ush threw on her inertia and Cleveland brought the two
vessels relatively to rest by increasing gradually his tractor's pull.
And this time the Nevian could not cut the tractor. Again that shearing
plane of force bit into it and tore at it, but it neither yielded nor
broke. The rebuilt generators of Number Four were designed to carry the
load, and they carried it. And again Triplanetary's every mighty weapon
was brought into play.

The "cans" were thrown, ultra-and infra-beams were driven, the furious
macro-beam gnawed hungrily at the Nevian's defenses; and one by one
those defenses went down. In desperation the enemy commander threw his
every generator behind a polycyclic screen; only to see Cleveland's even
more powerful drill bore relentlessly through it. Punctured that last
defense, the end came soon. A secondary SX7 beam was now in place on
mighty Ten's inner rings, and one fierce blast blew a hole completely
through the Nevian cruiser. Into that hole entered Adlington's terrific
bombs and their gruesome fellows, and where they entered, life departed.
All defenses vanished, and under the blasts of the _Boise_'s projectors,
now unopposed, the metal of the Nevian vessel exploded instantly into a
widely spreading cloud of vapor. Sparkling vapor, with perhaps here and
there a droplet or two of material which had only been liquefied.

So passed the sister-ship, and Rodebush turned his plates upon the
vessel of Nerado. But that highly intelligent amphibian had seen all
that had occurred. He had long since given over the pursuit of the
speedster, and he did not rush in to do hopeless battle beside his
fellow Nevians against the Terrestrials. His analytical detectors had
written down each detail of every weapon and of every screen employed;
and even while prodigious streamers of red force were raving out from
his vessel, braking her terrific progress and swinging her around in an
immense circle back toward far Nevia, his scientists and mechanics were
doubling and redoubling the power of his already Titanic installations,
to match and if possible to overmatch those of Triplanetary's
super-dreadnaught.

"Do we kill him now or do we let him suffer a while longer?" Costigan
demanded.

"I don't think so, yet," replied Rodebush. "Would you, Lyman?"

"Not yet," replied Cleveland, grimly, reading the thought of the other
and agreeing with it. "Let him pilot us to Nevia; we might not be able
to find it without a guide. While w