"
"Very likely," replied Zaidie, with a saucy little toss of her chin;
"and why not? We like to learn things down there--and anyhow that would
be much more really civilised than shooting at them."
While this little conversation was going on, the _Astronef_ was dropping
rapidly into the midst of the Martian fleet, which had again arranged
itself in a circle. Zaidie soon made out through her glasses that the
guns were pointed upwards.
"Oh, that's your little game, is it!" said Redgrave, when she had told
him of this. "Well, if you want a fight, you can have it."
As he said this, his jaws came together, and Zaidie saw a look in his
eyes that she had never seen there before. He signalled rapidly two or
three times to Murgatroyd. The propellers began to whirl at their utmost
speed, and the _Astronef_, making a spiral downward course, swooped down
on to the Martian fleet with terrific velocity. Her last curve coincided
almost exactly with the circle occupied by the ships. Half-a-dozen
spouts of greenish flame came from the nearest vessel, and for a moment
the _Astronef_ was enveloped in a yellow mist.
"Evidently they don't know that we are air-tight, and they don't use
shot or shell. They've got past that. Their projectiles kill by poison
or suffocation. I daresay a volley like that would kill a regiment.
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