this lone wounded girl
fluttering onward.

We were not far away; I pointed her out to Miela, and instead of swinging
back we kept on toward her. We contrived to pass close under her, and she
fell abruptly almost into my arms. I stretched her out gently on the
platform and turned back to Miela, who was kneeling behind our projector.

We were now nearly half a mile from the nearest of the boats. Several of
them evidently had been sunk, and two or three others were sinking. One I
could make out heading back for the Twilight shore; above it the lights of
our girls following showed vivid against the dark-gray sky. Where Mercer's
platform was I could not tell.

Miela gripped my shoulder.

"See, Alan--there!" She pointed off to one side. "One of the boats tries
to escape."

We were now some five hundred feet above the water. Half a mile beyond us,
all its lights out, one of the boats was scurrying away, on across toward
the Light Country. For some reason none of our girls seemed following it.

Miela issued a sharp command; we swooped downward at lightning speed and,
barely skimming the surface, flew after this escaping enemy. Whether its
larger projector had been rendered inoperative, or many of its crew
killed, or whether it thought merely to escape us and make a landing in
the Light Country, I did not know.

Whatever the reason, no lights showed from this boat as we drew after it.
I had our own light out. When we came close within range I flashed it on
suddenly. We were flying steadily, and I picked up the boat without
difficulty, raking it through from stern to stem under its protecting
canopy. I could see the canopy drop as its supporting metal framework
fused in the heat of the ray; flames rose from the interior wooden
fittings; the boat's stern seemed to melt away as the thin metal was
rendered molten; the water about it boiled under the heat. A cloud of
steam then rose up, obscuring it completely from my sight.

I switched off the light. We continued on, rising a little. The steam
dissipated. Directly below us on the bubbling, swirling water a few
twisted black forms bobbed about. We were so close now I could see them
plainly. I looked away hastily.

We swung back toward the Twilight shore, rising sharply. There seemed now
only one boat afloat. Far above it I saw a tiny black oblong that I knew
was Mercer's platform. A swarm of other dots, with the tiny pencils of red
light flashing from them, showed where the