Our muscular guard, Gravgak was too bold. He had picked up one of their clubs and he ran toward their advance, and to all of Tomboldo's party it must have appeared that he was bravely rushing to his death. Yet the gesture of the club he swung so wildly could have been intended as a _warning_! It could have meant, Run back, you fools, or these strange devils will throw fire at you. I threw fire. And so did my lieutenant. He didn't wait for orders, thank goodness. He knew it was their lives or ours. Zip, zip, zip--BLANG-BLANG-BLANG! The bursts of fire at their feet ripped the rocks. The spray caught them and knocked them back. Three or four warriors in the fore ranks were torn up in the blasts. Others were flattened--and those who were able, ran. They ran, not waiting for the cover of sponge-trees. Not bothering to pick up their clubs. But the operation was not a complete success. We had suffered a serious casualty. The guard Gravgak. He had rushed out too far, and the first blast of fire and rock had knocked him down. Now Tomboldo and others of the party hovered over him. His eyes opened a little. I thought he was staring at me, drilling me with suspicion. I worked over him with medicines. The crowd around us stood back in an attitude of awe as Split and I applied ready bandages, and held a stimulant to his nostrils that made him breath back to consciousness. Suddenly he came to life. Lying there on his back, with the club still at his fingertips, he swung up on one elbow. The swift motion caused a cry of joy from the crowd. I heard a little of it--and then blacked out. For as the muscular Gravgak moved, his fingers closed over the handle of the club. It whizzed upward with him--apparently all by accident. The stone that dangled from the end of the club crashed into my head. I went into instant darkness. Darkness, and a long, long silence. 4. Vauna, the beautiful daughter of Tomboldo, came into my life during the weeks that I lay unconscious. I must have talked aloud much during those feverish hours of darkness. "Campbell!" I would call out of a nightmare. "Campbell, we're about to land. Is everything set? Check the instruments again, Campbell." "S-s-sh!" The low hush of Split Campbell's voice would somehow penetrate my dream. The voices about me were soft. My dreams echoed the soft female voices of this new, strange language. "Campbell, are you there?... Have you forgotten the Code, Campbell?" "Quiet, Captain." "Who is it that's swabbing my face? I can't see." "It's Vauna. She's smiling at you, Captain. Can't you see her?" "Is this the pretty one we saw through the telescope?" "One of them." "And what of the other? There were two together. I remember--" "Omosla is here too. She's Vauna's attendant. We're all looking after you, Captain Linden. Did you know I performed an operation to relieve the pressure on your brain? You must get well, Captain." The words of Campbell came through insistently.