before being hurled out of the muzzle. When these tar balls struck they stuck, then ignited and burned with a fierce flame visible even in the full daylight. Nor was this the only weapon the Ormoloo used. They had a catapult with two large arms in the shape of a Y to which were fastened a rubberlike material that was stretched back by the laboring soldiers. When it was stretched to the utmost, a bomb with sputtering fuse was loaded into the leather seat, and the whole was released with devastating effect. In addition, they had cannon and rifles, not unlike their earthly counterparts, which they used with deadly effect upon the enemy. Who still charged closer, relying on their numbers to crush and capture the fort.
'Ready,' Jerry shouted.
'Hurry,' a nearby gunner called out. 'For they are at our very gates and we are lost if their reserves arrive.'
'Well, that for the reserves,' Jerry muttered and pressed the activating switch.
Instantly, with a motion too fast for the eye to see, an entire attacking battalion of armored vehicles winked out of existence. Their tracks were still on the ground – ending abruptly – and the cloud of dust raised by their passage still hung in the air. But they were gone! A cheer broke out from the defenders.
'If you listen closely, you can hear the splashes,' Jerry shouted, and they laughed in unison.
The rest of the attackers went the way of the first and the battle was won. While victory still enthused them, they loaded the cheddite projector into the Pleasantville Eagle, repaired the hole in the wing, and filled the tanks with fuel from the Ormoloo vehicles which proved to have very much the chemical composition of aviation jet fuel. Soon they were climbing into the sky, following the pointing finger of Steigen-Sterben, who went along as their guide.
'That direction,' he said. 'It will not be necessary for you to go below the clouds, in which case your magnificent air vessel would risk being shot down. I am in touch by mental telepathy with our observers in the front lines, and they inform me of our exact position. I will tell you when you are over the enemy lines – get ready – an immense fort below us that has stopped our advance for two thousand years – now!' The button was pressed. 'Ahh, no more fort. If you will be ready, forty thousand troops massed for the attack. . . now!'
And so it went. Before the day was out Jerry's thumb was tired from pressing the button on the cheddite projector and Chuck had to relieve him at the controls. By late afternoon they were low on fuel and had to turn back but, meanwhile, they had destroyed most of the opposing army of the enemy, and the war, after ten thousand years, was won for the Ormoloo. There was indeed jubilation and a banquet waiting for them when they landed.
'I don't think I could take another of those banquets,' John whispered to the others when Steigen-Sterben was out of earshot inspecting the toilet facilities of the 747.
'Me too,' Jerry agreed.
'And I'll put in my vote,' Chuck added. 'Particularly, when you get down to it, since we haven't eaten for something like four days now, nor have we had much sleep.'
'That's true,' Jerry told him. 'But we've been busy. When we get back, we'll ask Sally, who is waiting in our quarters in the fort, to rustle up something for us.'
'What?' John muttered hungrily. 'There's no food in the plane and only grass for the Ormoloo.'
'Don't worry,' Jerry said cheerily. 'She'll think of something. She's a darn clever cook.'
They swooped in for a landing just before sunset and trooped into the fort.
'See you at the celebration in a while, Steigen-Sterben,' Jerry said. 'We're going to see what Sally can rustle up for us.'
'Of course, but do not be late, for this is the greatest moment in ten thousand years of history of our poor planet. Your names will ring down through the ages.'
'Nix on that,' Jerry told him, and the others nodded agreement. 'We can't take that kind of thing. We're just some guys doing our job and helping our friends and we don't go for that sort of mush, no, sir!'
They tramped through the halls and through the open door and called out the name of the girl whom at least two of them loved.
'Sally!'
Her piercing scream was the only answer. They fought each other to be first through the door and entered just in time to see her shrieking body being carried in the tentacles of a stinking Garnishee down through a secret trapdoor let into the floor. They dived forward as one, only to have the trapdoor slam shut in their faces. Cursing and struggling, they tore at the unyielding metal, and SteigenSterben ran breathlessly into the room.
'I heard your mental cries of anger and fear,' he said,
'so I came at once.'
'Sally,' Chuck panted, 'that thing took her down there. Help us get this trapdoor open, so we can follow and save her.'
Steigen-Sterben's forehead wrinkled with intense thought, and then he sighed a deep and tremulous sigh. With a despairing gesture he reached out and laid a comforting hand on the shoulder of all three of them and made a helpless gesture with his remaining hand.
'Struggle no more, I beg of you,' he entreated.
'Why?' struggling, 'we must save her.'
'You cannot,' Steigen-Sterben intoned in the most funereal of tones. 'For it is too late. I attempted to reach her mind with mine to enable you to locate her when pfiff – with utmost suddenness her thoughts were no more.'
'You mean. . . .'
'Sadly, I do. If her thoughts have been stopped this poor girl, so far from home, is dead.'
8
THE GHASTLY SECRET REVEALED
The shocked silence continued for an inordinately long time because, as you can very well imagine, no one had much to say after receiving that news. Steigen-Sterben, knowing how they felt, tiptoed out of the door and left them to their sadness.
'She was a good old girl,' Chuck finally choked out.
'A-number-one,' Jerry choked in answer.
'Let's go fuel up the plane and rebuild that starboard engine,' Jerry suggested.
'Good idea,' Chuck agreed, and they left in silence with their misery.
John let them go, knowing they wanted to be alone together, or maybe just alone, or maybe together, with their loss. He felt the loss no less keenly himself, although he had known that wonderful girl only from a distance up until a few days ago. He scuffled about the room dazedly, and when he passed the sealed trapdoor, he gave it a vicious kick and it instantly flew open. At this unexpected event he drew back, his keen senses alert again, wondering instantly what it could mean. Whatever it meant he had to investigate, even if the dark opening were filled with repellent Garnishee – in fact, he would welcome that! Take as many as possible to the grave with him. He remembered that there was an armory in the next room, and he hurried there and seized a heavy sword, then rushed back to the gaping entrance to the netherworld revealed by the open trapdoor. Filled by conflicting emotions, he did not think or reason but hurled himself headlong into the darkness. Something struck his skull heavily, and he was unconscious on the instant.
When he came to an immeasurable period of time later, all was in darkness still, and bis head hurt. Not only that but there was an awful stench in the air, and he knew instantly that it was the Garnishee, he had heard they smelled bad and, wow!, was that rumor ever right. They were close around him, unseen and slithering close, and the instant a wet tentacle slithered down his face, he lashed out with a quick fist and connected solidly, and a really satisfying scream – they screamed like girls – was his reward.
Then there was a sudden flare of light, and he saw that he had been right and he was surrounded by the repulsive Garnishee. Well, half right at least, because the one he had hit was really Sally Goodfellow, who had been stroking his head, who, in return, got a right cross to the eye, wbich was now producing a really interesting mouse.
