Suddenly the machines scurried back from the cradle leaving a clear space of several yards around it.
"Now!" Hugh shouted and the two men charged.
The attack was a surprise. Their rush carried the line of machines between them and the cradle.
One machine barred Scott's way and he smashed at it savagely with the heavy hammer. The blow flung it aside, crippled, dented, half-smashed.
Hugh was already at the cradle, clambering up the superstructure.
A machine rushed at Scott, steel arms flailing. Ducking a murderous swipe, the Earthman brought his sledge into play. It sheared through the arms, smashed into the body of the machine. The stricken mechanism seemed to reel, staggered erratically, then collapsed upon the sand.
In two leaps Scott gained the superstructure, scaled it and straddled the cradle. His sledge smashed savagely upon a climbing mechanism, flung it to the ground. But others were swarming up the steel lattice work. Tentacles snaked out, seeking to entrap him. A wicked blow on the leg almost brought him down.
His sledge worked steadily and at the foot of the cradle broken mechanisms bore testimony to its execution.
