told me--'Have them put
it on full!'" And, though a man whom Danny knew only as Gimlet-eyes
stared at him curiously, he reached down to the apparatus, set a dial,
closed a switch here and there, then stepped back.

But Gimlet-eyes ventured one protest. "You're not grounding it!" he
exclaimed, in a voice that was tinged with horror. "You'll get an
accumulation on your ship that will shoot off like lightning--millions
of volts!"

"How long would that be takin'?" Danny inquired gruffly.

And Gimlet-eyes replied, as one who washes his hands of all
responsibility in a rather horrible affair: "An hour--not more than an
hour!"

"Then I'll just be drivin' around for an hour," said Danny, and
slammed shut the door-port of the red ship.

* * * * *

The red rocket drove in slow circles that were a hundred miles across
while that hour passed and the numbness of mind that had held Danny in
a stupor slipped away. For the first time he realized the emptiness of
the world that the Infant had left; he knew with a sharp stab of
self-reproach how much had gone from his life in that instant when he
sprang vainly toward the giant enemy.

He called himself wild names for his fancied sluggishness. Then that,
too, passed, and at thought of the weapon the Infant had given him and
of the work that lay ahead, his haggard face forgot the lines that
horror had drawn and relaxed into a tired smile that told of a mind
content.

Gradually his looping whirls had carried him toward the east. Another
city was being devastated by the enemy; that Danny got from the
newscast. Only that and one other message broke the tedious eternity
of that long hour.

Danny's number flashed on the screen beside his controls.
Unconsciously he answered, but he sat up alertly at sound of his
Chief's voice.

"I can't get anyone," the voice said. "Headquarters is gone; I just
called you on a chance. And I believe you now, Danny. That devil wiped
out a whole fleet of our planes; melted the cruisers with one shot,
and the scouts couldn't go fast enough to escape. Only one got
away....

"But where are you? What's to be done? I've just got here. My God!
What can we do?"

"Wait," said Danny O'Rourke calmly, and glanced at his watch; "wait
for another ten minutes! He's over Boston now. And he's waitin' there
for me--though he doesn't know it yet. But I'll be droppin' in on
him."

"Don't be an utter fool, Danny," urged the voice of