He shook his head thoughtfully. "I think that they will believe it soon, Ransome," he said. "If these visitations from above continue--" "You think they will continue?" I asked. "After all, why should they? If beings out of space actually are trawling, they must have learned enough from their two attempts to satisfy them about earth's surface." "I don't think so. For all we know, Ransome, they may be searching for minerals or ores or materials unknown to us, hoping to drag them up from the bottom of this air-ocean. Or they may want living things, for purposes of their own. Or it may be mere scientific curiosity. God knows what motives sway them, but let us hope for one thing." "And that--?" "That they do not find whatever they are searching for. For if they do; if they come to look on earth as a source of needed materials, it means the end of our civilization. Imagine those gigantic trawls descending in great numbers out of the skies day and night to gouge earth's surface--imagine perhaps great air-submarines or hermetically closed ships of some kind venturing down here to the surface--or submarine mines, caissons of some strange sort here at the bottom of the atmospheric ocean--creatures of dread--" I shook myself clear of the horrors his words suggested. "After all," I reminded him, "this is a rather baseless fear. There haven't been any more cataclysms and it may well be that--" Abruptly I halted. Through the open windows of the apartment came the growing clamor of shouting voices. We ran to the window and at the sight of the excited newsboys along the street I think that the same foreboding gripped us both. Three minutes later we were looking together at one of the newspaper extras, reading it in a horror-dazed silence. Only a few hours before, the terror from above had struck earth for the third time, and this time with the most terrible results thus far. For the victim had been Chicago! The colossal scoop which the excited Finn had attempted to describe had descended lightning-like out of the skies at dusk, and with incredible swiftness had cut a vast lane of destruction through the city. [Illustration: The colossal scoop had descended lightning-like out of the skies at dusk, and with incredible swiftness had cut a vast lane of destruction through the city. It glittered strangely as though composed of an unknown metal.] The giant thing had been seen more or less clearly by many thousands, despite the swiftness of its action. It was colossal in size, much like a steam-shovel's scoop in shape, glittering strangely, as though composed of an unknown metal. Its top disappeared far above into the night.