Shortly after midnight I was awakened by Gail. "I've just been talking to Axel," she said. "He believes there are Martians near the spaceship." I was wide awake instantly. I turned some switches and checked our power. The sun hadn't been up very long after we stopped for the night, but the solar cells had recharged the battery sufficiently for us to resume our trip, providing we conserved our power. I took my position at the controls. "Axel," I called. "Have you seen 'em?" Axel's voice came over the radio. "No but I hear them. They're using some English words. _Thiswaydrake. Tanetooman._ The things you yelled that day when you flushed Martians in the canal. Some of them must have overheard you." If that was the case, this wasn't the bunch that had been chasing me. Another attacking force must have come down from the north--or possibly from Umbra. They were closing in from two directions and if fifteen hundred were behind me, heaven knows how many were on the other side of the ship. I started the Mars-car forward. "We're on our way, Axel. It's dark but there shouldn't be any trouble, if we keep from running into a large rock in the desert. If you can't hold 'em, blast off. Forget about us." "Don't talk like a lunatic, Bill." "Don't think about me!" "Hell, I'm not thinking of you. I'm thinking of Gail. And I don't want a year-long ride in space with Doc Spartan and only Joel to help keep him from killing me." "All right," I said, "I'll try to make it--" "Tend to your driving," said Axel. I laughed without humor. It was ironic that after all our talk about cowards, selfish men, heroes and martyrs, not one of us--not even Dr. Spartan--had a choice in the matter now. We all had to be heroes and, perhaps, martyrs. We were going to be attacked by a whole planet and the only course open was to fight for our lives. The starlight was hardly any help but I was able to make out the vague shapes of rocks in the desert after we had crossed the abandoned canal. I couldn't go fast, but I was making time. The radio was not silent. There were explosive, bass cricket noises of Martian talk from time to time. Nothing further was heard from Axel, even though his transmitter had been left open. And I had nothing to say--I was too busy driving. The first streaks of dawn were appearing in the east when at last I heard a shout in the squawk box. It was Dr. Joel yelling at the top of his lungs. "Ludson! Wake up! Martians are attacking." I heard a startled grunt. Then Axel's voice came to my ears. "Untie Dr. Spartan and give him a gun." It was light enough to see now, and I pushed the Mars-car's throttle to its peak. _Chapter 17_ I had no idea how far we were from the spaceship. But it certainly wasn't more than a ninety-minute run if I held the machine at top speed. But battles can be won or lost in considerably less time, and there was a battle being fought in the Solis Lacus area.