he battle formation the aliens had had; the flaming death
from the horrible weapons of the invaders, the fearless courage of the
foot soldiers, and the steel-clad monsters that were running amuck among
them shattered the little discipline they had. Panicky, they lost their
anger, which had taken them several hours to build up. They scattered,
heading for the forest.

Shortly, the village was silent. Not an alien warrior was to be seen,
save for the hundreds of mute corpses that testified to the carnage that
had been wrought.

Several of the commander's men had been wounded, and three had died.
Lieutenant commander Hernan had been severely wounded in the leg by a
native javelin, but the injury was a long way from being fatal.

Hernan gritted his teeth while his leg was being bandaged. "The angels
were with us on that one," he said between winces.

The commander nodded. "I hope they stick with us. We'll need 'em to get
off this island."

XII

For a while, it looked as though they were trapped on the island. The
natives didn't dare to attack again, but no hunting party was safe, and
the food supply was dropping. They had gotten on the island only by the
help of the natives, who had ferried them over on rafts. But getting off
was another thing, now that the natives were hostile. Cutting down trees
to build rafts might possibly be managed, but during the loading the
little company would be too vulnerable to attack.

The commander was seated bleakly in the hut he had taken as his
headquarters, trying to devise a scheme for getting to the mainland,
when the deadlock was finally broken.

There was a flurry of footsteps outside, a thump of heavy boots as one
of the younger officers burst into the room.

"Commander!" he yelled. "Commander! Come outside!"

The commander leaped to his feet. "Another attack?"

"No, sir! Come look!"

The commander strode quickly to the door. His sight followed the line of
the young officer's pointing finger.

There, outlined against the blue of the sky, was a ship!

* * * * *

The news from home was encouraging, but it was a long way from being
what the commander wanted. Another hundred men and more carriers had
been added to the original company of now hardened veterans, and the
recruits, plus the protection of the ship's guns, were enough to enable
the entire party to leave the island for the mainland.

By this time, the commander had glean