ich had been concentrated on that first fire-ball was instantly
demoralized, while full fifty per cent of its individuals were instantly
torn to bits!

Sarka groaned to the depths of him.

"The leader of the Martians, or the master who sent them here, sent them
here to win. For if they do not win, they cannot return to Mars, as they
will have destroyed their vehicles! Their confidence is superhuman!"

"Have faith in the courage of Earthlings, son!" said Sarka.

It was much to ask, for if one single one of these fire-balls could
wreak such havoc with the people of Earth, what would be the destruction
by the countless other unexploded fireballs of the Martians?

* * * * *

Still, the Spokesmen themselves must discover a way to hold their own,
to win against the Martians. For Sarka there was greater work to do. He
must oppose the wills of Luar and of Dalis in a mighty mental conflict,
which would decide whether the homes of men would be saved, or utterly
destroyed by the Moon-cubes.

But as he left through the Exit Dome, with Jaska by his side, he
shuddered, and was just a little sick inside as he saw the fearful
result of that first explosion of a Martian fire-ball! Bits of human
wreckage were scattered over the Earth for a great distance in all
directions from where the fire-ball had exploded. And at that spot a
gigantic crater had been torn in the roof of the world, going down to
none knew what depths.

Even the Martians, here only to consolidate positions which had passed
the demolition of the Moon-cubes, were capable of demolitions almost as
ghastly and complete as those of the cubes!

The sound was incapable of being described, for outside the laboratory
the sound of the advance of the Moon-cubes eating into the dwellings of
men, tumbling them down, grinding them to powder, was cataclysmic in its
mighty volume. A million express trains crashing head-on into walls of
galvanized iron at top speed, simultaneously.

Ear-drum crashing blows as fireballs exploded. The screams and shrieks
of maimed and dying Earthlings--of Earthlings unwounded but possessed of
abysmal fear....

* * * * *

Then, resolutely, Sarka turned his back on the conflict between the
Martians and the people of Earth, and hurtled across the devastated
roof of the world toward that area which was feeling the destructive
force of the vandal cube-army. As he flew, Jaska keeping pac