ing manhood with the monsters of Moyen.

His eyes, as he thought, were watching the racing of those ocean
greyhounds, out to sea. They were now out of sight of land, and still
some of the planes followed them.

A half hour passed, and then....

The American pilots, in obedience to the radio signals, turning back
from this strange phenomenon of the ghost column of capital ships.

Simultaneously, out of the sky dead ahead, dropped the first flight of
Moyen's aero-subs.

At the same moment the mysterious power which had dragged the ships to
sea was withdrawn, and the warships, with no hands to guide them, swung
whither they willed, and floated in as many directions as there were
ships, under their forward momentum. There were a score of collisions,
and some of the ships were in sinking condition even before the
aero-subs began their labors.

* * * * *

The remaining ships floated high out of the water, because they carried
no ballast, and from all sides the aero-subs of Moyen settled to the
task of destruction--destruction which was simply a warning of what was
to come: Moyen's manner of proving to the Americas the fact that he was
all-powerful.

"God, what fools!" cried Prester Kleig.

The rearmost of the American aviators had looked back, had seen the
first of the aero-subs drop down among the doomed ships. Instantly he
turned out to sea again, signalling as he did so to the nearest other
planes. And in spite of the radio warning a hundred planes answered that
signal and swept back to investigate this new mystery.

"They're going to death!" groaned the President.

"Yes," said Kleig, softly, "but it saves us ordering others to death.
Perhaps we may learn something of value as we watch them die!"

CHAPTER VII

_Golden Oblivion_

"This," said Prester Kleig, as coldly precise as a judge pronouncing
sentence of death, "will precipitate the major engagement with Moyen's
forces. The fools, to rush in like this, when they have been warned! But
even so, they are magnificent!"

The pilots of the aero-subs must instantly have noticed the return of
the American pilots, for some of the aero-subs which had dropped to the
ocean's surface rose again almost instantly, and swept into battle
formation above the drifting hulks of the warships.

The Americans were wary. They drew together like frightened chickens
when a hawk hovers above them, and watched the activities of the
aero-