Devries grasped Janus' arm and shook him out of his daze. "That way!" he whispered, indicating a wide street across the square. "It's the way we came in. If we can get out into that desert, we might steal one of those space-ships we saw!"
But the delay had been fatal. Other Proktols had seen the flash, and were hurrying toward them. Janus stopped to snatch up a fallen flame-pistol, then they were leaping away across the square.
But they didn't get far. Now, not dozens, but hordes of Proktols were converging on the scene. The entire square seemed to resound with their shrilling cries, bringing others. The Earthmen hadn't even time to wonder where they all came from. Most of them were the smaller, savage Proktols, unarmed; but some of the others with flame-pistols were trying to press through.
As the men swept their flaming fire around, the savages fell back in shrilling panic. Scores of them were burned down, but more of the creatures kept surging in. The Earthmen knew it would be only a matter of seconds before the sheer mass of the creatures overwhelmed them. Still they pressed forward, slowly burning a way through.
For some foolish reason Devries remembered shouting at Janus: "These flame-pistols are all right as toys. Wish I had an atom-blast!" Then the shrilling coppery devils were closing around, clawing. Janus brought down some more with a sweeping blast, and Devries did the same, but the flame-charges were getting very weak.
Then the Earthmen stared. The savages were no longer pressing around them; they were fleeing away! For no reason at all they saw the space ahead of them open up. They saw a long, clean swath of Proktols topple like grain cut down by a mower. Those that did not fall fled frantically, shrilling in thin terror at a strangely invisible death.
The men couldn't quite understand what had happened, but they took swift advantage of the miracle and darted across the now open square. But the larger Proktols weren't so superstitious. A dozen of them, now unimpeded, came leaping to intercept them. But before these Proktols could raise their flame-pistols, they toppled too, cut clean in two! All was clear around the men now, and they paused to catch a breath.
"What the devil was it, Janus? What happened?"
"Pure luck! I knew that lucky piece of mine couldn't fail!"
But just then a figure emerged from the dark shadow of a building, and ran toward them. It was a familiar figure, and it held two atom-blasts, one of which it thrust into Devries' hands.