e open;
the few men remaining below had tried a rather risky experiment, for
they might have brought the whole fortress down upon them. Now they
were untangling themselves from the corpses that had flown at them as
iron flies to a magnet.

* * * * *

Sime and Tolto struck them like a tempest. The light was good and the
battle short and sweet. Tolto was slowed up a little, but was
irresistible, nevertheless. There is nothing surprising about the
seeming immunity of a reckless man in battle. He fights by instinct,
taking short-cuts that are not as dangerous as they look because the
enemy is not expecting them. So Sime and Tolto fought their way down,
until there was no one able to oppose them.

Sime pressed a neuro-pistol into Tolto's hand, warned him to sweep the
stairs with it, while he coursed around for some of the pellet bombs.
He found them, and two of them closed that avenue of attack with a
mass of jumbled ruins.

Now they had a breathing spell. A combination of blind luck and
foolhardiness had given them temporary possession of this desert
outpost. That was their pawn in the game of life and death--the chance
to get back and hide among the millions in the cities of the
industrial belt. Certain routine precautions had to be taken. They
destroyed the radio apparatus, picked a few days supply of food, threw
a couple more bombs and made a search for means of transportation: for
there was a desert wilderness of four or five hundred miles to be
traversed.

They discovered the egg-shaped hull of an enclosed levitator car in
the covered courtyard. It was distinguished by the orange and green
stripes which are the Martian army standard. Like all army equipment,
it was in excellent condition. The hydrogen gages showed a full supply
of fuel.

"We're getting the breaks," Sime crowed to Tolto at they surfeited
themselves with water before starting. He had covered his nakedness
with an ill-fitting fatigue suit.

"Yeh," Tolto agreed, referring to their numerous wounds with sly
humor: "lots of 'em."

* * * * *

Nevertheless, they felt pretty happy when the levitator screws took up
their melancholy whine. The rocky valley floor dropped away, and the
windowless stone walls of the fortress slid down past them. Now they
were even with the top.

Through the ports they could see a group of their late adversaries on
the roof, standing in strained attitudes. Th