s, thrown at us by the thing my friend had created.

But there was no time for thought. In desperate haste, we inched our
way along. Abud had seen the peril, too, and lost all his truculence
in the face of the greater danger. He clawed after us, intent only on
reaching whatever safety we were heading for.

I could hear the zoom of the great wings when the path took a sudden
turn and we catapulted headlong into a black cavern thrusting into the
ice.

We were not an instant too soon. For a giant shape swooped by our
covert with a terrifying swoosh, inches away from Abud's leg as he
dived after us, and it was followed by a grinding crash. The machine
had been directed too close to the ice and had smashed into bits.

* * * * *

We crouched there a moment, panting, struggling to regain our wind.
Keston had regained the air of quiet power he had once possessed.
Quietly he spoke to our enemy.

"Listen to me, Abud. Up there on the ice, you played the bully,
relying on your brute strength. Here, however, we're up against the
machines, and your intelligence is of too low an order to compete with
them. You need my brains now. If you expect to escape from them, and
live, you'll have to do exactly as I say. I'm boss, do you
understand?"

I expected a roar of rage at Keston's calm assertion, and quietly got
in back of Abud ready to jump him if he made a threatening move.

But the big brute was a creature of abject terror, staring out with
fear-haunted eyes. Quite humbly he replied: "You are right. You are
the only one who can beat the machines. I'll follow you in
everything."

"Very well, then. This cave leads through a series of tunnels down
through the ice to the bottom of the valley. I explored it nights when
you were all sleeping."

I looked at him in amazement. I had not known anything about his
midnight wanderings. He saw my glance.

"I'm sorry, Meron, but I thought it wiser to say nothing of my plans,
even to you, until they had matured. Let us go."

Outside hundreds of craft were hurtling across the opening. Escape
that way was clearly impossible.

"No doubt the master machine is hurrying over high explosives to blast
us out," Keston said indifferently; "but we won't be here."

We started down a tortuous decline, crawling on hands and knees. We
had not progressed very far when we heard a thud and a roar behind us,
followed by a series of crashes.

"Just as I thought. The mast