“Well, we hadn't been on the ground fifteen minutes before I'm blest if one of my men didn't hear the brushwood crackling to eastward.
“‘O Kromno, master!’ said he, clutching my arm, ‘there come creatures--many creatures--through the forest! Let us go!’
“I listened and heard it, too; and somehow--subconsciously, I guess--I knew an advance-guard of the Horde was on us!
“It was night, of course. My search-light was still burning, throwing a powerful white glare into the thicket about a quarter-mile away, beyond the sand-barren where I had taken earth. I turned it off, for I remembered how much better the Folk could see without artificial light in our night atmosphere.
“‘Tell me, do you see anything?’ I whispered.
“The other fellow pointed.
“‘There, there!’ he exclaimed. ‘Little people! Many little people coming through the trees!’
“For a moment I was paralyzed. What to do? There was no time now for a getaway, even if the machine hadn't been out of order. My mind was in a whirl, a rout, an utter panic. I confess, Beatrice, for once I was scared absolutely blue--”
“No wonder! Who could have helped being?”
“Because you see, there was no way out. Lord knew how many of the little fiends were closing in on us; they might be on all sides. The country was much broken and absolutely new to me. I had no defenses to fight from, and it was night. Could anything have been worse?”