y ordinary circumstances would have been
hugely amused at the extraordinary sight of the Chief of the Mountain
Division in a ferment of excitement that was near hysteria. But the
flashing of the red that swept like a finger of flame across every
station number of the big board did not mean that ordinary matters
were at hand. A voice was speaking; its high-pitched shrillness showed
that the excitement of the moment was not confined to the office of
the Mountain Division alone.

"A. F. F. Headquarters, Washington," it shrilled. "General Alarm.
Chicago destroyed by fire. Flames sweeping in well defined paths
across the country. Originated in Mountain Division. Cause
undetermined. Three lines of fire reported; coming east
fast--unbelievable speed.... There! Cleveland has got it; reports a
path of fire has cut across city melting steel and even stone.... Now
Buffalo!... God knows what it is." The voice broke with excitement for
an instant; Danny could almost see the distant man fighting for
control of himself as a maze of instruments about him wrote incredible
things.

* * * * *

"Orders!" said the voice now. "All A. F. F. ships report to your
Division Headquarters. Division officers keep in communication with
Washington. Mountain Division send all equipment east. Flying orders
will be given you en route. The country--the whole world--is in
flames!"

Beside him, Danny O'Rourke heard the voice of his Chief.
"Unbelievable--impossible--preposterous!" His voice like that other
was growing shrill. "The country--world--in flames!"

But he found voice to snap out a command to a waiting officer in the
doorway of the adjoining room. "Repeat general order. Send all craft
east!"

To Danny he whispered. "Your 'little doodad'--I wish to heaven we had
a thousand of them now! But what does it mean? Lanes of fire across
the country--whole cities destroyed! What devil's work is this?...
There's nobody who knows."

But Danny was staring as if he saw through the high, instrument-covered
walls. Back to a valley of flame that was like a doorway to hell, where
rocks, gray with the frosty years, had been melted to pools ... back to
a glinting light where something swift and scintillant had flashed once
in a cloudless sky ... back--far back ... back to a street in a town
half across the world, and a figure of a giant who strode away with a
smile of triumph on his ill-formed face ... but first that giant had