward the base of the +mountain. It was built on an embankment some eight or ten feet high, of +the red, metallic ore of the mountains. + +All along the base of this embankment, with their roots in the water, +graceful trees like palms curved upward over the road. The landscape was +dotted with these and other tropical trees; the scene was, indeed, +essentially tropical. + +I wondered at the continued absence of sight of human beings. The fields +were quite evidently under cultivation. A rise of ground off to the left +was ridged with terraces. As we passed on along the road I saw a rude form +of plow standing where it had been left in a field which evidently was +producing rice or something akin to it. Yet there was not a person in +sight. Only ahead in the sky I could see a little cluster of black dots +that Miela said was a group of females hovering about the summit of the +Great City. + +"It is the time of sleep now, Alan," she said, in answer to my question. + +I had not thought of that. It was broad daylight, but here on Mercury +there was no day or night, but always the same half light, as of a cloudy +day. + +The mountain on which the city was built was dotted thickly with palms, +and as we approached I made out the houses of the city, set amid the +trees, with broad streets converging at the top. As we came still closer I +saw that the summit of the mountain was laid out like some beautiful +tropical garden, with a broad, low-lying palace in its center. + +When we were still a mile or so away from the outskirts of the city Miela +spoke in her soft native tongue to Anina. The girl smiled at me in +parting, and, unwinding the veil from about her breast, flew into the air. + +We stood watching her as she winged her way onward toward the sleeping +city. When she had dwindled to a tiny speck I sighed unconsciously and +turned away; and again Miela smiled at me with comprehension. + +We started forward, Miela chattering now like a little child. She seemed +eager to tell me all about the new world of hers I was entering, and there +was indeed so much to tell she was often at a loss what to describe first. + +She named the cereal which constituted the only crop to which these marsh +lands were suitable. From her description I made out it was similar to +rice, only of a somewhat larger grain. It formed, she said, the staple +article of food of the nation. + +As we approached the base of the Great City mountain the ground began +gradually rising. The drainage thus afforded made it constantly drier as +we advanced. It assumed now more the character of a heavy loam. + +Still farther on we began passing occasional houses--the outskirts of the +city itself. They were square, single-story, ugly little buildings, built +of reddish stone and clay, flat-roofed, and raised a foot or two off the +ground on stone pilings. They had large rectangular windows, most of them +open, a few with lattice shades. The doorways stood open without sign of a +door; access to the ground was obtained by a narrow board incline. + +Interspersed with these stone houses I saw many single-room shacks, +loosely built of narrow boards from the palm trees, and thatched with +straw. In these, Miela explained, lived poorer people, who worked in the +rice fields for the small land owners. + +We reached the base of the mountain proper, and I found myself in a broad +street with houses on both sides. This street seemed to run directly to +the summit of the mountain, sloping upward at a sharp angle. We turned +into it and began our climb into the sleeping city. It was laid out +regularly, all its principal streets running from the base of the mountain +upward to its summit, where they converged in a large open space in which +the castle I have already mentioned was situated. The cross-streets formed +concentric rings about the mountain, at intervals of perhaps five hundred +feet down its sides--small circles near the top, lengthening until at the +base the distance around was, I should judge, ten miles or more. + +We climbed upward nearly to the summit; then Miela turned into one of the +cross-streets. I had found the climb tremendously tiring, though Miela +seemed not to notice it unduly, and I was glad enough when we reached this +street which girdled the mountain almost at the same level. We had gone +only a short distance along it, however, when Miela paused before a house +set somewhat back from the road on a terrace. + +"My home," she said, and her voice trembled a little with emotion. "_Our_ +home it shall be now, Alan, with Lua and Anina, our mother and sister." + +A low, bushy hedge separated the street from a garden that surrounded the +house. The building was of stone, two stories in height. It was covered +with a thick vine bearing a profusion of vivid red flowers. On its flat +roof were tiny palm trees, a pergola with trellised vines, and still more +flowers, most of them of the same brilliant red. The whole was surrounded +by a waist-high parapet. + +One corner of the roof was covered with thatch--a little nest where one +might be sheltered from the rain, and in which I could see a bed of palm +fiber. At one side of the house a tremendous cluster of bamboo curved +upward and over the roof. A path of chopped coconut husks led from the +street to a short flight of steps in the terrace at the front entrance. + +We passed along this path and entered through the open doorway directly +into what I judged was the living room of the dwelling. It was some thirty +feet long and half as broad, with a high ceiling and stone floor. Its +three windows fronted the garden we had just left; in its farther wall a +low archway led into an adjoining room. The furniture consisted only of +two or three small tables and several low, wide couches, all of bamboo. + +A woman and the girl Anina rose as we entered. Anina ran toward us +eagerly; the elder woman stood, quietly waiting. She was about forty years +of age, as tall as Miela, but heavier of build. She was dressed in loose +silk trousers, gathered at waist and ankle; and a wide sash that covered +her breast. Her hair was iron gray, cut short at the base of the neck. +From her shoulders I saw hanging a cloak that entirely covered her wings. + +As she turned toward us I saw a serious, dignified, wholly patrician face, +with large, kindly dark eyes, a high, intellectual forehead, and a firm +yet sensitive mouth. She was the type of woman one would instinctively +mark for leader. + +Miela ran forward to greet her mother, falling upon her knees and touching +her forehead to the elder woman's sandaled feet. As she rose I could see +there were tears in the eyes of them both. Then Miela presented me. I +stood for an instant, confused, not knowing quite what I should do. + +Miela laughed her gay little laugh. + +"Bow low, Alan--as I did--to our mother." + +I knelt to her respectfully, and she put her hands lightly upon my head, +speaking low words of greeting. Then, as I stood up again, I met her eyes +and smiled an answer to the gentle smile on her lips. From that moment I +felt almost as though she were my own mother, and I am sure she took me +then into her heart as her son. + +The introduction over, I turned toward one of the windows, leaving Miela +to talk with her mother. Anina followed me, standing timidly by my side, +with her big, curious eyes looking up into my face. + +"You're a sweet, dear little sister," I said, "and I _am_ going to love +you very much." + +I put my arm about her shoulders, and she smiled as though she understood +me, yielding to my embrace with the ready friendship of a child. For some +moments we stood together, looking out of the window and talking to each +other with words that were quite unintelligible to us both. Then Miela +suddenly called me. + +"We shall eat now, Alan," she said, "for you are hungry, I know. And above +there is water, that we may wash." Her face clouded as she went on: "Our +mother has told me a little that has happened. It is very serious, Alan, +as you shall hear. Tao, with his great news of your wonderful world, is +very fast winning over our men to his cause. A revolt, there may be, here +in our own city--a revolution against our government, our king. We can +only look to you now, my husband, to save our country from Tao as well as +your own." + +The situation as I found it in the Light Country was, as Miela said, +alarmingly serious. During the two years Tao had been in the Twilight +Country, preparing for his attack upon the earth, his project had caused +little stir among the Light Country people. + +Its women were, at first, perturbed at this wanton attack upon the +humanity of another world, but since the earth was such an unknown +quantity, and the fact of its being inhabited at all was problematical, +interest in the affair soon lagged. The government of the Light Country +concerned itself not at all. + +But now, upon Tao's return, the news of his venture, as told by the +emissaries he sent to the Light Country, struck its people like a +bombshell. These emissaries--all men--had come to the Great City, and, +finding their presence tolerated by the authorities, had immediately +started haranguing the people. + +The men were inclined to listen, and many of them openly declared their +sympathy with Tao. These, however, were for the most part of the poorer, +more ignorant classes, or those more adventurous, less scrupulous +individuals to whom the prospect of sudden riches appealed. + +"Why doesn't your government just throw Tao's men out if they're causing +so much trouble?" I asked. "They never should have been allowed in the +country at all." + +Miela smiled sadly. + +"That is so, my husband. That should have been done; but now it is too +late. Our men would protect them now, declaring their right to stay here +and speak. There might be bloodshed among our people, and that must not +be." + +"Are they armed?" I asked. + +She shook her head. "No one is armed with the light-ray. To carry it is a +crime punishable by death, for the light is too destructive." + +"But Tao has it?" + +"Tao has it, indeed, but he is not so great a monster that he would use it +against us." + +I was not so sure of that, and I said so. "You don't mean to tell me, +Miela, that your government has allowed Tao to prepare all this +destructive armament without itself arming?" + +Again she shook her head. "We have been preparing, too, and all our young +men can be called if occasion comes. But that must never be. It would be +too terrible." + + * * * * * + +Miela and I occupied, that first night on Mercury, a broad wooden bed +built low to the floor, with a mattress of palm fiber. At first I could +not sleep, but lay thinking over the many things she had told me. The +light in the room, too, was strange. Lattice covered the windows, but it +was like trying to sleep at midday; and the heat and heaviness of the air +oppressed me. I dropped off finally, to be awakened by Miela's voice +calling me to breakfast. + +We sat down to the morning meal at a low table set with shining plates and +goblets of copper, or whatever the metal was, and napery of silk. The rice +formed our main article of food, with sugar, milk, and a beverage not +unlike coffee. There was also a meat like beef, although more highly +flavored, and a number of sickish sweet fruits of a kind entirely new to +me, which I could do no more than taste. + +We were served by a little maid whose darker skin and heavier features +proclaimed her of another race--a native of the Fire Country, Miela told +me. She was dressed in a brown tunic of heavy silk, reaching from waist to +knee. Her thick black hair was cut to her shoulders. + +On her left arm above the elbow was welded a broad band of copper +inscribed with a mark to identify Lua as her owner, for she was a slave. +Her torso was bare, except for a cloak like Lua's which hung from her +shoulders in the back to cover her wings. By this I knew she could not +fly. + +It was not until some time afterward that I learned the reason for this +covering of the clipped wings. The wing joints were severed just above the +waist line. The feathers on the remaining upper portions were clipped, but +through disuse these feathers gradually dropped out entirely. + +The flesh and muscle underneath was repulsive in appearance--for which +reason it was always kept covered. Lua showed me her wings once--mere +shrunken stumps of what had once been her most glorious possession. I did +not wonder then that the women were ready to fight, almost, rather than +part with them. + +Difficulties of language made our conversation during the meal somewhat +halting, although Miela acted as interpreter. Lua and Anina both expressed +their immediate determination to learn English, and, with the same +persistence that Miela had shown, they set aside nearly everything else to +accomplish it. + +We decided that we should see the king and arrange our future course of +action. Whatever was to be done should be done at once--that we all +agreed--for Tao's men were steadily gaining favor with a portion of the +people, and we had no means of knowing what they would attempt to do. + +"What will your people think of me?" I suddenly asked Miela. + +"We have sent our king word that you are here," she answered, "and we have +asked that he send a guard to take you to the castle this morning." + +"A guard?" + +She smiled. "It is better that the people see you first as a man of +importance. You will go to the king under guard. Few will notice you. Then +will he, our ruler, arrange that you are shown to the people as a great +man--one who has come here to help us--one who is trusted and respected by +our king. You see, my husband, the difference?" + +I did, indeed, though I wondered a little how I should justify this +exalted position which was being thrust upon me. After breakfast Lua and +Anina busied themselves about the house, while Miela and I went to the +rooftop to wait for the king's summons. From here I had my first really +good view of the city at close range. + +Miela's home sat upon a terrace, leveled off on the steep hillside; all +the houses in the vicinity were similarly situated. Behind us the mountain +rose steeply; in front it dropped away, affording an extended view of the +level, palm-dotted country below. + +The slope of hillside rising abruptly behind us held another house just +above the level of the rooftop we were on. As I sat there looking idly +about I thought I saw a figure lurking near this higher building. I called +Miela's attention to it--the obscure figure of a man standing against a +huge palm trunk. + +As we watched the figure stepped into plainer view. I saw then it _was_ a +man, evidently looking down at us. I stood up. There was no one else in +sight except a woman on the roof of the other house holding an infant. + +Something about the man's figure seemed vaguely familiar; my heart leaped +suddenly. + +"Miela," I whispered, "surely that--that is no one of your world." + +Her hand clutched my arm tightly as the man stepped forward again and +waved at us. I crossed the rooftop, Miela following. At my sudden motion +the man hesitated, then seemed about to run. I hardly know what thoughts +impelled me, but suddenly I shouted: "Wait!" + +At the sound of my voice he whirled around, stopped dead an instant, and +then, with an answering call, came running down the hillside. + +"The earth-man!" cried Miela. "The earth-man of Tao it must be." + +We hurried down through the house and arrived at its back entrance. Coming +toward us at a run across the garden was the man--unmistakably one of my +own world. + +My hurried glance showed me he was younger than I--a short, stocky, +red-headed chap, dressed in dirty white duck trousers and a torn white +linen shirt. + +He came on at full speed. + +"Hello!" I called. + +He stopped abruptly. For an instant we stared at each other; then he +grinned broadly. + +"Well, I don't know who _you_ are," he ejaculated, "but I want to say it +certainly does me good to see you." + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +THE RULER OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY. + + +However pleased the newcomer was to see me, I had no difficulty in +assuring him with equal truth that my feelings matched his. The first +surprise of the meeting over, we took him to the living room, where Lua +greeted him with dignified courtesy, and we all gathered around to hear +his story. + +He was, I saw now, not more than twenty years old, rather short--perhaps +five feet six or seven inches--and powerfully built, with a shock of +tousled red hair and a handsome, rough-hewn face essentially masculine. + +He seemed to be an extraordinarily good-humored chap, with the ready wit +of an Irishman. I liked him at once--I think we all did. + +He began, characteristically, near the end rather than the beginning of +the events I knew he must have to tell us. + +"I got away," he chuckled, grinning more broadly than ever. "But where I +was going to, search me. And who the deuce are _you_, if you don't mind my +asking? How did you ever get to this God-forsaken place?" + +I smiled. "You tell us about yourself first; then I'll tell you about +myself. You are the earth-man we've been hearing about, aren't you--the +man Tao captured in Wyoming and brought here with him?" + +"They caught me in Wyoming all right. Who's Tao?" + +"He's the leader of them all." + +"Oh. Well, they brought me here, as you say, and I guess they've had me +about all over this little earth since. They stuck me in a boat, and Lord +knows how far we went. We got here last night, and when my guard went to +sleep I beat it." He scratched his head lugubriously. "Though what good I +thought it was going to do me I don't know. That's about all, I guess. +Who the deuce are you?" + +I laughed. + +"Wait a minute--don't go so fast. Start at the beginning. What's your +name?" + +"Oliver Mercer." + +His face grew suddenly grave. "My brother was killed up there in +Wyoming--that's how I happened to go there in the first place." + +"Mercer!" I exclaimed. + +He started. "Yes--why? You don't think you know me, by any chance, do +you?" + +"No, but I knew your brother--that is, I know Bob Trevor, who was with him +when he was killed. He's one of my best friends." + +The young fellow extended his hand. "A friend of Bob Trevor's--away off +here! Don't it get you, just?" + +Miela interrupted us here to translate to her mother and Anina what he +said. + +Mercer went on: "The assumption is, you people here are not working with +this gang of crooks I got away from--this Tao? Am I right in thinking so?" + +"You're certainly right, that far," I laughed. + +I felt, more than I can say, a great sense of relief, a lessening of the +tension, the unconscious strain I had been under, at this swift, jovial +conversation with another human of my own kind. + +"Yes, you're right on that. This Tao and I are not exactly on the same +side. I'll tell you all about it in a minute." + +"Then, we're working together?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, all I'm working for is to get back home where I came from." + +"You won't be when you hear all I've got to say." + +He started at that; then, with sudden change of thought, his eyes turned +to Anina. The girl blushed under his admiring gaze. + +"Say, she's a little beauty, isn't she? Who is she?" + +"She's my sister," I said, smiling. + +For once he was too dumfounded to reply. + +Miela had finished her translation now, and, as she turned back to us, +spoke in English for the first time during the conversation. + +"Do you know why it is they brought you here from the Twilight Country?" +she asked Mercer. + +This gave him another shock. "Why, I--no. That is--say, how do you happen +to talk English? Is it one of your languages here, by any chance?" + +Miela laughed gayly. + +"Only we three, in all this world, speak English. I know it because--" + +I interrupted her. + +"Suppose I tell him our whole story, Miela? Then--" + +"That's certainly what I want to hear," said Mercer emphatically. "And +especially why it is that I'm not supposed to want to get back to where I +belong." + +My explanation must have lasted nearly an hour, punctuated by many +questions and exclamations of wonder from young Mercer. I told him the +whole affair in detail, and ended with a statement of exactly how matters +stood now on Mercury. + +"Do you want to hurry back home to earth now?" I finished. + +"Duck out of this? I should say not. Why, we've got a million things to do +here." + +His eyes turned again toward Anina. + +"And, say--about letting those girls keep their wings. I'm strong for +that. Let's be sure and fix that up before we leave." + +It was not more than half an hour later when the king's guards arrived to +conduct us to the castle. Meanwhile young Mercer had discovered he was +hungry and thirsty. As soon as he had finished eating we started off--he +and I, with Lua and Miela. The guards led us away as though we were +prisoners, forming a hollow square--there were some thirty of them--with +us in the center. We attracted little attention from passersby; the few +who stopped to stare at us, or who attempted to follow, were briskly +ordered away. + +Occasionally a few girls would hover overhead, but when the guards shouted +up at them they flew away obediently. + +The king's castle was constructed of metal and stone--a long, low, +rambling structure, flanked by two spires or minarets, giving it somewhat +an Oriental appearance. Each of these minarets was girdled, halfway up, by +a narrow balcony. + +The first room into which we passed was small, seemingly an antechamber. +From it, announced by two other guards who stood at the entrance, we +entered directly into the main hall of the building. At one end of it +there was a raised platform. On this, seated about a large table, were +some ten or twelve dignitaries--the king's advisers. They were, I saw, all +aged men, with beardless, seamed faces, long snowy-white hair to their +shoulders, and dressed in flowing silk robes. + +The king was a man of seventy-odd, kindly faced, gentle in demeanor. He +bore himself with the dignity of a born ruler, and yet his very kindliness +of aspect and the doddering gravity of his aged councilors, seemed to +explain at once most of the trouble that now confronted him. + +We stood beside this table--they courteously made way for Lua to sit among +them--and all its occupants immediately turned to face us. + +Our audience lasted perhaps an hour and a half altogether. I need not go +into details. I was right in assuming that the king desired to help us +prevent Tao from his attempted conquest of the earth. This was so, but +only in so far as his actions would not jeopardize the peace of his own +nation. He sadly admitted his error in allowing Tao's emissaries into the +Light Country. But now they were there, he did not see how to get them +out. + +His people were daily listening to them more eagerly; and, what was worse, +the police guards themselves seemed rather more in sympathy with them than +otherwise. A slight disturbance had occurred in the streets the day +before, and the guards had stood apathetically by, taking no part. Above +all else, the king stoutly protested, he would have no bloodshed in his +country if he could prevent it. + +In the neighboring towns of the Light Country--the nearest of which was +some forty miles away from the Great City--the situation was almost the +same. Reports brought by young women flying between the cities said that +to many Tao also had sent emissaries who were fast winning converts to his +cause. + +"Do all these people who believe in Tao expect to go to our earth when it +is conquered?" I asked Miela. "How can they--so many of them--hope to +benefit in that way? Aren't they satisfied here?" + +Miela smiled sadly. + +"No people can ever be satisfied--all of them. That you must know, my +husband. They have many grievances against our ruler. Many things they +want which he cannot give. Tao may promise these things--and if they +believe his promise it is very bad." + +"He might come over here and try to make himself king," Mercer said +suddenly. "If it's like that maybe he could do it, too, with this grand +earth-conquest getting ready. Tell the king that--see what he says." + +"He says that he realizes and fears it," Miela answered. "But he thinks +that first Tao will go to your earth, and he may never come back. So much +may happen--" + +"So he's just going to wait," I explained. "Well, _we're_ not just going +to wait. Ask the king what our status is." + +"Ask him about me," Mercer put in. "Are those Tao men going to grab me the +minute I show my face on the street, or will he protect me?" + +Miela translated this to the king, adding something of her own to which he +evidently agreed. + +"It is as I thought," she said. "He believes he can present you to the +people as men of earth who are our guests, and that they will accept you +in friendly spirit, most of them." + +The king spoke to one of his advisers, who abruptly left the room. + +"He will call the people now," Miela went on, "and will speak to them from +the tower--all who can leave their tasks to come. You will stand there +with him. He will ask that we of the Light Country allow you to remain +here in peace among us. And this captive earth man of Tao's"--she laid her +hand lightly on Mercer's shoulder--"he will ask, too, that he be given +sanctuary among us. Our people still are kindly--most of them--and they +will see the justice of what he asks." + +I suggested then that Miela tell the king that we had determined, if we +could, to frustrate Tao in his plans; and showed her how to point out to +him that such an outcome would, if successful, make his throne secure and +insure peace for his nation. + +He asked me bluntly what it was I thought I could do. The vague beginnings +of a plan were forming in my mind. "Tell him, Miela, I think we can rid +the Light Country of Tao's emissaries--send them back--without causing any +disturbances among the people. Ask him if that would not be a good thing." + +The king nodded gravely as this was translated. + +"He asks you how?" Miela said next. + +"Tell him, Miela, that there are some things that might happen of which he +would be very glad, but which it might be better he did not know. You +understand. Make him see that we will be responsible for this--that he +needn't have anything to do with it or know anything about it. Then, if we +do anything wrong against your laws, he will be perfectly safe in stopping +and punishing us." + +Miela nodded, and began swiftly telling this to the king. As she spoke I +saw his eyes twinkle and a swift little series of nods from the aged men +about the table made me know that I had carried my point. During the +latter part of this talk I had noticed the growing murmur of voices +outside the castle. The old man who had left the room at the king's order +came back. + +"The people now are gathering," Miela said. "In a moment we shall go up +into the tower." + +The king's councilors now rose and withdrew, and a few moments later the +king, without formality, led the four of us through the castle and up into +the tower. + +We climbed a little stone staircase in the tower and came into a circular +room some sixty feet above the ground. A small doorway from this room gave +access to the narrow balcony which girdled the tower. The sounds of the +gathering crowd came up plainly from the gardens below. We waited for a +time, and then, at a sign from the king, stepped together upon the +balcony. + +The gardens below were full of people--gathered among the palms and moving +about for points of vantage from which to obtain a view of the balcony. +Most of them were men and older women. The girls were, nearly all of them, +in the air, flying about the tower and hovering near the balcony, staring +at us curiously. The women were, for the most part, dressed as I have +described Lua. + +The men wore knee-length trousers of fabric or leather, and sometimes a +shirt or leather jacket, although a difference of costume that made +evident the rank of the wearer was noticeable in both sexes. All were +bareheaded, with the exception of the king's guards, who were thus plainly +distinguishable, standing idly about among the crowd. + +As we stepped out into view of the people a louder murmur arose, mingled +with a ripple of applause. Three or four girls, hovering only a few feet +in front of us, clapped their hands and laughed. The king placed Mercer +and me on either side of him, and, standing with his hands on our +shoulders, leaned over the balcony rail and began to speak. + +A silence fell over the crowd; they listened quietly, but with none of +that respect and awe with which a people usually faces its king. + +Miela whispered to me. "He is telling them about your earth, and that you +came here to visit us in friendly spirit." + +There were some murmurs of dissent as the king proceeded, and once some +bolder individual shouted up a question, at which a wave of laughter +arose. As it died away, and the crowd appeared to listen to the king's +next words, a stone suddenly came whirling up from below, narrowly missing +the king's head. A sudden hush fell over the people at this hostile act; +then a tumult of shouting broke loose, and a commotion off to one side +showed where the offender was standing. + +Mercer wheeled toward me, his face white with anger. + +"Who did that--did you see him? Which one was it?" + +The king began to speak, as if nothing had occurred, and an instant later +several more stones whistled past us. The commotion in the crowd grew more +violent, but it was evident that a great majority of the people were +against this demonstration. + +"It is better we go inside," Miela said quietly. + +The king was shouting down to his guards now, but they stood apathetically +by, taking no part. + +Another stone hurtled past us, striking the tower and falling at our feet. +The king abruptly ceased his shouting and left the balcony. As he passed +me and I glanced into his frightened face I felt a sudden sense of pity +for this gentle, kindly old man, so well-meaning, but so utterly +ineffective as a ruler. + +I was about to pull Miela back into the room when a girl flew up to the +balcony railing. As she balanced herself upon it I saw it was Anina. She +said something to Miela, who turned swiftly to me. + +"She is right, my husband. We must not leave the matter like this. They +can have no confidence in you--our women most of all--if you do not do +something now. A sign of your strength now would make them respect +you--perhaps one of those who threw the stones you could punish." + +I knew she was right. Most of the crowd was with us. If we retreated now, +those against us would grow bolder--our appearance on the street might at +any time be