"I will help you," said Manning. "Your plan is good. Germany and all the world will revere your name when they know." He halted, almost touching the gun muzzle. In a moment now he had to grab it.
"I do not know—" began Kahl, blinking. Then his eyes widened blankly; something had plucked at Manning's sleeve, and from somewhere in the thicket came a rifle's crack. The Herr Doktor crumpled to the ground.
From behind him appeared Dugan, straightening from a crouch; without a word he sprang for the door of the time traveler. Manning followed, ducking under another bullet from the woods. He slammed the door shut.
"What'd you take a chance like that for?" demanded Dugan bitterly. "I was sneaking round behind him all the time."
Manning didn't answer. He was surveying the apparatus-covered table, hesitating over its complexity.
Outside rifles began banging steadily. The metal shell of the machine rang and splinters flew from the wooden door as bullets came through to ricochet dangerously inside. Manning's mouth set and with a quick wrist-flip he closed the starting switch.
And there was silence.
Dugan peered cautiously through a shattered door-panel. "There hasn't been any fire," he said almost without wonder. "The trees are green."
Manning bent tensely over the table. "Four years backward," he nodded. "Now, if I can just find out how much power that took...."