came running swiftly and more swiftly still, gleaming silver-like
under the vivid beam of the searchlight.

Wind began to rise up against the glass of the pilot-house; the wind
of _Nissr's_ own making.

Cool as if in his own easy-chair in the observatory, the Master sat
there, hand on wheel. Then all at once he reached for the rising-plane
control, drew it over, and into the telephone spoke sharply:

"Full speed ahead, now! Give her all she's got!"

A shout, was it? Many shouts, cries, execrations! But where? Over
the roar of the propellers, confused sounds won to the men in the
pilot-house. And all at once, by the dim aura of diffused light
reflected from the huge beam, the major saw dim figures running, off
there to the left, among the buildings of the stockade.

"For the Lord's sake!" he cried, amazed, with drooping jaw.
"Men--after us! Look there--_look_!"

The Master remained utterly impassive, eyes keen on the in-rushing
track, now close to its abrupt ending over the vacancy of space.
Captain Alden's pupils narrowed, through the mask-holes, but he said
nothing. Bohannan gripped the captain's shoulder painfully, then
reached for the pistol in his own holster.

"They're on to us!" he vociferated. "Somebody's got wise--they're--"

Little red spurts of fire began to jet, among the buildings; the