ll get the psycho-ray apparatus," Detis said excitedly. "We may be
able to get thought contact with them." He dived through the _Nomad's_
entrance-manhole as he spoke.

"Nothing so frightening about these creatures," Ora murmured, her eyes
reproaching Carr. "Why, they seem anxious to know that _we_ are not
enemies."

And, indeed, this seemed to be the case, for the strange ovoids wafted
still lower, dropping until a faint humming of the internal gravity
mechanism came to their ears. These were a highly developed people of
scientific attainment; civilized beings. But Mado kept firm hold of his
torpedo tube, and Carr fingered the ray pistol at his belt.

The booming note from the hills came then, frightfully near this time,
and the three ovoids moved with sudden roaring of their motors,
literally hurling themselves skyward. But the menace they sought to
escape was real, and not to be outdone in speed. A vast black something
whirred out from beyond the treetops and flung itself upon them.

"A pterodactyl!" Mado gasped. "One of the prehistoric monsters of
Terra!"

"Carr, there are men riding it!" Ora exclaimed. "Red men!"

* * * * *

It was true; the pteranodon, a horrid bat-like thing with a wing-spread
of fully twenty feet, carried three of the bronzed savages clinging to a
sort of harness that encircled its body just back of the crested head.
The huge flying reptile whistled raucously as it flew and one of the
savages was whirling a sling which held a stone as large as his own
head. They watched in amazement as the swift aerial steed flapped its
way after the rising ovoids. And then the savage let loose an end of his
thong and released its missile, which crashed full against the
transparent disk of an ovoid and tore its way through.

The damaged ovoid careened violently and then fell end over end,
crashing in the forest. With a bellow of fury, Mado fired with the
kalbite tube at his hip. There was the twang of the propelling ray, and
the slender arrow-like torpedo sped forth on its message of death,
singing spitefully as it cleaved the air of Titan.

It was a fair hit, catching the pteranodon just ahead of its trailing
legs and exploding with the characteristic screaming roar of the deadly
kalbite. The monstrous reptile and its crew of barbarians vanished in a
blaze that lighted the clouds above them and brought a babble of excited
shoutings from the depths of the forest on all si