"Have I come here only to kill? Look, I have slain another innocent creature!
It was true, for the fellow I have spoken of had dropped at the shot at the very instant when his craft swerved from its course.
"I had to do it," Edmund continued, mastering his emotion. "He would not get out of the way."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Cannot you understand—" He began with a little impatience, and then added: "But, of course, you know nothing about it. I knew, from my examination of the machinery of this craft, that the only way to prevent a collision was to burst a large safety-valve which was directly behind that fellow.
"That would cause the airship to lose way and swerve from its course. He ought to have managed it himself, but he was too stupid or too excited. There was nothing for me to do but to send a shot through him into the machinery. Heaven knows I had to do it, or she would have been killed, and all of us would probably have gone to the bottom."
So intense had been the excitement and fear among our companions on account of the impending collision, that the report of Edmund's shot did not produce the effect that it would otherwise have had.
But as it echoed up from the sea and reverberated in the sky, the other airships hurried in great alarm toward us, and soon we were the center of a fluttering crowd, which filled the atmosphere like a multitude of butterflies scared up from a roadside puddle.
Then the prismatic language broke forth again, and the air for a while was like a crazy-quilt whipping in the wind.
When everything had quieted again there came a great surprise for us. It was in some respects the most disheartening episode that had yet occurred.
Edmund, as you will have understood from what I have just related, had unquestionably saved Ala, and probably all the rest, from instant destruction. In doing so he had killed a man—for these people can only be spoken of as men and women, generally superior in physical beauty to those of the earth. But we thought that it should have been evident to everybody that his act was imposed by the necessity of the situation.
One of the Terrestial Visitants is Made Prisoner
Yet, instead of thanking him, they made him a prisoner on the spot!
The thing was done so quickly, and so unexpectedly, that there was no chance to interfere. And before we knew it, Jack, Henry, and I were sprawling on the floor of the airship, each borne down by half a dozen stout fellows, any one of whom would have been a match for us in single combat.
Jack tried to draw his pistol, the rifle having fallen in the sudden onslaught, but it was knocked from his hand. Before Henry and I could attempt to resist, Edmund called out to us:
"Don't try to shoot! That's not the way to get out of this. Depend on me."
"A pretty pickle you've got us into with your wonderful people who are 'not given to fighting'!" growled Jack.
"Keep cool," Edmund replied; he was perfectly cool himself, although almost choked by those who held him.
"I tell you that we'll get out of this all right. But conceal your pistols."
The rifles they took, but I thanked Heaven that they didn't know what to do with them. I observed Edmund smile, in his quiet way, when he added a moment later, addressing Jack:
"What's the good of changing your tune so quick? A little while ago you were thanking me for bringing you here. You'll have occasion to thank me again."
"I doubt it," grumbled Jack.
Henry, after his manner, said nothing, but his thoughts were on his face, and I whispered to him:
"For pity's sake, remember how these people read us. Don't look as if you were scared out of your wits! Brace up and trust to Edmund. He's brought us out of tighter fixes than this."
(To be continued in the September issue)
Back Numbers of "Amazing Stories"
No doubt you will be interested to know, if you have not yet secured them, that back numbers of Amazing Stories can be secured from this office, at the rate of 25c per copy (coin or stamps) postpaid, as long as the supply lasts.
Contents of the first (April) issue:
"Off on a Comet" (Part I) by Jules Verne.
"The New Accelerator," by H. G. Wells.
"The Man From the Atom," (First part), by G. Peyton Wertenbaker.
"The Thing from—Outside," by George Allen England.
"The Man Who Saved the Earth," by Austin Hall.
"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," by Edgar Allan Poe.
Contents of the May issue:
"A Trip to the Center of the Earth," by Jules Verne, (Part I).
"Mesmeric Revelation," by Edgar Allan Poe.
"The Crystal Egg," by H. G. Wells.
"The Infinite Vision," by Charles C. Winn.
Continuations: "The Man from the Atom" and "Off on a Comet."
Contents of the June issue:
"The Coming of the Ice," by G. Peyton Wertenbaker.
"The Scientific Adventures of Mr. Fosdick." Mr. Fosdick Invents the "Seidlitzmobile," by Jacque Morgan.
"The Star," by H. G. Wells.
"Whispering Ether," by Charles S. Wolfe.
"The Runaway Skyscraper," by Murray Leinster.
"An Experiment in Gyro-Hats," by Ellis Parker Butler.
"The Malignant Entity," by Otis Adelbert Kline.
"Doctor Hackensaw's Secrets." Some Minor Inventions—by Clement Fezandié.
Continuation: "A Trip to the Center of the Earth."
Contents of the July issue:
"Station X," (Part I), By G. McLeod Winsor.
"The Man Who Could Work Miracles," by H. G. Wells.
"The Scientific Adventures of Mr. Fosdick,"—The Feline Light and Power Company is Organized—by Jacque Morgan.
"The Moon Metal," by Garrett P. Serviss.
"The Eggs from Lake Tanganyika," by Curt Siodmak.
"The Magnetic Storm," by Hugo Gernsback.
"The Sphinx," by Edgar Allan Poe.
"A Trip to the Center of the Earth." (concl.), by Jules Verne.
"Doctor Hackensaw's Secrets,"—The Secret of the Invisible Girl,—by Clement Fezandié.
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