considerable extent to the west of Garland, to be farther away from the
danger, and then to strike down to Cody.

We were flying now at a speed close to a hundred and forty miles an hour.
Off to the left I could see the red and green beam of the single light of
the Mercutians; it was pointing vertically up into the air, motionless.
Something--I do not know what--made me decide to turn off our searchlight.

I looked behind us. Some miles away, and considerably nearer the
Mercutians than we were, I saw the light of another plane. I was watching
it when suddenly the red and green beam swung toward it, and a moment
later picked it up. I caught a fleeting glimpse of what I took to be a
little biplane. It remained for an instant illuminated by the weird red
and green flare; then the Mercutian Light swung back to its vertical
position. A second later the biplane burst into flames and fell.

The thing left me shuddering. I turned our searchlight permanently off and
sat staring down at the shadowy country scurrying away beneath us.

Mercer had evidently not seen this tragedy. He did not look at me, but
kept facing the front. We were now somewhat to the west of Garland, with
it between us and the Mercutians. The few lights of the town could be seen
plainly. The country beneath us seemed fairly level. To the west, half a
mile away, perhaps, I could make out a sheer, perpendicular wall of rock.
We seemed to be flying parallel with it and about level with its top.

We were rising a little, I think, when suddenly our engines stopped. I
remember it flashed through my mind to wonder how Mercer would dare shut
them off when we were flying so low. The sudden silence confused me a
little. I started to ask him if he had seen the biplane fall, when he
swung back abruptly and gripped me by the arm.

"Turn on the light--you fool--we've got to land!"

I fumbled with the searchlight. Then, just as I turned the switch, I saw,
rising from a point near the base of the Mercutian Light, what appeared to
be a skyrocket.

It rose in a long, graceful arc, reached the top of its ascent, and came
down, still flaming. I remember deciding it would fall in or near Garland.

It seemed to go out just before it landed--at least I did not follow it
all the way down. Then there came a flash as though a huge quantity of red
and green smokeless powder had gone off in a puff; a brief instant of
darkness, and then flames rose from a hundred points in the litt