idge. His face was hairless. It was a strong
face, with an expression of dignity about it, a consciousness of power,
and a certain sense of cruelty expressed in the firmness of his lips and
the set of his chin.

None of them was armed--or, at least, their weapons were not visible to
me.

I was much concerned about Mercer. He and the man I had hit were both
lying motionless where they had fallen. I stooped over Mercer. No one
offered to stop me, although when I moved I saw my guard make a swift
movement with his hand to his belt. My heart leaped to my throat, but
nothing happened to me, and I made a hasty examination of Mercer.

Quite evidently he was dead.

Meanwhile the Mercutians were examining their fallen comrade. He also was
dead, I judged from their actions. They left him where he was lying, and
their leader impatiently signed me toward the steps that led down from
the porch to the roadway. We started off, my guard keeping close behind
me. I noticed then how curiously hampered the Mercutians seemed to be in
their movements.

I have explained how Alan observed the effect of our earth's gravity on
Miela. It was even more marked with the Mercutians here, for she had the
assistance of wings, while they did not. The realization of this
encouraged me tremendously. I knew now that physically these enemies were
no match for me; that I could break away from them whenever I wished.

But the way in which Mercer had been killed--that I could not understand.
It was that I had to guard against. I was afraid to do anything that
would expose me to this unknown attack.

I tried to guess over how great a distance this weapon, whatever it was,
would prove effective. I assumed only a limited number of feet, although
my only reason for thinking so was my guard's evident determination to
keep close to me.

All this flashed through my mind while we were descending the steps to
the roadway. When we reached the ground we turned back toward the garage,
and with slow, plodding steps the leader of the Mercutians preceded me to
its entrance, his companions following close behind me. They had
evidently been here before, I could tell from their actions. I realized
that probably they had all been inside the garage when Mercer and I first
approached the house.

It was quite apparent now that the Mercutians did not understand the use
of either automobiles or airplanes; they poked around these as though
they were some strange, silent ani