hwarted lightning.

"Oh, what a dumb-bell I am!" groaned Cleveland. "Why, oh why didn't I
have somebody rig up a secondary SX7 beam on Ten's inner rings? Hop to
it, will you, Blake, so that we'll have it in case they are able to stop
the cans?"

But the pirates could not stop all of Triplanetary's projectiles, now
hurrying along inside the pipe as fast as they could be driven. In fact,
for a few minutes desperate Roger, knowing that he faced his long life's
gravest crisis, paid no attention to them at all, nor to any of his own
useless offensive weapons: he struggled only and madly to break away
from the savage grip of the _Boise_'s tractor rod. Futile. He could
neither cut nor stretch that inexorably anchoring beam. Then he devoted
his every resource to the closing of that unbelievable breach in his
shield; the barrier which through all previous emergencies had kept
death at bay. Equally futile. His most desperate efforts resulted only
in more frenzied displays of incandescence along the curved surface of
contact of that penetrant cylinder. And through that terrific conduit
came speeding package after package of destruction. Bombs, and
armor-piercing shells, gas shells, and shells of poisonous and corrosive
fluids followed each other in close succession. The surviving scientists
of the planetoid, expert gunners and ray-men all, destroyed many of the
projectiles, but it was not humanly possible to frustrate them all. And
the breach could not be forced shut against the all but irresistible
force of Cleveland's "opener". And with all his power Roger could not
shift his vessel's position in the grip of Triplanetary's tractors
sufficiently to bring a projector to bear upon the super-ship along the
now unprotected axis of that narrow, but deadly tube.

Thus it was that the end came soon. A war-head touched steel plating and
there ensued a world-wracking explosion of atomic iron. Gaping wide,
helpless, with all defenses down, other torpedoes entered the stricken
hulk and completed its destruction even before they could be recalled.
Explosive bombs literally tore the pirate vessel to fragments, while
vials of pure corrosion dissolved her substance into dripping corruption
and reeking gases filled every cranny of the wreckage as its torn and
dismembered fragments began their long plunge to the ground. The
space-ship followed the pieces down, and Rodebush sent out an exploring
ray.

" ... resistance was such that it was nece