re running them. They came suddenly
to sharp visibility as the plane drew near. Tiny bursts of white meant
rifle fire.

They were a thousand feet up and close when Smithy saw the first car
vanish in flame. Others followed swiftly. Men were falling. A dozen of
them had made up the sheriff's posse, and now, like the cars, they,
too, burst into flame and either vanished utterly or, like living
torches, were cast down upon the sand.

Still no sign of the enemy, more than the ripping stab of green fire
from a sand dune at one side. They were over and past before Smithy,
looking back, saw the red ones leap out into view.

* * * * *

Culver must have seen them in the same instant. He throttled down to a
safe banking speed. Opened full, the DeGrosse would have whipped them
around in a turn that would have meant instant death. From five miles
distant they shot in on a long slant. Smithy's hands were off the
stick. It was Culver's ship now.

He saw the man peering through his sights, then the roar of the motor
held other, sharper sounds. Thin flames were stabbing through the
propeller disk, and he knew that the bow guns were sending messengers
on ahead where red figures waited on the sand.

Their trajectory flattened. Culver half rolled the ship as they sped
overhead. "He wants a look at them," Smithy was thinking. Then a blast
of heat struck him full in the face.

It was Smithy's hand on the stick that righted the ship; only the
instant response of the big DeGrosse motor tore them up and away from
the sands that were reaching for those wings.

His face was seared, but the pain of it was forgotten in the knowledge
that their drunken, twisting flight had whipped out the fire licking
back from the forward cockpit. He saw Culver's head, fallen awkwardly
to one side. The helmet in one part was charred to a crisp.

He leveled off. He was thinking: "Another man gone! Can't I ever fight
back? If I only had a gun!" Then he knew he was looking at the pistol
grip, where Colonel Culver's brown hand had brought an awkward weapon
to life. His lips twisted to a whimsical smile, though his eyes still
held the same cold fury, as he whispered: "And I don't even know that
the damn thing's loaded--but I'm going to find out!"

* * * * *

They were clustered on the sands below him as he roared overhead. He
was flying at two thousand, the throttle open full. Beside the ship a