uncontrolled frenzy. Her onslaught knocked
great cone whose central bottom point, Johnny
Johnny away from Anne. He fell sideward; he
judged, was a full hundred and fifty feet below
saw Anne fighting the older woman’s clutch,
him.
and a knife blade glint in the yellow light. He
Metal handrails on the cone’s inner
shouted wildly.
surface were strung between the vats and
“Anne! Look out—her knife—” In that
conduits. But Johnny saw no men down there.
second Johnny gripped a handrail, and with a
He leaned toward Taro.
pull of his arm, flung himself at Rua. He saw
“Where do you control this?”
the black glinting blade over Anne’s breast; he
Taro answered the question readily. caught Rua’s wrist; twisted it; the knife fell—
The control house was up on the island and they sank in a struggling heap.
surface. Fifty men were there; and all the
others were spread at various points along the
AND in that second, the commotion had
channel bluff, manning the island’s defense
spread. Taro came lunging upon Rua. Johnny
weapons.
glimpsed his face, distorted by a wild fury. He
“The gold—” Taro added; and he had a knife, and with a sweep plunged it into gestured down toward the bottom of the pit,
the whiteness of Rua’s breast and left it there.
where the conduits led to smaller vats and
Johnny jerked free of the mêlée; his hand had
converged at last into one. And there, the gold
snatched Rua’s knife from the floor. He
Thrilling Wonder Stories
14
gained his feet, holding Anne under his arm.
men guarding them. And Taro himself darted
But in that second half a dozen bodies struck
away to take command of the island’s
him. He saw knives coming at Anne; he defenses.
warded them off, and suddenly yielded.
What a different scene was here now!
He relinquished Anne as Taro drew
The great forked funnel still belched its foul
her upright. Rua’s body lay inert on the ledge.
cloud into the dimly golden sky. A haze was
Limp, dead thing, stained now with crimson.
off toward Bhana, blurring now the great fiery
Sensuous, heavy face, beautiful once, but now
crescent which marked the line of distant
with staring eyes and fallen jaw.
oncoming vessels. They were flying high; still
On Taro’s face was a cold contempt.
many miles away. To Johnny it seemed that
“The end—for her.” He steadied himself on
there must be a hundred or more of them.
his feet; he lifted Rua’s body and heaved it
But Hall and Jeoh had tricked Taro
violently upward past his head. It rose above
with a surprise. Ahead of this main squadron a
the nearby vats, sailed upward and outward.
smaller fleet had secretly come and landed in
An eddy of wind caught it; then an
the nearby forest. The ships were hidden, but
outgoing circular rush. It was sucked up; the men from them had already sallied forth to dwindled by distance—a little oblong blob.
the attack.
The draperies waved; the head and long hair
Across the channel there was a
dangled. It was sucked up; dwindled by radiance of light a mile away. The nearer distance, whirling end over end. Then it forest was dark; and from the darkness on the lunged into the upper gale of rushing wind—a
opposite river bank, human figures were
dot, and it was gone.
rising, like human birds in this realm of so
Taro was smiling. He turned his grim
little gravitational force. A few came at first;
smile upon Johnny. “She was right when she
then a flock of them. Men impelled
think you and Anne are lovers. Not so? individually by small rocket engines. They Well—she is out of my way, now.”
lunged up into the wind. They were flung
And, for the same motive as Rua’s,
away by crazy wind eddies; but struggling,
would he not dispose of Johnny? The thought
was knocked from Johnny’s mind. There came
Taro’s little forts were in action now.
a distant shout from Taro’s men overhead.
From some, small golden projectiles mounted,
Sudden, startling news; so startling and burst among the fluttering aerial figures.
that it rang with a turmoil over all the fortified Puffs of intense golden glare illumined the
little island. From off in the direction of night. The sizzling little thunder cracks Bhana, the fluorescent comet tails of mingled with the roar of the wind and the oncoming flying ships were visible—a great
humming throb from the cone pit. The rising,
luminous crescent across the golden sky!
struggling figures were blown and scattered
by the raking bombs. But some survived,
struggled higher, got above the channel, then
CHAPTER IV
over the island and were fluttering down.