dangerous. But if now we proved ourselves superior in +strength, the popular sentiment in our favor would be just that much +stronger. At least, that is the way it seemed to me. + +I did not need to ask Mercer's opinion, for at Miela's words he +immediately said: "That's my idea. Just give me a chance at them." + +He leaned over the balcony. "How are we going to get down there? It's too +far to drop." + +Miela spoke to Anina, and they both flew away. In a moment they were back +with two other girls. All four clung to the outside of the balcony +railing, and formed a cross with their joined hands. Into this little seat +of their arms I clambered. My weight was too great for them to have lifted +me up, but they fluttered safely with me to the ground, landing in a heap +among the people, who had cleared a space to receive us. As soon as I was +upon my feet the girls flew back for Mercer, and in a moment more he was +beside me. + +"If we only knew who threw those stones," I said. + +I stood erect, and my greater height enabled me to see over the heads of +the people easily. + +Miela laid her hand on my arm. + +"One of them I know. His name is Baar, a bad character. He has caused much +trouble in the past." + +She then told me hastily that she and Anina would fly up and seek him out. +Mercer and I were to follow them through the crowd on the ground. + +The throng was pushing close about us now, although those nearest us tried +to keep away as best they could. Miela and Anina flew up over our heads, +and, side by side, Mercer and I started off. The people struggled back +before our advance, striving to make a path for us. At times the press of +those behind made it impossible for them to give us room. We did not +hesitate, but shoved our way forward, elbowing them away roughly. + +Suddenly, some twenty feet ahead of us, I saw Miela and Anina come to the +ground, and in a moment more we were with them again. + +The crowd was less dense here, and about us there was a considerable open +space, Miela pointed out a man leaning against the trunk of a palm tree +near by and glaring at us malevolently. + +"That is he," she said quietly. "A very bad man--this Baar--whom many +would like to see punished." + +Mercer jumped forward, but I swept him back with my arm. + +"Leave him to me," I said. "You stand here by the girls. If I need you, +I'll shout." + +The man by the tree was a squat little individual, some five feet three or +four inches tall, and extraordinarily broad. He was bareheaded, with black +hair falling to his shoulders. He was naked to the waist, exposing a +powerful torso. His single garment was the usual knee-length trousers. I +thought I had never seen so evil a face as his, as he stood there, holding +his ground before my slow advance, and leering at me. His cheek bones were +high, his jowls heavy, his little eyes set wide apart. His nose was flat, +as though it had once been broken. + +I went straight up to him, and he did not move. There were certainly three +hundred people watching us as I stood there facing him. + +"You threw a stone at your king," I said to him sternly, although I knew +perfectly well he could not understand my words. "You shall be punished." + +I reached out suddenly and struck him in the face as smartly as I could +with the flat of my hand. He gave a roar of surprise and pain, and as soon +as he could recover from my blow lunged at me with a snarl of rage. + +As he came I turned and darted swiftly away. I heard a shout of surprise +from Mercer. "It's all right," he called. "Wait." + +I ran about twenty feet, then turned and waited. The man came on, head +down, charging like a mad bull. When he was close upon me I gathered my +muscles and sprang clear over his head, landing well behind him. + +He stopped and looked around confusedly, evidently not quite sure at first +what had become of me. + +Mercer gave a shout of glee, and, to my great satisfaction, I heard it +taken up by the crowd, mingled with murmurs of surprise and awe. + +I stood quiet, and again my opponent charged me. I eluded him easily, and +then for fully ten minutes I taunted and baited him this way, as a +skillful toreador taunts his bull. The crowd now seemed to enjoy the +affair hugely. + +Finally I darted behind my adversary and, catching him by the shoulders, +tripped him and laid him on his back on the ground A great roar of +laughter went up from the onlookers. + +The man was on his feet again in an instant, breathing heavily, for indeed +he had nearly winded himself by his exertions. I ran over to Mercer. + +"Go on," I said; "show them what you can do." + +The commotion of this contest had drawn many other spectators about us +now, but they kept a space clear, pushing back hurriedly before our sudden +rushes. At my words Mercer darted forward eagerly. His first move was to +leap some twenty feet across the open space. This smaller opponent seemed +to give the Mercutian new courage. + +He shouted exultantly and dashed at Mercer, who stood quietly waiting for +him at the edge of the crowd. + +Mercer's ideas evidently were different from mine, for as his adversary +came within reach he stepped nimbly aside and hit him a vicious blow in +the face. The man toppled over backward and lay still. + +I ran over to where Mercer was bending over his fallen foe. As I came up +he straightened and grinned at me. "Oh, shucks," he said disgustedly. "You +can't fight up here--it's too easy." + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +THE MOUNTAIN CONCLAVE. + + +"It is reasonable," Miela said thoughtfully. "And that our women will help +as you say--of that I am sure." + +We were gathered in the living room after the evening meal, and I had +given them my ideas of how we should start meeting the situation that +confronted us. We had had no more trouble that day. After the encounter in +the king's garden Mercer and I had followed the two girls swiftly home. We +were not molested in the streets, although the people crowded about us +wherever we went. + +"Why did none of Baar's friends come to his rescue up there in the +garden?" I asked Miela. "Surely there must have been many of them about." + +"They were afraid, perhaps," she answered. "And they knew the people were +against them. There might have been serious trouble; for that is not their +way--to fight in the open." + +Her face became very grave. "We must be very careful, my husband, that +they, or Tao's men do not come here to harm you while you sleep." + +"Why do you suppose they ever happened to bring me here in the first +place?" Mercer wanted to know. "That's what I can't figure out." + +"They knew not that Alan was here," said Miela. "I think they wanted to +show you to our people as their captive--one of the earth-men." + +Mercer chuckled. + +"They didn't know what a good runner I was, or they'd never have taken a +chance like that." + +I told Miela then my plan for enlisting the sympathy of the women of the +Light Country and for securing the active cooperation of the girls in +ridding us of the disturbing presence of these Tao emissaries. + +We planned that whatever we did should be in secret, so far as possible. +Mercer and I talked together, while Miela consulted with Lua at length. + +I explained to Mercer that Tao might at any time send an expedition to +invade the Light Country. + +"How about that car we came from earth in?" he suggested. "He could sail +over in that, couldn't he--if he should want to come over here?" + +I knew that was not feasible. In the outer realms of space the balancing +attractions of the different heavenly bodies made it easy enough to head +in any specified direction; but for travel over a planet's surface it was +quite impractical. Its rise and fall could be perfectly governed; but when +it was directed laterally the case was very different. Just where it would +go could not be determined with enough exactness. + +Miela turned back to us from her consultation with Lua. + +"In the mountains, high up and far beyond the Valley of the Sun," she +said, "lies a secret place known only to our women. Our mother says that +she and I and Anina can spread the news among our virgins to gather there +to-morrow at the time of sleep. Only to those we know we can trust will we +speak--and they will have no men to whom to tell our plans. To-morrow they +will gather up there in the clouds, among the crags, unseen by prying +eyes. And you and our--our friend Ollie"--she smiled as she used the +nickname by which he had asked her to call him--"you two we will take +there by the method you have told us. We will arrange, up there in secret, +what it is we are to do to help our world and yours." + +This, in effect, was our immediate plan of procedure. Nearly all the next +day Mercer and I stayed about the house, while the three women went +through the city quietly, calling forth all those they could reach to our +conclave in the mountains. + +They returned some time after midday. Miela came first, alighting with a +swift, triumphant swoop upon the roof where Mercer and I were sitting. + +One glance at her face told me she had been successful. + +"They will come, my husband," she announced. "And they are ready and +eager, all of them, to do what they can." + +Anina and Lua brought the same news. When we were all together again +Mercer and I took them to the garden behind the house and showed them what +we had done while they were away. + +It was my plan to have the girls carry Mercer and me through the air with +them. For that purpose we had built a platform of bamboo, which now lay +ready in the garden. + +Miela clapped her hands at sight of it. "That is perfect, my husband. No +difficulty will there be in taking you with us now." + +The platform was six feet wide by ten long. It rested upon a frame with +two poles of bamboo some forty feet in length running lengthwise along its +edges. These two poles thus projected in front and back of the platform +fifteen feet each way. Running under them crosswise at intervals were +other, shorter bamboo lengths which projected out the sides a few feet to +form handles. There were ten of them on a side at intervals of four feet. + +I found it difficult to realize the difference between night and day, +since here on Mercury the light never changed. I longed now for that +darkness of our own earth which would make it so much easier for us to +conceal our movements. Miela relieved my mind on that score, however, by +explaining that at nearly the same hour almost every one in the city fell +asleep. The physical desire for sleep was, I learned, much stronger with +the Mercutians than with us; and only by the drinking of a certain +medicinal beverage could they ward it off. + +It was after the evening meal, at a time which might have corresponded to +an hour or so before midnight, that the selected eighteen girls began to +arrive. Miela brought them into the living room with us until they were +all together. + +It was a curious gathering--this bevy of Mercutian maidens. They all +seemed between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three--fragile, dainty +little wisps of femininity, yet having a strength in their highly +developed wing muscles that was truly surprising. + +They were dressed in the characteristic costume I have described, with +only a slight divergence of color or ornamentation. They were of only two +types--jet black tresses, black eyes, and red-feathered wings like Miela; +or the less vivid, more ethereal Anina--blue-eyed, golden-haired, with +wing feathers of light blue. + +When they had all arrived we went into the garden behind the house. In a +moment more Mercer and I were seated side by side on the little bamboo +platform. Miela and Anina took the center positions so that they would be +near us. The other girls ranged themselves along the sides, each grasping +one of the handles. + +In another moment we were in the air. My first sensation was one of a +sudden rushing forward and upward. The frail little craft swayed under me +alarmingly, but I soon grew used to that. The flapping of those many pairs +of huge wings so close was very loud; the wind of our swift forward flight +whistled past my ears. Looking down over the side of the platform, between +the bodies of two of the girls, I could see the city silently dropping +away beneath us. Above there was nothing but the same dead gray sky, black +in front, with occasional vivid lightning flashes and the rumble of +distant thunder. + +Underneath the storm cloud, far ahead, the jagged tops of a range of +mountains projected above the horizon. As I watched they seemed slowly +creeping up and forward as the horizon rolled back to meet them. + +For half an hour or so we sped onward through the air. We were over the +mountains now. Great jagged, naked peaks of shining metal towered above +us, with that broken, utterly desolate country beneath. We swept +continually upward, for the mountains rose steadily in broad serrated +ranks before us. + +Occasionally we would speed up a narrow defile, with the broken, tumbling +cliffs rising abruptly over our heads, only to come out above a level +plateau or across a canyon a thousand feet deep or more. + +The storm broke upon us. We entered a cloud that wrapped us in its wet +mist and hid the mountains from our sight. The darkness of twilight +settled down, lighted by flashes of lightning darting almost over our +heads. The sharp cracks of thunder so close threatened to split my +eardrums. + +The wind increased in violence. The little platform trembled and swayed. I +could see the girls struggling to hold it firm. At times we would drop +abruptly straight down a hundred or two hundred feet, with a great +fluttering of wings; but all the time I knew we were rising sharply. + +Mercer and I clung tightly to the platform. We did not speak, and I think +both of us were frightened. Certainly we were awed by the experience. +After a time--I have no idea how long--we passed through the storm and +came again into the open air with the same gray sky above us. + +We were several thousand feet up now, flying over what seemed to be a +tumbling mass of small volcanic craters. In front of us rose a sheer cliff +wall, extending to the right and left to the horizon. We passed over its +rim, and I saw that it curved slightly inward, forming the circumference +of a huge circle. + +The inner floor was hardly more than a thousand feet down, and seemed +fairly level. We continued on, arriving finally over the mouth of a little +circular pit. This formed an inner valley, half a mile across and with +sheer side walls some five hundred feet high. As we swung down into it I +noticed above the horizon behind us a number of tiny black dots in the +sky--other girls flying out from the city to our meeting. + +I have never beheld so wild, so completely desolate a scene. The ground +here was that same shining mass of virgin metal, tumbled about and broken +up in hopeless confusion. + +Great rugged bowlders lay strewn about; tiny caverns yawned; fissures +opened up their unknown depths; sharp-pointed crags reared their heads +like spires left standing amid the ruins of some huge cathedral. There +was, indeed, hardly a level spot of ground in sight. + +I wondered with vague alarm where we should land, for nowhere could I see +sufficient space, even for our small platform. We were following closely +the line of cliff wall when suddenly we swooped sharply downward and to +the right with incredible speed. My heart leaped when, for an instant, I +thought something had gone wrong. Then the forward end of the platform +tilted abruptly upward; there was a sudden, momentary fluttering of wings, +a scrambling as the girls' feet touched the ground, and we settled back +and came to rest with hardly more than a slight jar. + +Miela stood up, rubbing her arms, which must have ached from her efforts. + +"We are here, Alan--safely, as we planned." + +We had landed on a little rocky niche that seemed to be in front of the +opening of a small cave mouth in the precipitous cliffside. I stood up +unsteadily, for I was cramped and stiff, and the solid earth seemed +swaying beneath me. I was standing on what was hardly more that a narrow +shelf, not over fifteen feet wide and some thirty feet above the base of +the cliff. + +Mercer was beside me, looking about him with obvious awe. + +"What a place!" he ejaculated. + +We stepped cautiously to the brink of the ledge and peered over. +Underneath us, with the vertical wall of the cliff running directly down +into it, spread a small pool of some heavy, viscous fluid, inky black, and +with iridescent colors floating upon its surface. It bubbled and boiled +lazily, and we could feel its heat on our faces plainly. + +Beyond the pool, not more than a hundred yards across, lay a mass of +ragged bowlders piled together in inextricable confusion; beyond these a +chasm with steam rising from it, whose bottom I could not see--a crack as +though the ground had suddenly cooled and split apart. Across the entire +surface of this little cliff-bound circular valley it was the same, as +though here a tortured nature had undergone some terrible agony in the +birth of this world. + +The scene, which indeed had something infernal about it, would have been +extraordinary enough by itself; but what made it even more so was the fact +that several hundred girls were perched among these crags, sitting idle, +or standing up and flapping their wings like giant birds, and more were +momentarily swooping in from above. I had, for an instant, the feeling +that I was Dante, surveying the lower regions, and that here was a host of +angels from heaven invading them. + +During the next hour fully a thousand girls arrived. There were perhaps +fifteen hundred altogether, and only a few stragglers were hastily flying +in when we decided to wait no longer. + +Miela flew out around the little valley, calling them to come closer. They +came flying toward us and crowded upon the nearer crags just beyond the +pool, clutching the precipitous sides, and scrambling for a foothold +wherever they could. A hundred or more found place on the ledge with us, +or above or below it wherever a slight footing could be found on the wall +of the cliff. + +When they were all settled, and the scrambling and flapping of wings had +ceased, Miela stood up and addressed them. A solemn, almost sinister hush +lay over the valley, and her voice carried far. She spoke hardly above the +ordinary tone, earnestly, and occasionally with considerable emphasis, as +though to drive home some important point. + +For nearly half an hour she spoke without a break, then she called me to +her side and put one of her wings caressingly about my shoulders. I did +not know what she said, but a great wave of handclapping and flapping of +wings answered her. She turned to me with glowing face. + +"I have told them about your wonderful earth, and Tao's evil plans; and +just now I said that you were my husband--and I, a wife, can still fly as +well as they. That is a very wonderful thing, Alan. No woman ever, in this +world, has been so blessed as I. They realize that--and they respect me +and love you for it." + +She did not wait for me to speak, but again addressed the assembled girls. +When she paused a chorus of shouts answered her. Many of the girls in +their enthusiasm lost their uncertain footholds and fluttered about, +seeking others. For a moment there was confusion. + +"I have told them briefly what we are to do," Miela explained. "First, to +rid the Great City of Tao's men, sending them back to the Twilight +Country; and do this in all our other cities where they are making +trouble. Then, when our nation is free from this danger, we will plan how +to deal with Tao direct, for he must not again go to your earth. + +"And when all that is done I have said you will do your best to make our +men believe as you do, so that never again will our women marry only to +lose all that makes their virginity so glorious." + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +THE FIRE PLANET. + + +I think I should explain now a little about the physical conformation of +Mercury--the "lay of the land," so to speak--in order that the events I am +about to describe may be more readily understood. It has already been made +clear by Bob Trevor, I believe, that Mercury revolves on its axis only +once during the time of its revolution around the sun. Thus, just as a +similar condition always makes our moon present very nearly the same face +to us, so Mercury presents always the same portion of its surface to the +sun. + +It will be understood, therefore, that, theoretically, there must be on +Mercury but one spot where the sun always is directly overhead. It could +not be seen, however, owing to the dense clouds. This spot approximates +the center of the region known as the Fire Country. + +So far as I could learn, it was here that human life on the planet began. +Certainly it was the first region where civilization reached any height. +When Columbus was discovering America great cities flourished in the Fire +Country--cities of untold wealth and beauty, now fallen into ruins like +the great cities of our own Aztec and Inca civilizations. + +The Fire Country was then like the equatorial regions of earth--a dense, +tropic jungle, hotter than most temperatures we have to bear, but still, +by reason of its thick enveloping atmosphere of clouds, capable of +supporting life in comparative comfort. Its inhabitants were dark-skinned, +but rather more like our Indians than Negroid races. + +Then, several centuries ago--the exact time is uncertain, for no written +records are kept on Mercury--came the Great Storms. Their cause was +unknown--some widespread atmospheric disturbance. These storms temporarily +parted the clouds in many places, allowing the direct rays of the sun to +fall upon the planet's surface. The resulting temperature destroyed all +life, withered all vegetation, with its scorching blast. The inhabitants +of the Fire Country were killed by hundreds of thousands, their cities +deserted, their land laid a desert waste. + +These storms, which it appears began suddenly, have returned periodically +ever since, making the region practically uninhabitable. Its surviving +races, pushed outward toward the more temperate zone, were living, at this +time I am describing, in a much lower state of civilization than the +people of the Light Country--a civilization of comparative savagery. In +the Light Country they were held as slaves. + +This region--thus very aptly known as the Fire Country--embraces a +circular area directly underneath the sun. So far as I could learn, it +extended outward roughly to those points where--if it had been +visible--the sun would have appeared some halfway between zenith and +horizon. + +Lying outside the circle, in a larger, concentric ring, is the zone known +as the Light Country. Entirely free from the equatorial storms, no direct +rays of sunlight have ever penetrated its protecting cloud blanket. Here +exists the highest state of civilization on the planet. + +Beyond the Light Country, in another concentric ring, lies the Twilight +Country. It forms a belt about the planet, beginning roughly at those +points at which the sun would appear only a short distance above the +horizon, and extending back to where the sun would be below the horizon. +In this region, as its name implies, there is never more than twilight. It +is lightest at the borders of the Light Country, and fades into night at +its other side. + +Still farther, beyond the twilight zone, lies the region of perpetual +night and cold--the Dark Country. This area embraces the rest of the +planet, comprising something less than half of its entire surface. Here is +eternal night--a night of Stygian darkness, unlighted even by the stars, +since the same atmosphere makes them invisible. + +The Dark Country, so far as it has been explored--which is very little--is +a rocky waste and a sea of solid ice that never melts. Near the borders of +the Twilight Country a few people like our Eskimos exist--savages with +huge white faces, and great, staring eyes. There are a few fur-bearing +animals and birds, but except for this fringe of life the Dark Country is +thought to be uninhabited, its terrible cold making life in any form +impossible. + +So much, in general, for the main geographical features of Mercury. The +Great City stands about halfway between the borders of the Fire Country +and the edge of the twilight zone. This level marshland, the barren, +metallic mountains, and a sort of semitropic jungle, partly inundated by +water, comprise nearly all the area of the Light Country. + +From the Great City, through the watery jungle, extends a system of little +winding bayous--a perfect maze of them, with hundreds of +intercommunicating branches--which it would be almost impossible to +traverse without losing all sense of direction. + +Beyond these bayous, into which their sluggish currents flow, lies the +Narrow Sea. On its farther shore begins the Twilight Country, much of it a +barren, semifrigid waste, with a little level, tillable land, vast rocky +mountain ranges, and a few forests. + +In spite of its inhospitable character the Twilight Country is fairly +densely populated; and, I realized when I got into it, civilized life is +exceedingly difficult to maintain there. I understood then why the +Twilight People were so envious of land in the Light Country; and, in +truth, I could not blame them for that, or for looking toward our earth +with longing. + +But just as the Light Country People had defended their borders with +implacable determination, so was I determined that they should not invade +my world, either. And I was ready to stake my life and even the lives of +those I loved here on Mercury in the attempt to prevent them. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +THE FIGHT AT THE BAYOU. + + +Miela proceeded to explain our plan in detail to these fifteen hundred +enthusiastic allies. It was my idea to build several platforms similar to +this one on which Mercer and I had been carried up here into the +mountains, only somewhat larger. We then proposed to seize these +emissaries of Tao--there were not more than eight or ten of them +altogether in the Great City--capturing them at night, without alarm, if +possible, and transporting them summarily into the Twilight Country. My +theory was that if they were to disappear thus mysteriously the people of +the Great City would have no particular cause to make trouble afterward, +and we hoped that the affair would soon be forgotten. + +Miela thought it practical for us to carry them in this way across the +Narrow Sea. The Lone City, from which Tao was operating, was located near +the edge of the sea, and if we gave them food they would be enabled to +reach it in safety in a day or two. The girls agreed enthusiastically with +this plan, and we selected a number to carry it out. + +Meanwhile we planned also to organize a system of aerial patrols, and +detailed some two hundred of the girls, who in varying shifts were to fly +back and forth along the borders of the sea over its Light Country shore, +to make sure that Tao did not attempt to make a crossing by water. + +"Can't they fly over as well as we can?" Mercer objected. "Their women +fly, too, don't they?" + +The women of the Twilight Country did fly, but for two reasons we did not +fear an attack from them in the air. First, Miela doubted that the women +would concern themselves in the affair; they were stupid and +apathetic--fit only for child-bearing. The men might, of course, force +them to the attempt, but even in that event, Miela explained, it would +result in little; for generations of comparative inactivity and the colder +climate had made them inclined to stoutness. Their wing muscles were weak +and flabby, and with their greater weight of body they flew very badly. + +"Suppose Tao should come over?" I suggested to Miela. "I don't believe he +will--but if he should, how could we stop him?" + +"By water he would come," she answered. "In boats--small they are, I +think, those he has. We could not stop him, for the light-ray he would +bring. But our women, flying over the ocean, would see him coming, and +tell our king. More we could not do now." + +"You mean this patrol would give the government the warning it won't +obtain for itself? There would be war then? The people would arm to resist +invasion?" + +Miela smiled sadly. + +"There would be war, Alan. But our government--our people--do not look for +it. They are like the peeta bird, that hides its head under its wing when +it is threatened." + +The time of sleep was now nearly over, and we thought it best that the +girls should fly back at once, so that their arrival at the city would +cause as little comment as possible. + +Mercer and I seated ourselves on the platform as before; the twenty girls +grasped its handles, raising it until they were all upon their feet; then, +at a signal, we left the ground. The trip back seemed shorter than coming +up. The girls all left the valley together, flying up helter-skelter, and +circling about us as we flew steadily onward. + +Near the Great City the girls spread out, so as to approach it from +different directions and thus attract less attention, although the time of +sleep was not yet over and we knew that few would be stirring about the +city. + +When we reached home we greeted Lua, and dismissed the girls, arranging +that they were to come back again that evening--fifty of them this +time--to carry the larger platform we were to build. We then had +breakfast, and after telling Lua the result of the meeting--at which she +was greatly pleased--we went immediately to bed, for we were worn out. + +It was about noon, I suppose, when we awoke. Mercer and I spent the +afternoon building the platform on which to carry Tao's men--a framework +with fifty handles instead of twenty. Miela and Anina disappeared for the +whole afternoon. I did not know what they were doing at the time; later I +found out Anina was devoting it to learning English. + +During the evening meal we planned it all. Tao's men were living in a +house near the edge of the city--the house Tao had occupied before he was +banished to the Twilight Country. It had no other occupants at this time. + +We had learned where they kept their boats in one of the bayous near by, +and in it we intended to take them to the sea, where we would meet the +girls, who would then fly with them to the Twilight Country. But we could +not figure out how to capture them without alarming the city. We were sure +they were unarmed; they had been carefully searched by the authorities +when they entered the country. But they were ten to our two. + +Mercer voiced the problem most emphatically. + +"Ten men in a house," he declared. "Maybe we can catch