Transcriber's note: This e-text was produced from _Argosy All-Story Weekly_, October 21 and 28 and November, 4, 11, and 18, 1922. THE FIRE PEOPLE by RAY CUMMINGS Author of "The Golden Atom," etc. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE COMING OF THE LIGHT. CHAPTER II. THE UNKNOWN ENEMY. CHAPTER III. THE LANDING OF THE INVADERS. CHAPTER IV. THE MEETING. CHAPTER V. CAPTURED! CHAPTER VI. MIELA. CHAPTER VII. THE MERCUTIAN CAMP. CHAPTER VIII. THE ESCAPE. CHAPTER IX. FUTILE ATTACKS. CHAPTER X. MIELA'S STORY. CHAPTER XI. TO SAVE THE WORLD. CHAPTER XII. THE LANDING ON MERCURY. CHAPTER XIII. THE CAPTIVE EARTH-MAN. CHAPTER XIV. THE RULER OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY. CHAPTER XV. THE MOUNTAIN CONCLAVE. CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRE PLANET. CHAPTER XVII. THE FIGHT AT THE BAYOU. CHAPTER XVIII. REVOLUTION. CHAPTER XIX. THE NEW RULER. CHAPTER XX. IN THE TWILIGHT COUNTRY. CHAPTER XXI. ANOTHER LIGHT-RAY! CHAPTER XXII. THE THEFT OF THE LIGHT-RAY. CHAPTER XXIII. THE STROM. CHAPTER XXIV. THE WATER CITY. CHAPTER XXV. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. CHAPTER XXVI. THE BATTLE. CHAPTER XXVII. THE SIEGE OF THE LONE CITY. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE END OF TAO. CHAPTER XXIX. THE RETURN. CHAPTER I. THE COMING OF THE LIGHT. The first of the new meteors landed on the earth in November, 1940. It was discovered by a farmer in his field near Brookline, Massachusetts, shortly after daybreak on the morning of the 11th. Astronomically, the event was recorded by the observatory at Harvard as the sudden appearance of what apparently was a new star, increasing in the short space of a few hours from invisibility to a power beyond that of the first magnitude, and then as rapidly fading again to invisibility. This star was recorded by two of the other great North American observatories, and by one in the Argentine Republic. That it was comparatively small in mass and exceedingly close to the earth, even when first discovered, was obvious. All observers agreed that it was a heavenly body of an entirely new order. The observatory at Harvard supplemented its account by recording the falling, just before dawn of the 11th, of an extraordinarily brilliant meteor that flamed with a curious red and green light as it entered the earth's atmosphere. This meteor did not burn itself out, but fell, still retaining its luminosity, from a point near the zenith, to the horizon. What the farmer saw was a huge fire burning near the center of his field. It was circular in form and about thirty feet in diameter. He was astonished to see it there, but what surprised him more was its peculiar aspect.