When he was certain that he had approached Llysanorh's machine, he suddenly shut off his ultra-generator. Quick as lightning he had grasped his radioperforer, and although the light which returned instantly blinded him for a few seconds, he had glimpsed Llysanorh's terrified face, just a few meters distant, his forehead pressed tight against the glass plate of the port-hole.
Ralph took quick aim and pressed the trigger.
There was a silent flash and Llysanorh' seemed to topple over. Simultaneously the glass of the port-hole turned green.
In a flash Ralph jumped up and peered anxiously out one port-hole, then another, hoping to catch sight of Alice.
There was nobody to be seen.
He rushed to the wireless and signaled frantically for several minutes. Breathlessly he clasped the receivers to his ears.
There was no answer—no sound—nothing.
With sinking heart, he rushed to the connecting tube. In his excitement it took him twenty minutes to make the connection between the two machines and the tube air-tight. Before crawling into the connecting tube he grabbed up his radioperforer as a precaution.
The sight that presented itself to him as he crawled into Llysanorh's machine drew from him an involuntary agonized cry.
Llysanorh's dead body lay across that of Alice, his sharp dagger sunk into the upper part of her arm. Ralph hurriedly moved the rigid body aside.