For only a moment he stood there tautly facing them, fiercely peering; then, with an agile bound he leaped away from the fire and scuttled like a huge beetle toward the opposite cliff. They could only see him dimly now, but they saw him turn in a posture of defiance, arms spread out as though protecting the cliff behind him. "Whew!" Prokle breathed. "That goes double for me," said Garth. "Come on." He leaped the remaining distance to the base of their cliff, and Prokle alighted easily beside him. They peered across at Chiswell. "There's a sort of cave over there," Prokle exclaimed, "and he's standing in front of it! Say, he's gone mad all right, but there's something else behind his madness." Garth nodded. He grasped his partner's arm and moved forward slowly, saying: "Careful now; we'll try to reason with him." They had almost reached the fire when they saw Chiswell's hand come up again with unexpected swiftness. They fell flat upon the rock, and just in time, as the ray flashed close above them. Garth realized they must have been easily visible in the fire-glow, and could have kicked himself for a fool. But now Prokle was chuckling. "Didn't you notice?" he whispered. "That last ray was dim, it didn't much more than reach us. His charge must be getting low. A couple more like that and it'll be finished." A few minutes they lay there, watching, as Chiswell made no further move. They could see the cave plainer now, a cave as high as Chiswell's head, but narrow, extending darkly back into the towering rock. Without warning Prokle leaped up, ran a few feet forward and flopped down again, just as Chiswell's ray stabbed over him. "Prokle! You damn fool!" Garth crept forward beside him. "It's all right. I doubt if he has another full charge in that gun now." "Chiswell!" Garth called, but softly. "We're your friends, don't you understand that? Put down the gun. We've come to take you away from here!" For the first time, then, they heard the madman's voice. It was just as soft as Garth's had been, but cunning. The voice spoke five words: "I know what you want!" "We want to get you off that rock, that's what we want." Then Garth added: "The _Martian Princess_, don't you remember? The space-wreck? All the others were saved--don't you want to be saved? "You sound like some street-corner missionary," Prokle said, chuckling. And again the madman's words came--cunning, but with a certain cool menace: "I know what you want!" "See?" Prokle said. "You can't reason with him. Hell, I wonder what he does think we want?" Prokle leaped up, stood exposed in the dying fire-light. Again the ray spurted. Gravity was light, and before Prokle could fall away from it, the ray caught him in the chest. Prokle fell and Garth cursed. "It's all right, all right!" Prokle assured him quickly. "Just scorched my suit a little. Well, that finishes his ray." "You're still a fool!" Garth snapped. * * * * *