Combat in the Giant Cone
From the dark forest, every instant,
more were rising. And the crescent of Bhana
ships swept nearer, sank to the forest to
ANNE and Johnny were being shoved upward
reinforce the others which were already there.
from the cone interior. Taro left them clinging
A desperate, frenzied attack. From one
to the upper railing with a group of goggled
of Taro’s forts, a jet of black goldless air was
Shadow Gold
15
now hissing up into the struggling enemy
Then a mailed, goggled figure was
figures. It swung back and forth. It seemed to
struggling with him. One of Taro’s guards. He
cut a swath through them, so that hundreds of
fought. He called, “Anne! Anne, where are
them, limp like dead birds, were hurled away
you?”
by the wind. But there were too many now.
“Johnny!” This man he was fighting,
They began landing upon the island; murmured, “Johnny! Wait! Don’t—”
floundering down, mailed men with glinting
Not fighting him! Holding him—
swords, fluttering to the island surface. trying to ward off Johnny’s blows. His Scrambling; gaining their feet; struggling antagonist’s goggles came off. “Johnny—I toward the forts where in a moment hand-to-could not get to you. Only just now—”
hand fighting was in progress.
A familiar voice. The voice through
The goldless air jet came down, the ventilator. The glare now showed Nido’s wavered and for a moment raked the island
face—Nido, the young man whom Johnny had
surface. Johnny caught a stifling whiff of its
so liked in Bhana.
fumes, which the wind tore away. Then the jet
“Your father was so worried over you,
went up into the air again. A bomb, badly
Johnny. You and Anne—and Rua’s boat gone.
directed, burst near at hand.
Always, we have suspected Rua. So I came
A hundred or more men of the Bhana
here—landed in the river.
I got down here,
forces seemed to be on the island now.
killed a guard—”
And still more every moment were
Johnny gasped, “Anne is gone! Anne
dropping from the cloud of them overhead.
and Taro—”
The bombs from Taro’s forts were wavering.
“Yes. I saw them. Into the cone, just a
The interiors of many of the little stone minute ago.” He pulled at Johnny. “This way; buildings now were engulfed by hand-to-hand
watch that the wind does not blow you.”
combat. There was a low squat building a
They drew themselves from the island
hundred feet away. Johnny thought it perhaps
surface. It was only a few steps to the glowing
the control room of the giant absorbers. The
cone rim. They plunged down into it. There
Bhana men were massing in front of it, but
seemed no following figures. The invaders
horizontal air jets were tossing them back,
were all assailing Taro’s forts and the control
frustrating their attempts. Then Taro again house.
was here. He came between Johnny and Anne.
Nido plunged ahead, with Johnny after
The golden glare painted his face and there
him. They passed the metal ledge where
was no mistaking its grimness. He said, “I had
before Johnny had gazed down into the cone.
no thought they would attack with suicide
No one here. They scrambled down a metal
desperation like this. I kill ten to every one
stair incline. They were on the steep inner
who lands here—”
surface now, sliding, floundering, clinging to
the metal handrails.
YET more were steadily coming. A little
Johnny gripped his companion. “The
group of them fluttered down and caught a
transition mechanisms—he would keep them
railing near at hand. A tiny gold bomb flung
by the gold. Take her to Earth—”
horizontally, burst and scattered them. Its air
Taro’s
getaway.
Abandoning
pressure tore at Johnny; its light dazzled him.
everything—escaping with Anne.
He turned confused, and his heart leaped
Nido was panting: “The gold—near
wildly. He was alone here! Taro and Anne
the bottom. Let me lead you.”
were gone!
The confusion, the dazzling glare, the
Thrilling Wonder Stories
16
plucking wind, made it difficult for them to
Taro’s fingers clutched at his throat, then
keep their feet. They were sliding, half falling
shifted, gouging at his eyes, knocking away
down the narrow railed pathways between the
the goggles.
vats. It was eerie here.
“No you don’t!” Johnny panted. “Give
Then Johnny found that they were by
me that!” Taro was now clutching from his
the open vat of the gold mineral. There was
belt a strangely fashioned cylinder weapon.
less wind here, and less glare. A great pile of
They struggled for possession of it. Johnny
yellow sand, and the trickle from the metal
was the stronger. He found himself with the
chute steadily adding to it. He felt Nido thrust
heavy, sharp pointed cylinder in his hand. He
a long metal bar into his hands; and saw Nido
had no idea how to use it, save to stab with its
scramble and wrench another from the point.
apparatus nearby.
