decomposed the body of Alent, the guard, and left his
skeleton stripped and bleached in an instant, did not harm Tugh! He
had walked into it, taken it full and he did not fall! He was still
alive!

I came to my senses and saw that Larry, seeing my danger, had run into
the open, dangerously close, and hurled a rock. It struck Tugh upon
the shoulder and deflected his aim, so that his flash went over me. I
saw Tugh whirl toward Larry, and I rushed forward, ripping loose the
cylinder of the ray projector from its restraining battery cord. In
the instant the cripple was turned half way from me I landed upon him,
and with all my strength brought the point of the small heavy cylinder
down on his skull. There was a strange splintering crack, and a wild,
eery scream from his voice. He fell, with me on top of him.

Crowning horror! Tugh lay motionless, twisted half on his back, his
thick arms outstretched on the rocks and his weapon still clutched in
his hand. Culminating, gruesome horror! I rose from his body and stood
shuddering. Amazing realization! The bulging misshapen head was
splintered open. And from it, strewn over the rocks, were tiny
intricate cogs and wheels, coils and broken wires!

He was not a man, but a Robot! A Super-Robot from some unknown era,
running amuck! A mechanism so cleverly fashioned by the genius of man
that it stood diabolically upon the threshhold of humanity!

A super-mechanical exile of Time! But its wild, irrational career of
destruction through the ages now was over. It lay inert, smashed and
broken at my feet....

CHAPTER XXIV

_The Return_

I think that there is little I should add. Tugh's last purpose had
been to hurl himself and Mary past the lifetime of our world, wrecking
the cage and flinging them into Eternity together. And Tugh was luring
our cage and us to the same fate. But Mary, to save us, had watched
her opportunity, seized the main control lever and demolished the
vehicle by its instantaneous stopping.

We left the shell of Tugh lying there in the red sunlight of the
empty, dying world, and returned to Tina's palace. We found that the
revolt was over. The city, with help arrived, was striving to emerge
from the bloody chaos. Larry and Tina decided to remain permanently in
her Time. They would take us back; but the cage was too diabolical to
keep in existence.

"I shall send it forward unoccupied," said Tina; "flash it into
Eternity, where Tugh tried to go."

Accompa