by Earl
Crane could almost see the invisible shrug. Then he gasped, as his thoughts pierced back and back, through haze of mystery.
“You were with us all the time!” he exclaimed. “The take-off at Chicago—the plane was overloaded because of your added weight. During the flight, you once kept Jondra from falling. It was your hand on my shoulder that first indicated the valley to me, from the air.
“You kept me from striking Harlan, when he criticized my landing. You turned off the ignition key, to prevent danger of fire!”
Crane gulped for breath. It was all so clear now! He could see dawning looks of understanding on the others’ faces.
“Yes,” came from the Invisible Robinhood, “and I also threw the second grenade, when the dragon attacked you and Jondra. I was the one sneaking around the plane, when Jondra appeared, after the radio was smashed.
“Yesterday, I threw the grenade when you and Pierre struggled together, killing the second dragon.”
“You saved our lives?” Dr. Damon murmured. “Then you’re our friend—”
“Is he?” Crane’s face was suddenly grim. “It must have been you that spoiled Pierre’s first shot, and later chased away the deer, Mr. Invisible Robinhood. And you also smashed the plane’s radio! You, as much as Harlan, have wanted to keep us locked in this valley without outside communication. Why?”
The unseen man seemed to ponder for a moment, silently. Then his disembodied voice, ignoring the accusations, addressed the dazed, crestfallen Harlan.
“I’ve tracked you from the start, Paul Harlan. I knew you would reveal yourself—Agent R-616!”
Harlan started. “You mean you know—”
The Invisible Robinhood made an affirmative sound.
“Everything.” He addressed the others. “This man is a quisling[3]—a member of the fifth column operating in North America!”
“Fifth column!” Dr. Damon gasped. “What do they want up here in this godforsaken—”
“Your invisibility, of course,” the answer came back sharply. “They got on the track of it when Pierre, delivering your first message, took time out for a few drinks. He slipped, mentioning the valley of invisibility. No one paid any attention except a fifth column spy. They’re all over, with their ears and eyes open for everything.
“Their headquarters was informed, in Chicago, and a certain masked Commander “Z” met a certain agent R-616 in a cheap hotel room, to give him his instructions. When Jondra put an ad in the paper for a chemist, Agent R-616 answered. Paul Harlan is an expert chemist, in real life. But he is also a fifth columnist—working for them, not you!”
“Good Lord!” Dr. Damon shook his head dazedly. “I never dreamed—”
“How do you know all that, Invisible Robinhood?” Crane asked.
THEY could sense his peculiar smile.
“I am silent as the wind, swift as the tiger. I am unseen, undetectible. I see all, know all, hear all. At any moment I may be at your elbow, any where!”
He chuckled. “At least, that was my publicity, during my campaign against crime, for the benefit of those who needed to fear me. As a matter of fact, I stumbled on this accidentally.
“Since the European war, I’ve been investigating fifth column activities, the greatest menace on this continent today. For a year I was on the trail. It wasn’t an easy job.
“The fifth column has spawned and spread almost unhindered, like a malignant cancer. They are very clever, no quisling knowing more than one other quisling by name. The vast anonymous network has but one common basis—the undermining of the North American peoples. They vision the day when in one stunning upheaval, America the unconquerable will be fast in their grip.
“They have gained recruits—renegades to their country—from every walk of life, and by any and all means. Particularly appeal to ambition and dissatisfaction.
“Paul Harlan is a typical example. He is ambitious. The fifth column converts have more ambition per square head than any other group in the country. And the fifth column G.H.Q. lavishes promises faster than any blitzkrieg ever took objectives.
“That’s what I’m up against—for I’ve vowed to smash the fifth column. The only way will be to reach the top men. I had laboriously tracked my way as high as Commander Z. But when he gave R-616 his instructions to get the secret of invisibility, I had to follow that branch trail.
“I was at Paul Harlan’s elbow when he met Commander Z. I was at Paul Harlan’s elbow when he stepped into the plane at the airport.”
Crane had to laugh at Harlan’s crushed air.
“You didn’t have a chance at all, Harlan, in your doublecrossing—”
He broke off, lifting his head. They all heard it—a faint drone from the sky. A tiny plane sparkling high in the air, in the south. It rapidly enlarged into a two-motored cabin ship. It swooped, circling the valley.
“Harlan’s fifth columnist friends!” Crane whirled to the scientist. “What’s the way out of the valley by foot, that you and Pierre found? The sooner we leave, the better. We can pack enough food along to reach some town—” Harlan was grinning. “The one trail out of the valley,” he put in, “is at the other end. I saw it on Dr. Damon’s map. There is also a clearing there, wide enough for a plane landing. I told my men to come down there!”
“We’re cut off!” the scientist groaned. “There’s no other way out!” They watched helplessly as the plane zoomed down, landing five miles away in the clearing at that end of the valley.
“They’ll be here soon, probably with sub-machine guns,” Crane muttered. “Their job is to mow us down.”
He automatically patted Jondra’s shoulder as she crept into his arms. They all knew without saying that the fifth column revolutionists were more brutal in their methods than any in history. There was no escape, and no quarter from which to expect help.
