"And I will maintain supremacy with a
standing army of a thousand Terror-birds!"

"The consciousness of superior strength always brings that desire for
conquest," answered the doctor. "We must not allow it to master us, but
we must push our advantage. Look! the panic of the first ones reaching
the city is spreading to the new companies marching out. They are
trampled over by the fleeing host, they turn and mingle with the
frightened mob in one struggling, terror-stricken mass! Come, let us be
into the projectile and after them. With a few booming shots above their
heads, we will make them think their Thunder-gods have come!"

CHAPTER IV

The Strange Bravery of Miss Blank

Telescope, rifles, and shields were tumbled into the projectile
pell-mell, and without stopping to close the port-hole, we steered
towards the city as we mounted rapidly. When the soldiers, weary of
running, saw us start, they were stricken with a new fear, and made all
possible haste for shelter. When they perceived that we were rising into
the red haze, they took a little courage, but still hastened.

"Perhaps they think we are mounting to the sky for more thunder and
lightning," I suggested. "Little do they know the destruction we could
do them with the handful of ammunition we have, if we really meant war
as much as they at first desired it and now fear it!"

By this time we were almost above the thickest crowd of the fleeing
army, while the most energetic runners and the Terror-bird that had
turned back had reached the heart of the city; and we could see the
alarm spreading like wild-fire to all its inhabitants. I was busy
loading the rifles with the cartridges which the doctor had robbed of
their bullets for the pickle-bottle experiment soon after our start.

"We will execute a little _coup_, to show them the difficulties of
retreat when the enemy is armed with gravity projectiles," said the
doctor. "Do you see that great gate of the city they are all making for?
We will drop down there, just in front of them, and prevent their
entrance. It will be better to keep the whole army outside the walls, if
possible, for its absence and disorganization will make the rulers all
the more tractable when we are ready to drop down into their city and
make peace with them on our own terms."

"I must say you are a good general, Doctor!" I exclaimed. "You plan the
campaign, and I will do the fighting."

The blank dismay of the soldiers when th