them all asleep. +But even if they are, how are we going to get them out? There'd be a row, +and we don't want any noise. Besides, there's always this confounded +daylight here. If we tied them up somebody might see us when we got +outside. How do we get them out of that house without any rumpus, and down +to that boat? That's what I don't see." + +"I--do--that," said Anina suddenly. + +She had spoken in English, and we looked at her in amazement. She lisped +the words in her soft, sweet voice, haltingly, like a little child. Then +she turned to Miela and poured out a torrent of her native language. +Mercer stared at her in undisguised admiration. + +As Miela explained it, Anina proposed that she go into Tao's house alone, +and decoy his men down to the boat where we could capture them. + +"But how will she get them there?" I exclaimed. "What will she tell them?" + +"She says she can make them think she is one of those few of our women who +sympathize with their cause," Miela explained. "And she will say that the +earth-man who escaped from them she has seen lurking about their boat; +perhaps he plans to steal it. She will go there with them, and they can +recapture him." + +"They might not all go," said Mercer. "We want to get them all." + +"It is Anina's thought that they will all go, for they fear this earth-man +much--and all would go to make sure of him." + +I could not feel it was right for us to let Anina do so daring a thing, +and Mercer agreed with me heartily. But Anina insisted, with a fire in her +eyes and flushed cheeks that contrasted strangely with her usually gentle +demeanor. + +In the end Mercer and I gave in, for we could think of no better plan, and +Miela was confident Anina would not be harmed. + +It was about what would correspond with ten o'clock in the evening on +earth when the girls began to arrive. We waited until all fifty of them +had come in. Miela named a place on the shore of the sea known to them +all. They were to take the platform--starting in about two hours, when the +city would be quiet--and there they would wait for us to join them in the +boat. + +We four started out together, but soon Anina left us to make her way to +Tao's house alone. Mercer, Miela and I then hurried as fast as we could +through the city down to the marshlands, and to the secluded spot on the +bayou's bank where the boat was lying. + +The bayou here was about a hundred feet wide, a winding, brackish stream, +lined on both sides with trees whose roots were in the water and whose +branches at times nearly met overhead. Its banks were a tangled mass of +tree roots, huge ferns, palmettos and some tall upstanding kind of water +grass. Half submerged logs jutted out into the sluggish current, making it +in places seem almost impassable. + +A narrow metal boat--a very long and very narrow motor boat with a +thatched shelter like a small cabin over part of its length--lay fastened +to a tree near at hand. I noticed at once some mechanism over its stern. + +We had come up quietly to make sure no one was about. Now we hid ourselves +close to the boat and waited with apprehension in our hearts for the +arrival of Anina with Tao's men. + +Half an hour, perhaps, went by. The silence in this secluded spot hung +heavy about us. A fish broke the glassy surface of the water; a lizard +scurried along the ground; a bird flitted past. Then, setting our hearts +pounding, came the soft snapping of underbrush that we knew was the +cautious tread of some one approaching. I was half reclining under a +fallen tree, with a clump of palmettos about me. I parted their fronds +carefully before my face. A few yards away a man was standing motionless, +staring past me and apparently listening intently. + +He moved forward after a moment. I feared he was coming almost upon us, +but he turned aside, bending low down as he crept slowly forward. Sounds +in the underbrush reached me now from other directions, and I knew that +the men had spread apart and were stalking the boat, expecting Mercer to +be in or near it. + +Had they all come down here? I wondered. And where was Anina? I looked +down at Miela warningly as I felt her move slightly. + +"We'll wait till they're all near the boat," I whispered to Mercer. + +I saw Anina a moment later soaring over the bayou just above the treetops. +I sighed with relief, for it was a signal to us that everything was all +right. We continued to wait until the men had all come into view. They +went at the boat with a sudden rush. Several of them climbed into it, with +shouts to the others. + +With a significant glance to Mercer I leaped suddenly to my feet. I was +perhaps twenty feet from the boat, and the space between us was fairly +clear. A single bound landed me beside it, almost among four of the men +who were standing there in a group. Before they had time to face me I was +upon them. + +I scattered them like nine-pins, and two of them went down under my blows. +The other two flung themselves upon me. I stumbled over some inequality of +the ground, and we all three fell prone. This was the first time I had +come actually to hand grips with any of the Mercutians. + +I felt now not only their lack of strength, but a curious frailness about +their bodies--a seeming absence of solidity that their stocky appearance +belied. These two men were like half-grown boys in my hands. I was back on +my feet in a moment, leaving one of them lying motionless. The other rose +to his knees, his face white with pain and terror. + +I left him there and looked about me. Miela was fluttering around near by, +as I had instructed her--just off the ground and with the whole scene +under her eyes. It was she on whom I depended for warning should any of +the quarry attempt to escape us. + +At the edge of the water another man was lying, whom I assumed Mercer had +felled. There was a great commotion from the boat. I ran toward it. A man +was standing beside it--an old man with snow-white hair. He stood still, +seeming confused and in doubt what to do. As I neared him he turned +clumsily to avoid me. I passed him by and bounded over the boat's gunwale, +landing in its bottom. The first thing I saw was Mercer struggling to his +feet with four of the Mercutians hanging on him. One had a grip on his +throat from behind; another clutched him about the knees. + +The two others let go of him when they heard me land in the boat. One had +evidently had enough, for he dived overboard. The other waited warily for +my onslaught. As I got within reach I hit at his face, but my blow went +wild. He hit me full in the chest, but it was the blow of a child. + +At that instant I heard Mercer give a choking cry, and out of the corner +of my eye saw him go down again. I could waste no more time upon this +single antagonist. The man had his hands at my throat now. I seized him +about the waist and carried him to the gunwale. He clung to me as a rat +might cling to a terrier, but I shook him off and dumped him in the water. + +I turned to Mercer just as he was struggling to his feet again, and in a +moment more between us we had felled his two assailants. Mercer's face was +very white, and I saw blood streaming from a wound on his head; but he +grinned as he faced me. + +"Have we--got 'em--all?" he gasped. He dashed the blood away from his eyes +with the flat of his hand. "I fell--damn it--right at the start, and hit +my head. Where are they all? Have we got 'em?" + +Miela alighted in the boat beside us. + +"Two are running," she said. "They are together. Hasten." + +We jumped out of the boat. Miela flew up, and we followed her guidance +through the dense woods. We could make much better speed, I knew, than the +Mercutians. "We'll get them all, Ollie," I shouted at Mercer. "They're not +far ahead. See up there--Miela's evidently over them now." + +We came up to them after a few hundred yards. It was the old man, and one +of those whom I had first encountered. They did not wait for us to attack +them, but stopped stock still, flinging their arms wide in token of +surrender. + +Miela came down among us, and we went back to where we had lain hidden in +the palmettos. There we had left a number of short lengths of rope. While +we were tying the arms of these two prisoners behind them and fettering +their ankles so they could not run Anina joined us. + +"Two--in water," she cried; and then added something to Miela. + +"Two were in the water. Now they are in the woods, running. Anina will +show you." + +Miela stood guard in the boat over our first two prisoners, while Mercer +and I rounded up the others. It was half an hour or more before we had +them all trussed up, but none of the ten escaped. We were a long time +reviving two of those we had injured, but finally we had them all lying or +sitting in the boat. + +Mercer's head had stopped bleeding. He washed it, and I found his injury +no more than an ugly scalp wound. + +"I fell and cut it on something," he explained lugubriously. "Couldn't see +for the blood in my eyes. But we got 'em, didn't we?" + +Under Miela's direction Mercer and I shoved the boat out into the stream. +I need not go into details regarding the propelling mechanism of this +craft. Miela explained it hastily to me as we got under way. It used a +form of the light-ray from a sort of strange battery. The intense heat of +the ray generated a great pressure of superheated steam in a thick metal +cylinder underneath the keel. + +This steam escaped through a nozzle under water at the stern of the boat, +and its thrust against the water propelled the boat forward. The boat was +constructed to draw very little water, and when going fast its bow planed +upward until only the stern of the hull touched the surface. It was +steered by a rudder not much different from some of those types we are +familiar with on earth. When we got out into open water I found the boat +was capable of great speed. This I attributed not so much to the efficacy +of its propelling force as to the lightness of the boat itself. It was +built of some metal that I may perhaps compare with aluminium, only this +was far stronger and lighter. The boat was, in fact, a mere shell, +extraordinarily buoyant. + +Miela sat in the stern, steering and operating the mechanism. I sat with +her. Mercer was farther forward, beside Anina, talking to her earnestly. +Our prisoners lay huddled in various attitudes--frightened, all of them, +and obviously in no condition to give us further trouble. They were, I saw +now, not ruffians by any means, but rather men of superior intelligence, +selected by Tao evidently as those best fitted for spreading his +propaganda among the people of the Great City. + +We made slow progress down the bayou. Some of its turns were so sharp and +so overhung with trees, and obstructed by fallen logs, we could hardly get +through. During the latter part of the trip the bayou broadened rapidly, +dividing into many channels like a delta. + +We came out into the open sea finally--a broad, empty expanse, with a +mirrorlike surface. The curvature of the planet was even more apparent +now; it seemed almost as though the water should be sliding back downhill +over the horizon. + +We turned to the left as we came out of the delta, and for the first time +Miela put the boat to the limit of its speed. The best comparison I can +make, I think, to this rapid, noiseless, smooth progress, is that of +sailing on an iceboat. + +We sped along some five or ten miles, keeping close inland. I saw some of +the small thatched shacks along here, though not many. For a while the +shore remained that same palm-lined, half-inundated marshland. Then +gradually it began to change, and we came upon a broad beach of white +sand. + +We landed here, and found the girls with the platform waiting for us. +Miela took Anina and one or two of the older girls aside, and gave them +last instructions. + +"What do I do--just dump them on the other shore?" Mercer asked me. + +"That's about it. I don't know the lay of the land over there. Anina does. +You do what she tells you." + +"You bet I will," he agreed enthusiastically. "Some kid--that little girl. +We get along fine. She understands everything I say to her already. I'll +have her talking English like a streak by the time you see her again." + +We had removed the cords from our prisoners' ankles. I motioned them to +get out of the boat. We crowded Tao's men on the platform. They were +surprised, and some of them alarmed, when they saw how we proposed to +transport them over the water. Miela silenced their protests, and soon we +had them all seated on the platform, with Mercer at the rear end facing +them. + +The fifty girls grasped the platform handles. Another moment and they were +in the air, with Mercer waving good-by to us vigorously. + +Miela and I, left alone, watched them silently as they dwindled to a speck +in the haze of the sky. + +We were about to start back when we saw a girl coming toward us, flying +low over the water. One of those we had directed to patrol the coast, +Miela said when she came closer. She saw us, and came down on the beach. + +The two girls spoke together hurriedly. + +"Tao's men in the Water City have caused great disturbance, Alan," Miela +said to me. + +"Where's the Water City?" + +"Near the Great City--across the marshlands. We must get back. And when +Anina and our friend Ollie have returned we must go to the Water City. It +is very bad there, she said." + +Our trip back to the Great City was without unusual incident. We followed +the main route at the best speed we could make. + +"We shall tell our king, of course, about this disturbance," said Miela. +"Perhaps he will think there is something he can do. But I fear greatly +that unless he appeals directly to the people, and they are with him--" + +"He's an old man," I said, "and all his councilors are old. They're not +fit to rule at such a time as this. Suppose he were to die--what would +happen? Who would be king then?" + +"A little prince there is--a mere child. And there is our queen--a younger +woman, only married to our king these few years. His first queen died." + +I questioned Miela concerning her government. It was, I soon learned, an +autocracy in theory. But of later years the king's advanced age, and his +equally old councilors whom he refused to change, had resulted in a +vacillating policy of administration, which now, I could see plainly, left +the government little or no real power. + +Only by constantly pandering to the wishes of the people could the king +hold his throne. The supreme command was held by the king and his aged +councilors. At stated intervals the more prominent men of each city met +and enacted laws. The cities were each ruled by a governor in similar +fashion, paying tribute to the central government somewhat after our old +feudal system; but for practical purposes they acted as separate nations. +They were united merely by the bonds of their common need of defense +against the Twilight People, and of intermarriage, which was frequent, +since the virgins, flying about, often found mates in cities other than +their own. + +There were courts in each city, not much more than rude tribunals, and +jails in which the offenders were held. The police I have already +mentioned. They, like the king's guards, were inclined in an emergency to +do, not so much what they were ordered, as what they thought the people +wished. + +It was all very extraordinary, but like many another makeshift government +it served, after a fashion. + +Hiding the boat in another bayou, we took our way home on foot. That is to +say, I ran, and Miela followed me, alternately flying and walking. We made +our best speed this way, and very soon were back at home in the Great +City. + +We crossed the garden and entered the front door, expecting to find Lua in +the living room, but she was not there. The house was quiet. + +"She would wait up, she told me," Miela said, and, raising her voice, +called her mother's name. + +There was no answer, although now I remember I thought I heard a footfall +upstairs. + +We went up to Lua's room hurriedly. It was empty, and our loud cries of +anxiety throughout the house evoked no response. We entered our own +bedroom, and before I could make a move to defend myself I was seized +tightly by both elbows from behind. + +At the same instant an arm hooked around my neck under my chin and jerked +my head backward, and another pair of arms clutched me around the knees. I +struggled vainly to free myself, shouting to Miela to run. + +But there were too many holding me. A moment more and my arms were tied +behind me and a rope was about my legs. I was pushed into a chair, and as +I sat down I saw Miela standing quietly near by, with two Mercutians +holding her by the arms and shoulders. + +The man who had pushed me to the seat bent down and struck me across the +cheek with the flat of his hand. His grinning, malevolent face was only a +few inches from mine. I saw that it was Baar! + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +REVOLUTION. + + +There seemed to be five of our captors, all of them as evil-looking men as +I think I have ever seen. They rummaged about the room, evidently in +search for weapons they thought I might have secreted. Then they ordered +me to stand up, and without more ado led Miela and me from the house. + +This was once when I was glad of the interminable daylight. I hoped we +might find some early risers about the streets, for I thought certainly +the time of sleep must now be nearly over. But no one was in sight as we +left the garden. We turned the first corner and headed toward the base of +the mountain. + +"To Baar's house they are taking us, I think. It is on the marshland +below." Miela spoke without fear of our captors understanding the English +words. We took advantage of this until after a moment we were roughly +ordered to be quiet. + +Lua, we thought, must have been taken away before we arrived; we would +find her at Baar's house when we arrived there. We had come down to the +level marshlands now, the outskirts of the city, and were passing along a +path between occasional shacks. Before us, standing alone in a rice paddy, +I saw a larger, more pretentious house--a wooden structure on stilts, with +a thatched roof, which Miela said was where Baar lived. + +We went in single file up its board incline, and entered a squalid room +with matting on the floor, a rude charcoal brazier at one side, and the +remains of a previous meal lying on a table. + +Two women were in the room as we entered. I took these to be Baar's wife +and a servant. Two naked little children lay on the floor, one of them +crying lustily. + +Baar glanced around as he came in, and with what I took to be an oath +ordered the children removed from the room. The slave woman--I could see +she was a slave by the band upon her arm--picked them up. Evidently she +did not move fast enough to suit Baar's temper, for as she straightened up +the man cuffed her upon the head. She stumbled to one side against Baar's +wife, who was standing there, and the other woman, with a sharp +imprecation, struck her full in the breast. + +Neither of them saw the look she gave as she shuffled away, carrying the +infants; but I did. It was a look of the most intense hatred, born and +nourished, I realized, by long ill-treatment. + +Miela and I were now bound securely hand and foot, and Miela's wings were +lashed to her body. Thus rendered entirely helpless, we were laid together +in a corner. + +From the talk that followed Miela gathered that Baar and his men were +expecting the arrival of others. He roughly ordered his wife--a woman of +the Twilight Country, obviously--to clear away the remains of their last +meal and bring other food. She obeyed submissively. + +This, the first of the Twilight Country People I had seen, was a thick-set +woman of perhaps thirty-five, although she might have been older, for her +black hair, which fell in an unkempt mass to her waist, was beginning to +gray. She wore a single garment, a pair of silken trousers, drab with +dirt. Her clipped wings were covered in the usual way. + +I could see now why Miela had said these Twilight women could not fly, for +this woman's torso was fat and flabby. Her skin was curiously pale--a +dead, unpleasant white. Her face was broad, heavy and unintelligent. Her +eyes were large and protruded slightly. + +Baar and his men ate breakfast, paying no further attention to Miela and +me. Suddenly Miela spoke in a frightened whisper. "They are going now in a +moment to the castle. The king they will kill!" + +It was evidently a widespread plot we now overheard. Baar's followers had +for some time been talking quietly with the lower classes, and, finding +they could count on their support, planned now to murder the king. Then +with the queen and the little prince held as hostages, they expected that +the men of science, threatened also with a revolt of the peons, would +release the light-ray. + +The light-ray once in his control, Baar could make himself king. It seemed +an absurd hope, but such was the plan they were now discussing. And what +was far worse, I could see no way by which I could prevent the attempt. + +"They are going to the castle--now--to murder the king?" I whispered, +incredulous. + +"Yes," Miela answered. "So they plan. Now--in a moment--before the time of +sleep is over." + +"Isn't he guarded? Can they get in the castle without arousing others?" + +"There are the guards--a few. But Baar has promised them great wealth, and +they will stand aside and let him pass. So it is arranged." + +The arrival of several other men interrupted our whispered conversation. +Baar, his meal over, consulted with them hurriedly. He then instructed his +wife to watch us, and after a moment they all left the house. + +The woman, who was now the only occupant of the room with us, shuffled +about, clearing away the meal. I tried desperately to work my hands loose; +I even tried with my teeth to gnaw Miela's bonds, but without success. +Every moment counted, if we were to do anything to save the king. I +wondered again where Lua was--perhaps in another part of the house here, +bound as we were. + +"Miela," I whispered, "ask for food. Tell her we have had nothing for many +hours. Perhaps she will loosen our bonds a little to let us eat. We may be +able to do something then." + +The woman answered Miela's pleading by setting us up side by side, with +our backs against the wall. She placed food before us, and then, with a +knife, cut the cords that bound our arms. + +My heart leaped exultantly; but, instead of leaving us and going on with +her work, she sat down just out of reach, holding the knife in her hand +and watching us narrowly. + +"We must eat, Miela," I said, using as casual a tone as I could and +pointing to the food smilingly. "Eat, and pretend not to notice her. +Perhaps I can get to my feet." + +We ate the food she had given us. I tensed the muscles of my legs, and +believed that, bound as I was, I might be able to leap forward and reach +the woman. It was almost hopeless to attempt it, for I realized she would +meet my body with the dagger point. + +We were still eating, and I was thinking over this plan, when the slave +woman appeared silently in a doorway across the room, behind the woman who +faced us. Something in her attitude made me look away again casually and +go on with my eating. + +Miela had evidently not noticed her. + +The slave woman came slowly toward us. A moment later she hurled herself +upon Baar's wife from behind. At the same instant I threw myself forward, +falling prone, but within reach of the seated woman. I gripped her with my +hands, fumbling to catch her wrists, but before I could succeed she +toppled forward and fell partly over me. + +I heard Miela give a cry of fright. I struggled free and raised myself up +to a half-sitting position. Baar's wife lay beside me dead, with the slave +woman's knife buried to the hilt in her back. + +Reaching over, I took the knife from the dead woman's fingers, and with it +cut the cords that bound my ankles. I sprang to my feet. The slave had +retreated and stood shrinking against the side of the room, terrified at +what she had done. I paid no more attention to her for the moment, but +hastened to release Miela. + +We searched the house hurriedly, calling to Lua; but she did not answer, +nor could we find her. When we returned the slave woman was still standing +where we had left her, staring with horrified eyes at the body of her +mistress. + +"Tell her what she did was right," I said. "She may have saved the king. +Tell her to go to your house and wait for us." + +The woman nodded eagerly when Miela told her what to do, and fell on her +knees before us. + +"She says she will serve us always. She has been very badly treated, +Alan." + +We sent the woman away, and with a last hasty glance around hurriedly left +the house alone with its single dead occupant. A large wooden mortar and +pestle, used for pounding rice, stood in the kitchen. I carried the pestle +away with me; it was nearly five feet long and quite heavy--an excellent +weapon. + +We hastened up through the city--Miela half walking, half flying, and I +carrying this bludgeon and running with twelve-foot strides. But it was +now hardly more than three-quarters of an hour since we had passed this +way before, and there were still few people about to see us. Baar and his +men had started some twenty minutes before us, I figured, and we must +reach the castle before them. + +I made extraordinary progress over the level country. But I could not run +uphill for long, and soon had to slow down to a walk. Miela kept closer to +me now. We approached the castle grounds. + +"Where will the guards be, Miela? We must avoid them if we can. They might +try to stop us." + +Miela did not know where they would be; but under the circumstances, as +Baar had told his men, she believed the guards would disappear from the +vicinity. This conjecture proved to be correct. The guards, not wishing to +be concerned in the affair at all, had simply disappeared. We saw nothing +of Baar and his men on the way up the mountain, although I had hoped we +might overtake them. + +As we passed hurriedly through the palm gardens surrounding the castle I +saw its huge front doors were closed. + +"Miela, we can't get in that way. A side entrance--or some other way--" + +"I know," she said. "There is a smaller door below, and others on the +side." + +We hastened on. Suddenly I gripped Miela by the arm. + +"What's that--over there--see, beyond the grove?" + +There seemed to be furtive figures lurking among the palms. + +"Those cannot be Baar's men, Miela--there are too many. What can it--" + +We had reached a little doorway under the front terrace. There was no time +to investigate these advancing figures. Baar and his men might already be +inside the castle. + +I slid through the doorway, every muscle tense. Miela had brought the +knife from Baar's shack, and with it clenched in her hand was close beside +me. I wanted to make her stay outside, where she could fly away if danger +threatened, but she pleaded to follow me, and I let her come. I needed +her, since I had no idea of the interior arrangements of the building. + +We passed along a dim hallway and up a narrow flight of stone steps. Not a +sound came to us; the interior of the castle was silent as a tomb. At the +top of the steps we came almost directly into the inner patio of the +building. Across a bed of tall flowers, nodding gently in a little morning +breeze that swept down from above, I saw the head and shoulders of a man +standing in the center of the courtyard; the lower part of his body was +hidden by the flowers. I tried to duck out of sight, but he had seen me. + +He was not over forty feet away. I stepped back, believing I could reach +him in a single leap; but Miela held me. + +"Not you, Alan. He would cry out. The noise would bring others." She +raised her knife, and her eyes blazed into mine. "Never have I thought to +kill a human. But now I--a woman--must kill. Stand quiet, Alan." + +She flew swiftly up and poised over the man. He had started toward us. +Evidently he was, so far, as anxious for silence as we, for he made no +sound. I saw now he was one of those who had come to Baar's shack. His +naked shoulders, his thick neck, and bullet head were all that showed +above the flower stems as he plowed his way through them directly toward +me; but the hand he swung aloft to aid his progress held a knife. + +He glanced up at Miela, poised in the air above him, and saw the weapon in +her hand. At this new enemy he stopped, confused. + +Miela swooped down at him, and he struck at her with his knife; but she +avoided it with an incredibly swift turn, and a second later had passed +him and was crossing the courtyard. + +Round and round she flew, her great wings flapping audibly, a giant bird +circling its prey. The man turned continually to face her. Several times +she swooped toward him, and as swiftly avoided his blow. From every side +she threatened. The man stood now bewildered, striking wild in a frenzy, +as one strikes at a darting wasp. At last, with an agonized cry, he turned +and ran. Instantly she dropped upon him; there was a flash of her white +arm; the man's body crumpled and lay still among the flowers. + +Miela was back beside me. Her breast was heaving; her eyes were full of +tears; she trembled. + +"A terrible thing, Alan, my husband, for a woman to do; but it had to be." + +I pressed her hand with silent understanding. + +"Come, Alan," she said. "They will have heard his cry. The others--we must +meet them, too." + +"We must get to the king. I--" + +A vibrant scream rang out from the silence of the house--a man's voice, +shrill with agony--then suddenly stilled. + +"Good God, Miela! The king--where is he? Take me there." + +She pulled me back through the doorway. A man scurried past. I leaped at +him and struck him a glancing blow with the heavy wooden pestle. He +stumbled to his knees. Without thought of giving quarter, I hit him again +before he could rise. He sank back, senseless or dead. + +Miela was ahead of me, and I ran after her along a hallway. The sound of +scurrying footsteps sounded from overhead; a woman screamed. + +A broad, curving stairway fronted us. I passed Miela halfway up, and, +reaching the top, ran full into another man who darted from a doorway +close by. The impact of my heavier body flung him backward to the floor. I +leaped over him with a shout of warning to Miela, and ran on into the +room. + +A man was standing stock still in its center. It was Baar. He flung his +knife at me as I appeared, but it went wild. Two other men were coming +toward me from opposite sides of the room. I swung the bludgeon about me +viciously, keeping them away. Suddenly Baar shouted a command, and