After one good look about, I issued the order to start. As we clambered down the ship's ladder to the beach and set out resolutely toward the hills, I made myself try to hope, and for a time did muster up a little cheer. I did not keep it, though. In less than ten minutes something happened which ended our expedition in a terrible manner. What began it was a long shout which came echoing from LeConte back on the ship. The instant I heard the cry I knew, somehow, that trouble had started. Leider had kept off us as long as we had remained quiet, but at our first move he had gone into action. While LeConte's cry still echoed in my ears, I swung to face the ship and saw him waving frantically from the deck. At that moment I also had a queer impression that the sunlight was growing brighter on all the glittering rocks, and that some new feeling was creeping into the air. "Doctor Weeks!" LeConte cried across the distance between us. "Come at once!" Terror had laid hold of the man. Captain Crane, Koto and I began to run to him. "What is it?" I shouted. "I don't know," came the thin answer. "I almost had Earth when my whole set went to pieces. Come, quickly!" "We will, if we're able," I muttered to myself, and said aloud as I ran in the gigantic bounds possible on Orcon: "Koto, Captain, do you feel anything queer in the air as if--as if--" I never finished. Suddenly Captain Crane screamed and flung out her arms to me with the gesture of one about to fall. "Doctor Weeks!" she gasped. "Frederick, help me!" * * * * * And that was all. Before she could choke out another word, before I could do more than clutch at her, she had been caught up by an invisible power, caught up straight into the now dazzlingly brilliant green air, and swept away from us as if she were a feather in a tornado. It was over before realization could sink in. Nor was her departure all. From the ship came a ringing yell, and as LeConte, in the distance, clutched a stanchion as if for dear life, the whole battered, glimmering gray shape of the flier moved, shivered, and in a flash was caught up and whisked away as easily as had been Virginia Crane! "He's got us!" I sputtered as I turned to Koto. "He was only waiting until we started to march against him." "God, yes. Horrible!" he muttered. Then _his_ kindly yellow face went white. Even while I stood looking at him, he, too, was swept away into space. When my turn came, it was as if implacable fingers took hold of my wrists, the front of my coat, my shoes. I distinctly remember thinking that after all the peace we'd had, something as astounding as this was almost bound to have happened. The glittering boulders of the coastal plain fell away, and I felt myself being whirled through space. The speed was taking my breath away. A ringing came into my ears, spots floated before my eyes, a nauseating light-headedness swept me, and I lapsed into unconsciousness. CHAPTER IV