Instantly there was a terrific explosion and a great, bloody gap lay upon the terrace where an instant before a hundred of the flower of the fighting men of Laythe had been so gloriously defending their city and their honor. “Grenades,” I exclaimed. “Hand grenades!” “What is it, Julian? What is it that they are doing down there?” cried Nah-ee-lah. “They are murdering my people.” “Yes, Nah-ee-lah, they are murdering your people, and well may Va-nah curse the day that Earth Men set foot upon your world.” “I do not understand, Julian,” she said. “This is the work of Orthis,” I said, “who has brought from Earth the knowledge of diabolical engines of destruction. He first shelled the city with what must have been nothing more than crude mortars, for it is impossible that he has had the time to construct the machinery to build any but the simplest of guns. Now his troops are hurling hand grenades among your men. There is no chance, Nah-ee-lah, for the Laytheans to successfully pit their primitive weapons against the modern agents of destruction which Orthis has brought to bear against them. Laythe must surrender or be destroyed.” Nah-ee-lah laid her head upon my shoulder and wept softly. “Julian,” she said at last, “this is the end, then. Take me to the Jemadav, my mother, please, and then you must go and make your peace with your fellow Earth Man. It is not right that you, a stranger, who have done so much for me, should fall with me and Laythe.” “The only peace I can make with Orthis, Nah-ee-lah,” I replied, “is the peace of death. Orthis and I may not live together again in the same world.” She was crying very softly, sobbing upon my shoulder, and I put my arm about her in an effort to quiet her. “I have brought you only suffering and danger, and now death, Julian,” she said, “when you deserve naught but happiness and peace.” I suddenly felt very strange and my heart behaved wretchedly, so that when I attempted to speak it pounded so that I could say nothing and my knees shook beneath me. What had come over me? Could it be possible that already Orthis had loosed his poison gas? Then, at last, I managed to gather myself together. “Nah-ee-lah,” I said, “I do not fear death if you must die, and I do not seek happiness except with you.” She looked up suddenly, her great, tear-dimmed eyes wide and gazing deep into mine. “You mean—Julian? You mean—?” “I mean, Nah-ee-lah, that I love you,” I replied, though I must have stumbled through the words in a most ridiculous manner, so frightened was I. “Ah, Julian,” she sighed, and put her arms about my neck. “And you, Nah-ee-lah!” I exclaimed incredulously, as I crushed her to me, “can it be that you return my love?”