g to do?" Mercer asked after a moment.

I was pretty weak and badly bruised all over. Mercer seemed to have fared
better than I. We talked over our situation at length. Finally we decided
to rest where we were until daybreak. I would feel better then, and we
could start back on foot for Mantua and Frannie.

I lay down again--my head was going round like a top--and Mercer sat
beside me. It was pretty cold, but we were warmly dressed and not
uncomfortable. The fact that we were so close to the Mercutians--not much
over seven or eight miles--worried us a little. But we reasoned that we
were in no great danger. We could still see their light-ray standing
vertically in the air.

Occasionally it would swing slowly to one side or the other. Once it swung
toward us, but as its base was in a hollow, it was cut off by the higher
ground between as it swung down, and we knew it could not reach us from
that position.

After a while I fell asleep. When Mercer woke me up it was dawn.

"Let's get started," he said. "I'm hungry as the devil."

I felt much better now. I was hungry myself, and stiff, and chilled.

"You'll feel better walking," he added. "Come on. It'll take us a deuce of
a while over this sand."

We decided to strike for the railroad at its closest point to us. The
State automobile road to Cody ran along near the railroad, and we planned
to follow that up to Mantua.

After a last look at our plane, which was hopelessly demolished, we
started off, heading north of Garland. We had been walking along a few
minutes when Mercer suddenly gripped me by the arm. I followed the
direction of his glance. Another rocket was rising from the Mercutian
base. It was still dark enough for us to see its flare as it rose and
curved in a long, graceful arc. We stopped stock still and stood watching.
The rocket arched over to the north. As it came down we lost sight of it.

"That went into Mantua," said Mercer in a horrified whisper.

A moment later we saw, in the direction of Mantua, that brief, silent,
smokeless red and green flash. Then the sky lighted up a lurid red, and we
knew Mantua was burning.

We stood looking at each other for a time, too frightened and horrified
for words. The thing was not like modern warfare. It was uncanny in its
silent deadliness, and there seemed a surety about it that was appalling.

"We're cut off," said Mercer finally.

His face was white and his voice trembled.

We were both pretty much u