suicide, sheer suicide."
"Is my life any more precious than yours, or that of some volunteerArmy pilot?" Jim asked him.
"But there is Joan. If I fail--she must depend on you."
"If you fail, Professor, Joan won't need me or anyone, for long. No, Igo. So let's chuck the argument and get ready."
"Oh, Jimmy!" sobbed Joan. "Jimmy!"
But her eyes, as they met his mistily, were lit with a proud splendor.
* * * * *
Two hours later, Jim Carter's little auto-plane lifted into the night,and, with that precious tube mounted above the cabin, winged swiftlywestward.
As on his former foray into that fiery realm, Jimmy timed his flightto arrive over the eastern edge of the Arizona desert just beforedawn. Somewhere in that great sandy waste, they felt, there would be aplace to set the plane down and get the ray going.
Professor Wentworth had broadcast the particulars of his tube to hisscientific colleagues wherever humanity still remained, and the eyesof the world were on this flight. If successful, swift planes wouldbear similar tubes to the centers of the devastated regions elsewhere,and sweep outward with their deadly rays. The earth would be rid ofthis fiery invader. If it were not successful....
Jim preferred not to think of that, as he drove on into the night.
Crossing the Missouri River at dark and deserted Kansas City, theysoon saw the eastern arc of that deadly orange circle loom on thehorizon. To get over it safely, Jim rose to twenty thousand feet, buteven there the heat, as they sped across the frontier into enemyterritory, was terrific.
Anxiously he watched his revs and prayed for his motor to hold up. Ifit stopped now, they were cooked!
The sturdy engine purred on with scarcely a flutter, however, and soonthey were behind the lines, in a region pitted with the smolderingfires of towns and cities.
It made them shudder, it presented such an appalling panorama of ruin.But at the same time, it strengthened their hope. For very few flaresof orange gleamed now among the red. The main forces of the invaderwere at the front. That meant there should be a safe place to landsomewhere.
* * * * *
An hour later, some miles beyond that weird glass citadel that hadbeen their objective, they found a wide stretch of empty desert, andthere Jim brought the little plane down to a faultless landing, justas dawn was lightening the east.
Stepping out, he drew a deep breath of relief. For had he crashed, orsmashed that fragile tube, all would have been in vain.
"Well, here we are!" he exclaimed, grimly cheerful, as ProfessorWentworth stepped out after him. "Now let's--"
Then he broke off, horrified, as he saw another figure follow theprofessor from the cabin.
"Joan!" he gasped.
"Present!" she replied.
"But, my daughter!" the professor's voice broke in. "My dear child!" Asob shook him. "Why, why, this is--"
"Please don't let's talk about it!" she begged, giving his arm alittle pat. "I'm here and it can't be helped now. I was only afraidyou'd find me before it was too late and take me back."
Then, edging over to Jim and slipping her arm in his, she murmured:
"Oh, my dear! Don't you see I couldn't stay behind? I had to be withyou at the end, Jimmy, if--"
"It won't be!" he cried, pressing her cold hand. "It can't be!"
Then he turned to give his attention to her father, who had alreadymounted to the cockpit and was working absorbedly over his mechanismin the pale light of the coming day.
Any moment, Jim knew, those flaming termites might discover them, andcome swooping down. With keen eyes he scanned the horizon. No sign ofthem yet.
"How are you up there?" he called.
"About ready," was the reply. "But I shall want more light than thisfor my mirrors."
Tensely, counting the seconds, they waited for the sunrise....
* * * * *
And now, as they waited, suddenly a sinister tinge of orange suffusedthe rosy hues of the east.
"The Fire Ants!" cried Joan, shrinking. "They've seen us! They'recoming!"
It was true, Jim saw with a heavy heart.
Turning to Professor Wentworth, he gasped out:
"Quick! We've got to do something! You've no idea how fast they move!"
"Very well." The professor's voice was strangely calm. "You may startyour motor. I shall do what I can. Though if we only had the sun--"
Jim leaped for the cabin.
A touch of the starter and the powerful engine came in. Braking hiswheels hard, to hold the plane on the ground, he advanced the throttleas much as he dared, and sent a high-tension current surging throughthe wires the professor had connected with his tube above.
Soon came that high, whining hum they had heard in the laboratory--athousand times magnified now--and the nib of the big tube glowed alivid, eery green in the lemon dawn.
"Joan!" called her father sharply. "Get in the cabin with Jim!"
She did so, her eyes still fixed in horrified fascination on theeastern horizon; and in that tense instant, she saw two things. First,a great orange arc of fiery termites, bearing down on them; andsecond, another arc, far greater--the vast saffron rim of the risingsun.
Those two things Joan saw--and so did Jim--as their eardrums almostburst with the stupendous vibration that came from the gun in thecockpit. Then they saw a third, something that left them mute withawe.
As Professor Wentworth swung his cannon ray upon that advancing horde,it melted, vanished, leaving only the clear yellow of the morningsunlight before their bewildered eyes.
* * * * *
But the professor did not cease. For five minutes--ten, fifteen--heswung that mighty ray around, stepping up its power, lengthening itsrange, as it reached its invisible, annihilating arm farther andfarther out....
Meanwhile Jim was radio-phoning frantically. The air seemed strangelyfull of static.
At last he got Overton of _The New York Press_.
"Carter speaking, out in Arizona," he said. "Getting any reports onthe ray?"
And back came the tremendous news:
"Results! Man, the world's crazy! They're gone--everywhere! Tell theprofessor to lay off, before he sends us scooting too."
"Right!" said Jim, cutting his motor. "More later!"
And to Professor Wentworth he called:
"All right, that's enough! That ray was stronger than you knew!"
But there came no answer, and mounting to the wing-tip, Joanfollowing, Jim saw a sight that froze him with horror. They beheld theprofessor, slumped against the tube, his whole body glowing a pale,fluorescent green.
"Father!" screamed Joan, rushing to his side. "Oh, Father!"
The man stirred, motioned her away, gasped weakly:
"Do not touch me, child--until the luminosity goes. I am highlyradio-active. I had no time to--insulate the tube. No time to find outhow. Had to--hurry--"
His voice waned off and they knew he was dead. The two stood therestunned by the realization of his great sacrifice.
He and Joan had set forth on this venture knowing they stood at leasta chance, thought Jim, but Professor Wentworth had known from thestart that it was sure death for him.
* * * * *
The sun stood out above the eastern horizon like a huge gold coin,bright with the promise of life to spend, when Jim and Joan took offat last for the return home; but the radiance of the morning wasdimmed by the knowledge of the tragic burden they bore.
For some moments, as they winged on, both were silent.
"Look!" said Jim at length. "Look ahead, Joan!"
She looked, brightened somewhat.
"Yes, I see."
And after a moment, lifting her hazel eyes to his, she said. "Oh,Jimmy, I'm sure it means happiness for us."
"Yes, I'm sure!"
She stirred, moved closer.
"Jimmy, you--
you're all I have now."
He made no reply, save to press her trembling hand. But it was enough.
Silently, understandingly, they winged onward into the morning light.
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