before +I could reach any one of them they had scurried away like rats. + +A low bed with a huge canopy of silk stood against the wall. A woman knelt +on the floor beside it, and against her knees huddled a little half-grown +boy. + +I heard Miela's voice shouting in her own language. The sound of men +running came from below. Then Miela's half-hysterical laughter, and then +the words: "They are running away, Alan--all of them. I have been calling +you to bring me the light-ray. And they are running away." + +I turned to the bed, pushing its curtains aside, and then hurriedly +closing them again with a shudder. + +Miela was beside me. + +"The king is dead, Miela. No--you must not look." + +Her eyes widened; her hand went to her breast. + +"There is one who needs you." I pointed to the woman on the floor. + +She was staring at us, unseeing, one arm flung about the child +protectingly, holding him partially under one of her long, sleek red +wings. The fingers of her other hand clutched convulsively at the bed +coverings; she was moaning softly with a grief and terror all the more +intense because it was restrained. + +"There is one who needs you, Miela," I repeated. "Comfort her--for we have +come too late." + +The castle now was in thorough confusion. Several waiting maids rushed +into the room, stared at their mistress and the little prince, and, seeing +what had happened, stood silently wringing their hands in fright, or fled +aimlessly through the halls. One of the king's councilors had come in, +stopping, bewildered, at the scene that met him. + +"Tell him what has occurred, Miela," I said. + +There came now faintly to my ears from outside the castle sounds of a +gathering crowd--murmurs and vague muffled shouts. The cries grew louder. +A rain of missiles struck the castle; a stone came through a near-by +window, falling almost at my feet. All at once I remembered the lurking +figures we had seen among the palms in the garden. + +"Miela!" I cried. "Hear that, outside! A crowd is gathering. The men we +saw--out there! People whom Baar has--Miela, ask him, for God's sake, to +tell us how we can get weapons. Where are the other councilors? Send for +them. We must do something--now, at once. This is revolution, Miela--don't +you understand? Revolution!" + +I felt so impotent. Here in this crisis I could talk to no one but +Miela--could issue no direct commands--could understand the words of no +one but her. + +Suddenly, from over our heads, a great, solemn deep-throated bell began +tolling. + +"What is that? What does that mean?" + +A girl rushed into the room. + +"It is the bell of danger," said Miela quickly. "The girls are ringing it +to arouse the city. Up here then will the people hurry to find out what it +is that threatens." + +"They're outside now," I retorted. "Order all the king's councilors here +at once. Find out if any guards are about the place. Send them here. Where +is the head of the city's police? Send him here to me! Tell him to call +out all his men." + +What was I saying? I had forgotten the one vital thing! + +"Miela! The light-ray! These men of science who guard it, where are they? +Send for their leader. Get him here to me at once--we must have the ray!" + +Miela stood very quietly beside me. Her face was white; her eyes blazed, +but she seemed calm and unfrightened. + +"He will come," she said, "and armed with the ray. The bell will bring +him. Your other commands I will see are obeyed." + +The old councilor, who had been standing by, dazed, came slowly forward at +Miela's call. The king's councilor! And all the others were like him. The +king was dead, and here was the little prince huddled in his mother's arm! +Realization had been slow in coming, but now it broke upon me like a great +light. + +I flung the bludgeon away from me, and stood erect. + +"Miela," I cried, "tell him--tell them all--their king is dead. It is _I_ +who command now. There is no one else--and I have the power. Tell them +that. It is I, the man from earth, who commands!" + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +THE NEW RULER. + + +The solemn bell continued pealing out its knell; the shouts and tumult +outside were growing louder. Miela spoke hurriedly to the old man, then +turned to leave the room. + +"Your commands shall be obeyed, my husband," she said quietly. + +I felt again that sudden sense of helplessness as I saw her leave. + +"Be careful, Miela. Order every one in the castle to the roof. Here! Tell +the queen before you go. Send every one up there with me. The mob may come +in. We'll make our stand up there." + +I understood Baar's plot better now. He had gathered his mob of peons to +surround the castle and make a demonstration in his favor. Then, with the +king dead and the queen and her little son held by him and his men--their +lives as forfeits--he hoped to be able to treat with the men of science +who controlled the light-ray, and who, I did not doubt, represented the +better element among the people. + +It seemed a mad plan at best; and now that it had gone wrong, I wondered +what Baar would attempt to do. Evidently he and his henchmen had all left +the castle, fearing the light-ray, which Miela pretended I held. They were +outside now, among the mob, I assumed. Would the mob attempt to enter? + +Miela hurried away to send every one inside the building to its roof. The +queen, following Miela's commands unquestioningly, took the little prince +by the hand and, signing to me to follow, led me upstairs. + +There was only one stairway leading to the roof, I found with +satisfaction, and it was narrow--an excellent place for defense. The roof +was broad and flat, flanked at the ends by two towers which rose +considerably above it. + +It was a frightened little group who gathered about me--the queen and her +son, two of the king's councilors, and perhaps half a dozen young girls +whom I took to be the queen's attendants. Others came up each moment. + +I sat the queen down on a little white stone bench in the center of the +garden, and bowed before her respectfully. Then I smiled upon them all. I +think they were reassured and trusted me, and I found my commands were +obeyed without question. + +The queen was a woman of perhaps thirty-five--tall and slender, with black +hair and eyes. She was dressed in a single garment of heavy white silk, a +dress that fell ungathered at the waist from above her breast under the +arms to her ankles. It was, I judged, her sleeping robe. Her hair hung in +two long braids over her shoulders; her feet were incased in sandals. + +She was unquestionably a beautiful woman. I remember my vague surprise, as +I saw her, with her son by her side, and her long sleek wings unmutilated. +And then I saw that her wings were fastened together in two places by +little metal chains. She, then, like other married women, was not +permitted to fly, although the beauty of her wings was unspoiled. + +I sent two of the old men to stand by the head of the stairs. Miela had +given me her knife, and I handed it now to one of them, trying to make him +understand that he was to bar the passage of any one who should not be +allowed up. He shuddered, but he took the knife and stood where I +indicated. + +The crowd in the garden below had seen us on the roof now, and the tumult +of shouts was doubled. I went to the parapet and looked over. + +The garden was full of a struggling, confused mass of people. Those +nearest the castle were mostly peons. I noticed men and a few women armed +with various implements of agriculture, and any sort of rude weapon they +could obtain. They were standing about in little groups or rushing +excitedly to and fro in aimless, uncommanded activity. + +Many of them held stones in their hands, which occasionally they cast at +the building. It was one of those mobs that gather ready for trouble, is +swayed in almost any direction by any chance leadership, and most +frequently accomplishes nothing. + +I felt a sudden sense of relief. The garden was rapidly filling up with +men and women of the more intelligent classes, who mingled with the +others, learned what had occurred--for I did not doubt but that the +knowledge of the king's death had spread about--and then stood waiting to +see what would happen. + +The air was full of excited girls flying over the castle. A few alighted +for a moment on the roof, but I did not fear them. Where was Baar? I could +not hope to distinguish him among the crowd, but still I saw no sign of +his leadership. Had he seen the failure of his plan and, fearing the +results of his regicide, fled the vicinity? I hoped so fervently. + +As I showed myself at the parapet a great shout arose. Some of the men--I +knew at once it was those who had heard I possessed the +light-ray--scattered in terror at my appearance. I determined then, if no +issue were raised that would demand my using this supposed weapon, I could +continue to command the situation. + +I stood there a moment looking down. At the edge of the crowd I saw a few +figures whom I took to be members of the city's police. They were standing +idle, taking no part in what was going on. There seemed nothing I could do +until Miela returned. If only I could speak to the crowd! I wondered if I +dared descend among them and disperse the mob of peons. I went to the head +of the stairway. Three or four of the king's councilors were standing +there. + +There was no one on the stairs; evidently every one living in the castle +was now on its roof--some thirty of them altogether. The crowd outside +quite evidently had no present intention of entering the building. The mob +of peons Baar had gathered were greatly in the minority now, and I felt +that matters were steadily improving. I wondered where Miela was, and then +while I was standing there I saw her coming up the stairs, a man following +close behind her. + +I think I have never been so glad to see any one as I was to see her at +this moment. Her face was grave; her demeanor calm, as before. + +"He is here," she said as she came to the head of the stairs. "This is +Fuero, Alan, leader of the men of science, who have the ray." + +As he came out onto the roof I saw this man was easily the most dominant +personality I had so far encountered on Mercury. He was tall for his race, +although several inches shorter than I, a man of sixty, perhaps, with +iron-gray hair falling long about his ears. + +He wore sandals and a pair of the usual knee-length, wide-cut trousers. +But what distinguished him in his dress was a broad panel of heavy silk, +hanging from neck to knee, both in back and front, with an opening at the +top through which his head was thrust. This silken panel was some eighteen +inches wide, light gray in color, and richly embroidered in gold in +various designs. It hung free, except for a slight fastening at the waist +line. Beneath it the man's naked torso--and his bare arms--showed +powerfully muscled. + +His face was smooth shaven, with strong, regular features. I noticed, too, +there was a slight cleft in his square chin. His forehead was high, his +blue eyes kindly, yet with a searching, piercing quality about them. + +It was not so much the man's general appearance as his bearing that made +me realize he was a forceful character. There was about him unmistakable +poise. I knew at once he felt his power, his authority. That he would use +it wisely I could not doubt. + +He stood regarding me gravely--an appraising regard under which I felt +myself flushing a little. Miela spoke to him swiftly, and he inclined his +head to me by way of introduction, his glance meanwhile taking in the +scene on the roof. + +With Miela as interpreter we held a hurried conversation. I learned then +that Fuero and his associates had many years before organized a society +for the development of the light-ray in its various forms. They had soon +realized in their experiments its diabolical power of destruction, and had +taken oath then that they would not use it, or allow it to be used, except +under the most critical circumstances of the nation's welfare. + +Realizing, too, the power it gave them as individuals, they had sworn to +remain men of science only, taking no part in public affairs, remaining +rigidly aloof from all national affairs. Most of their work concerned the +development of the light-ray for industrial purposes. In these forms it +developed heat, but had very little power of projection. + +All this Miela told me in a few brief sentences. + +"How did Tao get the ray?" I demanded. + +"Some members of the society proved false," she answered. "When Tao was +banished to the Twilight Country they deserted their brothers and joined +him. There were others with him of scientific mind, and these soon learned +how to make it, too." + +Fuero was still regarding me appraisingly. I felt suddenly very young, +very inadequate as I stood there facing him. But I met his gaze squarely, +and all at once he smiled. + +"He says, 'Let us speak to the people,'" said Miela. + +We went to the parapet. Only a few moments had elapsed since I had stood +there before. The situation below was unchanged, except that the crowd had +grown denser. + +A sudden hush fell as they saw us. Fuero turned to me and spoke quietly; +his eyes seemed searching out my thoughts. + +"He asks you, my husband, if you will take oath before your God to do what +is right for our people. He wishes to trust you now in this crisis, for +there is no one else, and he believes in you." + +"I will, Miela," I said solemnly. "Before God I swear it." + +The man gazed steadily into my eyes another instant, then abruptly he +thrust a small metal cylinder into my hand. I thrilled as my fingers +closed around it. He seemed to hesitate, then he turned and, slowly +crossing the rooftop, looking neither to right nor left, he descended the +stairs out of our sight. + +He had done what he thought was best, and, having done it, had withdrawn +immediately from further participation in the affair. + +It may have been the absence of his dominant personality, or the grasp of +my hand about this little metal cylinder, but now I felt a renewed sense +of responsibility, and with it a feeling of power that swept aside all +doubts and all fears. Now I could command, could guide and control, the +destiny of this nation, and could, thank God, save my own world. + +"Miela," I said, "tell the queen her son shall be king. I am about to +proclaim him king before the people, and I, as regent, will rule. Tell her +that, and bring him here now to me." + +The queen made no answer, save a slight inclination of her head. But I saw +that she had recovered composure. She pushed her son gently away from +her, and I strode forward to meet him. + +"Tell him, Miela, he is a man now, and must have no fear, for he is the +greatest man in all this land." + +I patted his shoulder as he stood beside me, and he looked up into my face +and smiled bravely. + +The top of the parapet was flat and broad. I raised the little boy up and +stood him upon it. Instantly another tumult of shouts arose. + +I looked down and saw the figure of Fuero as he stalked unheeding across +the garden, the people respectfully opening up a path before his advance. + +Approval and derision seemed mingled in the cries that greeted the +appearance of the little prince. + +"Quiet them if you can, Miela," I said. "Speak to them." + +I steadied the boy with my hand, and he stood there unafraid, a sturdy, +manly little figure. + +Miela raised her voice and began speaking. The shouts partially ceased, +then suddenly a stone struck the parapet almost in front of us. + +A sudden rage possessed me. I fumbled at the cylinder I held. It was very +much like a little hand flashlight, and seemed to have a knob at my thumb. +Miela stopped speaking and turned to me. + +"There--press that, Alan. Careful! Aim it there! See! Over there against +those palms." + +I held the thing up and pointed it toward the huge royal palms, aiming at +their graceful fronds high over the heads of the people. My hand pressed +the knob; the little cylinder seemed to thrill in my grasp. A tiny beam of +light shot out-quite plainly visible--a green, shading into red. It struck +the palm branches, and silently yet rapidly, as though they were under +some giant blow-torch, they shriveled, crackled, and burst into flame. + +Miela's fingers bit into my arm. "Enough, Alan! Stop!" + +My thumb yielded to the upward pressure of the tiny knob against it, and +abruptly the light vanished. A narrow swath had been cut through the +palms--a furrow of death plowed by the pressure of my thumb against a bit +of metal! + +The crowd had frozen into the immobility of terror. Now, as the dreaded +ray vanished as suddenly as it had sprung forth, they turned with cries of +fright to escape. No one had been hurt. I shuddered as I realized now that +many girls had been in the air, and through no thought or skill of mine +had they escaped. + +"Speak to them, Alan," Miela cried. "There must be no panic. Here must +they stay and listen to what you have to say. Speak to them; stop them +now." + +I handed her the cylinder, lest the diabolical thing spit forth again its +fire from my unskillful fingers, and leaped to the top of the parapet. + +"Stop!" I shouted at the top of my voice. "Stop--all of you! At once!" + +I waved my arms violently: I knew my words meant nothing, but my voice +carried far. The excitement continued. But a few stopped and stared at me; +then others, and gradually there was less confusion. + +Miela turned and shouted something to the girls on the rooftop. Instantly +they spread their wings and flew, down, circling close over the heads of +the people. + +"Wait, Alan. A moment now and there will be quiet. The girls are telling +them not to fear, but to wait and listen to what you have to say." + +Miela stood now upon the parapet top, with the little prince between us. +She had concealed the tiny metal cylinder in her belt; her open palms were +flung out before her, and her wings, spread and flapping slowly, raised +her on tiptoe. Every line of her graceful body was tense; her attitude +bespoke power, dominance, authority. And then she began to talk in a voice +vibrant with emotion. Once she laid her hand lightly upon the curly head +of the little boy, and a tremulous, uncertain cheer answered her from +below. + +"I have told them of the king's death, Alan," she said a moment later, +"and that here is their little king standing before them; And now, of +you--what shall I say?" + +"Tell them that until the king is older, I--the man from earth--shall rule +them as regent. Tell them if they obey me all will be well, for I shall +rule them wisely." + +I stood while Miela translated this amid dead silence from the crowd. As +she finished I raised myself to full height and stared down at them +threateningly. + +"But if there is trouble--if any one defies my authority--then, Miela, +tell them I shall use the light-ray, for I shall brook no interference." + +The silence from below continued. + +I spread my hands out before me and smiled. + +"But there will be no trouble. I am with the Light Country, heart and +soul. Its interests are my interests, for I have married one of its women, +and now I too am one of its people. + +"Tao shall be overthrown--tell them that, Miela. The Twilight People never +again shall threaten our cities. If more land is wanted by our people of +the Light Country, tell them they shall have it. All the land they desire +shall be theirs. For when Tao is vanquished I shall build great cars such +as he is building, and all who wish may go to my earth peacefully, and we +will make them welcome as I have been made welcome here." + +A cheer arose as Miela translated this; and now for the first time I heard +no cries of dissent. + +"Say to them again I shall rule them wisely. Say I shall look to them--all +of them, rich and poor alike--for help in what we have to do. All must +help me, for I am only one, and I need them all. When this work we have to +do is over, when our nation is freed forever from this menace from across +the sea, tell them that then I will give my every thought to the details +of their welfare. All that they wish--if it lays in my power--shall be +done." + +A girl alighted for an instant on the parapet near me; another, darted +downward in her flight, evidently to avoid the disrespect of passing +directly in front of me. The thought flashed through my mind that I might +mention the virgins and promise them reversal of the law they so abhorred, +but I felt it would be impolitic to raise that question at such a time as +this. + +"Tell them now to leave the grounds, quietly," I concluded. "When I wish +them again they will be sent for. All that I do will be known through +public proclamation." + +I lifted the little prince in my arms, and then, with the cheers of the +people ringing in my ears, jumped backward with him to the roof below. + +Thus, by swift moving circumstances which could not have been foreseen, +was I made ruler of the Light Country. The crowd dispersed quietly. We +sent the queen and her waiting maids back to her apartments, the aged +councilors to theirs, and soon Miela and I were alone in one of the castle +rooms. + +Now that the nervous excitement under which I had been laboring was over, +I felt utterly exhausted. I dropped wearily into a seat, and Miela sat on +the floor at my feet with her arms on my knees. + +I stroked her glossy black hair idly. + +"I'm tired, girl. I'm all in. Aren't you?" + +We had not slept since the afternoon before, and so much had happened +since. + +Suddenly I remembered Lua. + +"Miela--your mother. We must find her." I started to my feet, then sat +down again. + +There was no use of my rushing away on some aimless search over a city +like this. + +"Where is the head of the city's police, Miela?" + +"I have sent for him. He should be here now to see you." + +"I must have him search the city. Lua must be found. The castle guards--we +must appoint others, Miela. I must have a council, too--not doddering old +men, but others that we shall select. Who collects the taxes? Where is the +money? Who handles it?" + +The questions piled upon me faster than I could voice them, and all the +while my tired brain and weary, aching body called only for rest--for +sleep. + +I thought of Mercer and Anina. They should be back by now. + +"We must send home and have them told we are here, Miela. And that slave +woman of Baar's--she will be there, too. She must be sent here to us +also." + +We had decided to live in the castle. + +"When Mercer and Anina return, we must arrange to go to the Water City. +The disturbance there must be quelled. All the cities must be told of our +actions here. I must visit them all, Miela." + +My voice seemed trailing off as though I were talking to myself. A +thousand problems rushed in confusion through my mind. I felt I was +talking almost incoherently. A knock on the door of our room brought me to +myself. + +A young girl stood respectfully on the threshold. Miela listened to what +she had to say, questioned her swiftly, and then turned to me. Her face +had gone suddenly white. + +"The girls have returned from over the sea, Alan. This is one of them. But +Anina and our friend Ollie have stayed there." + +"Stayed there?" I cried. "Why?" + +"They set free Tao's men as we planned. They were on their way back when +the earth-man suddenly bid Anina return. Something was wrong, he said. +This girl does not understand what. But they went back. And Anina and +Ollie they left there, standing on the shore together. We are to go over +to the same place to-night, if we can, and get them. That is all the girl +knows." + +The girl withdrew after a moment. + +Mercer and Anina left in the Twilight Country! Miela and I stared at each +other blankly. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +IN THE TWILIGHT COUNTRY. + + +Mercer sat on the rear end of the platform and waved good-by vigorously as +he was carried swiftly up and out over the water. Under him was a pile of +blankets and a coat, and beside him a box of baked dough-like bread--the +food he was to turn over to Tao's emissaries when he set them free. + +Anina flew at his side, at intervals smiling up at him reassuringly. +Before him on the platform his captives huddled. Although all of them were +trussed up securely, he menacingly kept his little wooden revolver pointed +at them from the level of his knee. + +He chuckled as he thought of the fight at the bayou. Everything was +working out all right; it was surprising what one could do with his +physical strength here on Mercury. + +The girls had carried the platform up some five hundred feet above the +sea. Mercer turned and looked back. The shore had already dropped almost +to the rim of the close-encircling horizon. He leaned over toward Anina, +resting one hand on the bamboo handle she was holding. "How long will it +take us to get there, Anina?" + +He knew the girl would understand his words, but he did not realize she +had little basis for comparing time in his language. + +"Long time," she answered, smiling. "But we go quickly now." + +He sat back again and waited. It seemed like hours--it _was_ hours +probably, three or four--and still they swept onward straight as an arrow. + +After another interminable interval Anina raised one hand and pointed +ahead. + +"Twilight Country--there," she said. + +Mercer saw, coming up over the horizon, the dim outlines of a rocky land +sparsely covered with trees. It spread out rapidly before him as he +watched, fascinated. It seemed a desolate land, a line of low, barren +hills off to one side, and a forest of stunted, naked-looking trees in +front. The platform swept on over the shore line, a rocky beach on which +the calm sea rolled up in tiny white lines of breakers. Then in a great +curve the girls circled to one side. + +"Where are we going?" Mercer asked. + +"A trail--near us somewhere. A trail to the Lone City. There we land." + +Mercer saw the trail in a moment. It came out of the woods and struck the +shore by a little bight where boats could land. The girls swooped +downward, and in a moment more the platform was lying motionless on the +beach. + +Mercer looked around. It was light enough to see objects in the immediate +foreground--a gray twilight. The forest came almost to the water's edge. +He saw now the trees might have been firs, but with small, twisted trunks, +few branches except near the top, and very few leaves. They seemed somehow +very naked and starved--indeed, it surprised him that they could grow at +all in such a rocky waste. The end of the trail was close before him. It +appeared merely an opening in the trees with the fallen logs and +underbrush cleared away. + +The girls were obviously cold, standing idle now after their long flight. +Mercer lost no time in preparing for the return journey. He tumbled his +captives unceremoniously off the platform and set the box of food and +blankets beside them. + +"What's this, Anina?" + +He was holding in his palm a tiny metal cylinder. + +Anina took it from him. + +"For fire, see?" + +She picked up a bit of driftwood, and, holding the end of the cylinder +against it, pressed a little button. A curl of smoke rose from the wood, +and in a moment a wisp of flame. + +"A light-ray!" Mercer exclaimed. + +"The ray--but different." + +She tossed the blazing bit of wood aside, and held her hand a foot or so +in front of the cylinder. + +"No danger! See?" She brought her hand closer. "Heat here--close--no heat +far away." + +Mercer understood then that this was not a light-ray projector, but a +method of producing heat with the property of radiation, but not of +projection--a different and harmless form of the ray. + +He took the little cylinder from the girl, inspected it curiously, then +laid it on the blankets. + +"They'll need it, I guess, if it's any colder where they're going." + +He set one of the captives free. + +"Anina, tell him to sit quiet until we've gone. Then he can cut the others +loose." He tossed a knife into the box. "Come on, Anina; let's get away." + +They were about ready to start back, when Mercer suddenly decided he was +hungry. He hopped off the platform. "They don't need all that food." + +He gathered some of the little flat cakes of dough in his hands. "Want +some?" He offered them to the girls, who smilingly refused. + +"All right. I do. I'm hungry. Might as well take a blanket, too. It's +devilish cold." + +He was back on the platform in a moment, sitting down with the blanket +about his knees and munching contentedly at the bread. + +"All right, Anina. Start her off." + +They swung up into the air and began the return flight. + +A few hours more and they would be back at the Great City. Then the real +work would begin. Mercer squared his shoulders unconsciously as he thought +of all there was to do. + +But there was no danger to the Light Country from Tao, he thought with +satisfaction. At least, there would be none when the other cities were rid +of Tao's men, as the Great City was now. The men would find their way back +all right-- + +At the sudden thought that came to him Mercer dropped his bit of bread and +sat up in astonishment. Tao no longer a menace? He remembered my reasoning +in the boat coming down the bayou. Of course, Tao would have no reason to +attack the Light Country by force of arms until he was sure his propaganda +among the people had failed. + +My argument was sound enough, but the utter stupidity of what we had done +now dawned on Mercer with overwhelming force. Tao would await the results +of his emissaries' work, of course. And here we had gone and sent them +straight back to their leader to report their efforts a failure! If +anything were needed to precipitate an invasion from Tao, this very thing +Mercer had just finished doing was it. He cursed himself and me fervently +as he thought what fools we had been. + +Then it occurred to him perhaps it was not too late to repair the damage. +Not more than half an hour had passed since he had set the men free on the +shore of the Twilight Country. He must go back at once. Under no +circumstances must they be allowed to reach Tao and tell him what had +occurred. + +Anina was flying near Mercer as before. He leaned over the edge of the +platform to talk with her, but the wind of their forward flight and the +noise of the girls' wings made conversation difficult. + +"Anina! Come up here with me. Sit here. I want to talk to you. It's +important. They don't need you flying now." + +Obediently the girl sat where he indicated, close beside him. And then as +he was about to begin telling her what was in his mind Mercer suddenly +remembered that they were still heading toward the Light Country, every +moment getting farther away from Tao's men, whose homeward journey he must +head off some way. + +"We must go