e frozen wastes of the Dark Country. Tao had protected
this valley from behind so that we had been unable to penetrate it without
making a detour of over twenty miles. This I had not done, although had
the siege lasted longer I think with our next reenforcement we should have
attempted it.

With the extinguishing of the lights our long-range activities ceased. We
anticipated some trick, and for several days remained quiet. Our girls
could have flown over the city; but this I would not allow, fearing that a
ray would bring them suddenly down.

Miela and myself, occupying one of the stone houses down by the river,
held a consultation there with Mercer and Anina.

Mercer, as usual, was for instant action.

"We might as well march right in," he declared. "They're out of business,
or they've gone--one or the other."

"To the Dark City they have gone, I think," Anina said.

"I think so, too," Mercer agreed.

"_I'll_ go in alone on foot," I said, "and find out what has happened."

But Miela shook her head.

"One who can fly will go more safely. I shall go."

"Not you, my sister," Anina said quietly. "Warfare is not for you--now.
That you can understand, can you not? _I_ shall go."

Mercer insisted on accompanying her; and he did, part of the way, waiting
while she flew close over the city. It was several hours before they
returned, reporting that the place was almost in ruins, and that Tao and
his men had fled some time before, leaving the light-barrage to burn
itself out. The next day, with our men in the black cloth suits of armor
marching up the valley, and the girls with their black shields flying
overhead, we took possession of all that remained of the Lone City.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE END OF TAO.

The scene of desolation that met us in the Lone City was at once
extraordinary and awesome. It seemed impossible that our rays, acting for
so brief a period, could have done so much damage. The city was nothing
more than a semicivilized settlement of little, flat-topped stone houses.
Our rays, striking these, had discharged harmlessly into the ground. But
the interiors had been penetrated through windows and doors, and
everything inflammable about them, as well as about the streets, had been
destroyed.

The people had taken refuge in cellars underground and in caves and
crevices--wherever they could find shelter. But even so, there were a
thousand dead in that city that morning, and rapidly spreading di