for some minutes, ralph stood motionless, completely bewildered. to have spent so much time and effort to no avail, hours—days wasted in a fruitless search! the thought was maddening.
obviously, she was not on board fernand's space flyer. where, then, was she? certainly fernand himself had had no opportunity to hide her, unless his whole flight into space were a trick to deceive the searchers, and that was more than unlikely. fernand was cunning—was this some new piece of duplicity?
turning from the empty room he ran down to where fernand lay, still unconscious. kneeling by his side ralph applied a small electrical shocking device to the spine of the insensible man, with the result that in a few minutes fernand opened his eyes and stared dazedly into those of his captor.
"where is she?" asked ralph hoarsely. "what have you done with her? answer me, or by god, i'll blow you into eternity!" and, aiming his radioperforer at fernand's head, he spoke with such ferocity that the other shrank involuntarily.
"i don't know," he muttered, weakly. "it's god's truth i don't know. the martian got her. he took her away[pg 165] and left me drugged." his voice trailed off and he seemed about to collapse.
"you're a liar!" growled ralph, but his tone lacked the conviction of the words. there was that in the other's voice that rang true. mechanically, he cut the cords that bound fernand, and the man rolled over helplessly. he was weak and dazed, and altogether too broken in spirit to make any further trouble. his nerve was gone.
ralph propped him up against the wall, but he slumped over on his side limply. impatient at the delay, ralph went in search of water, and finding a pitcher of it in fernand's laboratory, unceremoniously dumped the contents over the prone man's head. this had the desired effect of restoring him somewhat, and in a short time he was able to tell the story in detail.
"when i applied the chloroformal to you that night, i used the same drug on alice, while paul 9b 1261, a friend of mine, took care of your driver. we dragged alice into our cab, and made for the outskirts of new york where i had the space flyer in readiness. a maid for her was already on board. we got alice on and i put her in the care of lylette, and in a few seconds we were off.
"when we got well out in space i locked the steering disc and helped the maid revive alice, and in a few minutes she was herself again, which she fully demonstrated by slapping my face and then trying to tear me apart like a wildcat, when she found where she was." he gave a wry smile at the recollection.
"go on!" snapped ralph.
"it was an hour later, and we were burning up space, traveling at a rate of 70,000 miles an hour, that the radio signalling apparatus began ringing furiously. i tuned in,[pg 166] and heard a faint, gasping voice from somewhere out in the great void. with difficulty i learned that there was another space flyer somewhere near me, with two men and four women on board, and that their oxygen supply was being rapidly exhausted, due to the spoiling of some of the oxygen-producing chemicals. they asked for a small supply of oxygen, enough to get them back to earth. otherwise they would be doomed.
"knowing myself to be safe from pursuit for some hours, even had you known i abducted alice, i decided to aid the crippled flyer, and answered that i would assist them as soon as possible. i went up to the conning tower and, with the telescope, located the other machine. then i reversed the anti-gravitator machinery and within a short time i had drawn up level with the flyer.
"we made fast, and ran the connecting tube between the two machines. when the joints were made air-tight i crawled through, and just as my head came through the opening into the other, two hands gripped me around the throat and i was jerked into the machine. i made a desperate effort to wrench myself free but i was absolutely helpless in such hands. i found myself gripped by llysanorh', the martian, and i might as well have fought a tiger as that seven-footer.
"he said nothing, only stared at me with his enormous eyes, while he dragged me to a small compartment, manacled my hands, and left me, locking the door behind him. but he was back in fifteen minutes or so, with a triumphant look in his eyes. he picked me up and pushed me through the connecting tube into my own flyer. he dragged me into my machine-room, and forced me to watch while he, using a big hammer, smashed the mech[pg 167]anism of my six anti-gravitators, so that i would not be able to steer, and could fly in only one direction. he ruined all the spare parts, to make sure that i could not make any repairs or replacements.
"then catching me by the back of the neck, he said:
"'i intercepted your letter to paul 9b 1261, and followed you. you didn't count on me, fernand, when you stole alice. neither you nor that fool scientist ralph 124c 41+ shall have her. no man shall have her but myself. i will kill her first. i don't know why i don't kill you, except that you are scarcely worth the trouble. you can't pursue me with your machine in this condition, and when—if ever—you are found, it will be too late.'
"'good god, man,' i said, 'surely you won't take a helpless terrestrial girl!'
"'it is only what you did,' he replied, 'and at least, i love her!' and with that he pressed a cloth saturated with some drug unknown to me against my face, and that is all i remember.
