Then he laughed hysterically.
"Look at them run! The fools didn't know my gun wasn't loaded!"
Apparently the radar eyes of the Martians could distinguish objects as
small as a .45 automatic.
Gail sat tense as she listened to the sounds of battle. Her lips
pressed tight, her eyes staring straight ahead.
And then we saw the brownish green depression to our right. We had
reached Solis Lacus Major, and the spaceship was not far north and only
about a dozen miles west.
Even minutes seemed like hours as we sped along. The Martian voices
were plain now and we could still hear our three companions talking.
At least, none had been baked in his spacesuit yet. As long as they
kept the Martians from forming into long lines their spacesuits would
protect them.
Then Gail screamed and pointed. To our left we saw the spire of the
spaceship.
Swerving, I saw hordes of Martians closing in from the south. To the
north were more of them. I was steering the Mars-car into the jaws of a
trap that would close on us the minute we entered.
But not to enter the trap meant surer death. There was a chance for us
if we could reach the ship.