rmor was badly dented by the impact of many explosive
bullets, and one forearm was burned where a supode ray had momentarily
pierced between the chinks of the armor.

"All right, Steve," Gerry said wearily, "it's your watch. Go up on the
walls and take over."

"Anything new?" Steve Brent asked, sitting up on the cot where he had
been sleeping and running both hands through his tousled crop of sandy
hair. His freckled face was as lined and drawn as Gerry's own.

"Another of the bastions on the west wall came down under the rays, but
we're holding the breach all right with archers and a portable
ray-caster. Hurry and get up there, like a good fellow! I left Portok in
charge, and he's dead on his feet."

"I am not so damn much alive myself!" Steve muttered, but he put on his
helmet and went clanking off up the corridor.

Gerry sat down heavily on a bench, at the moment too tired even to take
off his armor. The city of Larr still held out--but that was all that
could be said. The Scaly Ones still pressed the assault day and night
without ceasing. The once mighty walls of yellow stone were crumbling
under the constant attack of the walls while the defense of the steadily
widening breaches put an added strain on the dwindling numbers of the
garrison.

If only the _Viking_ would come! Her duralite hull would withstand
either rays or explosives, and her own powerful ray-tubes should be able
to blast the attacking artillery out of existence and thereby raise the
siege. But he could not raise the space-ship on the radio! That was the
thing that worried Gerry most of all. Tanda had been trying at hourly
intervals for days, but he could not get any answer from McTavish.

At last Gerry stretched out on the cot that Steve had quitted, and
almost instantly went to sleep. It seemed only a moment later that he
awoke to find Portok the Martian shaking him by the shoulder. Gerry
laboriously raised himself up on one elbow shaking his head to clear his
brain. So strong were the bonds of sleep that several seconds passed
before his brain grasped the meaning of the words that Portok was
shouting in his ear.

"Chief! Can't you hear me? The whole western wall has come down,
carrying all the ray-tubes with it. The Scaly Ones are in the city!"

* * * * *

Gerry seized his helmet and weapons from the table where he had thrown
them, and dashed out of the room. From one of the balconies of the Arrow
Tower h