CHAPTER XIV
Deliverance
Gates' first thought, after recovering his breath, was to finish his half-completed task. What if the Saturnian retreat were but temporary? What if the foe should rally, and return with redoubled fury? What if, after all, they should seize the containers of compressed air, and so accomplish their original purpose and conquer the planet?
"By glory! not if I can prevent!" Gates swore a secret oath, as he staggered toward the great steel cylinders. To carry off even one of the heavy affairs would, obviously, be impossible--but was there no other way? After a swift examination, he noticed a little faucet-like spout at the end of one of the vessels, and took it to be a valve to relieve excessive pressure.
"Just five minutes' leeway," he thought, "and there won't be a whiff of compressed air left in the whole shooting match!"
At the same time, he gave the spigot a swift turn in his fingers.
Instantly there came such a blast that he was stunned. A loud popping, as of an explosion, dinned in his ears. He reeled backward, knocked over as by a hurricane. For a second or two a great fury of escaping air blew by him.
Still a little dazed, he picked himself up a minute later, cursing his own stupidity. In his haste he had turned the vent on full force, so relieving far too much pressure--with results that might have been disastrous.
Worst of all! what if the commotion should summon the Saturnians back?
Even as this fear swept across him, he made a discovery which, for the moment, alarmed him even more. He could see himself again! His arms, his legs, and all of his body, were perfectly visible! The blast of air had been powerful enough to blow away all the Amvol-Amvol, the powder of invisibility!
Aware that he would be utterly at the Saturnians' mercy should they return, he worked quickly as possible to release the compressed air from the other containers. At any moment, he expected to be snatched up by a huge swooping claw, and borne away to his doom. But time went by, and the monsters did not re-appear. And at length the last of the compressed air cylinders was empty!
Then for the first time, as he started hastily away, a flash of joyous realization swept over him. What a relief to be visible again! Once more he could be received as a man!
* * * * *
Early in the morning, following the alarm from the supposed Saturnians, Eleanor insisted on resuming work at the Electronic Space Ray. Surrounded by a whole squad of policemen--since her four previous protectors had insisted that they were too few--she entered the courtyard adjoining the Research Institute, where her machine with its fifteen-foot cannon-like muzzle was pointed skyward. Now at last she was ready for the crucial work!
Reaching the courtyard, she adjusted the instrument; cleared an open circle of blue sky; and in so doing destroyed, she knew, an incalculable number of the invisible cobwebs that clogged the atmosphere. But she was out after bigger prey than cobwebs. By means of the telescope she located a tiny shining speck which she recognized as one of the Crystal Planetoids; and, with trembling hands, pointed her machine toward the section of the sky containing the Planetoid.
Then, for the barest fraction of a second, she hesitated. She knew it was but womanly weakness; she knew it was unworthy, inconsistent with her all-important scheme; yet the hot tears trickled down her cheeks, and something clutched at her throat. The next flick of her fingers might be the movement that destroyed scores of human beings, among them Ronny, her lover.
None the less, she held back only for an instant. Her fingers flashed against a lever; and a faint clicking came to her ears. With eyes glued to the telescope, she watched; and immediately, it seemed, she made out a puff of red fire where the Planetoid had been--a puff that swiftly gave way to long ruddy streamers, which almost as swiftly vanished.
Still struggling, she could not keep back her sobs. "Ronny would forgive me, if he knew!" she consoled herself. Nevertheless, several minutes had passed, before, with a great effort of will, she turned to the range finder, and prepared to look for another Planetoid.
Then it was, that all at once, there came a sound which she heard in mute, incredulous amazement. What was that voice?--that familiar, that exultant voice arising suddenly behind her! "Eleanor!"
Wheeling about, she faced what she at first mistook for an apparition. Could this be Ronald? this dishevelled man with the face ghostly pale, although his eyes were agleam with joy?
But as he strode forward, and flung out his arms, she knew that he was indeed no phantom!
* * * * *
No less surprising than the speed with which the Saturnians had overspread the earth was the rapidity with which the peril receded. Within a few weeks, while dozens of Electronic Space Rays swept the heavens to clear away the great cobwebs, the temperature of the planet returned to normal; the winds blew again as usual; the ferocious thunder storms, the floods and the droughts had dwindled to ghastly memories. If any of the monsters still ranged the earth, they had returned to remote, unpeopled regions; no trace of them was ever seen, except for some mysterious streaks of yellow-orange observed by mariners on an islet near Cape Horn, where the last of the invaders had been dashed to their doom.
As for the Planetoids--so mercilessly were they hunted by the Space Rays that, within a week, the most careful searching of the heavens failed to reveal even one of the great gelatinous balls. The watchers on Saturn, it was generally agreed, would not be encouraged by the results of their expedition! And if ever they should attempt another invasion, the weapons to repel them would be at hand.
Meantime, while paeans of thanksgiving resounded from all lands, the world's eyes were focused on two individuals. The nuptials of Eleanor Firth and Ronald Gates, which were celebrated a few weeks after the overthrow of the Menace, were the occasion for universal rejoicing, for nothing could have appeared more fitting than the union of these two.