But he never finished.
As he himself, holding fire for a second, prepared to follow up the retreat, he found himself confronted by the utterly unexpected.
A voice unquestionably the Duca’s began to shout orders at the ape-men from somewhere down the corridor! And, riot or no riot, the tones of that voice seemed to inspire the creatures with more fear than the rifle fire.
So suddenly the change came, that by the time Kirby flung his rifle again to his shoulder, the crazy retreat had been halted, and as he fired again, the ape-men swung in their tracks and began to charge!
There was no time to guess by what power the Duca had turned the tables. There was not even time for orders. Kirby fired twice, knowing that the ape-men had been infused with some spirit which would bring them on in spite of rifle fire.
Naida, unarmed, cried out behind him, and he shoved his gun at her.
“Take it!”
He had just inserted a new clip. He handed her others.
“Fire for your lives!” he shouted to the girls.