‘Look out!’ he bawled. They’re coming.’
We could make out six or seven moving figures, running across the floor of the valley. We all fired as fast as we could pull our bolts. Two of the figures fell. The others drifted back again under cover of the opposite bank.
‘Get the rope,’ I said to Mary. ‘And get that trap open. We may have to leave in a hurry.’
‘What are you two whispering about?’ Joe demanded suspiciously.
‘We’re preparing a get-away,’ I told him. ‘By way of the roof.’
‘Fat chance you have,’ he snorted. They’d pick you off like a sitting rabbit when the moon’s up.’
‘We may have to,’ I said, seeing the first rays of the moon appearing over the hill top. ‘Here it comes.’
Two or three minutes later the floor of the valley was flooded with white light.
‘Well, at least, it’s as bad for them,’ Mac said, sitting back on his heels. ‘We can’t miss them from here.’
‘What do you think they’re playing at?’ Joe said, uneasily. ‘They haven’t let off a heater for the past five minutes.’