They came from all sides and the men were overwhelmed. A few of the spheres alighted on a sled. The metal began to crumble. Cursing, Conley knocked them away; but others alighted. "Protect the sleds!" Conley yelled. The men were trying to. A sphere attached itself to the metal fastenings of a pack, and clung there voraciously. The metal crumbled, disappeared, and the pack spewed its contents over the ice. Instantly the Floater darted to the contents, seeking more metal. Lewis drew his electro-pistol, but immediately a Floater attached itself to it; the weapon dissolved, disappeared, as the creature took on a rosy radiance of heat-energy. "Holy Hannah!" Lewis gasped. Conley was cursing volubly now, but he was suddenly cool. "All right, you men, let 'em have it--all at once! Blast 'em out of the air." They threw themselves flat on the ice and swept their weapons around in a solid, crackling barrage. That was the beginning of the end for the Floaters. They exploded in corruscating riots of bluish sparks wherever the electro-beams touched. Soon the ice was littered with their lifeless, deflated husks. The remaining ones sped far away out of danger, and they did not return. "I hated to do that," Conley sighed, "'cause I kind of like those creatures. They have intelligence of a sort. They're harmless enough ordinarily, except for their voracious appetites for metal!" "The damn things sometimes visit our mines to the south," Wessel said, "but I'm kind of surprised to find 'em away up _here_. That can only mean one thing, though. We're on the right track! The radite must stem from one huge central deposit somewhere up here!" His eyes gleamed at the thought. To Jim it meant even more. The converging radite veins, Kaarji's story of the perpetual lure that tormented him, and most of all that mysterious bit of strange metal--all this pointed to one thing, a secret somewhere to the north. And that secret was M'Tonak. Jim was sure of it now. He was sure they would reach it, that they were _meant_ to reach it. The thought surged within him, made him restless and foreboding. So that when, late that day, the car came--the silent mysterious vehicle from out of the north, just as Kaarji had described--Jim was not surprised. He had been almost expecting it. * * * * * It was while they were making camp. They were rolling out the fabricoid mats and setting up the little atomo-stoves. Jim missed Kaarji, looked around and saw the Martian at the crest of the long, smooth rise at the foot of which they had stopped. Jim drew his coat of Praaka fur closer around him and walked out to where Kaarji stood. Not until he had gained the crest of the slight ascent did he see that the Martian was in his strange mood again, standing quite still, staring out to the north.