back, Anina--back where we came from--at once. Tell them--now! +Then I'll tell you why." + +The girl's eyes widened, but she did as he directed, and the platform, +making a broad, sweeping turn, headed back toward the Twilight Country +shore. + +"Anina, how far is it to Tao's city from where we landed?" + +"The Lone City? A day, going fast." + +"But they won't go fast, will they? Some of them are pretty badly hurt." + +"Two days for them," the girl agreed. + +Mercer then told her what an error we had made. She listened quietly, but +he knew she understood, not only his words, but the whole situation as he +viewed it then. + +"Most bad," she said solemnly when he paused. + +"That's what I want to tell you; it's bad," he declared. "We've got to +head them off some way; stop them somehow. I don't see how we're going to +capture them again--ten of them against me. But we've got to do +something." + +Then he asked her about the lay of the country between the shore of the +sea and the Lone City. + +Anina's English was put to severe test by her explanation; but she knew +far many more words than she had ever used, and now, with the interest of +what she had to say, she lost much of the diffidence which before had +restrained her. + +She told him that the trail led back through the forest for some distance, +and then ran parallel with a swift flowing river. This river, she +explained, emptied into the Narrow Sea a few miles below the end of the +trail. It was the direct water route to the Lone City. + +The trail, striking the river bank, followed it up into a mountainous +country--a metallic waste where few trees grew. There was a place still +farther up in a very wild, broken country, where the river ran through a +deep, narrow gorge, and the trail followed a narrow ledge part way up one +of its precipitous sides. + +Anina's eyes sparkled with eagerness as she told of it. + +"There, my friend Ollie, we stop them. Many loose stones there are, and +the path is very narrow." + +Mercer saw her plan at once. They could bar the men's passage somewhere +along this rocky trail, and with stones drive them back. He realized with +satisfaction that he could throw a stone fully twice as large and twice as +far as any of the men, and thus, out of range, bombard them until they +would be glad enough to turn back. + +His plan, then, was to land, and with Anina follow the men. The rest of +the girls he would send back to me with the platform, to tell Miela and me +to come over the next evening to the end of the trail. + +He and Anina meanwhile would keep close behind the men, and then when the +canyon was neared, get around in front of them, and bar their farther +advance. This would be easy since he could walk and run much faster than +they, and Anina could fly. He would drive them back out of the gorge, send +Anina to keep the appointment with me and bring me up to him with the +girls and the platform. + +They reached the shore and landed within a few feet of where they had been +an hour before. The men were not in sight; nothing remained to show they +had been there, save pieces of cut cord lying about. + +Anina now instructed the girls what to tell me, and in a moment more, with +the blanket and a few pieces of bread, she and Mercer were left standing +alone on the rocky beach. Anina was cold. He took off his fur jacket and +wrapped it about her shoulders. + +She made a quaint little picture standing there, with her two long braids +of golden hair, and her blue-feathered wings which the jacket only partly +covered. They started up the trail together. It was almost dark in the +woods, but soon their eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, and they +could see a little better. They walked as rapidly, as Anina was able, for +the men had nearly an hour's start, and Mercer concluded they would be far +ahead. + +They had gone perhaps a mile, climbing along over fallen logs, walking +sometimes on the larger tree trunks lying prone--rude bridges by which the +trail crossed some ravine--when Anina said: "I fly now. You wait here, +Ollie, and I find where they are." + +She handed him the coat and flew up over the treetops, disappearing almost +immediately in the darkness. Mercer slung the coat around him and sat down +to wait. He sat there perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, staring up at the +silent, motionless treetops, and thinking all sorts of vague, impossible +dangers impending. Then he heard her wings flapping and saw her flitting +down through the trees. + +"Very near, they are," she said as soon as she reached the ground. "A +fire--they have--and they are ready now to sleep." + +They went on slowly along the trail, and soon saw the glimmer of a fire +ahead. "A camp for the night," whispered Mercer. + +"It must be nearly morning now." + +He looked about him and smiled as he realized that no light would come +with the morning. Always this same dim twilight here--and eternal darkness +on ahead. "Good Lord, what a place to live!" he muttered. + +They crept on cautiously until they were within sight of the camp. A large +fire was burning briskly. Most of the men were wrapped in their blankets, +apparently asleep; three were sitting upright, on guard. Mercer and Anina +crept away. + +"We'd better camp, too," Mercer said when they were well out of hearing. +"They will probably stay there four or five hours, anyway. Lord, I'm +tired." He laid his hand on her shoulder gently, almost timidly. "Aren't +you tired, too, little girl?" + +"Yes," she answered simply, and met his eyes with her gentle little smile. +"Oh, yes--I tired. Very much." + +They did not dare light a fire, nor had they any means of doing so. They +went back from the trail a short distance, finding a little recess between +two fallen logs, where the ground was soft with a heavy moss. Here they +decided to sleep for a few hours. + +A small pool of water had collected on a barren surface of rock near by, +and from this they drank. Then they sat down, together and ate about half +the few remaining pieces of bread which Mercer was carrying in the pockets +of his jacket. They were both tired out. Anina particularly was very +sleepy. + +When they had finished eating Anina lay down, and Mercer covered her with +the blanket. She smiled up at him. + +"Good night, Anina." + +"Good night, my friend Ollie." + +She closed her eyes, snuggling closer under the blanket with a contented +little sigh. Mercer put on his jacket and sat down beside her, his chin +cupped in his hand. It seemed colder now. His trousers were thin, his legs +felt numb and stiff from his recent exertion. + +He sat quiet, staring at the sleeping girl. She was very beautiful and +very sweet, lying there with her golden hair framing her face, her little +head pillowed on her arms, a portion of one blue-feathered wing peeping +out from under the blanket. All at once Mercer bent over and kissed her +lightly, brushing her lips with his, as one kisses a sleeping child. + +She stirred, then opened her eyes and smiled up at him again. + +"You cold, Ollie," she said accusingly. She lifted an edge of the blanket. +"Here--you sleep, too." + +He stretched himself beside her, and she flung a corner of the blanket +over him; and thus, like two children lost in the woods and huddled +together for warmth under a fallen log, they slept. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +ANOTHER LIGHT-RAY! + + +The news that Mercer and Anina had been left in the Twilight Country +completely dumfounded Miela and me. "Something was wrong," Mercer had +said. And then they had insisted on staying there, and had sent the girls +back to tell me to come over. + +We could make nothing of it, nor did the half hour of argument into which +we immediately plunged further enlighten us. That flaw in our plans which +had dawned on Mercer so suddenly and clearly certainly never occurred to +us, for all it was seemingly so obvious. + +We were interrupted--having reached no conclusion whatever except that we +would go over that evening as Mercer had directed--by the arrival of the +police chief to see me. He was a little man, curiously thin and wizened +for a Mercutian, with wide pantaloons, a shirt, short jacket and little +triangular cocked hat. His face seemed pointed, like a ferret. His +movements were rapid, his roving glance peculiarly alert. + +He bowed before me obsequiously. He would obey me to the letter, I could +see that at once from his manner; though, had I impressed him as being +like my predecessor, I did not doubt but that he would do as he pleased +upon occasion. + +I toyed with the little light-ray cylinder in my hand quite casually +through the brief interview, and I saw he was thoroughly impressed, for he +seemed unable to take his eyes from it. + +"Where are your men just now?" I asked. + +He raised his hands deprecatingly and poured out a flood of words to Miela +when my question was translated to him. + +"He himself was sleeping," she said to me when he had paused for breath. +"His third watch was on patrol about the city. Then from the castle came +the king's guards, fleeing in haste. Those of the police they met they +told that evil men were in the castle with the light-ray, and all who +represented the city's authority would be killed." + +"That was a lie," I interrupted. "There was no light-ray here then." + +Miela nodded. "It was what Baar's men had told them to say, I think." + +"And then what happened to the police?" + +"Then they left their posts about the city. Some fled; others went back +and reported what they had heard." + +"And it never occurred to any of them to come up here and try to stop the +disturbance? Curious policemen, these!" + +"It is too deadly--the light-ray," said Miela. "They were afraid. And then +the alarm bell began ringing. They sent for Ano, here, to ask him what +they should do. And then you sent for him. He has his men at the police +building, in waiting. And he comes to you at the risk of his life, and now +asks your commands." + +Thus did my chief of police explain satisfactorily to himself, and with +great protestations of loyalty to his trust, how it came about that he and +his men did nothing while their king was being murdered and another put in +his place. + +Recriminations seemed useless. He stood bowing and scraping before me, +eager only to obey my slightest wish. + +"Tell him, Miela, how Baar's men captured Lua. Have the city, thoroughly +searched--Baar's house particularly. Tell him _I_ killed Baar's wife. Have +that slave woman sent home to me. + +"Tell him to capture Baar and any of his known associates. If he does, +have him report to me at once. Say to him that I must have word of Lua--or +I'll have a new chief of police by to-morrow. For the rest, have his men +patrol the city as usual." + +I spoke as sternly as I could, and the little man received my words with +voluble protestations of extreme activity on his part. + +When he had bowed himself out I smiled at Miela hopelessly. + +"This has got to be a mighty different government before we can ever hope +to accomplish anything against Tao." Tao was not worrying me for the +moment. Lua must be found, and I had no idea of relying entirely upon this +little chief of police to find her. And Mercer needed me, too, this very +evening. + +I stood up wearily and put my arm about Miela's shoulders. Her little body +drooped against mine, her head resting on my shoulder. There was little +about us then, as we stood there dispirited and physically tired out, that +would have commended respect from our subjects. + +"We _must_ get some sleep, Miela," I said. "Things will look very +different to us then." + +It must have been mid-afternoon when we awoke. Ano was at hand to report +that Baar and his men, and all the king's guards, must have fled the city. +Of Lua he had, so far, found no trace. Baar's slave woman was in the +castle, waiting our commands. The girl who had brought us Mercer's message +was also waiting to ask us when we wanted her and the other girls for the +trip back to the Twilight Country. + +"Right away," I exclaimed. "I'm not going to take any chances with Mercer. +We'll start at once." + +The girl flew away to get her friends and the platform, which had been +left in the garden of Miela's home. I planned to start openly from the +castle roof; there was now no need of maintaining secrecy. + +The disappearance of Lua was alarming. Equally so was the possible danger +into which Mercer might have blundered. In Lua's case there did not seem +much I could do personally at that moment. Before starting I arranged with +the aged councilors to call a meeting the following morning of all +government officials. + +"Could we get Fuero to come, Miela?" + +She shook her head positively. "His oath would forbid it." + +"Well, tell the councilors to call also any of the city's prominent men. +I've got to get some good men with me. I can't do it all alone." + +Miela smiled at me quizzically as I said this: "You have forgotten our +women and their help, my husband?" + +I had, in very truth, for the moment. + +"We'll need them, too," I said. "Tell these girls who carry us to-night to +call all those who went with us to the mountains--a meeting to-morrow at +this time--here on the castle roof." + +"To the Water City we must go," Miela said. "There Tao's men are very +strong, our girls report. And to-day there was a fight among the people, +and several were killed." + +"But we must go armed, Miela, with more than one light-ray. I shall see +this Fuero to-morrow. After all, he's the key-note to the whole thing." + +We started from the castle roof, Miela sitting with me this time on the +platform. Flying low, we passed over the maze of bayous, and in what +seemed an incredibly short time we were out over the sea. I had now no +idea what we might be called upon to do, or how long we would be gone, for +all my specific plans for the next day; so we started as well prepared as +possible. + +The precious light-ray cylinder I held in my hand. We had a number of +blankets, enough food for us all for two days of careful rationing, a +knife or two, and a heavy, sharp-edged metal implement like an ax. + +It seemed hardly more than half an hour before a great black cloud had +spread over the whole sky, and we ran into the worst storm I have ever +encountered. The wind came up suddenly, and we fought our way directly +into it. Lightning flashed about us, and then came the rain, slanting down +in great sheets. + +We were still flying low. The mirror surface of the sea was now lashed +with waves, extraordinarily high, whose white tops blew away in long +streaks of scud. The girls fought sturdily against the wind and rain, +carrying us steadily up until after a while I could not see the water +below. + +We were in the storm perhaps an hour altogether. Then we passed up and +beyond it; and emerged again into that gray vacancy, with a waste of +storm-lashed water far beneath us. + +The Twilight Country shore was still below the horizon, and it was a +considerable time before we sighted it. Miela and I sat quiet, wrapped in +a blanket, which, wet as it was, offered some protection against the +biting wind. The girls seemed exhausted from their long struggle against +the storm, and I was glad for them when we finally landed. + +This was the place, they said, where Mercer and Anina had set Tao's men +free, and where the two were standing when the girls had left with the +platform. I looked about, and saw on the beach the pieces of cut cord with +which the men had been bound. + +Of Mercer and Anina there was no sign. We waited until well after the time +of the evening meal, and still Mercer and Anina did not arrive. We +concluded, of course, that they had followed Tao's men up the trail for +some reason, and we expected it would be Anina who would come back to tell +us where Mercer was. + +"Let us go up a little distance," Miela suggested finally. "They cannot +tell what the hour is. They may be near here now, coming back." + +The girls were rested and warmed now, and we started off again with the +platform. We flew low over the treetops, following the trail as best we +could, but in the semi-darkness we could see very little from above. After +a time we gave it up and returned to the shore. + +Again we waited, now very much alarmed. And then finally we decided to +return to the Great City for the night. Anina might have missed us some +way, we thought, and flown directly home. She might be there waiting for +us when we arrived. If not, we would return again with several hundred +girls, and with them scour the country carefully back as near the Lone +City as we dared go. + +With our hearts heavy with apprehension we started back across the +channel. Lua, Mercer and Anina were separated from us. All had been +captured, perhaps, by our enemies! Things were, indeed, in a very bad way. + +Without unusual incident we sighted the Light Country shore. Three girls +were winging their way swiftly toward us. + +"They wish to speak with us, Alan," said Miela. "From the Great City they +seem to come. Perhaps it is Anina." + +Our hopes were soon dispelled, for Anina was not one of them; they were +three of the girls we had directed to patrol the seacoast. + +When they neared us Miela flew off the platform and joined them. They +circled about for a time, flying close together, then Miela left them and +returned to me, while they hovered overhead. Her face was clouded with +anxiety as she alighted beside me. + +"They were near the Water City a short time ago. And they say the +light-ray is being used there. They saw it flashing up, and dared not go +closer." + +The light-ray in the Water City! My heart sunk with dismay. The cylinder I +held in my hand I had thought the only one in use in all the Light +Country. With it I felt supreme. And now they had it also in the Water +City! + +One of the girls flung up her hand suddenly and called to Miela. + +"See, Alan--a boat!" + +I looked down to where Miela pointed. The sea was still rough from the +storm, but no longer lashed into fury. Coming toward us, close inshore and +from the direction of the Water City, I saw a boat speeding along over the +spent waves. And as I looked, a narrow beam of light, green, shading into +red, shot up from the boat and hung wavering in the air like a little +search-light striving to pierce the gray mist of the sky! + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +THE THEFT OF THE LIGHT-RAY. + + +The touch of soft, cool hands on his face brought Mercer back to sudden +consciousness. He opened his eyes; Anina was sitting beside him, regarding +him gravely. + +"Wake up, my friend Ollie. Time now to wake up." + +He sat up, rubbing his eyes. The same dim twilight obscured everything +around. For an instant he was confused. + +"Why, I've been asleep." He got to his feet. "Do you think it's been long, +Anina? Maybe the men have started off. Let's go see." + +Anina had already been to see; she had awakened some little time before +and, leaving Mercer asleep, had flown up ahead over the treetops. + +The men were just then breaking camp, and she had returned to wake up +Mercer. They ate their last remaining pieces of bread, drank from the +little pool of water, and were soon ready to start on after their quarry. + +"How long will it take them to reach the gorge, Anina?" + +"Not very long--four times farther reach Lone City." + +By which Mercer inferred that within three or four hours, perhaps, they +would be at the place where they hoped to turn the men back. + +They started off slowly up the trail, Mercer carrying the folded blanket, +and Anina wearing the fur jacket. They soon came upon the smoldering fire +that marked the other party's night encampment. The men were, Mercer +judged, perhaps a mile or so ahead of them. + +They continued on, walking slowly, for they did not want to overtake the +slow-traveling men ahead. The look of the country, what they could see of +it in the darkness, was unchanged. The trail seemed bending steadily to +the right, and after a time they came to the bank of a river which the +trail followed. It was a broad stream, perhaps a quarter of a mile across, +with a considerable current sweeping down to the sea. + +They kept to the trail along the river bank for nearly another hour. Then +Anina abruptly halted, pulling Mercer partly behind a tree trunk. + +"Another fire," she whispered. "They stop again." + +They could see the glow of the fire, close by the river bank among the +trees. Very cautiously they approached and soon made out the vague +outlines of a boat moored to the bank. It seemed similar to the one in +which they had come down the bayous from the Great City, only slightly +larger. + +"Other men," whispered Anina. "From Lone City." + +Mercer's heart sank. A party from the Lone City--more of Tao's men to join +those he had set free! All his fine plans were swept away. The men would +all go up to the Lone City now in the boat, of course. There was nothing +he could do to stop them. And now Tao would learn of the failure of his +plans. + +Mercer's first idea was to give up and return to the shore of the sea; but +Anina kept on going cautiously forward, and he followed her. + +The fire, they could see as they got closer, was built a little back from +the water, with a slight rise of ground between it and the boat. There +were some thirty men gathered around; they seemed to be cooking. + +"You stand here, Ollie," Anina whispered. "I go hear what they say. Stand +very quiet and wait. I come back." + +Mercer sat down with his back against a tree and waited. Anina disappeared +almost immediately. He heard no sound of her flight, but a moment later he +thought he saw her dropping down through the trees just outside the circle +of light from the fire. From where he was sitting he could see the boat +also; he thought he made out the figure of a man sitting in it, on guard. +The situation, as Mercer understood it from what Anina told him when she +returned, seemed immeasurably worse even than he had anticipated. + +Tao had been making the Water City the basis of his insidious propaganda, +rather than the Great City, as we had supposed. He had been in constant +communication by boat with his men in the Water City; and now affairs +there were ripe for more drastic operations. + +This boat Mercer had come upon was intended to be Tao's first armed +invasion of the Light Country--some twenty of his most trusted men armed +with the light-ray. Joining his emissaries in the Water City, and with the +large following among the people there which they had already secured, +they planned to seize the government and obtain control of the city. Then, +using it as a base, they could spread out for a conquest of the entire +nation. Mercer listened with whitening face while Anina told him all this +as best she could. + +"But--but why does he want to attack the Light Country, Anina? I thought +he wanted to go and conquer our earth." + +"Very big task--your earth," the girl answered. "Light Country more easy. +Many light-rays in the Great City. Those he needs before he goes to your +earth. More simple to get those than make others." + +Mercer understood it then. The large quantity of light-ray ammunition +stored in the Great City was what Tao was after. This was his way of +getting it, and once he had it, and control of the Light Country besides +he would be in a much better position to attack the earth. + +The idea came to Mercer then to steal the boat and escape with it. If he +could do that, the enemies would have to return to the Lone City on foot, +and the threatened invasion of the Light Country would thus be postponed +for a time at least. Meanwhile, with the boat he could hasten back to me +with news of the coming invasion. + +These thoughts were running through his head while Anina was talking. It +was a daring plan, but it might be done. There was apparently only one man +in the boat, and the slight rise of ground between it and the fire made +him out of sight, though not out of hearing, of the others. + +"Can you run the boat, Anina?" + +The girl nodded eagerly. Mercer drew a long breath. + +"We'll take a chance. It's the only way. They've got that cursed +light-ray." He shivered as he thought of the danger they were about to +invite. + +Then he explained to Anina what they were to do. She listened carefully, +with the same expectant, eager look on her face he had seen there so often +before. + +They left the blanket and fur jacket on the ground, and, making a wide +detour around the fire, came back to the river bank several hundred yards +above the boat. They stood at the water's edge, looking about them. The +boat was just around a slight bend in the stream; the glimmer of the fire +showed plainly among the trees. Intense quiet prevailed; only the murmur +of the water flowing past, and occasionally the raised voice of one of the +men about the fire, broke the stillness. + +Mercer stared searchingly into the girl's eyes as she stood there quietly +at his side. She met his gaze steadily. + +"You're a wonderful little girl," he whispered to her, and then abruptly +added: "Come on. Don't make any splash if you can help it. And remember, +if anything goes wrong, never mind me. Fly away--if you can." + +They waded slowly into the water. The current carried them rapidly along. +Side by side, with slow, careful strokes, they swam, keeping close to +shore. The river was shallow--hardly over their heads. The water was cold +and, Mercer thought, curiously buoyant. + +It seemed hardly more than a moment before the shadowy black figure of +outlines of the boat loomed ahead. They could make out the figure of its +single occupant, sitting with his arm on the gunwale. They swam hardly at +all now, letting the current carry them forward. As silent as two drifting +logs they dropped down upon the boat and in another moment were clinging +to a bit of rope that chanced to be hanging over its stern. + +The bow of the boat was nosed against the bank; it lay diagonally +downstream, with its stern some twenty feet from shore. Its occupant was +sitting amidships, facing the bow. Mercer drew himself up until his eyes +were above the stern of the boat and saw him plainly. He was slouching +down as though dozing. His elbow was crooked, carelessly over the gunwale. + +Mercer's heart gave an exultant leap as he saw a little cylinder in the +man's hand. There was a little projection on the boat at the water line, +and, working along this with his hands, Mercer edged slowly toward the +man. He knew he could not be heard, for the murmur of the water slipping +past the sides of the boat drowned the slight noise he made. + +He edged his way along, with not much more than his face out of water, +until he was directly beneath the motionless form in the boat. + +Mercer's heart was beating so it seemed to smother him. Slowly he pulled +himself up until the fingers of his left hand gripped the gunwale hardly +more than a foot or two behind the man's back. His other hand reached +forward. He must have made a slight noise, for the man sat suddenly +upright, listening. + +Mercer's right hand shot out. His fingers closed over the little cylinder +and the hand holding it. He bent it inward, twisting the man's wrist. His +thumb fumbled for the little button Anina had described. There was a tiny +puff of light; the man's body wavered, then fell forward inert. Mercer +climbed into the boat. He looked back. Anina was pulling herself up over +the stern. A long pole lay across the seats. He picked it up and started +with it toward the bow. And then he tripped over something and fell +headlong, dropping the pole with a clatter. + +As he picked himself up there came a shout from the men in the woods. +Mercer hurried forward and cast off the rope that held the boat to the +bank. It had been tied more or less permanently at this end. As he fumbled +at the knots he heard Anina's soft, anxious voice calling: "Hurry, Ollie, +hurry!" + +The shouts from the woods continued. The knots loosened finally. The boat +slid back away from the bank; with the pole Mercer shoved the bow around. +An instant later Anina had started the mechanism, and in a broad curve +they swung silently out into the river. + +Up from the woods shot a beam of the greenish-red light. It darted to and +fro for an instant, almost vertically in the air, and Mercer heard the +crackle of the tree-tops as they burst into flame under its heat. Then it +swung downward, but before it could reach the water level the rise of +ground at the bank cut it off. + +Without realizing it, Mercer had been holding his breath as he watched. +Now he let it out with a long sigh of relief. + +"We did it, Anina--we did it," he said exultantly. "And we've got a +light-ray, too." + +A moment later they swept around a bend in the river, out of sight and out +of hearing of their enemies. