p a huge spout
of dust that veiled it from his eyes. Instinctively Dick shot toward
the scene. Slowly the dust subsided, and then a yell of exultation
broke from Dick's lips. The noble shaft still stood, a slim taper
pointing to the skies.

It was an omen of ultimate success, and Dick took heart. No, they'd
never beat the grim, unconquerable tenacity of the American people.

Yet the damage was proceeding at a frightful rate. A bomb dropped
squarely on the Corcoran Gallery and resolved it into a heap of silly
stones. A bomb fell in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the
houses on either side collapsed like houses of cards, falling into a
sulphurous, fiery pit. And still there was nothing visible but the sky
and the moon.

* * * * *

Dick gritted his teeth and swore as he circled over the site of
destruction, out of which tiny figures were struggling. He heard the
clang of the fire bells as the motor trucks came roaring toward the
scene. Then crash! again. Five blocks northward another dense cloud of
dust arose, and the new area of destruction, spreading as swiftly as
ripples over a pond, joined the former one, leaving a huge, irregular
open space, piled up with masonry and brick in a number of flat-topped
pyramids.

Into this, houses went crashing every moment, with a sound like the
clatter of falling crockery, but infinitely magnified.

"The devils! The swine!" shouted Dick. "And we gave Von Kettler the
privileges of an ambassador!"

And Fredegonde was the sister of this devil! The remembrance of that
struck a cold chill to Dick's heart again. He tried to blot out her
picture from his mind, but he still saw her as she had appeared that
day after the air ride, flushed, smiling, radiant in her dark beauty.

A murderess and a spy! He cursed her as he banked and circled back. He
was helpless. He could do nothing. And all Washington would be
destroyed by morning, if the supply of bombs kept up. But there was
more to come. Suddenly Dick became aware that two of his flight, at
widely separated distances, were going down in flames. Flaming comets,
they dropped plump into the destruction below. Another caught fire and
was going down. No need to question what was happening.

The invisible enemy was attacking his flight and picking off his men
one by one!

He drove furiously toward two of his planes whose erratic movements
showed that they were being attacked. As he neared them he sa