an seemed to be nearing the end of his labors. He left the
apparatus momentarily and walked over to a work-bench where he picked
up a slender rod-like tool. Donning a heavy glove to shield his left
hand, he selected a small plate of bluish-gray metal, then pressed a
switch in the handle of the tool in his right hand.

A blade of blinding white flame, seemingly as solid as a blade of
metal, spurted for the length of a foot from the tool's tip. Arlok
began cutting the plate with the flame, the blade shearing through the
heavy metal as easily as a hot knife shears through butter.

The sight brought a sudden surge of exultant hope to Gordon. He
swiftly drew Leah away from the window, far enough to the side that
their low-voiced conversation could not be heard from inside the
work-room.

"Leah, there is our one chance!" he explained excitedly. "That blue
fiend _is_ vulnerable, and that flame-tool of his is the weapon to
reach his vulnerability. Did you notice how careful he was to shield
his other hand with a glove before he turned the tool on? He can be
hurt by that blade of flame, and probably hurt badly."

Leah nodded in quick understanding. "If I could lure him out of the
room for just a moment, you could slip in through the window and get
that flame-tool, Blair," she suggested eagerly.

"That might work," Gordon agreed reluctantly. "But, Leah, don't run
any more risks than you absolutely have to!" He picked up a small
rock. "Here, take this with you. Open the door into the hall and
attract Arlok's attention by throwing the rock at his precious
apparatus. Then the minute he sees you, try to escape out through the
hall again. He'll leave his work to follow you. When he returns to his
work-room I'll be in there waiting for him. And I'll be waiting with a
weapon that can stab through even that armor-plated hide of his!"

They separated, Leah to enter the house, Gordon to return to the
window.

* * * * *

Arlok was back over in front of the apparatus, fitting into place the
piece of metal he had just cut. The flame-tool, its switch now turned
off, was still on the work-bench.

Gordon's heart pounded with excitement as he crouched there with his
eyes fixed upon the closed hall door. The minutes seemed to drag
interminably. Then suddenly Gordon's muscles tensed. The knob of the
hall door had turned ever so slightly. Leah was at her post!

The next moment the door was flung open with a