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +THE STORM. + + +On the little stern seat of the boat Mercer and Anina sat side by side, +the girl steering by a small tiller that lay between them. They were well +out in the middle of the river now, speeding silently along with its swift +current. They made extraordinary speed. Both banks of the river were +visible in the twilight--dim, wooded hills stretching back into darkness. + +The stream widened steadily as they advanced, until near, its mouth it had +become a broad estuary. They followed its right shore now and soon were +out in the Narrow Sea. + +"We'd better go right on across," said Mercer. "It's too early for Alan to +be at the end of the trail. He won't be there till to-night. We can reach +the Great City before he starts." + +They decided to do that, and headed straight out into the sea. They had +been cold, sitting there in the wind, and wet to the skin. But the boat +contained several furry jackets, which the men had left in it, and in the +bottom, near the stern, a cubical metal box which lighted up like an +electric radiator. By this they had dried and warmed themselves, and now, +each with a fur jacket on, they felt thoroughly comfortable. + +Mercer was elated at what they had accomplished. He could see now how +fortunate a circumstance it was that we had set the men free. He would not +have stumbled upon this other party, and the invasion of the Light Country +would have begun, had we not released them. + +He talked enthusiastically about what we were to do next, and Anina +listened, saying very little, but following his words with eager +attention. Once he thought she was more interested in the words themselves +than in what he was saying, and said so. + +"Your language--so very easy it is. I want to learn it soon if I can." + +"Why, you know it already," he protested. "And how the deuce you ever got +it so quickly beats me." + +She smiled. + +"When you say words--very easy then for me to remember. Not many words in +spoken language." + +He shook his head. + +"Well, however you do it, the result's all right. I'm mighty glad, too. +Why, when I get you back home on earth--" He stopped in sudden confusion. + +She put her hand on his arm. + +"Miela says your earth is very wonderful. Tell me about it." + +She listened to his glowing words. "And opera--what is that?" she asked +once when he paused. + +He described the Metropolitan Opera House, and the newer, finer one in +Boston. She listened to his description of the music with flushed face and +shining eyes. + +"How beautiful--that music! Can _you_ sing, Ollie?" + +"No," he admitted, "but I can play a little on a guitar. I wish I had one +here." + +"I can sing," said the girl: "Miela says I can sing very well." + +He leaned toward her, brushing the blue feathers of her wing lightly with +his hand. + +"Sing for me," he said softly. "I'll bet you sing beautifully." + +It may have been their situation, or what they had been through together, +or the girl's nearness to him now with her long braids of golden hair, the +graceful sweep of her blue-feathered wings that matched the blue of her +eyes, her red lips parted in song--but whatever it was, Mercer thought he +had never heard so sweet a voice. She sang a weird little song. It was in +a minor key, with curious cadences that died away and ended nowhere--the +folk song of a different race, a different planet, yet vibrant with the +ever unsatisfied longing of the human soul. + +She sang softly, staring straight before her, without thought of her +singing, thinking only of her song. She ended with a tender phrase that +might have been a sigh--a quivering little half sob that died away in her +throat and left the song unfinished. Her hands were folded quiet in her +lap; her eyes gazed out on the gray waste of water about the boat. + +Mercer breathed again. + +"That is beautiful, Anina. What is it?" + +She turned to him and smiled. + +"Just love song. You like it, my friend Ollie?" + +"It's wonderful. But it's--it's so sad--and--and sort of weird isn't it?" + +"That is love, my mother says. Love is sad." + +Mercer's heart was beating fast. + +"Is it always sad, Anina? I don't think so--do you?" + +There was no trace of coquetry in her eyes; she sighed tremulously. + +"I do not know about love. But what I feel here"--she put her hand on her +breast--"I do not understand, Ollie. And when I sing--they are very sad +and sweet, the thoughts of music, and they say things to the heart that +the brain does not understand. Is it that way with you?" + +Unnoticed by the two, a storm cloud had swept up over the horizon behind +them, and the sky overhead was blotted now with its black. They had not +seen it nor heeded the distant flashing of lightning. A sudden thunderclap +startled them now into consciousness of the scene about them. The wind +rushed on them from behind. The sea was rising rapidly; the boat scudded +before it. + +"A storm! Look at it, Anina, behind us!" + +There was nothing in sight now but the gray sea, broken into waves that +were beginning to curl, white and angry. Behind them the darkness was +split with jagged forks of lightning. The thunder rolled heavily and +ominously in the distance, with occasional sharp cracks near at hand. + +"Look, Anina--there comes the rain! See it there behind us! I hope it +won't be a bad storm. I wouldn't want to be out in this little tub." + +The wind veered to the left, increasing steadily. The sea was lashed into +foam; its spray swept over the boat, drenching them thoroughly. + +The waves, turning now with the wind, struck the boat on its stern +quarter. One curled aboard, sloshing an inch or two of water about the +bottom of the boat. Mercer feared it would interfere with the mechanism, +but Anina reassured him. + +As the waves increased in size, Mercer swung the boat around so as to run +directly before them. The stern frequently was lifted clear of the water +now, the boat losing headway as a great cloud of hissing steam arose from +behind. + +After a time the Light Country shore came into sight. They were close upon +it before they saw it through the rain and murk. They seemed to be heading +diagonally toward it. + +"Where are we, Anina?" Mercer asked anxiously. + +The girl shook her head. + +Steadily they were swept inward. The shore line, as they drew closer, was +to Mercer quite unfamiliar. There were no bayous here, no inundated land. +Instead, a bleak line of cliffs fronted them--a perpendicular wall against +which the waves beat furiously. They could see only a short distance. The +line of cliffs extended ahead of them out of sight in the gray of the +sheets of rain. + +They were slanting toward the cliffs, and Mercer knew if he did not do +something they would be driven against them in a few moments more. + +"We'll have to turn out, Anina. We can't land along here. We must keep +away if we can." + +With the waves striking its stern quarter again, the boat made much +heavier weather. It seemed to Mercer incredible that it should stay +afloat. He found himself thoroughly frightened now, but when he remembered +that Anina was in no danger he felt relieved. He had made her lie down in +the boat, where she would be more sheltered from the wind and rain. Now he +hastily bade her get up and sit beside him. + +"We might be swamped any minute, Anina. You sit there where you won't get +caught if we go over." + +They swept onward, Mercer keeping the boat offshore as best he could. + +"Haven't you any idea where we are, Anina? How far along do these cliffs +extend?" + +A huge, jagged pinnacle of rock, like a great cathedral spire set in the +cliff, loomed into view ahead. Anina's face brightened, when she saw it. + +"The way to the Water City," she cried. "A river there is--ahead. Not so +very far now." + +In spite of all Mercer could do, they were blowing steadily closer to the +wave-lashed cliffs. + +He began to despair. "If anything happens, Anina--you fly up at once. You +hear? Don't you wait. You can't help me any. I'll make out some way. You +say good-by to Alan and your mother and sister for me--if--" He fell +silent a moment, then said softly: "And, Anina, if that should happen, I +want you to know that I think you're the sweetest, most wonderful little +girl I ever met. And, Anina dear--" + +The girl gripped his arm with a cry of joy. + +"See, Ollie! There, ahead, the cliffs end. That is the Water City river! +See it there?" + +The mouth of a broad estuary, with the waves rolling up into it, came +swiftly into view. They rounded the rocky headland and entered it, running +now almost directly before the wind. The river narrowed after a short +distance to a stream very much like the one they had left in the Twilight +Country. + +Mercer turned to the quiet little girl beside him. + +"Well, Anina, we've certainly had some trip. I wouldn't want to go through +it again." + +Mercer thought the situation over. They could stay where they were in the +river for an hour or two until the storm was entirely over, and then go +back to the Great City. On the other hand, now that they were here, Mercer +felt a great curiosity to see this other city where Tao's men had created +trouble. Why should they not use these few hours of waiting to see it? + +"We might get a line on how things stand up there to tell Alan when we get +back," Mercer said when he explained his ideas to Anina. "It won't take +long." Very probably it was the light-ray cylinder in his hand which +influenced his decision, for he added: "We can't get into any trouble, you +know; there's no light-ray here yet." + +And so they went on. + +There was a perceptible current coming down the river. The water was cold +and clear, and in the brighter light now he could see down into it in many +places to the bottom, six or eight feet below. The region seemed utterly +uninhabited; no sign of a house or even a boat on the river met them as +they advanced. + +"Mightn't there be boats along here?" Mercer asked once. "How far up _is_ +this place?" + +"Not far now--beyond there." + +The river appeared to terminate abruptly up ahead against the side of a +frowning brown cliff, but Mercer saw a moment later that it opened out +around a bend to the left. + +"Around that next bend?" + +She nodded. + +It seemed incredible to Mercer that the second largest city in Mercury lay +hidden in the midst of this desolation. + +"We'll meet boats," he said. "What will the people think of me? Don't +let's start anything if we can help it." + +"You lie there." Anina indicated the bottom of the boat at her feet. "No +one see you then. I steer. They do not notice me. Nobody care who I am." + +Mercer had still the very vaguest of ideas as to what they would do when +they got to the Water City. As a matter of fact, he really was more +curious just to see it than anything else. But there was another reason +that urged him on. Both he and Anina were hungry. + +They had eaten very little since leaving the Great City the night before; +and now that it was again evening, they were famished. They had rummaged +the boat thoroughly, but evidently the men had taken all their supplies +ashore with them, for nothing was in the boat. + +"We'll have to dope out some way to get something to eat," said Mercer. + +They came upon the sharp bend in the river Anina had indicated. Following +close against one rocky shore, they swept around the bend, and the Water +City lay spread out before Mercer's astonished eyes. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +THE WATER CITY. + + +It had stopped raining; the sky overhead was luminous with diffused +sunlight; the scene that lay before Mercer was plainly visible. The river +had opened abruptly into a broad, shallow, nearly circular lake, some five +or six miles across. The country here showed an extraordinary change from +that they had passed through. The lake appeared to occupy a depression in +the surrounding hills, like the bottom of a huge, shallow bowl. From the +water's edge on all sides the ground sloped upward. It was no longer a +barren, rocky land, but seemingly covered with a rich heavy soil, dotted +with tropical trees. That it was under a high state of cultivation was +evident. Mercer saw tier upon tier of rice terraces on the hillsides. + +But what astonished him most was the city itself. It covered almost the +entire surface of the lake--a huge collection of little palm-thatched +shacks built upon platforms raised above the water on stilts. Some of the +houses were larger and built of stone, with their foundations in the +water. + +Off to one side were two or three little islands, an acre or less in +extent, fringed with palms and coconut trees. In nearly the center of the +lake stood a stone castle, two stories in height, with minarets +ornamenting its corners. An open stretch of water surrounded it. + +There was little of regularity about this extraordinary city, and no +evidence of streets, for the houses were set down quite haphazard wherever +open space afforded. In some places they were more crowded together than +others, although seldom closer than twenty or thirty feet. + +Around the larger ones there was a little more open water, as though the +owners controlled it and forbade building there. Some of the smaller +houses were connected by little wooden bridges. Anina said this was where +two or more families of relatives had located together. + +There were a few boats moving about--little punts hollowed out of logs and +propelled by long poles--and Mercer saw many others, some of them larger +like the one he and Anina were in, tied up by the houses. It was now the +time of the evening meal. The workers had returned from the terraces; +there were few moving about the city. Occasionally a girl would dart up +from one of the houses and wing her way to another, but beyond that there +were no signs of activity. + +Anina took command of the boat now, slowing it down and heading for the +nearest of the houses, which were hardly more than quarter of a mile away. +Mercer stretched himself out in the bottom of the boat, covering himself +with a large piece of fabric that lay there. He felt that he would be +unnoticed, even should a girl chance to pass directly overhead. But he +could see nothing of the city from where he was, and soon grew restless +and anxious to do something else. + +"I'm coming up, Anina," he said once. "Shucks! Nobody can do anything to +us. Haven't I got this light-ray?" + +But Anina was obdurate, and made him stay where he was. + +They went slowly forward and were soon among the houses. On the front +platform of one a man sat fishing. A little naked boy slid down into the +water from another, swimming as though born to the water. Both stared at +Anina curiously as she passed slowly by, but they said nothing. A girl +looked out of the window of another house and waved her hand in friendly +greeting, which Anina answered. + +Mercer, lying with all but his face covered by the cloth, could see only +the sides of the boat, the bottom of the cross-seat over his head, and +Anina as she sat above him in the stern. + +"Where do you suppose the Tao people hang out around here?" he suddenly +asked. "If we could--" + +The girl silenced him with a gesture. + +He lowered his voice. "Try and find out where they are, Anina," he +whispered. + +Anina steered the boat directly under several of the houses, which must +have been quite a usual proceeding, for it attracted no attention. A girl +flew close to them once, and Anina called to her. The girl alighted on the +stern of the boat for a moment; Mercer slid the cloth over his face and +held himself motionless. Then he heard Anina's voice calling to him +softly. He slid the cloth back; the girl had gone. + +"She says Tao's men live, there--large house, of wood," said Anina, +pointing off to one side. + +Mercer nearly rapped his head against the seat above him in his +excitement. + +"You know which house? Let's go there. Maybe we can hear what they're +saying. Can we get under it?" + +She nodded. + +"Let's try, Anina," he said eagerly. "You steer us slow right under it, +just as if you were going past. If there's nobody in sight you can stop +underneath, can't you? Maybe we can hear what they're saying." + +"I try," the girl said simply. + +"I'll lay still," encouraged Mercer. "Nobody will bother about you. Just +sneak in and see what happens. If anybody sees you, keep going." + +He was all excitement, and in spite of Anina's protests wriggled about +continually, trying to see where they were. + +The house that the girl had pointed out lay only a few hundred yards +ahead. It was one of the largest of the wooden buildings--sixty or seventy +feet long at least--single story, with a high sloping thatched roof. + +It was raised on a platform some six feet above the water, which, in +front, had a little flight of wooden steps leading down to the surface. +There was a hundred feet of open water on all sides of the building. The +boat, moving slowly, slipped through the water almost without a sound. + +"Where are we now?" Mercer whispered impatiently. "Aren't we there yet?" + +The girl put a finger to her lips. "Almost there. Quiet now." + +She steered straight for the house. There was no one in sight, either +about the house itself or about those in its immediate vicinity. A moment +more and the boat slid beneath the building into semidarkness. + +Anina shut the power off and stood up. The floor of the house was just +above her head. In front of her, near the center of the building, she saw +the side walls of an inner inclosure some twenty feet square. These walls +came down to the surface, making a room like a basement to the dwelling. A +broad doorway, with a sliding door that now stood open, gave ingress. + +The boat had now almost lost headway. Anina nosed its bow into this +doorway, and grasping one of the pilings near at hand, brought it to rest. + +Mercer, at a signal from her, climbed cautiously to his feet, still +holding the little light-ray cylinder in his hand. + +"What's that in there?" he whispered. + +Beyond the doorway, through which the bow of the boat projected, there was +complete darkness. + +"Lower room," Anina whispered back. "Store things in there. And boat +landing, too." + +"Let's go in and see." + +Mercer started toward the bow of the boat. Six feet or more of it was +inside the doorway. He made his way carefully into the bow, and found +himself inside the basement of the house. + +In the dimness of this interior he could just make out the outlines of +things around. The doorway was located at a corner of the inclosure. In +front lay a small open space of water. At one side a platform about two +feet above the surface formed the floor of the room. A tiny punt lay +moored to it. Farther back a small, steep flight of steps led up through a +rectangular opening to the building above. + +Most of the light in this lower room came down through this opening; and +now, as Mercer stood quiet looking about him, he could hear plainly the +voices of men in the room above. + +Anina was beside him. + +"They're up there," he whispered, pointing. "Let's land and see if we can +get up those stairs a ways and hear what they're saying." + +They stood a moment, undecided, and then from the silence and darkness +about them they distinctly heard a low muffled sound. + +"What's that?" whispered Mercer, startled. "Didn't you hear that, Anina? +There's something over there by the bottom of the steps." + +They listened, but only the murmur of the voices from above, and an +occasional footstep, broke the stillness. + +"I tell you I heard something," Mercer persisted. "There's something over +there." He rattled a bit of rope incautiously, as if to startle a rat from +its hiding place. "Let's tie up, Anina." + +They made the boat fast, but in such a way that they could cast it loose +quickly. + +"We might want to get out of here in a hurry," Mercer whispered with a +grin. "You never can tell, Anina." + +He stood stock still. The sound near at hand was repeated. It was +unmistakable this time--a low, stifled moan. + +Mercer stepped lightly out of the boat onto the platform. A few boxes, a +coil of rope, and other odds and ends stood about. He felt his way forward +among them toward the bottom of the steps. He heard the moan again, and +now he saw the outlines of a human figure lying against the farther wall. + +Anina was close behind him. + +"There's somebody over there," he whispered. "Hurt or sick, maybe." + +They crept forward. + +It was a woman, bound hand and foot and gagged. Mercer bent over and tore +the cloth from her face. In another instant Anina was upon her knees, +sobbing softly, with her mother's head in her lap. + +They loosed the cords that held her, and chaffed her stiffened limbs. She +soon recovered, for she was not injured. She told Anina her story +then--how Baar had captured her in her home while she was waiting for +Miela and me, and how two of his men had brought her here to the Water +City by boat at once. + +That was all she knew, except that this house was the headquarters of +Tao's emissaries, who, it appeared, were now allied with Baar and his +party. + +Anina whispered all this to Mercer when her mother had finished. + +"Let's get out of here," said Mercer. + +The responsibility of two women, especially the elder Lua, who could not +fly, weighed suddenly upon him, and his first thought was to get back to +the Great City at once. + +Anina helped her mother into the boat. + +"Wait," she whispered to Mercer. "I hear what they say. You wait here." + +She went to the foot of the steps and began climbing them cautiously. + +"Not on your life, I won't wait here," Mercer muttered to himself, and, +gripping the light-ray cylinder firmly as though he feared it might get +away from him, he joined Anina on the stairway. + +Slowly, cautiously they made their way upward. The steps were fairly wide, +and they went up almost side by side. From near the top they could see a +portion of the room above. + +The corner of a table showed, around which a number of men were gathered, +eating. A woman was moving about the room serving them. + +Their words, from here, were plainly audible. Mercer would have gone a +step or two higher, without thought of discovery, but Anina held him back. +"Wait, Ollie. I hear now what they say." + +They stood silent. The men were talking earnestly. Mercer could hear their +words, but of course understood nothing he heard. + +"What do they say, Anina?" he whispered impatiently after a moment. + +"Baar is here with two or three of his men. He talks with Tao's men. They +talk about men from Twilight Country. Waiting for them now. Speak of +storm. Worried--because men do not come. Waiting for light-ray." + +"They'll have a long wait," Mercer chuckled. "Let's get out of here, +Anina." + +He must have made a slight noise, or perhaps he and Anina, crouching there +on the stairs, were seen by some one above. He never knew quite how it +occurred, but, without warning, a man stood at the opening, looking down +at them. + +There was a shout, and the room above was in instant turmoil. Mercer lost +his head. Anina pulled at him and said something, but he did not hear her. +He only knew that they had been discovered, and that most of their enemies +in the Water City were crowded together in this one room at hand. And _he_ +had the light-ray--the only one in the city. + +A sudden madness possessed him. He tore away from Anina and, climbing up +the steps of the stairway, leaped into the room above. + +Twenty or thirty men faced him, most of them about the table. Several had +started hastily to their feet; two or three chairs were overturned. + +The man who had been looking down into the opening darted back as Mercer +came up, and shouted again. + +Mercer saw it was Baar. + + +THE WATER CITY. + +The men around the table were now all on their feet. One of them picked up +a huge metal goblet and flung it at Mercer's head. The last remaining bit +of reason Mercer had left fled from him. Without thought of what he was +about, he raised the metal cylinder; his thumb found the little button and +pressed it hard; he waved the cylinder back and forth before him. + +It was over in an instant. Mercer relaxed his pressure on the button and +staggered back. He was sick and faint from what he had seen--with the +realization of what he had done. Flames were rising all about him. The +room was full of smoke. He held his breath, finding his way back somehow +to the stairway, with the agonized screams of the men ringing in his +ears. He caught a glimpse of Anina's white face as she stood there where +he had left her. + +"Good God. Anina! Go back! Go back! I'm coming!" + +He tripped near the top of the stairs and fell in a heap onto the platform +below, but he still held the cylinder clutched tightly in his hand. + +Anina groped her way down to him. He gripped her by the arm. He was +trembling like a leaf. The crackling of the burning house above came down +to him; the cries of the men were stilled. + +"Come, Anina," he half whispered. "Hurry--let's get away, anywhere. +Home--out of this cursed city." + +Lua was still in the boat. Her calm, steady glance brought Mercer back to +his senses. They shoved the boat out from under the house, and in a moment +more were heading back through the city. The building they had left was +now a mass of flames, with a great cloud of smoke, rolling up from it. A +woman stood on the front platform an instant, and then, screaming, flung +herself into the water. + +The city was in commotion. Faces appeared at windows; girls flew up and +gathered in a frightened flock, circling about the burning building; boats +miraculously appeared from everywhere. Lua was steering their boat on its +tortuous way between the houses. She put the boat nearly to full speed, +and as they swept past a house nearly collided with a punt that was +crossing behind it. + +Mercer's nerves were still shaken. He handed Anina the light-ray cylinder. + +"Here--take it, Anina. I don't want the cursed thing. Shoot it up into the +air. Somebody might try and stop us. That'll scare them. Careful you don't +hit anything!" + +Anina played the light about in the air for a time, but soon there were so +many girls flying about she had to shut it off. A few minutes more and +they had passed the last of the houses, swept around the bend in the +river, and left the frightened city out of sight behind them. + +They had left the river and, following close along shore, headed for the +bayous that led up to the Great City. The storm had now entirely passed, +leaving the daylight unusually bright and a fresh coolness in the air. The +sea was still rough, although not alarmingly so, and the boat made +comparatively slow progress. It was two hours or more--to Mercer it seemed +a whole day--before they were nearing the bayous. Anina was sitting by his +side in the center of the boat. Lua was steering. + +"You hungry, Ollie?" the girl asked, smiling. + +Mercer shook his head. He had forgotten they had intended to eat in the +Water City. + +"I very hungry. Soon we--" + +She stopped abruptly, staring up into the sky ahead of them. + +Mercer followed her glance. A little black blob showed against the gray; +off to one side two other smaller black dots appeared. + +"What's that?" cried Mercer, alarmed. + +They watched a few moments in silence. Then Mercer took the cylinder, and +flashed its light into the air. + +"If it's anybody connected with Tao, that'll show they'd better keep +away," he explained grimly. + +Anina smiled. "Tao people cannot fly, Ollie." + +A few moments more and they saw what it was. And within ten minutes they +had landed at the mouth of one of the bayous, and Miela and I were with +them. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. + + +The months that followed were the busiest, I think, of my life. I began by +a complete reorganization of this government of which I found myself the +head. For the doddering old councilors of the late king I substituted men +whom I selected from among those of the city's prominent business men who +cared to serve. + +The personnel of the police force I allowed to remain, for I soon saw they +were inclined to act very differently under me than under my predecessor. +The various other officials of this somewhat vague organization I +subjected to a thorough weeding out. + +The net result was chaos for a time, but, far more quickly than I had +anticipated, I had things running again. I made no radical changes except +in personnel. I attempted to do nothing that was outside the then existing +laws, and no new laws were passed. But from the very first I made it clear +that I was not one to be trifled with. + +Within a few days after I was put into power I interviewed Fuero and his +scientific confreres. I found them a body of grave men who represented the +highest type of the nation. They made it plain to me at once that they +would not concern themselves in any way with government affairs. Two years +before they had recognized Tao's menace, and had been preparing for it by +the manufacture of large quantities of war material which, in case of +extreme necessity, they would turn over to the government. This armament, +as Miela had told me, they guarded themselves, not trusting it even to +their workmen. + +The scientific men, I understood now, were among the richest in the +nation, owing to the widespread use of their industrial appliances. It was +only a portion of this wealth that they were expending in the manufacture +of armament. + +I demanded the release to me of this war material. I explained them my +plans, and told them in detail of Tao's visit to earth. They held several +conferences over a period of two or three days, but in the end I got what +I asked for. + +So much for affairs in the Great City. I recognized during these days the +possibility of an armed invasion from the Twilight Country. I was better +prepared to meet it now, should it come, and I at once took steps to be +warned as far in advance as possible. To this end I had girls patrolling +the Narrow Sea, not only on our shore, but over in the Twilight Country as +well; and I was satisfied that if Tao made any move we would be notified +at once. Simultaneously with all this, we devoted ourselves to the +unification of the nation, for in very truth it seemed about to +disintegrate. Here it was that the girls were of the greatest assistance. + +We organized them into an army which consisted of fifty squads of ten +girls each, with a leader for each squad. All of these girls were armed +with the light-ray cylinders. With this "flying army" Mercer and I made a +tour of the Light Country cities. We wasted no time with formalities, but +rounded up Tao's men wherever we could find them, and transported them +unceremoniously back to the Twilight Country shore. + +In two or three of the cities--the Water City particularly--there was a +show of rebellion among the people; but our light-rays cowed them +instantly, and in no instance did we have to kill or injure any one. +Through Miela I made speeches everywhere. It was not my wish to hold the +country in sullen subjection, and to that end I appealed to their +patriotism in this coming war against Tao and the Twilight People. This +aspect of the matter met with ready response, and everywhere our meetings +ended in enthusiastic acclaim. + +We started now to raise an army of young men, which we proposed to +transport across the Narrow Sea for land operations in the Twilight +Country. Before a week had passed I saw, by the response that came from my +various proclamations, that conscription would be unnecessary. With this +tangible evidence of the coming war the patriotism of the people grew by +leaps and bounds. The fact that the girls of the Great City were not only +in favor of it, but were actually already in service--a thing +unprecedented in the history of the nation--brought the sympathies of all +the women with us strongly. + +Through the governors of each city I raised a separate army of young men, +officered by the older men, most of whom had taken part in past fighting. +Each of these little armies, as yet without arms, was drilled and held in +readiness for orders from the Great City. + +I had, during all this time, selected as many able men as possible from +among the Great City's population, and given them over to Fuero and his +associates for training in the use of the light-ray rockets, the larger +projectors, protective measures against the ray, and many other appliances +which I understood only vaguely myself. + +It was after our return from the tour of the different cities, and before +the recruiting of the young men was fairly under way, when like a +bombshell came the news from our flying patrol that a fleet of armed boats +was coming down the river from the Lone City. The attack from Tao was at +hand, and our preparations were still far from complete. We had our army +of girls in active operation, and that was all. Tao's boats would reach +the Light Country shore in a few hours. There was no time for anything but +the hastiest of preparations. We decided then to call the army of girls +and meet the boats in the Narrow Sea, turning them back if possible. + +I have now to explain the method of defense against the light-ray. In +theory I only vaguely understood it. In practice it was simple and, like +most defenses, only partially effective. + +Bob Trevor, has already mentioned it--the suits of black cloth he saw in +the Mercutian camp in Wyoming. It was not, as he had afterward supposed, a +dye for fabrics. Instead, it was the thread of a worm--like our silk +worm--which in its natural state was black and was impervious to the ray. +By that I mean a substance whose molecules increased their vibration rate +only slightly from a brief contact with the ray. + +It was only partly efficacious, for after an exposure of a minute or more +the intense heat of the ray was communicated. It then became partly +penetrable, and anything close behind it would be destroyed. + +We had under manufacture at this time a number of protective devices by +which this substance might be used. Boats had, in the past, been equipped +with a sort of shield or hood in front, making them more or less +impervious to a direct horizontal beam of the light. + +Tao's boats which now threatened us were so protected, I was informed by +the girls who reported them. Recognizing the probability of an attack by +us from the air, they also had a covering of the cloth, like a canopy +above them. But as may be readily understood, such protection could be +made only partly effective. + +I had already manufactured, at Miela's suggestion, a number of shields for +our girls to carry while in flight. These consisted of the fabric in very +light, almost diaphanous, form, hung upon a flexible frame of very thin +strips of bamboo. It was some twelve feet broad across the top, narrowing +rapidly into a long fluttering tail like a kite. + +There was nothing rigid about this shield. Its two or three bamboo ribs +were as flexible as a whip, with the veiling--it was hardly more than +that--fluttering below them almost entirely unsupported. In weight, the +whole approximated one-twelfth that of a girl, not at all a difficult +amount to carry. + +Within two hours after the report came--it was near midday--we were ready +to start from the Great City to repel Tao's attack. Our forces consisted +of some six hundred girls, each armed with a light-ray cylinder and a +shield. This was the organization I have already mentioned, fifty squads +of ten, each with a leader; and fifty other girls, the most daring and +expert in the air, who were to act independently. + +We had two platforms, protected by the fabric, and with a sort of canopy +around the sides underneath, over which the girls grasping the handles +could fly. Mercer and Anina rode on one platform, and Miela and I on the +other. All of us were dressed in the black garments. + +On each of the platforms we had mounted a projector of higher power than +the hand cylinders, although of course of much less effective range than +those the Mercutians had used in Wyoming. + +Thus equipped we rose into the air from the castle grounds in the Great +City, with a silent, awed multitude watching us--as strange an army, +probably, as ever went forth to battle. