They were outside the ship--Axel, Joel and Spartan. I heard them shouting in their helmet radios. I couldn't hear the sound of firing, but Spartan--unwilling to relinquish his authority even though he was a prisoner--was shouting orders. "Get that group to the left, Axel! About nine o'clock--" Axel must have the rifle, I thought. Dr. Warner Joel was hysterical. His voice choked sobs. He prayed. He swore. He moaned. Axel mumbled incoherently. For all I knew he might have been talking in Swedish. Maybe he was--I don't know. He was born in Minnesota of Swedish parents and might have learned it in his childhood. Ordinarily, he spoke good English, except that occasionally his phrasing took on a foreign flavor, a throwback to something he'd learned from his parents and neighbors. Joel was sobbing. "My gun's empty! They're still coming." Then he laughed hysterically. "Look at them run! The fools didn't know my gun wasn't loaded!" Apparently the radar eyes of the Martians could distinguish objects as small as a .45 automatic. Gail sat tense as she listened to the sounds of battle. Her lips pressed tight, her eyes staring straight ahead. And then we saw the brownish green depression to our right. We had reached Solis Lacus Major, and the spaceship was not far north and only about a dozen miles west. Even minutes seemed like hours as we sped along. The Martian voices were plain now and we could still hear our three companions talking. At least, none had been baked in his spacesuit yet. As long as they kept the Martians from forming into long lines their spacesuits would protect them. Then Gail screamed and pointed. To our left we saw the spire of the spaceship. Swerving, I saw hordes of Martians closing in from the south. To the north were more of them. I was steering the Mars-car into the jaws of a trap that would close on us the minute we entered. But not to enter the trap meant surer death. There was a chance for us if we could reach the ship. Those Martians from the south were chanting: "Ha-ha! Ha-ha!" It was the same group that had pursued me near Pnyx. Although they had shied at approaching the ruined city, they apparently had traveled all night, going around it, and now were helping to encircle the spaceship. I stopped the car and fastened on my helmet. "Put yours on too, Gail," I said. She did and when she was finished, I said: "Take the controls of the car. Try to break through any Martians that are in your path and reach the causeway. Pay no attention to me." I got out of my seat and went to the locks. My rifle was there and I picked it up. I ejected shells from the magazine and filled it with explosive bullets. "What are you going to do?" she asked, her eyes wide with fear.