CHAPTER III
Weird figures suddenly burst the walls of flaming death. They wereoutlaws attired in strange accoutrements. A series of metal ringssurrounded them, connected to their bodies with spokes. The electricaldischarges darted all over the rings. As they came closer, we discoveredthat they were not surrounded by separate rings but with a continuousspiral which narrowed together at the top of the head. The other enddragged on the ground.
"Electric resistors of some kind!" muttered Cragley whose face wore ahopeless expression. "They walked right through those lightning bolts!"
Quentin aimed his pistol and fired at one of the slowly advancingfigures. The spiral glowed faintly. The outlaw continued his approach.
"There goes our last chance!" I cried. "We might just as well toss upthe sponge!"
Cragley was thinking fast. It was unlike him to give up without a fight.But what was he to do when his weapons had been shorn of their force,leaving him utterly helpless before the superior strength of thebrigands.
Several figures rushed from the bushes. They were panic-strickenpassengers. In alarm, despite the warning cry the captain hurled atthem, they rushed straight past the advancing figures with theirencumbering spirals. Frightened, bewildered, and hemmed in by the playof lightning, they ran directly in the path of the electric fence. Thecrackling bolts enfolded three of them before the fourth became startledout of his madness, retreating from the flashing death.
One of the spiral clad figures turned and regarded the frightened manfor a moment. Raising his electric pistol, he fired, and the passengerfrom the ill-fated _C-49_ joined his companions who had futilely rushedthe electric barrier.
A voice from the space ship of the brigands suddenly gave out an order.The voice came from a speaker and was many times amplified.
"Crew and passengers of the _C-49_--come out in the open. Bring theplatinum with you. Keep away from the electric fence unless you wish todie. Come out--or we shall come in and hunt you down."
The spiralled figures inside the fence had stopped at sound of the voiceand were waiting for us to comply with the order from the space ship.More of the brigands in their electric resistors were advancing throughthe lightning bolts which crackled noisily. The powerful voltage dancedand played upon the spirals, disappearing into the ground.
Cragley paused, undecided. Lines of broken resolve creased his face.Previously, he had remained strong and stubborn in the face ofoverwhelming adversity when chances were slim. There now remained noteven the slimmest of chances, and stubborn courage yielded to reason.
"I guess the game's up, Quentin." He turned to regard his under officerin speculation.
Quentin waited for his captain's orders. Again came the voice from theoutlaw craft in its strident tones. They were tinged with a touch ofimpatience.
"Show yourselves inside of one minute, or else be executed at once!Unless----"
"Hold out!" cried a new voice from the speaker, breaking in upon thefirst voice. "You have friends on----"
Then came sounds of scuffling. To our ears came imprecations and curses.
"Don't go out there!" warned the second voice in laboring gasps."Stay----"
With a sudden snap, the speaker was cut off. Nothing more was heard. Fora moment the lightning bolts comprising the electric fence flashedout--then reappeared. A few seconds later they disappeared once more,returning shortly to flicker in a peculiar manner.
It was evident that some sort of a struggle was taking place inside theoutlaw ship. The electric display crackled and sputtered louder thanever. With a sudden, explosive thunder clap, the four terminal postsblew to pieces.
The spiralled figures turned in alarm back toward their craft. One ofthem, hovering close to our haven of retreat, did not follow hiscomrades. Instead, he drew forth from a long side pocket a black object.At first glance, it seemed shaped like a pistol. But it was much longerand was proportioned differently.
He waited patiently until several more of the brigands had returned tothe ship. Raising the black weapon, he aimed carefully at his fellowoutlaws. The man's strange actions amazed me. He was turning upon hisown comrades. Several of the brigands fell backward off the deck of theoutlaw craft.
Cragley, beside me, was speechless in surprise at the rapid successionof events. The outlaw's strange weapon which emitted no flash had us allwondering. Later, we discovered that it was a radium gun, a newinstrument of destruction still in the experimental stage.
