ast understand the
explosions they had heard and they could not grasp what had happened to
their hangar.

Eventually they seemed to understand that they had been attacked and
that the enemy was retreating. Stabbing flashes of fire from the
sub-machine guns showed where the enemy was retreating.

Angry Ogrum charged the enemy.

Simultaneously, across the city, puffs of light began to appear. Spots
of dancing illumination leaped from thatched hut to thatched hut,
leaving behind them bright knots of light.

The knots of light grew. They spread. The spots of dancing illumination
ran on ahead of them, leaving new knots of light.

On the far side of the city the sky grew bright.

Masses of Ogrum, bewildered by this new spectacle, paused in confusion.
Their city was on fire. They did not understand it. They began to hurry
toward the fire.

"Phases one and two of the attack are now complete," Craig said to his
waiting men. "The third phase begins. Come on. It's our turn now."

The attack on the hangar, the subsequent retreat, and the firing of the
city had been carried out perfectly. On the far side of the city the
torch squad was still firing the thatched huts. This squad was beginning
to withdraw also, pulling the Ogrum after them.

"The attack is a success!" Craig thought exultantly. "We've burned their
planes and set their city on fire. Before they know what has happened,
we will have rescued the prisoners. We've won!" The thought was burning
in his mind. "We've won! Stinky and Margy and the lads from the Idaho
will be free again!"

With him at their head, the sailors formed a wedge that drove straight
at that part of the temple where the prisoners were held. To effect a
rescue, they would have to enter the heart of the big building.

The old Roman phalanx, that fearsome mass of men that struck such terror
to the hearts of the barbarians, must have looked something like the
wedge of men that drove through the Ogrum city. The Romans were armed
with spears, swords and shields whereas the sailors carried tommy-guns
and grenades, but the effect was the same--a hard-driving body of men
that stops at nothing.

The Ogrum were not expecting this charge. They were busy trying to put
out the fires raging in their city. Meeting no organized opposition of
any kind, and smashing down the Ogrum who accidentally got in their way,
the sailors drove straight to the temple--and into it! Like a perfectly
trained team executing