CHAPTER VII
The Fifth Column
THE Invisible Robinhood’s voice rang out.
“It isn’t over yet. We have guns. Stand them off. Lock Harlan up in the cave.”
His authoritative voice broke up the indecision of the others. They accepted his leadership instantly. Somehow, invisible though he was, there was an air of confidence and resourcefulness about him.
Crane and Pierre shoved Harlan into the cave, after removing all guns, ammunition and grenades. The solid pine door was swung shut and barred from outside. Harlan would have no chance to aid his fellow quislings.
Then Crane, Dr. Damon and Pierre distributed themselves at separate points just behind the outjutting logs of the crude walls. They would not be easy targets in the shadow of the rock overhang. Jondra stood beside Crane, a rifle gripped in her hands with grim determination. Crane squeezed her shoulder.
“Be brave, Jondra,” he whispered. “The Invisible Robinhood will have a trick or two up his sleeve, if the stories about him are at all true.”
But for the present, he had simply done as they had—taken a strategic position. A rifle hung eerily at shoulder height, waiting for the adversary.
The enemy appeared within two hours, picking their way gingerly through the invisible forest. Harlan had evidently given them enough details of the valley and its strange unseen life to allow them planned action. They came directly toward the cave.
Crane’s heart sank. Six of them, hard-looking men, trained by the fifth column for just this sort of bloody work. Each carried a rifle, a knapsack of grenades, and three of them carried the parts of a portable automatic gun. They wore metal helmets and dull-gray uniforms. They were as efficiently prepared for their mission as any spearhead unit of a mechanized army in the European war.
The fifth column did nothing by halves, in their subversive program to undermine the thus far adamant American hemisphere.
The party stopped five hundred yards away, out of range of any but superb marksmanship. One man raised a speaking tube to his mouth and yelled across.
“You have Paul Harlan prisoner?”
Sensing the Invisible Robi
nhood did not wish to reveal his presence, Crane cupped his lips and shouted back the affirmative.
“Give yourselves up!” came back. “You have no chance against us. If you surrender quietly, we promise you safe passage back. We do not want your lives, only the secret of invisibility!”
“A lie, of course,” the Invisible Robinhood’s whisper came. “The fifth column doesn’t know what the word ‘honor’ is. If we surrender, we’ll be shot down like dogs!”
Crane’s voice was an enraged taunt.
“Come and get us!”
The leader waved a hand instantly, as though knowing that would be the answer. The men scattered in a semicircle and began creeping within gun range. Rifles barked. Shots tore around them viciously.
CRANE shot six times, taking careful beads, and then cursed lividly. Not one of those clearly exposed men had dropped or even faltered.
“The invisible forest protects them,” Jondra said. “They’re running from invisible tree to invisible tree.”
Crane ground his teeth at the irony. Imponderable light went through the trees, but not bullets. The raiders had a perfect protective medium. They crept closer steadily, firing slowly, waiting to get within effective range.
Their tactics were mercilessly efficient. At three hundred yards, three men scurried together, and began hastily assembling their machine gun. The other three poured a withering rifle barrage toward the cave, to disconcert the defenders’ aim.
The gun was set up in seconds. Two men dashed away and the third threw himself full length behind the gun. In a moment its raking fire began systematically to cover every inch of the defended area.
Flinging Jondra flat on the ground behind the log wall, Crane himself shrank back. Solid sheets of lead were prying into every nook and corner. Splinters of wood flew viciously.
“What can we do?” came Dr. Damon’s wail from the other side. “We can’t fire a shot back!”
Crane knew there was one thing to try. Waiting till the swinging muzzle had arced away from him, he desperately ran out, hurling a grenade. It fell far short, digging a uselesss pit. The horrible chatter of the automatic weapon went on unabated, filling the valley with a rattling thunder.
As though his grenade had been the signal, the other five invaders ran forward boldly, grenades in their hands. In a few seconds, within range, they would bomb down the log walls.
“We’ve got to do something, Invisible Robinhood!” Crane shouted. “For God’s sake, think of something! We’ll be murdered where we stand—”
Crane suddenly realized he was talking to himself. The spot where the invisible man had stood seemed no different except for one thing—there was no rifle hanging mysteriously without support.
“Damn him!” Crane raged. “He’s deserted us! I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him—”
His voice was drowned out by a furious roar. The grenades! Then already the enemy were within range!
Crane waited for the log walls to crash around their ears, leaving them defenseless.
Instead, the roar was followed by the familiar crackling of a splintered tree. Then a ground-shaking thump, as its invisible bulk smashed down and measured its length on the ground.
Another roar. Again a tree gave its death wail and sought its grave.
Roar!—Crash!
Roar!—Crash!
Crane looked out. The five advancing attackers had halted in their tracks, grenades unthrown. They looked about frightened, as the invisible forest seemed to have gone mad, threatening to crush them with hundred-foot falling juggernauts.
HUGH CRANE let out a whoop of joy. The enemy couldn’t know that an invisible man was among them, tossing grenades at trees and bringing them down. It was as though a giant were uprooting them as clubs and beating the ground to blindly obliterate the invaders.
