mals. Inside the garage I was ordered
to stand quiet, with my guard near by, while the rest of them continued
what appeared to be a search about the building.

We passed by the house, and I realized that we were starting for the
Mercutian base some four miles away. I remembered then that I was
extremely hungry and thirsty. I stopped suddenly and endeavored to
explain my wants, indicating the house as a place where I could get food.

The leader smiled. His name was Tao, I had learned from hearing his men
address him. I do not know why that smile reassured me, but it did. It
seemed somehow to make these enemies less inhuman--less supernatural--in
my mind. Indeed, I was fast losing my first fear of them, although I
still had a great respect for the way in which they had killed Mercer.

Tao told his men to wait, and motioned me toward the house. The bodies of
Mercer and the man I had struck down were still lying where they had
fallen on the porch. We found food and water in the kitchen, and I sat
down and made a meal, while Tao stood watching me. When I had finished I
put several slices of bread and meat in my coat. He signified that it was
unnecessary, but I insisted, and he smiled again and let me have my way.

Again we started off. This walk of four miles of desert that lay between
Garland and the point on the Shoshone River where the invaders were
established was about all I could manage, for I was almost exhausted. I
realized then how great an exertion the Mercutians were put to, for they
seemed nearly as tired as I. We stopped frequently to rest, and it was
well after noon when we approached the hollow through which the Shoshone
River ran.

Several times I noticed where the Mercutian Light had burned off the
scrubby desert vegetation. As we got closer I could see it now in the
sunlight, standing vertically up in the air, motionless. There were signs
all about now where the light had burned. We were passing along a little
gully--the country here was somewhat rough and broken up--when something
came abruptly from behind a rock. Its extraordinary appearance startled
me so I stared at it in amazement and fear. It came closer, and I saw it
was one of the Mercutians.

He was completely incased in a suit of dull black cloth, or rubber, or
something of the kind. On his head was a helmet of the same material,
with a mask over his face having two huge circular openings covered with
a flexible, transparent substance. On his