en, for an instant later they would be up tearing
away in great leaps on their own power as their molecular suits, blown
out by the magnetic field, failed them.

It was but a matter of minutes before the last had been chased down
either by the rays or the ship. Then, circling back, Arcot slowly
settled beside the enemy ship.

"Wait," called Arcot sharply as Morey started for the door.

"Don't go out yet. The friends who wrecked that little sweetheart who
crept up behind will probably show up. Wait and see what happens."
Hardly had he spoken, when a strange apparition rose from behind a rock
scarcely a quarter of a mile away. Immediately Arcot intensified the
vision screen covering him. He seemed to leap near. There was one man,
and he held what was obviously a sword by the blade, above his head,
waving it from side to side.

"There they are--whatever they are. Intelligent all right--what more
universally obvious peace sign than a primitive weapon such as a knife
held in reverse position? You go with Zezdon Afthen. Try holding a
carving knife by the blade."

Morey grinned as he got into his power suit, on Wade's O.K. of the
atmosphere. "They may mistake me for the cook out looking for dinner,
and I wouldn't risk my dignity that way. I'll take the baseball bat and
hold it wrong way instead."

Nevertheless, as he stepped from the ship, with Afthen close behind, he
held the long knife by the blade, and Afthen, very awkwardly operating
his still rather unfamiliar power suit, followed.

Into the intensely blue sunlight the men stepped. Their skin and
clothing took on a peculiar tint under the strange sunlight.

The single stranger was joined by a second, also holding a reversed
weapon, and together they threw them down. Morey and Zezdon Afthen
followed suit. The two parties advanced toward each other.

The strangers advanced with a swift, light step, jumping from rock to
rock, while Morey and Afthen flew part way toward them. The men of this
world were totally unlike any intelligent race Morey had conceived of.
Their head and brain case was so small as to be almost animalish. The
nose was small and well formed, the ears more or less cup-shaped with a
remarkable power of motion. Their eyes were seemingly huge, probably no
larger than a terrestrian's, though in the tiny head they were
necessarily closely placed, protected by heavy bony ridges that actually
projected from the skull to enclose them. Tiny, childlike chin