fighters. But for
the most part they fought in the manner of Chinese ta chaen, or Japanese
ju-jutsu men. They used holds that were bone-breaking and it taxed the
pair to the utmost to keep from being maimed by their killing strength.

The swarthy men were men of courage, no doubt about that. They fought
with silent ferocity. They blinked when struck, but came back to take
yet other blows with the tenacity of so many bulldogs. There was no
gainsaying them, it seemed. They were here for the purpose of subduing
their visitors and nothing short of death would stop them.

It wasn't courtesy, either, that failure to use knives, for Jeter saw
murder looking out of more than one pair of eyes as their two pairs of
fists landed on brown faces, smashed noses askew, and started eyes to
closing.

"Their leader has them under absolute control--and that's a point for
the enemy," Jeter panted to himself, as the strain of battle began to
tell on him. "They've been instructed, no matter what we do, to bring us
to their master or masters alive."

For a moment he toyed with the idea of drawing his weapon and firing
pointblank into the enemy. He knew they would be compelled to take lives
to escape--and that the lives of all these people were forfeit anyway
because of the havoc which had descended upon New York City.

But he didn't make a move for his weapon. It would be sure death if he
did, for the others were armed.

Brown men fell before the smashing of their fists. But the end of the
fight was a foregone conclusion. Jeter had a bruised jaw. Eyer's nose
was bleeding and one eye was closed when the reception committee finally
came to close quarters, smothered them by sheer weight of numbers, and
made them prisoners. Jeter's right wrist was manacled to Eyer's left
with a pair of ordinary steel handcuffs. Their weapons were taken away
from them now.

The leader of the committee, panting, but apparently unconcerned over
what had happened, motioned the two men to lead the way. He pointed to
the large building in the center of the "floor."

"That way," he said, "and I hope Sitsumi and The Three give us
permission to throw you out without parachutes or high altitude suits."

"Pleasant cuss, aren't you?" said Eyer. "I don't think you like us."

The man would have struck Eyer for his grinning levity; but at that
moment a door opened in the side of the large building and a man in
Oriental robes stood there.

"Bring then here at once,