to the cord of the immense bow, and they pulled it far back,
until the men made it fast in a notch. The cross-piece had now become
almost a half-circle, quite ten feet in diameter. The captain of a
company of archers acted as gunner, and carefully adjusted the catapult,
aiming it evidently at our shield. Upon seeing this we placed the two
shields together, and leaned them both inward toward us, so as to make
their angle with the upward course of the dart more obtuse, and thus
cause a glancing blow instead of a solid impact. Crouching under the
steel shelters, we awaited the dart.

Whiz-z-z it whistled up through the thin air! Bimm-m! it struck the top
of our outer shield, and glanced off as we had hoped. The outer steel
rattled and banged against the inner, and both shields pressed hard over
against us, but not the slightest damage was done.

We went out to watch them load the second dart. They evidently saw the
impotence of the glancing blow, and were noisily discussing it. A
captain of the slingers was arguing hotly with the gunner, who was
finally persuaded to take his aim a little lower. Then a hum of approval
went through the throng.

"They do think a little, but they are not secretive!" I sneered,
flopping our inner shield over flat on the ground. "Come, sit on this,
Doctor, and we will lean the outer shield over us, and snuggle in
between them as cosy as two oysters! Let them fondly imagine they can
shoot us through this pasty soil, and keep their own counsel better
after this!"

It was not a bad guess on my part; for the second dart struck the edge
of the cliff, bored through the loose soil, and thumped our lower shield
with a dull thud that lifted us from the ground. But the point and
edges of the dart were blunted, and crumbled with the blow, and I could
find no dent in the shield.

"See, the birds are returning to the city in haste for more darts!" said
the doctor. But I was interested in examining the first dart, which had
fallen a few hundred feet behind us. Its shaft was of roughly-hewn,
spongy wood, and it weighed far less than half the mass of soft pine
would on Earth. Its tip was not metal, but chipped stone--crumbly, like
the arrow-heads. Either they did not know the metals, or they were too
rare to be used in their arts. And it was to be supposed that they would
use the hardest stone they had for arrow-heads and dart-tips.

I carried the shaft easily upon my shoulder forward to the edge of the