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +THE BATTLE. + + +We swept out over the Great City, flying in the battle-formation we had +used many times before on our trips about the country. Mercer's platform +and mine were some fifty feet apart, leading. Behind us, in a great +semicircle, the girls spread out, fifty little groups of ten, each with +its single leader in front. Below, a hundred feet perhaps, the fifty other +girls darted back and forth, keeping pace with us. The aspect of these +girls, flying thus to battle, was truly extraordinary. The pink-white +flesh of their bodies; their limbs incased in the black veiling; their +long black or golden hair; and the vivid red or blue feathered wings +flashing behind those wide, fluttering, flimsy black shields--it was a +sight the like of which I never shall see again. + +There was almost no wind, for which I was thankful, as it made our +maneuvers in the air considerably less difficult. When we reached the +Narrow Sea our patrols reported that Tao's ships were still in the river, +waiting for others from the Lone City to join them. We hastened on, for I +wished to meet them as near the Twilight shore as possible. + +We believed, from the reports our girls had brought us, that the enemy +would have some twenty or thirty boats, most of them similar to that in +which Mercer and Anina weathered the storm on the way to the Water City. + +We assumed that the men in the boats would be armed with the hand +light-ray cylinders. These projected a beam not over four inches broad and +had an effective range of about five hundred feet. The boats probably +would carry large projectors also. They might be set up in the boats ready +for use, or they might not. + +What range they would have we could not estimate, though we hoped we +should encounter nothing more powerful than this one Miela and I had on +the platform. Its beam was about twenty inches wide, its effective radius +something like a thousand feet. + +We did not expect to encounter the very large projectors. We had some in +the Great City with a range of something like ten miles, and others of +lesser range that spread the ray out fan shape. But these were extremely +heavy, and we were confident it would not be practical to mount them in +the boats. + +We sighted the enemy in the Narrow Sea just before the Twilight shore was +reached. The first intimation we had was the sight of one of the narrow +beams of red-green light flashing about in the twilight. As we crept +closer, at an altitude of some two thousand feet, we saw the dim outlines +of the boats in the water below. + +There were, I made out, some ten or fifteen in sight. They were heading +out into the sea in single file. Miela and I had carefully discussed the +tactics we were to employ. Mercer understood our plans, and we had three +or four girls detailed to fly close to the platforms and carry our orders +about to the leaders of the various little squads. + +We sighted the boats when we were about a mile away, and, as I have said, +at an altitude of some two thousand feet. They must have seen us soon +afterward, for many light-rays now began flashing up from them. + +So far as I could determine, each boat seemed armed only with one mounted +projector; these I believed to be of somewhat similar power to our own. +Our first move was to poise directly over the enemy, rising to an altitude +of twenty-five hundred feet. The boats kept straight on their way, and we +followed them, circling overhead in lengthening spirals, but keeping well +out of range. + +I had ordered that none of the rays be flashed at this time, and it must +have been difficult for the men in the boats below to see us in the dusk, +shrouded as we were in black. They sent up a rocket once; it mounted above +us in a slow flaming arc, hung poised an instant, and then descended, +plunging into the sea a mile or so away. We heard distinctly the hiss of +its contact with the water, and saw, like a quickly dissipating mist, the +cloud of steam that arose. + +We were not armed with these rockets, for to discharge them from the +platforms would have been impractical. But we did not fear them being used +against us. Even if true aim had been possible, we could easily avoid +their slow flight. + +The protecting canopy below the sides of our platform made it difficult to +see what was going on below us. Miela and I lay prone, with our heads +projecting over its forward end. In this position we had an unobstructed, +though somewhat limited, view. The girls carrying us could see nothing. +They were guided by watching the other girls flying near them, and by +Miela's constant directions. + +For some ten or fifteen minutes we circled about over the leading boat. +The Twilight shore was now almost over the horizon. The boats showed as +little black patches on the gray-black of the sea, but the lights flashing +up from them were plainly visible. + +The boat that led the line was quite perceptibly drawing away from the +others. Already it was a thousand feet or more ahead of the nearest one +following. We waited through another period. This leading boat was now +beyond range of the others, and, being isolated, I decided to attack it. + +"Miela," I said, "tell them all to maintain this level. You and I will go +down at that first boat. Have them all remain up here. Tell Mercer if +anything goes wrong with us to act as he thinks best." + +We waited while these commands were circulated about. Mercer's platform +swept close over us, and he shouted: "We _won't_ stay up here." + +I persuaded him finally, and then we directed our girls to circle slowly +downward with our platform. I ordered a slow descent, for I was in no mind +to rush blindly into range of their ray. + +We drooped down in a spiral, until at about fifteen hundred feet I ordered +the girls to descend no farther. So far as I could make out now, this boat +was protected from above by a broad overhanging canopy. Its sides +evidently were open, or nearly so, for we could see now the smaller rays +flashing out horizontally. + +The large projector was mounted in the bow beyond the canopy. Its beam +obviously could be directed into the air, for it was now swinging up +toward us. But in the horizontal position its range was limited to an arc +in front of the boat. I saw then that our play was to attack from a low +level, since only in that way could we expect to reach a vulnerable spot +in the boat's armor. And I believed that if we could keep behind it they +could not reach us with their larger projector. + +We swooped downward almost to the water level, and reached it a thousand +feet perhaps off to one side of the boat and partly behind it. The smaller +projectors flashed out at us, but we were beyond their range. The +projector in the bow swung back and forth, and as we skimmed the surface +of the water, heading toward the boat, it turned to face us. + +What followed happened so quickly I had no time to consult with Miela. She +directed our flight. I turned the current into our projector and tried to +bring its beam to bear on the boat. We approached within some eight +hundred feet of it, darting back and forth, sometimes rising a hundred +feet or more, sometimes skimming the surface, but always keeping behind +the boat as it turned in an endeavor to face us. + +My light-ray beam hit the water frequently, with a great boiling and +hissing, sending up clouds of steam that for a moment obscured the scene. +Once or twice our opponent's beam flashed over us, but we were beyond its +arc before they could bring it directly to bear. + +I grew confused at the rapid turns we made. The dark outlines of the boat, +with its twenty or thirty flashing red and green lights, seemed everywhere +at once. I swung my projector about as best I could, but the swiftly +shifting target seemed too elusive. Once, as we dropped suddenly downward, +I thought we should plunge into the hissing, roaring water below. Again, +the opposing ray swung directly under us, as we darted upward to avoid it. + +"I can't make it, Miela," I said. "Hold steady toward them if you can." + +She did not answer, but kept her face over the platform's end and issued +her swift directions to the girls. Once, as we tilted sharply upward, I +caught a glimpse of a black-shape sweeping past, overhead. It was Mercer's +platform, flying unswervingly toward the boat, its red-green beam steady +before it like a locomotive headlight. We turned to follow; my own light +swung dangerously near Mercer, and I turned the current off hastily. + +The wind of our forward flight whistled past my ears; Miela's directions +to the girls rose shrill above it. I caught a glimpse of the darting +lights of the boat ahead. Then, when we were hardly more than six hundred +feet away, Mercer's light picked it up. I saw the little lurid red circle +it made as it struck the boat's canopy top, and roved along it end to end. +Mercer's platform darted lower, and from that angle his light swept under +the canopy. A man's scream of agony came to us across the water. The +lights on the boat were extinguished; only the yellow glare of the flames +rising from its interior fittings remained. + +Then, a moment later, the boat's stern rose into the air, and it slid +hissing into the water, leaving only a little wreckage and a few +struggling forms on the swirling surface. + +We swung sharply upward. Again Mercer's platform--its light now +extinguished--swept directly over us. His exultant voice floated down. + +"We did it, Alan! We did it! Come on up!" + +We rose to the upper air, where the girls were still circling about. The +other boats were keeping on their course, spreading farther apart now to +be out of range of each other's projectors. I had hoped they would turn +back with this catastrophe to their leader, but they did not. + +I consulted hastily with Miela, and then we gave the order for a general +attack, allowing each of the leading girls to act as she saw fit. + +Like a great flock of birds we swooped downward upon our prey, spreading +out to attack all the boats at once. The girls now turned on their hand +lights--a myriad tiny beams darting about in the semidarkness. + +I cannot attempt to describe the scene that followed. It can be imagined, +perhaps, but not told in words. As we swept within range of the lights +that swung up from below to meet us, I saw a girl, flying alone, pass +directly through one of the red beams. It seemed to strike her sidewise. +In an instant she had passed beyond it. I saw the dim outlines of her form +as she fluttered onward, wavering and aimless like a wounded bird. And +then she fell, turning over and over as with one wing she strove vainly to +support herself, until at last, wrapped in the sable shroud of her shield, +she plunged with a great splash into the sea. + +The flashing light-rays all about us now seemed mingled in inextricable +confusion. The girls must have passed through them frequently, protected +by their shields; and I know our platform was several times struck by them +from below. The absence of sound was uncanny. Only the whistling wind of +our flight, the flapping of the girl's wings, and the hissing of steam as +our rays struck the water, accompanied this inferno of light. + +We swept beyond the boat we had singled out, passing five or six hundred +feet above it, and in the effort to avoid its ray turning so that I was +unable to bring mine upon it. As we rose again, beyond it, I saw a boat +off to the left in flames. A dozen girls had rushed upon it, darting in +among its smaller rays to where their own would be effective. But there +was only one girl above it now, struggling brokenly to maintain herself in +flight. The boat sank with the roar of an explosion of some kind, but in +the sudden darkness about I could still see this lone wounded girl +fluttering onward. + +We were not far away; I pointed her out to Miela, and instead of swinging +back we kept on toward her. We contrived to pass close under her, and she +fell abruptly almost into my arms. I stretched her out gently on the +platform and turned back to Miela, who was kneeling behind our projector. + +We were now nearly half a mile from the nearest of the boats. Several of +them evidently had been sunk, and two or three others were sinking. One I +could make out heading back for the Twilight shore; above it the lights of +our girls following showed vivid against the dark-gray sky. Where Mercer's +platform was I could not tell. + +Miela gripped my shoulder. + +"See, Alan--there!" She pointed off to one side. "One of the boats tries +to escape." + +We were now some five hundred feet above the water. Half a mile beyond us, +all its lights out, one of the boats was scurrying away, on across toward +the Light Country. For some reason none of our girls seemed following it. + +Miela issued a sharp command; we swooped downward at lightning speed and, +barely skimming the surface, flew after this escaping enemy. Whether its +larger projector had been rendered inoperative, or many of its crew +killed, or whether it thought merely to escape us and make a landing in +the Light Country, I did not know. + +Whatever the reason, no lights showed from this boat as we drew after it. +I had our own light out. When we came close within range I flashed it on +suddenly. We were flying steadily, and I picked up the boat without +difficulty, raking it through from stern to stem under its protecting +canopy. I could see the canopy drop as its supporting metal framework +fused in the heat of the ray; flames rose from the interior wooden +fittings; the boat's stern seemed to melt away as the thin metal was +rendered molten; the water about it boiled under the heat. A cloud of +steam then rose up, obscuring it completely from my sight. + +I switched off the light. We continued on, rising a little. The steam +dissipated. Directly below us on the bubbling, swirling water a few +twisted black forms bobbed about. We were so close now I could see them +plainly. I looked away hastily. + +We swung back toward the Twilight shore, rising sharply. There seemed now +only one boat afloat. Far above it I saw a tiny black oblong that I knew +was Mercer's platform. A swarm of other dots, with the tiny pencils of red +light flashing from them, showed where the cloud of girls were swooping +down to the attack. Now that we were out of the action, I had opportunity +to watch what was going on more closely. + +This last engagement seemed to last less than a minute. The girls darted +fearlessly downward among the rays that swung up from the boat. Scores of +them were hit; I could see their forms illuminated for an instant by the +lurid red and green light. Some passed through it safely; many fell. But +those who got within range hit the boat without difficulty. Its lights +went out suddenly and a moment later it sank. The girls' lights flashed +off, and they rose again into the air--tiny black shapes circling about +Mercer's platform. + +The scene now seemed suddenly very dark, peaceful and still. A great +weight lifted from my heart, though it still remained heavy with what I +had seen. I turned to Miela; her face was white and drawn. + +"We have won, my girl," I said. + +She smiled wanly. + +"We have won. But, oh, Alan, that women should have to do such deeds!" + +Her eyes shone with the light of a soul in sorrow. + +"Pray to your God now, my husband, that this war may be the last, for all +time, in all the universe." + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +THE SIEGE OF THE LONE CITY. + + +Our losses totaled nearly a hundred and fifty girls. We brought back with +us on the platforms but six wounded. I shall never forget that hour we +spent searching among the wreckage--those blackened, twisted forms of what +had once been men and women. I shall not describe it. + +Of all the boats which Tao had dispatched on this ill-fated expedition, +only one escaped to return with news of the disaster. I was glad now that +one, at least, had survived, for the report it would give would, I felt +sure, dissuade Tao from making any other similar attempt at invasion. + +Our broken little army made its way slowly back to the Great City. We +went, not in triumph, but indeed with all the aspect of defeat. The people +received us in a frenzy of joy and gratitude to the girls for what they +had done. + +This first battle took place, as I have said, just after we four had +returned from our tour of the Light Country, and before the recruiting of +the young men was fairly under way. To this recruiting it proved an +extraordinary stimulus. The girls, having been in successful action, +stirred the young men of the nation as probably nothing else could, and +all over the country they came forward faster than they could be enrolled. + +It was two or three days after the battle that Miela came to me one +morning with the wounded girl she and I had rescued in the air. + +"We have a plan--Sela and I--my husband," she said. + +The girl seemed hardly more than a sweet little child--fifteen or sixteen, +perhaps. It gave me a shock now to realize that we had allowed her to go +into such a combat. One of her blue-feathered wings was bound in a cloth. +Its lower portion, I could tell, had been burned away. + +"Never will she fly again, my husband," said Miela, "for she is one of +those who has sacrificed her wings that we might all be safe from the +invader." + +She then went on to explain that now, while this feeling of gratitude to +the girls ran so high among the people, the time seemed propitious for +changing the long-hated law regarding their wings. I had not thought of +that, but agreed with her wholly. + +I called the people into the castle gardens that same night. Never had I +seen such a gathering. We allowed fully ten thousand to come in; the rest +we were forced to send away. + +Miela made a speech, telling them that in recognition of the girls' +services in this war, I had decided to allow them henceforth to keep their +wings unmutilated after marriage. We exhibited this little girl, Sela, as +one who had given her power of flight, not as a sacrifice on the altar of +man's selfishness, but in the service of her country. Then Sela herself +made a speech, in her earnest little child voice, pleading for her +sisters. + +When she ended there may have been some unmarried men in our audience who +were still against the measure--doubtless there were--but they were afraid +or ashamed to let their feeling be known. When the meeting broke up I had +ample evidence of the people's wishes upon which to proceed. + +Within a week my congress met, and the law was repealed. We informed the +other cities of this action, and everywhere it was met with enthusiasm. + +Enlistment and war preparations went steadily on, but despite it all there +were more marriages that next month--three times over--than in any before. +I had now been in power some three months, and the time was approaching +when we were ready to make our invasion of the Twilight Country. We had +been maintaining a rigid aerial patrol of the Narrow Sea, but no further +activities of the enemy had been threatened. + +The expedition, when it was ready, numbered about a thousand young men, +each armed with one of the hand light-ray cylinders; fifty officers, and +about fifty older men in charge of the projectors and rockets, who, for +want of a better term, I might call our artillery corps. There was also +the organization of girls, and a miscellaneous corps of men to handle the +boats, mechanics to set up the projectors, and a commissariat. + +The thousand young men represented those we had selected from the several +thousand enlisted in the Great City. All the rest, and the many thousands +in the other cities, we were holding in reserve. + +We took with us, on this invading expedition, only small-wheeled trucks, +on which to convey the larger projectors, and storage tanks and other +heavy apparatus, for the Lone City river ran directly to the point where +we planned to conduct our siege. + +Some forty large boats were required to carry the men, ammunition and +supplies. Mercer and I, with Anina and Miela, traveled as before through +the air on the two platforms with the girls. We crossed the Narrow Sea +without incident and entered the river. + +Several hours up, the river narrowed and entered a rocky gorge, four or +five hundred feet wide and a thousand feet deep, with almost perpendicular +sides. Along one of these ran the Lone City trail. We passed through this +gorge. The river here flowed with a current that amounted almost to +rapids. Our boats made slow progress. Finally we emerged into an even +wilder country, almost devoid of trees. Here we made our first night's +encampment. + +Noon of the next day found us approaching the Lone City. We did not need +to surmise now that Tao would be warned, for far away on the horizon ahead +we saw the beams from his great projectors mounting up into the blackness +of the sky. Some four miles from the Lone City the river we were ascending +swept off to the right. This was its closest point to the city, and here +we disembarked. There were several docks and a few houses, but we found +them all deserted. + +The Lone City was particularly well suited to defense, even though the lay +of the country was such that we were enabled to approach here within four +miles, and establish our base in comparative safety. The country was wild +and rocky, with few trees. The river bed lay in a canyon. From where we +landed, a valley so deep and narrow, it might almost be termed a canyon, +also led up to the city. + +This valley was some two miles wide, with a level floor, and precipitous, +rocky sides towering in many places over a thousand feet. Above it +stretched a broken plateau country. The valley had many sharp bends and +turns, as though in some distant past it had been the bed of a great river +that had eroded its tortuous course through the rock. + +The Lone City lay shut in at the bottom of this valley between two of its +bends. It was a settlement of perhaps ten thousand people, the only city +in the Twilight Country, with one exception, on this hemisphere of +Mercury. + +We established our field base here at the river, and I devoted the next +few days to informing myself of the exact lay of the country, and the +methods of defense of the city Tao had provided. + +I found this defense the height of simplicity, and for its purpose as +effective as it well could be. A vertical barrage of light surrounded the +city, extending upward into the air with the most powerful projectors some +ten or fifteen miles, and, with those of the spreading rays, forming a +solid wall of light at the lower altitudes. There were no projectors past +the first turn in the valley toward the river--where they could have been +directed horizontally--and none of them on the cliff tops above the city. +Thus, although we could not get over this light-barrage, we could approach +it closely in many places. + +Tao's tactics became immediately evident. He had thrown an almost +impregnable barrier close about him and, trusting to its protection, was +making no effort to combat us for the moment with any moves of offense. + +My first endeavor was to find a position on top of the cliffs from which +the city could be reached with a projector. It was practically the only +thing to do. The city could not be approached in front from the valley +floor; its entire surface beyond the turn was swept by the light-rays. +Approach from below in the rear was likewise barred. + +Had the barrage been not so high our girls might have flown over it and +dropped bombs, or we might have sent rockets over it and dropped them into +the city. Neither of these projects was practical. The girls could not fly +over that barrage. It was too cold in the higher altitudes. Nor could we +send rockets over, for rockets sent through the light were exploded before +they could reach their mark. + +The projectors along the sides of the city were located for the most part +a hundred feet or more back from the base of the surrounding cliffs. This +allowed them to cut the cliff face at the top. It will be understood then +that we could approach the brink of the cliff in many places, but never +sufficiently near to be able to direct our rays downward into the city. + +These cliffs were exceedingly jagged and broken. They overhung in many +places. Great rifts split them; ravines wound their way down, many of +these with small, stunted trees growing in them. A descent from the summit +to the floor of the valley, had we been unimpeded by the light, would in +many places not have been difficult. + +During the next week, we succeeded--working in the prevailing gloom--in +establishing a projector at the mouth of a ravine which emerged at the +cliff face hardly a hundred feet from the valley bottom. This point was +below the spreading light-rays which swept the cliff top above. We mounted +the projector without discovery, and, flashing it on suddenly, swept the +valley with its rays. An opposing ray from below picked it out almost +immediately, and destroyed it, killing two of our men. + +The irregularities of the cliffs made several other similar attempts +possible. We took advantage of them, and in each case were able to rake +the valley with our fire for a moment before our projector was located and +destroyed. One, which we were at great pains to protect, was maintained +for a somewhat longer period. + +I believed we had done an immense amount of damage by these momentarily +active projectors, although our enemy gave no sign. + +We then tried dropping rockets at the base of the lights in the valley. +There were few points at which they could be reached without striking the +rays first. But we persisted, sending up a hundred or more. Most were +ineffective; a few found their mark, as we could tell by a sudden "hole" +in the barrage, which, however, was invariably repaired before we could +make it larger. + +These activities lasted a week or more. It began, to look as though we had +entered upon a lengthy siege. I wondered how long the city's food supply +would last if we settled down to starve it out. The thought came to me +then that Tao might be almost ready for his second expedition to the +earth. Was he indeed merely standing us off in this way so that some day +he might depart in his vehicle before our very eyes? + +Tao began to adopt our tactics. Without warning one day a projector from a +towering eminence near the city flashed down at the river encampment. That +we were not entirely destroyed was due to the extreme watchfulness of our +guards, who located it immediately with their rays. As it was, we lost +nearly a hundred men in the single moment it was in operation. + +We then withdrew our camp farther away down the river, to a point where +the conformation of the country made a repetition of this attack +impossible. A sort of guerrilla warfare now began in the mountains. Our +scouting parties frequently met Tao's men, and many encounters, swiftly +fatal to one side or the other, took place. But all the time we were able, +at intervals, to rake the valley with our fire for brief periods. + +Mercer constantly was evolving plans of the utmost daring, most of them +indeed amounting practically to suicide for those undertaking them. But I +held him back. Our present tactics were dangerous enough, although after +the first few fatalities we succeeded in protecting our men, even though +our projectors were invariably destroyed. + +One of Mercer's plans we tried with some success. There were some places +in the light-barrage that were much less high than others. We devised a +smaller rocket that could be fired from the platforms. Mercer took it up +some twenty thousand feet, and sent several rockets over the light, which +we hoped dropped into the city. + +A month went by in this way. We were in constant communication by water +with the Great City, receiving supplies and reenforcements of men and +armament. And then gradually the situation changed. Over a period of +several days our hand-to-hand encounters with the enemy grew less +frequent. Finally two or three days went by without one of them taking +place. + +We became bolder and prepared to establish several projectors at different +points for simultaneous fire at a given signal. The light-barrage in the +valley remained unchanged, although now its beams held steady instead of +sometimes swinging to and fro. We dislodged one of its projectors with a +rocket, making a hole in the barrage, which this time was not repaired. +And then, to our amazement, the lights one by one began to die away. We +ceased operations, waiting. Within half a day they had all vanished, like +lights which had flickered and burned out. + +Mercer, unthinking, was all for an instant attack. We could indeed have +swept the valley now without difficulty; but there were thousands of +people in the city--non-combatants, women and children--and to murder them +to no purpose was not the sort of warfare we cared to make. + +It seemed probable that Tao had evacuated his position. The valley beyond +the city led up into the mountains toward the Dark City, almost on the +borderland of the frozen wastes of the Dark Country. Tao had protected +this valley from behind so that we had been unable to penetrate it without +making a detour of over twenty miles. This I had not done, although had +the siege lasted longer I think with our next reenforcement we should have +attempted it. + +With the extinguishing of the lights our long-range activities ceased. We +anticipated some trick, and for several days remained quiet. Our girls +could have flown over the city; but this I would not allow, fearing that a +ray would bring them suddenly down. + +Miela and myself, occupying one of the stone houses down by the river, +held a consultation there with Mercer and Anina. + +Mercer, as usual, was for instant action. + +"We might as well march right in," he declared. "They're out of business, +or they've gone--one or the other." + +"To the Dark City they have gone, I think," Anina said. + +"I think so, too," Mercer agreed. + +"_I'll_ go in alone on foot," I said, "and find out what has happened." + +But Miela shook her head. + +"One who can fly will go more safely. I shall go." + +"Not you, my sister," Anina said quietly. "Warfare is not for you--now. +That you can understand, can you not? _I_ shall go." + +Mercer insisted on accompanying her; and he did, part of the way, waiting +while she flew close over the city. It was several hours before they +returned, reporting that the place was almost in ruins, and that Tao and +his men had fled some time before, leaving the light-barrage to burn +itself out. The next day, with our men in the black cloth suits of armor +marching up the valley, and the girls with their black shields flying +overhead, we took possession of all that remained of the Lone City. