arkling gases--the refrigerating coils lining the hull were of no
avail against the concentrated energy of that titanic thrust. As Seaton
shut off his power, intense darkness and utter silence closed in, and he
snapped on the lights.

"They take one trick!" he blazed, his eyes almost emitting sparks, and
leaped for the generators. He had forgotten the efforts of the zone of
force, however, and only sprawled grotesquely in the air until he
floated within reach of a line.

"Hold everything, Dick!" Crane snapped, as Seaton bent over one of the
bars. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to put as heavy bars in these ray-generators as they'll stand
and go out and get that bird. We can't lick him with Osnomian rays or
with our explosive copper, but I can carve that sausage into slices with
a zone of force, and I'm going to do it."

"Steady, old man--take it easy. I see your point, but remember that you
must release the zone of force before you can use it as a weapon.
Furthermore, you must discover his exact location, and must get close
enough to him to use the zone as a weapon, all without its protection.
Can those ray-screens be made sufficiently powerful to withstand the
beam they employed last, even for a second?"

"Hm ... m ... m. Never thought of that, Mart," Seaton replied, the fire
dying out of his eyes. "Wonder how long the battle lasted?"

"Eight and two-tenths seconds, from first to last, but they had had
that heavy ray in action only a fraction of one second when you cut
in the zone of force. Either they underestimated our strength at first,
or else it required about eight seconds to tune in their heavy
generators--probably the former."

"But we've _got_ to do something, man! We can't just sit here and
twiddle our thumbs!"

"Why, and why not? That course seems eminently wise and proper. In fact,
at the present time, thumb-twiddling is distinctly indicated."

"Oh, you're full of little red ants! We can't do a thing with that zone
on--and you say just sit here. Suppose they know all about that zone of
force? Suppose they can crack it? Suppose they ram us?"

"I shall take up your objections in order," Crane had lighted a
cigarette and was smoking meditatively. "First, they may or may not know
about it. At present, that point is immaterial. Second, whether or not
they know about it, it is almost a certainty that they cannot crack it.
It had been up for more than three minutes, and they have undoubtedly
c