There was the roar of
an explosion which shook the air for miles around. A blaze of greenish
flame and a huge cloud of steamy smoke showed that the projectile had
done its work, and, when the smoke drifted away, the spot on which the
air-ship had lain was only a deep, red, jagged gash in the ground. There
was not even a fragment of the ship to be seen.
This done, Redgrave went and turned the starboard Maxim on to another
swarm which was approaching the _Astronef_ from that side. When he had
got the range he swung the gun slowly from side to side. The moving
throng stopped, as the other one had done, and sank down to the red
grass, now dyed with a deeper red.
Meanwhile, Zaidie had been holding the Martian at something more than
arm's length with her revolver. He seemed to understand perfectly that,
if she pulled the trigger, the revolver would do something like what the
Maxims had done. He appeared to take no notice whatever either of the
destruction of the air-ship or of the slaughter that was going on around
the _Astronef_. His big, pale blue eyes were fixed upon her face. They
seemed to be devouring a loveliness such as they had never seen before.
A dim, pinky flush stole for the first time into his waxy cheeks, and
something like a light of human passion came into his eyes.
Then, to the utter astonishment of both Redgrave and Zaidie, he said
slowly and deliberately, and with only just enough tinge of emotion in
his voice to make Redgrave want to shoot him:
"Beautiful.
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