They entered the old hotel. A foot of sand covered the first floor. The stairs were slippery with it. Shattered windows let the cold night breeze flow through. On the second and third floors they disturbed coveys of sand bats who fluttered and squeaked and poured out the windows in a black cloud. The enemy would certainly know their location now. They came out onto the roof through a broken penthouse door, and in the faint moonlight they had a clear view of the decaying skeleton of the town. The rifles they carried would shoot flames that spread over a great area and tended to hover like flaming coronae rather than piercing. Thus, they would be effective in firing the buildings. They took up positions on opposite sides of the roof and sent a dozen shots into the base of the enemy hideout. But they had miscalculated as Nathan had feared. A fusillade of shots came from a roof directly across the street from them and their building burst into torrents of flame. They transferred their fire to the building from which the shots came. The flames hovered and glowed like demons around the base of the structure, but they died like wraiths. "I remember now," said Firebird. "That's the one fireproof building in Pheme. It was a special instrument laboratory. We'll have to smoke him out." The tiny orange puffs of a flame lance came steadily from varying points of the other building as if the enemy were running about, pausing only long enough to shoot. The flames from the burning building had already touched off the adjacent structures. The entire ghost town would be ablaze in a short time. Burning brands lit on the roof beside Nathan. They died, but others were coming in a rain of fire. They could see the enemy by the light of the fire now. They fired the buildings on either side and forced him to keep low. But his shots were close and accurate. Nathan and Firebird shifted positions after each shot, but the parapet in front of them was sieved accurately. Then Nathan suddenly realized that the building behind them was aflame and its light silhouetted them against the holes in the parapet. No wonder the enemy could find them. He shouted to Firebird, "Get down!" She was too good a flame lancer to be disturbed by his shouting. She remained calmly in position, taking a bead on the opposite window, waiting for the appearance of the top of the enemy's head. He came up for a quick sight upon the perfect target of the holes which Firebird blacked out. They fired simultaneously. Firebird's shot hit the edge of the window, spraying flame over the wall and curling it into the window. Some of it must have washed over the enemy, but too much of its energy had been dissipated to be effective. * * * * *