nd went limp. McLean jerked the knife from its
scabbard. He did not have to use it. A series of fine tremors passing
through his body, the Martian was dying. The explosive slug from the
Rangeley had finally done its work. With relief McLean let the body
drop.
* * * * *
McLean wiped sweat and sand from his face. "That was the death charge,
all right. But you didn't miss. See--" He pointed to the wound in the
Martian's chest.
The Rangeley stopped burping as the girl took her eyes from the sight
and looked around. Glancing at the Martian, she hastily averted her
face. An instant later, she was back at the sight. The Rangeley began
burping again.
McLean had the impression that all the time he had been fighting with
the Martian, the Rangeley had been burping.
She had kept the gun going!
There was something he wanted to say to this archaeologist. He waited
until he had enough breath to say it.
"You're all right," he said at last. "I mean you use your head and keep
the others holed up while I fight this one."
She flashed a smile at him. "They're not holed up, they're running," she
answered.
McLean lifted his head above the level of the hole. A corpse was
sprawled almost at the muzzle of the Rangeley. A second lay fifty feet
away. A third was perhaps a hundred yards distant.
While he had been fighting the berserk Martian, the others had seized
the opportunity to charge.
"Good girl! You saved our necks." He watched the running tribesmen. She
was keeping the sand at their heels thoroughly stirred up with slugs
from the Rangeley.
"Wonderful!" McLean breathed. "Lift your sights just a little--"
The Rangeley went into silence. Looking down, he saw that her shoulders
were shaking with sobs.
"I know how you feel," he said, gently. "But you had to do it, to save
our necks. Come on! Let's get back to our car while they're still
running and we have the chance!" He swung into action.
* * * * *
Collapsing the sight into place, he swung the Rangeley and its tripod
mounting over his shoulder. Catching the girl by one hand, he began to
run.
To both, the car looked like heaven. It was that, and more. Here in this
desert each had found in the other something that he had searched for
all his life and had not found. There was heaven in this thought. McLean
could hear the girl panting as she ran beside him, but she was also
laughing. He began to
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