"Who is he?" voiced Cragley.
"Can't be the fellow we heard over the speaker," observed Quentin. "Thisman came through the electric fence with the first ones."
"Somebody over there is pulling for us," insisted Cragley, "and the manwith the black gun must be a friend, too."
A flash darted out from the ship, hitting the spiralled figure operatinghis mystifying weapon. The spiral glowed brilliantly. The man inside thespiral remained unaffected, continuing to manipulate the knob of hisweapon. Something went wrong with it, for the outlaw who had so suddenlyturned against his friends tinkered with it a moment, then threw it fromhim in disgust. Meanwhile, the brigands had massed inside the ship.
* * * * *
With a loud crackling, the speaker's volume was thrown on again. Analarmed voice vibrated in our ears. Above the words came a rattling andbanging--also the muffled sound of shouting men.
"Jasper! Come t' the control room! I'm locked in! They're bustin' downthe door! Bring that gun o' yours! Hurry, lad!"
Jasper looked upon his broken weapon, hesitated a moment, then picked itup--butt foremost. Seizing it in cudgel fashion, he made for the ship.
"Come on!" roared Cragley exultantly. "Now's our chance!"
We found our numbers reduced to ten, but every one of us leaped forwardat Cragley's order, ready to stake everything on the one desperate,fighting chance which had come so unexpectedly. We had nearly overtakenthe man we had heard addressed as Jasper when a crackling flame oflightning leaped out at us. A hissing roar smote our ear drums and wewere temporarily dazzled by an intense light. The aim had been too high.The electric charge had gone over our heads. The man in the control roomhad frustrated the attempt to electrocute us.
Several of the brigands jumped out of the ship to meet us. They stillwore the encumbering spirals. A powerful gas of paralyzing effect wasshot into our faces. We became as immobile as statues. Jasper, too, wasovercome. Instantly, we were divested of our weapons.
The man locked in the control room of the ship had been taken. Whoeverthese two men were who had championed our cause, their desperate effortshad failed, and now we were all in the same boat. The one who hadaddressed us over the speaker was led out of the ship and shoved intoour group beside his fellow traitor, Jasper. The latter's spiral waspromptly torn off.
As the outlaws passed among us, searching for concealed weapons, I felta cold object thrust cautiously into my hand. My heart thrilled to thecontact of a pistol. I held my hand close to my side that none mightsee. The effects of the gas wore off quickly.
The chief of the brigands, his brutal face set in anger, strode up tothe pair who had turned against him during the stress of combat. Hisdark eyes blazed, and he raised his clutching hands menacingly above thetwo. Jasper and his friend stared back unabashed, a reckless glitter intheir eyes, ready for what might happen.
"I don't know who you are, but I've got suspicions!" snapped the outlaw."You'll both die horribly--the kind of death we reserve for such asyou!"
He turned upon Cragley. "Where's the platinum?" he demanded. "Is it overthere?" He pointed to the clump of bushes from which we had latelyemerged. "Or have you hidden it?"
"See for yourself!" snapped Cragley.
"When we find it, all tongues will be silenced," he remarkedsignificantly. "If it's hidden, we'll find it just the same. We know howto make tongues wag."
It was a desperate situation. Cragley knew that the time of reckoninghad come. The platinum lay in an open space among the bushes where wehad take
n our stand on seeing the approach of the outlaw ship. I fondledthe gun I held out of sight.
Leaving a large force of his men to guard us, the leader of the brigandstook the balance of his men and headed for the spot where CaptainCragley had left the boxes of platinum.
"Well, Ben," observed Jasper, philosophically scratching his head, "wedid the best we could."
"Which weren't quite enough, Jasper, m'lad."
"Who are you two?" queried Cragley.
Each one looked at the other questioningly. For a moment neither spoke.Then through a rough, unkempt beard, Ben grinned at his companion.
"Might as well tell 'im, Jasper. The game's up."
"We ain't outlaws, that's sure, though we might have made believe so,"said
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