y little bantam, "we'll meet them man to
man."

He wrenched the tube from the stiffened fingers of the dead guard,
swung it exultingly aloft.

"You little fool," Hilary cried sharply, and struck it down again.
"We're not waiting for them. That's suicide. Come. I'm afraid it's too
late for you to turn back now. You've been seen with us."

He dashed across the moving belts, Grim and Wat, a grotesquely
assorted pair, directly behind him.

Passengers, men and women both, scattered at their approach, stark,
servile fear smothering their dulled countenances. Cries arose on all
sides. "The Magnificents are coming."

The black specks became larger, forming themselves into swift one-man
fliers. The three men pelted across the graded conveyors as hard as
they could run. No Earthman tried to stop them; one look at their grim
faces would have been a most potent dissuader. And fortunately there
were no Mercutians within hailing distance other than the rapidly
nearing fliers.

They flung themselves off the last slow-moving platform, panting.

"Which way now?" Hilary asked. His quick eye raked the scene for
possible hideouts. They were on a smoothly clipped lawn, heaving
gently up to a pretty rambling structure, built on an antique design,
pleasingly irregular and nestling to the ground as though it were
indigenous to the soil. The walls were modern, though, of
vita-crystal, which possessed the peculiar property of permitting
_all_ of the beneficial rays of the sun to penetrate, and yet
presented a perfectly opaque appearance to the outside world.

No other hiding place was in sight. The lawn stretched smooth on all
sides except for a scattering of trees--poor enough cover. The
Mercutians were almost directly overhead now, preparing to swoop.

* * * * *

"Our only chance seems to be the house," Hilary answered his own
question quietly.

Grim shook his head. "Their search beams can penetrate the
vita-crystal walls as though they were transparent glass."

Hilary's heart sank. "Can't help it," he said laconically. "Come on."

The three men broke into a run. It was only a hundred yards, but the
Mercutians were coming down fast. They had been seen. A flash as of
molten metal gleamed overhead. A blinding ray leaped for the ground,
struck viciously a little ahead of the running men. The velvet green
grass crisped to ash; the soil underneath scorched.

"Scatter!" Hilary shouted.

Instantly th