"i must have been unconscious at least six or seven hours and when i came to, it was another hour before i shook off the effects sufficiently to recollect anything. llysanorh' had taken off the manacles, but i was as helpless as if i had been bound. i must have dozed off, for i had only just awakened when i looked out and saw your flyer approaching. and that's the whole story."
ralph had listened to the amazing narrative with growing apprehension. he knew enough of the martian character to realize that alice was in the hands of a man who, once the die was cast, would stop at nothing. he had been hopelessly, pitifully in love with alice. it was easy to see that, having, probably quite by accident, inter[pg 168]cepted fernand's letter to paul telling of his plans, he had in a moment of desperation, born of despair, determined to carry her off himself. perhaps, in the first place, he had only intended to save her from fernand, and then, considering the small possibility of discovery and pursuit, had succumbed to his overwhelming passion for her, and abducted her instead of returning with her to earth. but whither was he bound? surely, not to venus where the inhabitants were nearly all terrestrials, and whose laws were identical with those of earth.
mars? possible, but improbable, although llysanorh' might have some friend in his sect who would perform the martian marriage ceremony secretly. but even if this were the case where could he take his captive bride? they would not be permitted to live on mars, neither would earth or venus accept them.
the intolerably hot planet mercury was out of the question, and the two moons belonging to mars had no atmosphere.
there remained only the asteroids.
at this thought ralph sprang to his feet with an exclamation.
"i've been a fool not to think of them before," he cried. "of course he would get her to one of them, and once there she will be lost forever. good god, i must find his machine and head him off before it's too late."
he turned savagely on fernand still crouched against the wall. "i'm tempted to leave you to the fate the martian intended for you. god knows it wouldn't be half what you deserve."
"don't do that, in heaven's name," mumbled the other. "don't leave me here like this."
[pg 169]
the scientist looked at him contemptuously for a moment.
"bah!" he said scornfully, "can't you even take your medicine like a man? but i'll turn your machine around and direct it earthward. you will intercept the earth in about thirty hours. you can't steer, but you can accelerate or retard the speed of your flyer, and need not collide with the earth if you are careful.
"and remember this," he added grimly, "if you and i ever meet again i will pound your miserable cowardly body into jelly!"
he turned his back on the abject man, and returned to his own flyer. then he turned fernand's machine around, disconnected the two from each other, and in a few seconds fernand's flyer had disappeared.
ralph sprang into action. he immediately began taking observations. these told him that it would take him at least thirty days to reach mars, even though he forced his machine to the utmost. he could not travel over 90,000 miles an hour, but, on the other hand, he felt sure that llysanorh's machine was incapable of making more than 85,000 miles an hour. but the martian had a handicap of probably 600,000 miles, and if ralph gained on him at the rate of only 5,000 miles an hour, it would take 120 hours, or five terrestrial days to overtake him.
ralph turned his machine towards the point in space where mars would be at the end of thirty days, and now set himself to the task of making a search for the other flyer with the polarized wave apparatus.
for four wearisome and anxious hours he sought through space perseveringly, and was at last rewarded by locating another machine which he was certain was[pg 170] that of the martian, as he had reasoned, heading for mars.
at the same time the results of his calculations dismayed him greatly, for they revealed that llysanorh's machine was making no less than 88,000 miles an hour. at this rate, ralph was gaining only 2,000 miles an hour, and it would take thirteen or fourteen days to overhaul the other flyer. but as the martian could not hope to reach mars under twenty-nine days himself, ralph figured that he, barring some unforeseen accident, would overtake him long before he landed there.
it was absolutely imperative that he do so, for once the martian left mars and headed for the asteroids further pursuit would be useless. there were over 4,000 of these little planets already known[10] and it would be the work of a lifetime to search on each one for the fugitive and his victim. speedy action on ralph's part was urgent.
these little asteroids, revolving in an orbit between mars and jupiter were practically uninhabited, although most of the larger ones had a good atmosphere, and a fair climate, considering their distance from the sun.
some of them were only a few miles in diameter, and the largest measured but 485 miles. an electromobile, running at the slow rate of 60 miles an hour could circle such a tiny planet in 24 hours!
the larger planetoids had a superb vegetation, and as the gravity on these bodies was only a fraction of that on the earth, the trees and shrubs were gigantic, while colossal fruits and vegetables grew in abundance. these plants helped to create a dense atmosphere, in spite of the small gravity, and life, on one of these little planets, was,[pg 171] in many respects, far more comfortable and pleasant than on earth or mars.
illus
now began the hardest part of the chase for ralph. there was nothing more to do than he had already done. from now on he must wait with what patience he could summon to his aid, until such time as his machine should catch up with that of the martian. he could force his own no further, and he was very sure that llysanorh' was also flying at his utmost speed.
at work, he had not had much time for thought.
now, with time hanging heavily on his hands, his conjectures as to the fate of his sweetheart drove him, at times, nearly to madness.
