thunders, and shoot lightnings from her
mouth," Buck commented in Apache. "Put her well away from the wood, lest
she set it aflame."

Tsoay held his hands over his ears. "She can deafen a man when she
cannot set her mark on him otherwise. Let us speedily get rid of her."

Yet for all their jeering comments, their eyes held respect. Often in
the past a defiant captive who stood up boldly to his captors had
received more consideration than usual from Apache warriors; courage was
a quality they prized. A Pinda-lick-o-yi such as Tom Jeffords, who rode
into Cochise's camp and sat in the midst of his sworn enemies for a
parley, won the friendship of the very chief he had been fighting.
Kaydessa had more influence with her captors than she could dream of
holding.

Now it was time for Travis to play his part. He caught the girl's
shoulder and pushed her before him toward the wreck.

Some of the spirit seemed to have left her thin, tense body, and she
went without any more fight. Only when they came into full view of the
ship did she falter. Travis heard her breathe a gasp of surprise.

As they had planned, four of the Apaches--Jil-Lee, Tsoay, Nolan, and
Buck--fanned out toward the heights about the ship. Manulito had already
gone to cover, to don the space suit and prepare for any accident.

Resolutely Travis continued to propel Kaydessa ahead. At the moment he
did not know which was worse, to enter the ship expecting the fear to
strike, or to meet it unprepared. He was ready to refuse to enter, not
to allow the girl, sullenly plodding on under his compulsion, to face
that unseen but potent danger.

Only the memory of the towers and the threat of the Reds finding and
exploiting the treasure there kept him going. Eskelta went first,
climbing to the tear. Travis cut the ropes binding Kaydessa's wrists and
gave her a slight slap between the shoulders.

"Climb, woman!" His anxiety made that a harsh order and she climbed.

Eskelta was inside now, heading for the cabin which might reasonably be
selected as a prison. They planned to get the girl as far as that point
and then stage their act of being overcome by fear, allowing her to
escape.

Stage an act? Travis was not two feet along that corridor before he knew
that there would be little acting needed on his part. The thing which
pervaded the ship did not attack sharply, rather it seeped into his mind
and body as if he drew in poison with every breath, sent it racing
al