I have seen few more welcome sights than the Omnimobile was then. The heaviness of it, the threatening nose of the little gun, the air of irresistible power about it, and even its clumsy, beast-like appearance were reassuring. Sam gave a cheer, and we made the last hundred yards at a run. At last we stumbled up the metal ladder and stood upon the narrow deck again.
We clambered through the manhole. The white electric light of the interior was in strange contrast to the crimson gloom, and the coolness of the air was very refreshing. Xenora was in the cabin, anxiously on her feet.
"It was the Lord of Flame!" she whispered. "And you escaped!"
"Thanks to you, my dream girl," I said, taking her boldly in my arms.
CHAPTER XX
Sam's Pet
"I felt it watching you—calling you—and I pulled the cord that makes the great cry," Xenora whispered, after a long, long time.
"Thank God you did! It saved us! We were lost!" And I told her of the amazing storm of flames, of the Thing that had risen out of them, and of the irresistible spell of terror, from which she had awakened us.
"Yes," she said. "It was the Lord of Flame. He watches the world from Xath. He knows the acts of every man!"