at the end of the second day, came the first clash. The
_Star-Streak_, and all the Wandl ships, were again clustered on the
Earth side of the Moon; they were hovering perhaps twenty thousand
miles above its surface. Grantline's force was a hundred thousand
miles off, toward Earth. One of the Wandl ships came tentatively
forward, and Grantline sent one of the new-style warships to meet it.

They encircled each other. Both were cautious, but there was a passing
within fifty miles. The Earth ship fired her bolts. The insulated
barrage of the Wandl ship withstood them. There was a shower of ether
sparks close to the ship, and a reddening of the hull, but nothing
more. It seemed that the electro-barrages of the Wandl and allied
ships were very similar in nature, an aura of electro-magnetism,
enclosing the ship like a curtain fifty feet away, absorbed the
electronic stream of the enemy bolt. The Wandl ship flung no bolts;
she loosed a score of the whirling discs during the passing. They were
of varying sizes, but similar to those which cut and wrecked the
_Cometara_; in this instance, the Grantline ship was able to destroy
each of them as it came close.

This was the first encounter. The Earth warship went back to its
squadron and the Wandl vessel rejoined its fellows. It had fired no
bolts. Grantline suspected now what afterward proved to be the fact:
these Wandl vessels were not equipped with long-range electronic guns.
The Wandl defensive tactics were necessary; they feared a widespread
encounter. They were hovering in a compact group, covering a five
hundred mile area, over the Moon surface. Their purpose was not yet
apparent, but Grantline saw now that one of the Wandl ships was
dropping down and landing on the Moon. It skimmed the Apennines and
landed not far from Archimedes.

What was that for? Grantline noticed that the lowering,
closely-gathered Wandl fleet tried to mask the landing. And their
gravity-rays, with repulsive force, darted out to impede the Grantline
vessels should they try to advance.

This Earthward hemisphere of the Moon was now largely in shadow, but
Grantline's Zed-ray magnifiers showed the vessel on the Moon.
Apparatus was being unloaded. It seemed, down there on the rocky Moon
plain in the foothills of the Apennines, that some extensive,
elaborate base was being prepared.

It was for this the hovering Wandl fleet was waiting, holding off from
conflict until this Moon base was ready. When Gra