"One!" he gloated.
Another was scampering furiously twenty feet ahead. He drove down on
it, exulted when he heard the treads crush the hard chitinous shell.
"Two!"
"Three!"
The revolting beasts were fleet, but the tractor was swifter. One after
another, he ran them down, his lips twisting in a fierce grin each
time he heard one squash beneath his treads.
At last, two miles from camp, he stopped. He had destroyed the last
'pede trying to escape to the ocean. But had he killed the brains that
had directed this gigantic assault on the mine?
* * * * *
He pivoted and started back to the compound. The 'pedes were still
ambling around, following their single purposes. He could never have
got through if the ultra-short wave hadn't actually blanketed the
brains' commands. But were the animals merely disorganized only as long
as the broadcast continued, or had their rulers really been killed?
Mac reached the mine. Limpy opened a gate in the concrete wall, and he
drove through. A moment later, he was in the lookout wall, standing
beside his two partners, gazing out the window.
"Did you get them?" Limpy asked breathlessly.
Mac leaned forward and watched with intent eyes. Slowly, like
brainless creatures gradually coming to a decision, the endless mob of
centaurpedes began moving away. They didn't march, as they had advanced
to the attack. They wandered off in the general direction of the sea
from which they had sprung.
"I got them," Mac said. He straightened and turned around wearily.
"Get in touch with Adonis City, Limpy. Give them the wave length
that blankets the queen 'pedes' instructions. Tell them to relay the
information to mines that are under siege."
"We've won?" asked Swede incredulously.
"Yes," Mac replied. "And this time it's for good. We'll be able to
beat off every attack from now on. Only, I don't think they'll go on
fighting much longer. They'll have to quit."
Swede sat down ponderously. "I'm glad, Mac. Not for us; for Al. He
didn't die uselessly."
"No," Mac said. "He didn't."
Fumbling with the radio dials, Limpy grinned. None but his close
friends could know that grief made his grin wider and more evil-looking
than ever.