So it must have seemed to the thoroughly astounded fifth columnists. They fled back, like scared rabbits. They had been ready for anything, but not trees falling like leaves.
The man at the machine gun courageously stuck to his post, until invisible branches of a crashing tree knocked his weapon twenty feet through the air, and himself into a thicket of invisible brambles.
They retreated, but not in panic. Well trained, even in the face of a staggering surprise, they unhitched the machine gun and left at a dog-trot. One man ran smack into an invisible tree, knocking himself out. Two others put their arms under his shoulders and dragged him along. One man covered the rear at a slower pace, glancing back as often as he could, rifle ready.
Crane restrained himself from ordering a counter-attack. They were still a formidable force, in their well-organized retreat. Let them go. Crane contented himself with taking a careful bead, estimating the invisible trees by their winding path, and seeing one man jerk and clutch his arm. They would take back one wound, as well as their bruises from the falling trees.
“Well, how was that?”
Crane started. The Invisible Robinhood’s voice had spoken beside his ear.
“Great!” Crane commended. “You saved the day! But why not follow them now? You could pick them off one by one—”
“No. If I tried that, they would radio to the plane. They are always in radio contact. The men at the plane—perhaps three or four men left on guard —would then know of an invisible man. They’d plan against me.
“I’ve seen enough of fifth column methods to know it’s a mistake to underestimate them. They’re not brainless, blundering gangsters. They’re intelligent, clever, efficient to the highest degree.”
His voice became low, thoughtful.
“We have a tough fight ahead of us—to escape them. They’ll come back next with light field guns, perhaps, hurling shells from a mile or two back.”
“Good Lord!” shuddered Dr. Damon. “Just like the war in Europe—machines against men. We haven’t a ghost of a chance of holding out!”
A pair of invisible fingers snapped.
“We have one good chance. Their whole mission is to bring back the secret of invisibility. Suppose we spill all the blood samples, and then let them know that Harlan will be killed by us.
“They might be willing to bargain for his life, since they would lose time starting at scratch again. One of the fifth column’s main creeds is speed, speed. Let’s talk to Harlan.”
“Spill the samples—no!” Dr. Daman almost shouted it. “I won’t allow it. I—”
Crane could feel the invisible man’s cold stare at the scientist.
“Have you thought of invisible fifth columnists, Dr. Damon? They would have a noose around America before we could say mechanized unit! They must not get that secret!”
DR. DAMON gasped. “Invisible fifth columnists!” He made no further objections.
Pierre swung open the barred door.
“Come out, Harlan,” Crane commanded. “We want to talk to you.”
There was no answer. Crane repeated his words, then stepped in impatiently.
“If I have to drag you out, like a stubborn child—”
His voice ground to a startled halt.
The interior of the cave-space was empty! The others crowded in, gaping. Harlan was simply not there, only his clothing piled in a heap.
“How could he have escaped?” Crane said dazedly. “Through solid log walls and a barred door?”
Jondra screamed. “That shadow at the door—”
They whirled. Something shadowy and vague was plunging through the doorway. It was in the shape of a man.
“Harlan!”
Crane leaped, but something shouldered him aside at the door. The Invisible Robinhood had leaped first, and was chasing the escaping man.
Running outside, the rest saw only a translucent silhouette racing away into the forest, pursued by something they could not see at all.
Five minutes later the Invisible Robinhood’s voice sounded before them, panting.
“Got away. Wasn’t quite invisible, but in the sunlight it was like keeping your eye on a flitting shadow
. I lost him.”
“He injected some of the blood solution into his veins!” Dr. Damon cried. “I should have known he’d try it. The invisibility hormone is so powerful it works within an hour. He’ll be completely invisible soon, and stay that way till the dose wears off—probably twenty-four hours.”
“An invisible man against us!” Jondra whispered.
Crane looked at the Invisible Robinhood—or the spot he occupied.
“That complicates matters. Harlan, invisible, can come sneaking back and—”
He didn’t finish the sentence. It would sound too horrible to say it. But suddenly he did say it, in altered form. “Why not sneak to their camp and murder them in their sleep?” he demanded. “Every minute that goes by endangers us. And all America! You’re invisible. They can’t touch you. Take a gun and shoot them down like they would have shot us down.
“I know it won’t be an easy thing to do. Any decent man’s soul revolts at being a cowardly assassin. But you’ve got to, Robinhood. It’s the only way!”
The others looked at each other, shuddering. It was a stark, merciless suggestion. The height, perhaps, of sheer deliberate murder. But the stakes were equally in proportion.
There was silence from the Invisible Robinhood for a long moment. Then a deep, grim sigh.
“Give me a rifle and twelve bullets,” he said.
A moment later he was gone, as unseen and silent as the wind.
CHAPTER VIII
Under Fire
CRANE said little to Jondra as they waited, his arm across her shoulder. Dr. Damon seemed to find the ground interesting. Pierre stared out over the invisible forest, his black eyes enigmatic as always.
They strained their ears to hear shots. The shots that would announce human beings murdered without a chance, by an invisible assassin. It was a grim, soul-searing game that was being played out in a sunken valley, far north of the teeming cities of America.