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +THE END OF TAO. + + +The scene of desolation that met us in the Lone City was at once +extraordinary and awesome. It seemed impossible that our rays, acting for +so brief a period, could have done so much damage. The city was nothing +more than a semicivilized settlement of little, flat-topped stone houses. +Our rays, striking these, had discharged harmlessly into the ground. But +the interiors had been penetrated through windows and doors, and +everything inflammable about them, as well as about the streets, had been +destroyed. + +The people had taken refuge in cellars underground and in caves and +crevices--wherever they could find shelter. But even so, there were a +thousand dead in that city that morning, and rapidly spreading disease +would shortly have killed them all. They came out of their hiding places +little by little as we entered the streets, and stood about in groups +staring at us sullenly. They seemed mostly old men and women and children, +the younger men having fled with Tao's army. They were heavy-set, pathetic +people, with broad, heavy faces, pasty-white skin, and large protruding +eyes. We were in the Lone City nearly a month, burying the dead, doing +what we could for the people, and destroying or removing the apparatus Tao +had left behind him. + +The Lone City, before the banishment of Tao, had been one of the most +primitive settlements of the Twilight region. It was in the other +hemisphere that the Twilight Country was more densely populated; but since +this Lone City was so close to the Great City it had become the scene of +Tao's exile. + +This region about the Lone City was of the most barren of the whole +Twilight country. Its people were almost entirely meat eaters. Back toward +the Dark Country great bands of animals like caribou roamed. Living almost +entirely in darkness, they had little power of sight, and were easy prey +to hunters. + +Their hides, which were covered with short, white fur, provided clothing; +a form of candle was made from their fat, and used for lighting; and their +flesh provided food. The Dark City, some two hundred and fifty miles away, +was the center from which most of these animals were obtained. + +"Then, that's where Tao has been getting his supplies from," Mercer +exclaimed, as we heard all this from one of the Twilight People. "And +that's where he has gone now." + +Tao had indeed withdrawn to the Dark City, we learned positively. And more +than that, we learned that he had factories there as well as here. We +found in the Lone City some eight of the interplanetary vehicles--most of +them almost entirely completed. The fact that Tao had abandoned them so +readily made us believe he had others in the Dark City. + +There seemed a curious lack of appliances for protection against the ray. +This we attributed to two causes--that Tao had managed to take most of +them with him, and that his supply of fabric came from distant cities on +the other side of the globe. Within a month after we had occupied the Lone +City we were again ready to start forward. It had been an irksome month +for Mercer, and not a day had passed without my receiving a truculent +declaration from him that we were fools to allow Tao to escape so easily. + +Our occupation of the Lone City was to continue. On this second expedition +farther into the Twilight Country I took with me a much smaller and more +select force. We had before us a land journey of some two hundred and +fifty miles, through an unknown, barren country, in which it would be +difficult for us to maintain ourselves, so I was determined to be burdened +with as few men as possible. + +Our force consisted of all the older men trained in the operation of the +larger projectors and rockets; a variety of mechanics and helpers, men +selected for their physical strength; a corps of young men to the number +of fifty, and fifty girls. + +We did not take the platforms, for I assumed it would be too cold for the +girls to make sustained flights. Against this cold we provided ourselves +well with the white furry garments of the Twilight People. I need not go +into details of our march to the Dark City. It occupied some three weeks. +We met with no opposition, passing a few isolated settlements, whose +inhabitants rather welcomed us than otherwise. + +This region we passed through took us almost to the ill-defined borders of +the Dark Country. It was not mountainous, but rather more a great broken +plateau with a steady ascent. Each day it grew darker and colder, until at +last we entered perpetual night. It was not the sort of night we know on +earth, but a Stygian blackness. + +We used little torches now, of the light-ray current, and our little army, +trudging along in their lurid glare, and dragging its wagons piled high +with the projectors, presented a curious and weird picture. The country +for the most part was barren rock, with a few stunted trees growing in the +ravines and crevices. There was an abundance of water. + +We encountered several rainstorms, and once during the last week it snowed +a little. Except for the storms, the wind held steady, a gentle breeze +from the colder regions in front blowing back toward the Light Country +behind us. + +During the latter days of our journey I noticed a curious change in the +ground. It seemed now, in many places, to be like a soft, chalky +limestone, which ran in pockets and seams between strata of very hard +rock. I called Miela's attention to it once, and she pointed out a number +of irregular shaped, small masses of a substance which in daylight I +assumed might be yellow. These were embedded in the soft limestone. + +"Sulphur," she said. "Like that on your earth. There is much of it up +here, I have heard." + +The Dark City occupied a flat plateau, slightly elevated above the +surrounding country, and on the brink of a sheer drop of some six or seven +thousand feet to an arm of the polar sea. + +Our problems now were very different from when we had laid siege to the +Lone City. The conformation of the country allowed us no opportunity to +approach closer than two or three miles to the barrage of light we must +expect. We could not reach the city from these nearest points with our +projectors. + +There were many lateral ravines depressed below the upper surface of the +main plateau, and though the light-rays from the city, directed +horizontally, would sweep their tops, we found we could traverse many of +them a considerable distance in safety. But from the bottoms of them we +could only fire our rockets without specific aim and our projectors not at +all. + +Only by the most fortuitous of circumstances did we escape complete +annihilation the first moment we appeared within range. We had no idea +what lay ahead--although the guides we had brought with us from the Lone +City informed us we were nearing our destination--and the scene remained +in complete darkness until we were hardly more than five miles outside +Tao's stronghold. + +Then, without warning, his lights flashed on--not only a vertical barrage, +but a horizontal one as well--sweeping the higher points of the entire +country around for a distance of twelve or fifteen miles. + +We were, at the moment, following the bottom of a narrow gully. Had we +been on any of the upper reaches of the plateau we would undoubtedly have +been picked out by one of the roving beams of light and destroyed. + +We camped where we were, and again for several days I attempted nothing, +devoting myself to a thorough exploration of the country about us. The +Dark City appeared impregnable. Beams of light from Tao's larger +projectors were constantly roaming about the entire plateau that +surrounded it, and every higher point of vantage from which one of ours +could have reached them must have been struck by their rays a score of +times a day. + +It will be understood, of course, that any place where we could mount one +of the higher powered projectors, a task of several hours at best, and +strike the city, must of necessity be also within range of their rays, for +theirs were as powerful as ours. Upon observation I felt convinced that +should we attempt to mount a projector anywhere on these higher points it +would be sought out and destroyed long before we could bring it into +action. + +That this was Tao's stronghold, and not the Lone City, now became evident. +I could readily understand why he had retreated here. Fully four times as +many projectors as he had in operation in the Lone City were now in +evidence. Those of shorter range, and spreading rays, kept the entire +country bathed in steady light for several miles around him, while the +larger ones--a hundred of them possibly--roved constantly over the black +emptiness beyond. + +From our encampment we could advance but little farther. Fortunately, +retreat was open to us; and once beyond the circle of steady light, we had +no difficulty in moving about in the darkness, even though momentarily we +frequently were within range of the single light-beams, had they chanced +to swing upon us. + +This was the situation which, even Mercer agreed, appeared hopeless. We +explored the brink of the precipice below which lay the sea. It was a +sheer drop of many thousand feet. Although a descent might have been made +closer to the Dark City, certainly it was not possible at any point we +could reach. We sent our girls down, and they reported that from below it +appeared probable that access to the ocean was had by the Dark City some +miles farther along. They went but a short distance, for Tao's lights were +occasionally sweeping about; and more than that, they could make but very +short flights, owing to the cold. + +To starve Tao out appeared equally as impractical as a direct attack. With +our little army we could not surround the city on a circumference of some +eighty miles. We might, indeed, have barred the several roads that entered +it, but it seemed probable that if Tao wanted to come out he would come, +for all we could do to stop him. And yet to starve him out seemed our only +possible plan. + +"We'll have to send back for reenforcements," I told Mercer, Miela and +Anina at one of our many conferences. "An army of several thousand, if we +can maintain it up here." + +And then, the very next day, Mercer and Anina came forward with their +discovery. We had set up our encampment of little black fabric tents in a +ravine some six miles outside the city, securely hidden by surrounding +cliffs. Above us across the black sky the greenish-red beams of Tao's +light-rays swept continually to and fro. Miela and I were sitting together +disconsolately in our tent, reviewing the situation, when Mercer and Anina +burst in. They had been roaming about together, exploring the country, and +came in now full of excitement and enthusiasm to tell us what they had +found. We two were to accompany them. They would tell us no more than +that; and as soon as we had all eaten we started off. It would be a trip +of several hours, Mercer said, and would take us around to the other side +and partly behind the Dark City. + +We followed no road, but scrambled along over the open country, picking +our way as best we could, and using the lights from the city to give us +direction. The two girls half walked, half flew, and Mercer and I, with +our ability to take huge leaps, made rapid progress. + +The night was black--that unluminous blackness that seems to swallow +everything, even objects near at hand. We made our way along, using little +hand searchlights that threw a red glare a short distance before us. + +We kept down in the gulleys as much as possible, avoiding the higher +places where Tao's long-range beams were constantly striking, and passed +around in front of the Dark City, keeping always at least five miles away. + +We had been traveling two or three hours, and still Mercer and Anina gave +us no clew to what we were about to see. It began to snow. Huge, soft +flakes soon lay thick on the ground. + +"Mercer, where are you taking us?" I exclaimed once. + +"You shall see very soon now," Anina answered me. "What we have found, +Ollie and I--and our plan--you shall understand it soon." + +We had to be content with that. An hour later we found ourselves well +around behind the Dark City and hardly more than four miles outside it. A +great jagged cliff-face, two hundred feet high perhaps, fronted us. We, at +its base, were on comparatively low ground here, with another low line of +cliffs shading us from the light-beams of the city. + +Mercer and Anina stopped and pointed upward at the cliff. A huge seam of +the soft, chalky limestone ran laterally for five hundred feet or more +across its face. I saw embedded in this seam great irregular masses of +sulphur. + +"There you are," said Mercer triumphantly. "Sulphur--stacks of it. All we +have to do is set fire to it. With the wind blowing this way--right toward +the city--" His gesture was significant. + +The feasibility of the plan struck us at once. It was an enormous deposit +of free sulphur. From this point the prevailing wind blew directly across +the city. The sulphur lay in great masses sufficiently close together so +that if we were to set fire to it in several places with our small +light-ray torches we could be assured of its burning steadily. And its +fumes, without warning, blowing directly over the city--I shuddered as the +whole thing became clear to me. + +"Good God, man--" + +"That'll smoke 'em out," declared Mercer, waving his hand again toward the +cliff. "I ask you now, won't that smoke 'em out?" + +"Tao's men--yes." Miela's face was grave as she answered Mercer's +triumphant question. "It will do that, Ollie. Kill them all, of a +certainty; but that whole city there--" + +Mercer stared at his feet, toying idly with the little torch in his hand. + +"Can you think of any other way to get at Tao?" he asked. + +Anina met my eyes steadily. + +"There is no other way," she said quietly. "It must be done. It is your +world--your people--we must think of now. And you know there is no other +way." + +We decided at last to try it. Once we had made the decision, we proceeded +as quickly as possible to put the plan into execution. We moved our +encampment farther away, well out of danger from the fumes. + +We mounted several of the projectors in positions where their rays could +reach the surrounding country, and the sky, although not the city itself. +Then, ordering our men and girls to hold themselves in readiness for +whatever might occur, we four went off together to fire the sulphur. + +The wind was blowing directly toward the city as we stood at the base of +the cliff, a silent little group. I think that now, at this moment, we all +of us hesitated in awe at what we were about to do. + +Mercer broke the tension. + +"Come on, Alan--let's start it off. Now is the time--a lot of places at +once." + +We flashed on our little light-rays, and in a moment the sulphur was on +fire at a score of different points. We drew off a few hundred feet to one +side and sat down to watch it in the darkness. Overhead Tao's red beams +swept like giant search-lights across the inky sky. + +The sulphur started burning with tiny little spots of wavering blue flame +that seemed, many of them, about to die away. Gradually they grew larger, +spreading out slowly and silently in ever-widening circles. Under the heat +of the flames the sulphur masses became molten, turned into a viscous dark +red fluid that boiled and bubbled heavily and dropped spluttering upon the +ground. + +Slowly the blue-green flames spread about, joining each other and making +more rapid headway--a dozen tiny volcanoes vomiting their deadly fumes and +pouring forth their sluggish, boiling lava. The scene about us now was +lighted in a horrible blue-green glare. A great cloud of thin smoke +gathered, hung poised a moment, and then rolled slowly away--its deadly +fumes hanging low to the ground and spreading ever wider as though eager +to clutch the unsuspecting city in their deadly embrace. + +The entire face of the cliff was now covered with the crawling blue fire, +lapping avidly about with its ten-foot tongues. We drew back, staring +silently at each other's ghastly green faces. + +"Let's--let's get away," Mercer whispered finally. "No use staying here +now." + +We hurried back to the nearest place where one of our projectors was set +up. The two men guarding it looked at us anxiously, and smiled +triumphantly when Miela told them what we had done. We stood beside them a +moment, then Miela and I climbed to an eminence near by from which we had +an unobstructed view of the city. + +The light-barrage still held steady. The individual, higher-powered +projectors as before swung their beams lazily about the country. We sat +partly in the shelter of a huge bowlder, behind which we could have +dropped quickly had one of them turned our way. + +"Soon it will be there," Miela said softly, when we had been sitting quiet +for a time. + +I did not answer. It was indeed too solemn a thing for words, this +watching from the darkness while an invisible death, let loose by our own +hands, stole down upon our complacent enemies. + +A few moments more we watched--and still the scene before us showed no +change. Then, abruptly, the lights seemed to waver; some of the beams +swung hurriedly to and fro, then remained motionless in unusual positions, +as though the men at their levers in sudden panic had abandoned them. + +My heart was beating violently. What hidden tragedy was being enacted +behind that silent barrier of light? I shuddered as my imagination +conjured up hideous pictures of that unseen death that now must be +stalking about those city streets, entering those homes, polluting the air +with its stifling, noisome breath, and that even at this distance seemed +clutching at my own lungs. + +I suppose the whole thing _did_ last only a moment. There was little in +what we saw of significance had we not known. But we did know--and the +knowledge left us trembling and unnerved. + +I leaped to my feet, pulling Miela after me, and in a few moments more we +were back beside the projector we had left with Mercer and Anina. Suddenly +a white shape appeared in the sky over the city. It passed perilously +close above the shattered light-barrage and came sailing out in our +direction. + +Mercer jumped for the projector, but I was nearer, and in a moment I had +flashed it on. + +"It's Tao!" Mercer shouted. "He--" + +It was one of Tao's interplanetary vehicles, rising slowly in a great arc +above us. I swung our light-beams upward; it swept across the sky and fell +upon the white shape; the thing seemed to poise in its flight, as though +held by the little red circle of light that fastened upon it, boring its +way in. Then, slowly at first, it fell; faster and faster it dropped, +until it struck the ground with a great crash--the first and only sound of +all this soundless warfare. + + * * * * * + +It was three days before the great sulphur deposit we had ignited burned +itself out. The lights of the city had all died away, and blackness such +as I never hope to experience again settled down upon the scene. + +We approached the Dark City then; we even entered one or two of its +outlying houses;, but beyond that we did not go, for we had made certain +of what we wanted to know. + +I remember my father once describing how, when a young man, he had gone to +the little island of Martinique shortly after the great volcanic outbreak +of Mount Pelee. I remember his reluctance to dwell upon the scenes he saw +there in that silent city of St. Pierre--the houses with their dead +occupants, stricken as they were sitting about the family table; the +motionless forms in the streets, lying huddled where death had overtaken +them in their sudden panic. That same reluctance silences me now, for one +does not voluntarily dwell upon such scenes as those. + +A day or so later we found the interplanetary projectile which had sought +to escape. Amid its wreckage lay the single, broken form of Tao--that +leader who, plotting the devastation of two worlds for his own personal +gain, had at the very last deserted his comrades and met his death alone. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +THE RETURN. + + +There is but little more to add. With the death of Tao and the changing of +the law concerning the virgins' wings, my mission on Mercury was over. But +I did not think of that then, for with the war ended, my position as +virtual ruler of the Light Country still held Mercer and me occupied with +a multiplicity of details. It was a month or more after our return from +the Twilight Country that Miela reminded me of father and my duty to him. +"You have forgotten, my husband. But I have not. Your world--it calls you +now. You must go back." + +Go back home--to father and dear little Beth! I had not realized how much +I had wanted it. + +"What you have done for our nation--for our girls--can never be repaid, +Alan. And you can do more in later years, perhaps. But now your father +needs you--and we must think of him." + +I cast aside every consideration of what changes would first have to be +made here on Mercury, and decided in that moment to go. + +"But you must go with me, Miela," I said, and then, as I thought of +something else, I added gently: "You will, won't you, little wife? For you +know I cannot leave you now." + +She smiled her tender little smile. + +"'Whither thou goest, I will go,' my husband," she quoted softly, "'for +thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.'" + +We were ready to start at the time of the next inferior conjunction of +Mercury with the earth. At our combined pleading, and with the permission +of his associates, Fuero was persuaded to take command of the nation +during my absence; and I felt I was leaving affairs in able hands. + +Lua refused to accompany us; but she urged Anina to go, and the little +girl was ready enough to take advantage of her mother's permission. + +Though he said nothing, I shall never forget Mercer's face as this +decision was made. + +The vehicle in which Miela had made her former trip was still lying in the +valley where we had left it. We went away privately, only Lua and Fuero +accompanying us out of the city. + +Lua parted with her two daughters quietly. Her emotions at seeing them go +she concealed under that sweet, gentle reserve which was characteristic of +her always. + +"Promise me you will be careful of her, Alan," she said softly as she +kissed me at parting. + + * * * * * + +We landed in the Chilean Andes, with that patient statue of the Christ to +welcome us back to earth. The Trans-Andean Railroad runs near it, and we +soon were in the city of Buenos Aires. The two girls, with wings shrouded +in their long cloaks, walked about its crowded streets with a wonderment +I can only vaguely imagine. We had only what little money I had taken with +me to Mercury. I interviewed a prominent banker of the city, told him in +confidence who I was, and from him obtained necessary funds. + +We cabled father then, and he answered at once that he would come down and +join us. We waited for him down there, and in another month he was with +us--dear old gentleman, leaning over the steamer rail, trying to hold back +the tears of joy that sprang into his eyes at sight of me. Little Beth was +with him, too, smart and stylish as ever, and good old Bob Trevor, whom +she shyly presented as her husband. + +The beach at Mar del Plata, near Buenos Aires, is one of the most +beautiful spots in South America; and on a clear moonlit night, with the +Southern Cross overhead, it displays the starry heavens as few other +places can on this earth. + +On such a night in February, 1942, Mercer and Anina sat together on the +sand, apart from the gay throng that crowded the pavilion below them. The +girl was dressed all in white, with a long black cape covering her wings. +Her beautiful blond hair was piled on her head in huge soft coils, and +over it she had thrown a filmy, sky-blue mantilla that shone with a soft +luster in the moonlight and seemed reflected in the blue of her eyes. + +Mercer in white flannels sat beside her, cross-legged on the white sand, +with a newly purchased Hawaiian guitar across his lap. From the band stand +in the pavilion down the beach faint strains of music floated up to them. +The moon silvered the water before them; a soft, gentle breeze of summer +caressed their cheeks; the myriad stars glittered overhead like brilliant +gems scattered on the turquoise velvet of the sky. + +Anina, chin cupped in her hand, sat staring at the wonderful heavens that +all her life before had been withheld from her sight. She sighed +tremulously. + +"I want to say this is a night," Mercer declared, breaking a long silence. + +"It's--it's beautiful," she answered softly. "Those millions of +worlds--like mine, perhaps--or like this one of yours." She turned to him. +"Ollie, which of them is my world?" + +"You can't see it now, Anina. It's too close to the sun." + +Again she sighed. "I'm sorry for that. It would seem closer, perhaps, if +we could see it." + +"You're not sorry you came, Anina? You don't want to go back now?" + +"Not now, Ollie." She smiled into his earnest, pleading eyes. "For those I +love are here as well as there. I have Miela and Alan--and--" + +"And?" Mercer leaned forward eagerly. + +"And Miela's little son--that darling little baby. We must go back soon +and see Miela. She will be wondering where we are." + +Mercer sat back. "Oh," he said. "Yes, we must." + +The band in the pavilion stopped its music. Mercer slid his little steel +cross-piece over the guitar strings and began to play the haunting, crying +music of the islands, the music of moonlight and love. After a moment he +stopped abruptly. + +"Anina, that little song you sang in the boat that day--you remember--the +day we went to the Water City? Sing it again, Anina." + +She sang it through softly, just as she had in the boat, to its last +ending little half-sob. + +Mercer laid his guitar on the sand beside him. + +"You said that music talks to you, Anina--though sometimes you--you don't +understand just what it tries to say. I feel it that way, too--only--only +to-night--now--I think I _do_ understand." + +His voice was very soft and earnest and just a trifle husky. + +"You said that it was a love-song, Anina, and it was sad because love is +sad. Do you--think love is always sad?" He put out his hand awkwardly and +touched hers. + +"Do you, Anina?" he whispered. + +Her little figure swayed toward him. She half turned, and in her shining +eyes he saw the light that needs no words to make its meaning clear. + +The timidity that so often before had restrained him was swept away; he +took her abruptly into his arms, kissing her hair, her eyes, her lips. + +"Love isn't--always very sad, is it, Anina?" + +Her arms held him close. + +"I--I don't know," she breathed against his shoulder. "But it's--it's +very--wonderful." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIRE PEOPLE*** + + +******* This file should be named 25780.txt or 25780.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/7/8/25780 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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