tainer was under my right arm where I could have the full use
of the hose.

"Let me go first, sir," breathed Hendricks as we stood again in the
air-lock, and the door turned out of its threaded seat and swung open.
"Keep your eyes on me, and do as I do!"

* * * * *

He ran heavily out of the ship, his burdens lurching. I saw him turn the
pet-cock of the air flask, and I did likewise. A fine, powerful spray
shot from the nozzle of the tube in my right hand, and I whirled around
to face the ship.

Several of the things were detaching themselves from the ship, and
instinctively, I turned the spray upon them. Hendricks, I could see out
of the corner of my eye, did likewise. And now a most amazing thing
happened.

The spray seemed to dissolve the crescent-shaped creatures; where it
hit, ragged holes appeared. A terrible hissing, crackling sound came to
my ears, even through the muffling mask I wore.

"It works! It works!" Hendricks was crying over and over, hardly aware,
in his excitement, that he was wearing a menore. "We're saved!"

I put down three of the things in as many seconds. The central nucleus,
in the thickest portion of the crescent, was always the last to go, and
it seemed to explode in a little shower of crackling sparks. Hendricks
accounted for four in the same length of time.

"Keep back, sir!" he ordered in a sort of happy delirium. "Let them come
to us! We'll get them as they come. And they'll come, all right! Look at
them! Look at them! Quick, sir!"

The things showed no fear, no intelligence. But one by one they sensed
the nearness of the copper helmets we wore, and detached themselves from
the ship. They moved like red tongues of flame upon the fat sides of the
_Ertak_; crawling, uneasy flames, releasing themselves swiftly, one
after the other.

* * * * *

Our sprays met them in mid-air, and they dissolved like mist, one after
the other.... I directed my death-dealing spray with a grim delight, and
as each glowing heart crackled and exploded, I chuckled to myself.

The sweat was running down my face; I was shaking with excitement One
side of the ship was already cleared of the things; they were slipping
over the top now, one or two at a time, and as rapidly as they came, we
wiped them out.

At last there came a period in which there were none of the things in
sight; none coming over the top of the sorely tried ship.

"Stay he