A frightful thing happened then. The woman screamed and rushed toward the brutish maniac with her fingers splayed. The swaying figure bent, grabbed her about the waist, and lifted her high into the air. I thought for a moment he was about to crush her as he had crushed the man. But I was wrong. She was hurled to the sand, but with a violence so brutal that she went instantly limp.
Then the brutal madman turned, and I saw his face. If ever monstrous cruelty and malign cunning looked out of a human countenance it looked out of the eyes that stared in my direction, remorseless in their hate.
I could not tear my gaze from his face. The hate in it could be sensed, even across a blinding haze of sunlight that blotted out the sharp contours of physical things. But more than hate could be sensed. There was something tremendous about that face, as if the evil which had ravaged it had left the searing brand of Lucifer himself!
For an instant the madman stood motionless, his ghastly brutality unchallenged. Then Jeff Winters started for it. Jeff had come to Mars alone and grown more solitary with every passing day. He was a brooding, ingrown man, secretive and sullen, with a streak of wildness which he usually managed to control. He went for the madman like a gigantic terrier pup, shaggy and ferocious and contemptuous of death.
The big figure turned quickly, raised his arm, and brought his closed fist down on Jeff’s skull. Jeff collapsed like a shattered plaster cast. His body seemed to break and splinter, and he sprawled forward on the sand.
He did not get up.
Frank Anders had guns on both hips, and he drew them fast. No one knew what kind of man Anders was. He hardly ever complained or made a spectacle of himself. A little guy with sandy hair and cold blue eyes, he had an accuracy of aim that did his talking for him.
His guns suddenly roared. For an instant the air between his hands and the maniac was a crackling wall of flame. The brute swayed a little but did not turn aside. He went straight for Anders with both arms spread wide.
He caught Anders about the waist, lifted him up, and slammed his body down against the sand. A sickness came over me as I stared. The madman bashed Anders’ head against the ground again and again. Then suddenly the big arms relaxed and Anders sagged limply to the ground.
For an instant the madman swayed slowly back and forth, like a bloodstained marionette on a wire. Then he moved forward with a terrible, shambling gait, his head lowered, a dark, misshapen shadow seeming to lengthen before him on the sand like a spindle of flame.
The clearing was abruptly tumultuous with sound. The fury which had been unleashed against me turned upon the monster and became a closed circle of deadly, intent purpose hemming him in—and he was caught in a crossfire that hurled him backwards to the sand.
He jumped up and lunged straight for the well. What happened then was like the awakening stages of some horrible dream. The madman shambled past the well, the air at his back a crackling sheet of flame. The barrage behind him was continuous and merciless. The men were organized now, standing together in a solid wall, firing with deadly accuracy and a grim purpose which transcended fear.
The madman went clumping on past me and climbed a dune with his shoulders held straight. With a sunset glare deepening about him, he went striding over the dune and out of sight.
I turned and stared back at the camp. The pursuit had passed the well and was headed for me. But no one paid the slightest attention to me. Twelve men passed me, walking three abreast. Bill came along in their wake, his eyes stony hard. He reached out as he passed me, gripping my shoulder, giving me a foot-of-the-gallows kind of smile.
“We know now who killed Ned,” he whispered. “We know, fella. Take it easy, relax.”
My head was throbbing, but I could see the big prints from where I stood—the prints of a murderer betrayed by his insatiable urge to slay.
I saw Kenny pass, and he gave me a contemptuous grin. He had done his best to destroy me, but there was no longer any hate left in me.
I took a slow step forward—and fell flat on my face. …
I woke up with my head in Molly’s lap. She was looking down into my face, sobbing in a funny sort of way and running her fingers through my hair.
She looked startled when she saw that I was wide awake. She blinked furiously and started fumbling at her waist for a handkerchief.
“I must have passed out cold,” I said. “It’s quite a strain to be at the receiving end of a lynching bee. And what I saw afterwards wasn’t exactly pleasant.”
“Darling,” she whispered, “don’t move, don’t say a word. You’re going to be all right.”
“You bet I am!” I said. “Right now I feel great.”
My arm went around her shoulder, and I drew her head down until her breath was warm on my face. I kissed her hair and lips and eyes for a full minute in utter recklessness.
When I released her her eyes were shining, and she was laughing a little and crying too. “You’ve changed your mind,” she said. “You believe me now, don’t you?”
“Don’t talk,” I said. “Don’t say another word. I just want to look at you.”
“It was you right from the start,” she said. “Not Ned—or anyone else.”
“I was a blind fool,” I said.
“You never gave me a second glance.”
“One glance was enough,” I whispered. “But when I saw how it seemed to be between you and Ned—”
“I was never in love with him. It was just—”
“Never mind, don’t say it,” I said. “It’s over and done with.”
I
