“Think ye that there be a spy among us?” I demanded.  “How else can ye explain this thing?  My men have combed the land about us; there are none of the louts secreted here; and, even so, they could not have notified Klow so soon.  Besides, ’tis pitch dark.”  I were sorely mystified.

All we could do was to fling our shells as fast as our machines would work and dodge the enemy’s hail as best we could.  Thus the time passed, and it were near dawn when the first messengers [Footnote:  Messengers; no telegraph or telephone, much less wireless.  In a civilization as strenuous as that of Mercury, there was never enough consideration for others to lead to such socially beneficial things as these, no more than railroads or printing presses.  Civilization appears to be in exact proportion to the ease of getting a living, other conditions being equal.] returned.

“They have stopped us just outside the walls of the city,” was the report.  It pleased me that they should have pushed so far at first; I climbed at once into my chariot.

“Now is the time for Strokor to strike!” I gave orders for the staff to remain where it was.  “I will send ye word when the city is mine.”

But before I started my engine I glanced up at the sky, to see if the dawn were yet come; and as I gazed I thought I saw something come between me and a star.  I brushed the hair away from my eyes, and looked again.  To my boundless surprise I made out, not one, but three strange objects moving about swiftly in the air!

“Look!” I cried, and my whole staff craned their necks.  In a moment all had seen, and great was their wonder.  I blamed them not for their fears.

’Twas Maka who spoke first.  “They are much too large to be creatures of Jon,” he muttered.  “They must be some trick of the enemy.

“Dost recall Edam’s vision of the creatures in the air of Jeos?” he went on, knowing that I would not hinder him.  “Now, as I remember it, he said they flew with great speed.  Were it not possible, Strokor, for suitable engines to propel very light structures at such high speed as to remain suspended in the air, after the manner of leaves in a storm?  I note these strangers move quite fast.”

It was even so; and at that same instant one of them swung directly above our heads, so close that I could hear the hum of a powerful engine.  So it was only a trick!  I shook myself together.

“Attention!” My staff drew up at the word.  “They are but few; fear them not!  We waste no more time here!  Pack up the machines, and follow!”

And thus we charged upon Klow.

I found that my men had entirely surrounded the city.  Klow’s men were putting up a plucky fight, and showing no signs of fearing us.  Seeing this, I blew a blast on my engine’s whistle, so that my bullies might know that I had come.