The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1902-01-02
CHAPTER XVIII.

The girl sprang to my side and grasp
ed my arm with cry of fear.
This seemed TO throw the Martiar
into sudden frenzy, and he raised his
arms to strike.
But the disintegrator was in my hand
My rage was equal to his.
felt the concentrated vengeance Of
the earth quivering through me as
pressed the button of the disintegrator,
and sweeping it rapidly up and down,
saw the gigantic form that had con-
fronted me melt into nothingness.
There were three other giants in the
room, and they had been ON the point
of following up the attack of their com
rade. But when he disappeared from
before their eyes they paused, staring
in amazement at the place where but a
moment 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 flying; then with Sec
ond glance, perceiving again how small
and insignificant we were, all three to-
gether advanced upon US.
The girl sank trembling on her knees.
In the meantime had readjusted my
disintegrator for another discharge, and
Colonel Smith stood by me with the
light of battle upon his face
Sweep the discharge across the
three, ! exclaimed. "Otherwise there
will be one left, and before we can fire
again he will crush us -
The whir of the two instruments
sounded simultaneously, and with q
quick, horizontal mosion we swept tho
lines of force around in such a manner
that all three of the Martians were
caught by the vibratory streams and
actually cut in two.
Long gaps were opened in the wall of
the room behind them, where the de-
stroying currents had passed, for with
wrathful fierceness we had run the vi
brations through half gamut on the
index.
The victory was ours. There were NO
other enemies that we could see in the
house.
make their appearance, and what more
we did must be done quickly.
The girl evidently was as much
amazed as the Martians bad been by the
effects which we had produced. Still
she was not terrified and continued to
cling to us and to glance beseechingly
into our faces, expressing in her every
look and gesture the fact that she knew
we were Of her own race.
But clearly she could not speak our
tongue, for the words she uttered were
unintelligible.
Colonel Smith, whose long experience
In Indian warfare had made him in
tensely practical, did not lose his mill
tary instincts even in the midst of
events SO strange
1T occurs to me, )" he said, THAT we
have got chance at the enemv's sum
plles. Suppose we begin foraging right
here Let's see if this girl can show us
the oommissary department.
he Immediately began to make signs
TO the girl to Indicate that he was hum
cry.
A look of comprehension fitted over
her features, and, Selling our hands.
sne led us into an adjoining apartment
and pointed to number of metallic
boxes One of these she opened. taking
out OF 1t kind of cake, which she
placed between her teeth, breaking off a
very small portion and then handing it
TO us, motioning that we should eat.
Dut at the same time showing us that
we ought to take only small QUANTITY
THANK God It's compressed food"
said Colonel Smith. 81 Thought these
Martians, with their wonderful oiviliza
ton, would be up to that, and it's
mighty lucky for us, because, without
overwhelming ourselves, if we can find
one or two more caches like this we
snail be able to reprovision the entire
Meet, but we must get endorsements
peiore we can take possession of the fod
der. -
Accordingly we hurried out into the
night, passed into the roadway and. talk
ing the girl with us, ran as rapidlv as
possible to the foot of the tree where
we had made our descent Then we
slgnaled to the electric ship to drop
down to the level of the ground.
This was quickly done, the girl was
taken aboard, and dozen men, under
our guidance, FASTENED back to the
mouse, where we loaded ourselves with
the compressed provisions and conveyed
them to the ship
On this second trip to the mvsterious
mouse we had discovered another apart.
ment containing very large number of
the metallic boxes, filled with COMPRESS.
ed food.
by Jove, it is a storehouseI, p, said
Colonel Smith. "We must GET moro
force and carry it all off. Gracious bnt
THIS is lucky night. We can reprovi-
slon the whole fleet from this room.
thought 1T singular, said. "that
with the exception of the girl whom we
nave rescued no women were seen in
me house. Evidently the lights over
Vonder indicate the location of oonsid.
'ranie town, and it is quite probable
hat this building, without windows
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