I kept on walking rapidly. The desert here was almost pathless;

occasionally I would cross a wandering wagon track, but none of them

seemed going in my direction. After a time I was not sure what my

direction was; all about me was a luminous darkness--and silence.



I found myself now almost exhausted from my exertions of the day. I

decided to go possibly a mile farther--to be well away from the

Mercutians--and then to lie down and sleep until daylight.



In about fifteen minutes more I concluded I had gone far enough, and,

lying down on the sand, was soon fast asleep. When I awoke it was

daylight, with the sun just rising.



With returning consciousness I looked about me in sudden fear, but there

was no one in sight. I ate the bread and meat I had in my pocket, and,

feeling much refreshed, but thirsty, I started again for Garland.



I made the town soon after noon that day. The little automobile was still

standing in the garage, and I started it without trouble. Before I left I

went up to the porch of the house.



The bodies of Mercer and the Mercutian were still lying there. I dragged

Mercer's body down the steps and put it into the back seat of the car

Then I started off. I stuck to the main road, and went through Mantua at

top speed, apprehensive that some of the Mercutians might be there. This

town, like Garland, was completely burned. Only the chimneys were left

standing amid piles of ashes.



At Frannie I took on two passengers. There was much curiosity on the part

of those I met along here, but I was unwilling to explain, deciding it

best to wait and tell my whole story to the military authorities at

Billings.



It was early afternoon when I got back to Billings. This was March 12. I

turned Mercer's body over to the police, who promptly took me in charge. I

gave them a brief outline of what had occurred. General Price, whose

command of the United States military operations against the Mercutians

was announced to the country two days later, had arrived that morning in

Billings by airplane. I demanded to see him, and when my business was

explained to him he granted me an immediate interview.



General Price was a man about fifty, a kindly gentleman of the old

Southern type, yet of thoroughly military demeanor. I told him everything

that had happened to me in detail as complete as I possibly could.

Mercer's body was examined that same afternoon. It was found to have been

drilled completely through the chest by a hole about the diameter of a

lead pencil. This hole did not seem to have been made by the passage of

any foreign object, but had more the aspect of a burn. I understood

then--Mercer had been killed by a tiny light-ray projector, with a short,

effective radius, aimed probably like a revolver.



What I was able to tell General Price about the Mercutians naturally was

invaluable to him. He asked me then to remain close to him during the

forthcoming operations. We arranged that I was on honor to give nothing

out to my paper without his approval.



The situation, as it appeared during the next few days, was not one of

grave danger. We were able to gage now with fair probability of

correctness the offensive strength of our enemies. They had no means of

transportation--could only move from their present position slowly and

with extreme difficulty. The possibility of the vehicle itself moving

occurred to us; but, as I pointed out, the task of replacing their heavy

apparatus in it, and then reassembling the apparatus in a new position,

made such a step impractical.



The only weapon the Mercutians had displayed so far was the light-ray in

its several forms. This seemed effective for ten miles at most. That the

Mercutians could be attacked by our artillery and destroyed seemed

certain.



By the 20th General Price had mobilized some ten thousand men. They

encamped on the prairie near Billings. The artillery was moved down to a

point near the Wyoming State line, about fifteen miles directly north of

the Mercutian camp.



Six days before this, forty-eight hours after I had returned to Billings,

observation planes had reported the establishment of two more light-rays,

similar in appearance to the first. During the succeeding days others

rapidly appeared. By the 20th there were probably thirty of them

altogether.



The reports stated that all were set up within a space seemingly of a few

hundred yards. They were of different diameters; some projected in

parallel rays, others spread out fan-shaped. These latter appeared not to

carry so far. The first one that had appeared, it was judged, had the

longest effective radius of them all.



During these days and nights preceding the 20th the light-rockets had been

fired with increasing frequency, but none was observed to carry over six

or eight miles. By this time the burned area for a circle of ten miles all

around the Mercutian camp was entirely depopulated, and no additional

destruction was reported.



