le
simply laid this country waste and never revisited it?

* * * * *

The Oriental shrugged. "My people are gone, wiped out by your gas as
yours were wiped out by ours." He retold Anthony's story. "The crew of
my own ship mutinied," he concluded. "We fled north, from that last
terrible fight, north, ever north, till at the top of the world we
found a little space that was not gas-covered. There was nothing
there, just the ice, and the snow, and the cold. We lived there,
twelve of us, all men. There were a few bears and seals. We slew them
for food--and we grew a little mad. We were men--all men--do you
understand?"

As he said this last, his thin voice rose to a shriek, and his eyes
darted to the girl's recumbent form. At length, he went on, the gas
began to retreat, and they followed it down. They had searched town
after town, city after city, had found food in plenty, and all the
trappings of civilization. But there was never a living being. And the
fever in their blood drove them on.

That very morning the insane search had reached New York. They had
landed on the roof of this very building. "We separated to hunt--and
Ra-Jamba was the lucky one. But I--Jung Sin--am still luckier." He
crept nearer to Allan, and tapped him on the chest with his weapon.
"For look you--while those fools used all their ray-gun charges, even
the charge of the big tube on our ship, to kill food, I husbanded
mine." He laughed shrilly. "So you see, I have the only ray-gun in the
world. It shall make me master of the Earth." Again he laughed wildly.

"Now I'm going to kill you." The black cylinder leveled, and Dane
stared at death. Alone, he would almost have welcomed it, but the
thought of the girl in the filthy power of this beast seared through
him. Jung Sin, the little red worms of madness crawling in his brain,
paused for a final taunt.

"Let the thought of the white dove in my arms cons--" Allan's sandaled
foot shot out into the man's stomach. In the same movement his hands
came down, one snatched at and caught the ray-gun, the other smashed
into the yellow face. Jung Sin lifted to the drive of fist and foot,
crashed into the wall, fell to its foot. From the crumpled heap rose a
shriek, a long piercing wail that ended in a gurgle.

* * * * *

Dane froze, the captured cylinder in his hand, and listened. There
were others of the unholy band about. Had they heard? Dim s