"Let them," crowed the fiery little bantam, "we'll meet them man to man." He wrenched the tube from the stiffened fingers of the dead guard, swung it exultingly aloft. "You little fool," Hilary cried sharply, and struck it down again. "We're not waiting for them. That's suicide. Come. I'm afraid it's too late for you to turn back now. You've been seen with us." He dashed across the moving belts, Grim and Wat, a grotesquely assorted pair, directly behind him. Passengers, men and women both, scattered at their approach, stark, servile fear smothering their dulled countenances. Cries arose on all sides. "The Magnificents are coming." The black specks became larger, forming themselves into swift one-man fliers. The three men pelted across the graded conveyors as hard as they could run. No Earthman tried to stop them; one look at their grim faces would have been a most potent dissuader. And fortunately there were no Mercutians within hailing distance other than the rapidly nearing fliers. They flung themselves off the last slow-moving platform, panting. "Which way now?" Hilary asked. His quick eye raked the scene for possible hideouts. They were on a smoothly clipped lawn, heaving gently up to a pretty rambling structure, built on an antique design, pleasingly irregular and nestling to the ground as though it were indigenous to the soil. The walls were modern, though, of vita-crystal, which possessed the peculiar property of permitting _all_ of the beneficial rays of the sun to penetrate, and yet presented a perfectly opaque appearance to the outside world. No other hiding place was in sight. The lawn stretched smooth on all sides except for a scattering of trees--poor enough cover. The Mercutians were almost directly overhead now, preparing to swoop. * * * * * "Our only chance seems to be the house," Hilary answered his own question quietly. Grim shook his head. "Their search beams can penetrate the vita-crystal walls as though they were transparent glass." Hilary's heart sank. "Can't help it," he said laconically. "Come on." The three men broke into a run. It was only a hundred yards, but the Mercutians were coming down fast. They had been seen. A flash as of molten metal gleamed overhead. A blinding ray leaped for the ground, struck viciously a little ahead of the running men. The velvet green grass crisped to ash; the soil underneath scorched. "Scatter!" Hilary shouted. Instantly the men spread out. Another blast hissed down at them, so close to Hilary that the heat seared his left side like a red-hot iron. The Mercutians were getting the range. Wat Tyler stopped short with a howl of defiance. He whipped the hand tube he had taken from the dead guard out of his blouse. "Hide it, you fool!" Hilary yelled back at him. "We don't want them to known we are armed."