vanished. Then almost instantly the electronic
ray came with its deadly stab. Missed us at first, as we ran for the
shield, carrying it back to the port, hiding behind it.

The ray stabbed once or twice more.

Whether Miko's instruments showed him how badly damaged our front wall
was, we never knew. But I think that he realized. His searchbeam clung
to it, and his zed-ray pried into our interiors.

The brigand ship was active now. We were desperate; we used our
telescope freely for observation. Miko's ore carts and mining
apparatus were unloaded on the rocks. The rail sections were being
carried a mile out, nearly to the center of the valley. A subsidiary
camp was being established there, only a mile from the base of our
cliff, but still far beyond reach of our weapons. We could see the
brigand lights down there.

Then the ore chute sections were brought over. We could see Miko's men
carrying some of the giant projectors, mounting them in the new
position. Power tanks and cables. Light flare catapults--small
mechanical cannons for throwing illuminating bombs.

The enemy searchlight constantly raked our vicinity. Occasionally the
giant electronic projector flung out its bolt as though warning us not
to dare leave our buildings.

Half an hour went by. Our situation was even worse than Miko could
know. The Erentz motors were running hot--our power draining, the
crack widening. When it would break, we could not tell; but the danger
was like a sword over us.

An anxious thirty minutes for us, this second interlude. Grantline
called a meeting of all our little force, with every man having his
say. Inactivity was no longer a feasible policy. We recklessly used
our power to search the sky. Our rescue ship might be up there; but we
could not see it with our now disabled instruments. No signals came.
We could not--or, at least, did not--receive them.

"They wouldn't signal," Grantline protested. "They'd know the
Martians would be more likely to get the signal than us. Of what use
to warn Miko?"

But he did not dare wait for a rescue ship that might or might not be
coming! Miko was playing the waiting game now--making ready for a
quick loading of the ore when we were forced to abandon our buildings.

The brigand ship suddenly moved its position! It rose up in a low flat
arc, came forward and settled in the center of the valley where the
carts and rail sections were piled, and the outside projectors newly
mounted on th