the first of the
mechanical monsters came stalking from the house on Patton Place--the
beginning of the revenge which Tugh had threatened when arrested. The
policeman at the corner--one McGuire--turned in the first hysterical
alarm. He rushed into a little candy and stationery store shouting
that he had seen a piece of machinery running wild. His telephone call
brought a squad of his comrades. The Robot at first did no damage.

McGuire later told how he saw it as it emerged from the entryway of
the Tugh house. It came lurching out into the street--a giant thing of
dull grey metal, with tubular, jointed legs; a body with a great
bulging chest; a round head, eight or ten feet above the pavement;
eyes that shot fire.

The policeman took to his heels. There was a commotion in Patton Place
during those next few minutes. Pedestrians saw the thing standing in
the middle of the street, staring stupidly around it. The head
wobbled. Some said that the eyes shot fire; others, that it was not
the eyes, but more like a torch in its mailed hand. The torch shot a
small beam of light around the street--a beam which was dull-red.

The pedestrians fled. Their cries brought people to the nearby house
windows. Women screamed. Presently bottles were thrown from the
windows. One of these crashed against the iron shoulder of the
monster. It turned its head: as though its neck were rubber, some
said. And it gazed upward, with a human gesture as though it were not
angry, but contemptuous.

But still, beyond a step or two in one direction or another, it merely
stood and waved its torch. The little dull-red beam of light carried
no more than twenty or thirty feet. The street in a few moments was
clear of pedestrians; remained littered with glass from the broken
bottles. A taxi came suddenly around the corner, and the driver, with
an almost immediate tire puncture, saw the monster. He hauled up to
the curb, left his cab and ran.

* * * * *

The Robot saw the taxicab, and stood gazing. It turned its torch-beam
on it, and seemed surprised that the thing did not move. Then thinking
evidently that this was a less cowardly enemy than the humans, it made
a rush to it. The chauffeur had not turned off his engine when he
fled, so the cab stood throbbing.

The Robot reached it; cuffed it with a huge mailed fist. The
windshield broke; the windows were shattered; but the cab stood
purring, planted upon its four wheels