On the night of the 20th, firing by directions from captive balloons, the

United States artillery began its bombardment from the Montana-Wyoming

line. After sending over some twenty shells, the firing ceased. It was

learned then that they had proven utterly ineffective. The diverging rays

of the Mercutian light had thrown a barrage around their position. The

shells striking the light had all exploded harmlessly in the air.



Subsequent bombardments made that night met with no better success. The

fact became obvious then that to artillery fire the Mercutians were

impregnable. For several days no further military operations were

attempted, with the exception of an occasional shell futilely thrown

against the light-rays.



The newspapers during these days were full of discussions--scientific and

otherwise--as to how this strange enemy of mankind could be destroyed or

dislodged. This was like no other warfare in history. The newspaper

statements gave the inference that General Price was entirely at a loss

how to proceed.



As a matter of fact, the press was quite correct in that assumption; and,

since the Mercutians were making no offensive moves, General Price decided

to do nothing until he was better informed.



I was fortunate enough to be present the next day at a conference the

general had with several scientific men who had come to Billings to meet

him. It was the opinion of these men of science that no artillery fire

could penetrate the light-barrage the Mercutians had thrown about them. No

airplane attack was practical, and to attack them from the ground with

infantry would be absurd.



On the other hand, it seemed obvious that the Mercutians could make no

offensive move either. They had probably already done all the damage that

they could. If matters were allowed to remain as they now were--thus

avoiding the useless sacrifice of men--inevitably the time would come when

the food supply the Mercutians had brought with them would be exhausted.

Meanwhile, if the invaders decided to move in their vehicle to another

location, they could not do so suddenly without abandoning their

apparatus.



Any lessening in the number of light-rays in operation could be taken as

an indication that a move of this kind was in preparation, and the warning

would give General Price time to execute any attack that in the meantime

might be planned.



It was decided then to remain comparatively inactive and await

developments from the opposite side.



During the three months that followed this decision artillery bases were

located at intervals on a circumference of about fifteen miles around the

Mercutian center. These were all on desert country. Lines of communication

between them were established, and the air above was thoroughly patrolled

night and day.



The ten thousand men under General Price it was not thought necessary or

advisable to augment. They were deployed around this circumference in

front of the artillery, nearer the ten-mile limit. Machine-gun outposts,

manned by volunteers exclusively, were established in Garland, Mantua and

other points within the area controlled by the light. These were for the

purpose of preventing, or reporting, any possible movements on foot of the

Mercutians.



During this time the government was, naturally, subjected to much harsh

criticism for its waiting attitude. It was suggested that armored

tanks--relics of the World War--could be put into commission. These, under

cover of darkness, could be used to rush the Mercutian position. This

obviously was an absurd plan, since the light-ray would instantly raise

the temperature of the metal composing the car to such a height that the

men inside would be killed--not to mention the fact that all explosives

in the car would be instantly detonated.



Another suggestion was that a night raid be made upon the outposts of the

camp by a few men armed with machine guns fired from the shoulder, in an

effort to capture one of the Mercutians garbed in a suit impervious to the

light. With this suit even one man with a machine gun would probably be

able to clean out the Mercutian camp.



This plan evoked much favorable comment. This black material, once in our

possession, could be analyzed and possibly be duplicated in quantity by

us. It seemed the logical way of making progress.



But, unfortunately, conditions around the Mercutian camp at present were

not the same as that night when I escaped. At that time it would have been

feasible; now it was impossible, for all the invaders were within the

small circle of projectors, and the ground outside this circle was never

free from the diverging rays of the light. Also, as one newspaper article

replied, even with such a suit of armor a man with a machine gun could do

little, for the light would instantly render useless the gun itself.



So the controversy went on, and General Price waited, knowing that each

day must bring the enemy nearer starvation. Such was the condition of

affairs in the latter part of June.



Then, one morning, I received a telegram from Alan Newland in Florida. I

had been corresponding with him at intervals, but he had never given me a

hint of what had happened down there.



The telegram read:



Important Mercutian development here.

Keep absolutely secret. Join us here at once.

Answer.



I wired him immediately. Three days later I was at Bay Head.