above, where it flashed into an awesome squadron of
terrible shells of steel!

Shells that, a second later, wavered, staggered, and plunged
earthward!

And Lance tensed in his seat. From above, he caught a tiny whistling
noise--a whistling that hurtled into a terrific shriek--that roared
ever closer.

"Carry on!" he muttered. "Carry on!"

The words froze on his lips, for the world was suddenly consumed, it
seemed, by flame and splitting, bellowing thunder.

* * * * *

The American guns spoke.

From every aerodrome long flights of scouts and bombers and transport
planes roared upward.

In the front trenches the troops, still somewhat dazed by the
earth-shaking explosion that had just tumbled from the far horizon--a
horizon still lit by leaping tongues of awful flame--poured over the
top, gas-masks on, repeaters and portable machine-guns at the ready,
with a fierce cry on their lips.

Before that avenging attack the Slavs, their very spine broken,
bewildered and confused, already turning in panic, could not stand.

America swept to the Pacific, and left death in her wake. And when she
came to San Francisco, not even the sternest fighting men, still hot
from battle, could repress a shudder, so awful was the devastation.

The Slav invasion was over!

* * * * *

In the rebuilt city of San Francisco there is a statue that stands
proudly before the magnificent, gleaming city hall.

It represents two slim, straight-standing figures, clad in the uniform
of the American Air Force. Their outstretched arms support a tiny
one-seater Goshawk fighting plane.

Below, as you know, there is a plaque. Men touch their hats as they
walk by it; flowers are always fresh at its base. On the plaque are
the words:

To The Everlasting
Memory Of

Captain Basil Hay, A.A.F.
Captain Derek Lance, A.A.F.

Who, In The War Of 1938, Gave
Their Lives In Destroying And
Devastating San Francisco
That San Francisco And America
Might Live

[Illustration: Advertisement.]

The Tentacles From Below

A COMPLETE NOVELETTE

_By Anthony Gilmore_

CHAPTER I

"_Machine-Fish_"

[Illustration: _Bowman hooked it on the hawser arm above._]

[Sidenote: Down to tremendous ocean depths goes Commander Keith Wells
in his blind duel with the m