Yet was not even a momentary reprieve better than nothing? So at any rate, Gates asked himself a little later in a spasm of alarm. Not quite an hour had gone by; and Yellow-Claws was just preparing to cut the egg-shaped car adrift. But suddenly, through the jelly-like shell of the Planetoid, huge spidery shapes were seen in shadowy movement. And Yellow-Claws whirred with excitement, "Quick, earthling, quick! or they'll be upon us!" There came a ripping sound, though no cutting instrument was visible; and the car began to plummet earthward. But at the same time, through apertures in the walls of the Planetoid, a score of octopus-limbed creatures began to glide, their angry eyes glaring, like triangular rubies, their arms waving fantastically. Around the Planetoid and beneath it they darted, then, gradually becoming dimmer of outline, disappeared from sight. But Gates was not to be deceived. He knew that they had but garbed themselves in invisibility. He knew that the vibrations given off by Yellow-Claws' body would guide them, although their foe could not be seen. And he was appallingly aware that the whole pack of them were in pursuit of his protector. "By our planet's ten moons! they must not catch us!" rattled out Yellow-Claws. "If we are captured, we will suffer the penalty of deserters. We will be slain--yes, slain by the method of Multiple Agony, which torments every nerve of the body for many days before death brings relief." * * * * * Down, down, down they dashed. They rushed through the stratosphere, and the earth seemed to leap forward to meet them. But reaching the heavier layers of the atmosphere, they were checked by the resistance of the air--and were checked even more by the tangle of invisible Saturnian webs. Almost at the same time, they were lost in a fog. Whether the earth were near or far they could not say; they bobbed around like a ship on a stormy sea. "Cursed be all the demons of outer space! Something's wrong with the direction gauge!" muttered Yellow-Claws. Even as he spoke, there came a roar from somewhere near at hand. And a dull-red smoke-puff burst through the fog overhead. "Fiery imps of Jupiter!" growled Yellow-Claws. "They've got the range!" It was an extraordinary battle that followed. Both sides were invisible; both aimed frightening flashes in the other's direction. Grimly Gates reflected that earth-folk, watching the demonstration from below, would think an unusually severe thunder storm in progress. For, in truth, there were all the symptoms of a thunder storm. The sky rumbled with detonations as of gigantic artillery; red lightnings and blue and purple shot through the hazes in zigzag streaks; rain began to fall in howling torrents. How it was that they escaped destruction in that first moment of the encounter was more than Gates could explain; for he saw crimson bars and blue balls of fire playing along the outer surface of the jelly-like envelope.