Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-12-15
CHAPTER XVIII.

The girl sprallS to my side and grasl
ed NY arm with u cry Of fear.
This seemed to throw tho Martin
into II sudden frenzy, aud he raised hi
arms to strike.
But the d~isinteGrator was in my hanu
My rage was equal to his,
| felt the concentrated vengeance o
the earth quivering through me as 3
pressed the button of the disintegrator
and sweeping it rapidly up and down
SAW the gigantic form that had con
tronted me melt into ~nothingness.
There vera three other giants in the
room, and they had been OIL the poin,
of following up the attack of their com
rade. But when he disappeared from.
before their eyes they paused, staring
in Armament at the place where but II
before he had stood, but where
now only the metal weapon he had
welded lay on the floor.
At first they started back and seemed
on the point Of hying; then with a sec.
Cna glance, peiceiving again how small
and insignificant we were, all three to
gcther advanced upon us.
Iilt SiAl SsAlh lltlIAbiillb III I hii'to
In the meantime | had readJusted my
d~isintogrator for another discharge, and
Colonel Smith stood by me with the
light of battle upon his face,
Sweep the discharge across the
three" | exclaimed. 'Utherwi-e there
will he one lrtt, and before we can fire
again he will crush us,
The whIr of the two instruments
sounded simultaneously, and with 4
cu.ck, horizontal motion we swept the
lines Of force around III such Il manner
that all three Of tho MartiGns were
caught by the Migratory streams anC
actually cut in two,
Long gaps were opened in the wall Of
the room behind them, where the de
stroyiun currents had pr Scd, for will
wrathtul t%erccness we had run the Vi
brations through half . gamut o. tn,
index.
The victory was mrs. There were n
other enemies that wo could SEQ il til
house.
Yet at any moment others Nigh
make their appearance, and what NOR
we did must be done quickly.
The girl evidently was as niue
amazed as the Murtians bad boon by &
effects which we had produced. 81
sho was not terrified and continued ,
cling to us and to glance Lescechingl
into our faces, expressing in her eve
look and gesture the fact that she kne'
we were of her own race.
But clearly she could not speak on
tongue, for the words she uttered wer
unintelligihle,
Colonel Smith, whose long eXperienc
in Indian warfare had made him il
tensely practical, did not lose his mil.
tary instincts even in the midst {
events so strange.
at occurs to me" he said. ''that W
have got a chance at the enemy's SUI
plies. Suppose we begin foraging rigt
here. Let's sec if this girl can't show I
the commissary department"
He Immediately began to make sigl
to the girl to indicate that no was hui
cry.
A look of comprehension fitted ov,
her features, and, seiziug our hand
she led US into III adjoining apartmei
and pointed to a number of METAL
boxes. One Of these she opened, takir
out of it q kind of cake, which 81
placed between her teeth, breaking off
very small portion and then handing
TO us, motioning that we should ca
but at the same time showing us th'
we ought to take only IA small quantit.
"Thank God! It's compressed food,
said Colonel Smith. 81 thought the
Martians, with their wonderful civiliz
ton, would he up to that, and it
mighty lucky for us, because, withor
overwhelming ourselves, if we can fiji
one or two moro caches like this v
shall be able to reprovision the emit
fleet, but we must get reinforcement
before we can take possession of the TO
der"
Accordingly we hurried out into ii
night, passed into the roaC way and, TIA
ing the girl with us, ran as rapidly
possible to the foot Of tho tree whe
we had mado Il descent. Then ,
signaled to the electric ship to DIR