d have helped
us so much."

"It was then that our own destruction came upon us. The same comet,
perhaps, may have caused a change of stresses in your Earth and sunk
the lost Atlantis. Ah! That was a beautiful land, but we have never
seen it since. We have been--here.

"But you will understand, now," he added, "that, with our insight into
your minds, we have little difficulty in mastering your language."

This talk of science and incredible history left Lieutenant McGuire
cold. His mind could not wander long from its greatest concern.

"But the earth!" he exclaimed. "What about the earth? This attack!
Those devils mean real mischief!"

"More than you know; more than you can realize, friend Mack Guire!"

"Why?" demanded the flyer. "Why?"

"Have your countries not reached out for other countries when land was
needed?" asked the man, Djorn. "Land--land! Space in which to
breed--that is the reason for the invasion.

"This world has no such continents as yours. Here the globe is covered
by the oceans; we have perhaps one hundredth of the land areas of your
Earth And the red ones breed like flies. Life means nothing to them;
they die like flies, too. But they need more room; they intend to find
it on your world."

* * * * *

"A strange race," mused Professor Sykes. "They puzzled me. But--'less
than human,' I think you said. Then how about their ships? How could
they invent them?"

"Ours--all ours! They found a world ready and waiting for them.
Through the centuries they have learned to master some few of our
inventions. The ships!--the ethereal vibrations! Oh, they have been
cleverer than we dreamed possible."

"Well, how can we stop them?" demanded McGuire. "We must. You have the
submarines--"

"One only," the other interrupted. "We saved that, and we brought some
machinery. We have made this place habitable; we have not been idle.
But there are limitations."

"But your ray that you projected--it brought down their ship!"

"We were protecting you, and we protect ourselves; that is enough.
There is One will deliver us in His own good time; we may not go forth
and slaughter."

There was a note of resignation and patience in the voice that filled
McGuire with hopeless forebodings. Plainly this was not an aggressive
race. They had evolved beyond the stage of wanton slaughter, and, even
now, they waited patiently for the day when some greater force should
come to their aid.

T