Taro was wildly squirming, lunging
Then they saw Taro! He was perched
his body, twisting his head. Johnny saw that
on a ledge partly behind a nearby vat. Taro
his grin had faded, and a wild terror was in his
and Anne. He had already forced her to don
eyes. The stabbing cylinder struck his
one of the transition mechanisms. He was
forehead. There was a sizzling flash that
starting to put one on himself. His clothes
seared Johnny’s hand. Taro’s forehead had
were bulging, bloated with the gold sand cracked like the shell of an egg. The cylinder which he had stuffed into pockets and pouches
had exploded.
of a garment in which now he was robed.
There was only a gruesome headless
Anne was crouching, terrified. Then she saw
thing writhing in Johnny’s arms. He cast it
Johnny and Nido come plunging.
away. He lunged for Anne. “You wait,
She lunged, but Taro caught her; Anne—I’ll be back in a moment.”
cuffed her face. He was reaching for the
A frenzy was on Johnny. He
transition switch at her belt. Then suddenly he
remembered that iron bar which Nido had
must have realized his own peril. Anne was
thrust at him—and Nido’s purpose then had
desperately fighting him; and abruptly he been to smash all this damnable mechanism.
seized a knife from his belt. Its blade flashed
The bar was where Johnny had
over Anne’s breast.
dropped it. He seized it; whirled and plunged
All in a second or two. Nido was in
for a great, coiling pipe which was white with
advance of Johnny as they hurtled their bodies
snow and ice congealed upon it. The coil
through the air. And Nido, more skillful, was
smashed under his blows. It seemed that all
plunging with truer aim. His body struck the world here was bursting into light. Then he between Anne and Taro, and twisting, he was pounding a vat, with a vast hissing roar caught the knife in his own breast and sank
and glare engulfing him. The vat exploded
down, partly on top of Anne, still trying to
with a great upflung sheet of yellow light; and
shield her.
Johnny staggered back, crouched and leaped
again to his task.
TARO was erect, swaying, fumbling for
But soon he saw his efforts were not
another weapon to meet Johnny’s plunge. needed. Deranged mechanism. The Johnny struck him. They rolled and bounced
derangement now was spreading of its own
on the ledge, kicking, scrambling. Taro had
momentum. The broken icy coil hissed with
another knife in his hand; it slashed Johnny’s
yellow vapor. Another vat went up into a sheet
shoulder and then was gone—knocked away
of flame. The pythonlike conduits were
in the struggle though Johnny tried to catch it.
bursting. The heat momentarily was blistering,
Shadow Gold
17
but the wind sucked it away.
lessened pressure which continued to suck up
Black smoke swirled, turgid, rushing
the fumes. Lights and sounds were
upward in the wind, and Johnny still could
distinguishable up there now. A blurred
breathe. There was an instant when he saw the
turmoil.
headless body of Taro sucked upward into the
And presently they climbed
maelstrom, ironically following Rua, a dark
laboriously through the tangled smoking
blob; then it vanished.
wreckage to the isl
and surface. The golden
Through the chaos of electric glare night was brighter now; the giant branching Johnny fought his way back to Anne. She was
funnels were still standing, but only a normal
bending over the body of Nido; she seemed
breeze was passing through them. The island
oblivious to the inferno around her. She top, no longer gale swept, was a turmoil of gasped:
lights and men, with a last remnant of the
“He’s alive, Johnny, but he’s—”
fighting still in progress, so that Johnny and
Nido’s glazing eyes saw Johnny; his
Anne crouched in hiding, fearful that the
bloodless lips parted into a faint smile. His
victorious Bhana forces might kill them before
faint words were audible as Johnny and Anne
they could proclaim their identity.
bent low over him.
Bhana ships had landed here on the
“You did it, Johnny. Saved my island now, disgorging fighting men.
world—that’s good. And I saved Anne for
Overhead, others were circling, zooming past
you. She is—she is very beautiful.”
with the glare of golden rocket tails.
His gaze clung to Anne’s face—the
Then the fight was over. The strewn
last thing he wanted to see as the eternal
bodies everywhere here were mute evidence
darkness closed in upon him.
of its brief but savage fury. One last spurt of
Anne and Johnny crouched together,
goldless air jet leaped from the nearby control
over the shell of what had been Nido, with the
building where a last remnant of Taro’s men
chaos of glare and roaring, blasting tumult of
still were fighting; and then the Bhana
sound bursting around them. Then the glare