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A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
page 60 of 247 (24%)
their attention upon the other members of the crew, upon the upper
works, and upon the steering gear and propellers.

Twenty minutes after the first volley the great fleet swung trailing
off in the direction from which it had first appeared. Several of
the craft were limping perceptibly, and seemed but barely under the
control of their depleted crews. Their fire had ceased entirely
and all their energies seemed focused upon escape. Our warriors
then rushed up to the roofs of the buildings which we occupied and
followed the retreating armada with a continuous fusillade of deadly
fire.

One by one, however, the ships managed to dip below the crests of
the outlying hills until only one barely moving craft was in sight.
This had received the brunt of our fire and seemed to be entirely
unmanned, as not a moving figure was visible upon her decks. Slowly
she swung from her course, circling back toward us in an erratic and
pitiful manner. Instantly the warriors ceased firing, for it was
quite apparent that the vessel was entirely helpless, and, far from
being in a position to inflict harm upon us, she could not even
control herself sufficiently to escape.

As she neared the city the warriors rushed out upon the plain to
meet her, but it was evident that she still was too high for them
to hope to reach her decks. From my vantage point in the window I
could see the bodies of her crew strewn about, although I could not
make out what manner of creatures they might be. Not a sign of life
was manifest upon her as she drifted slowly with the light breeze
in a southeasterly direction.

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