Another TEST POST

One by one, however, the ships managed to dip below the crests of the outlying hills until only one barely moving craft was in sight.  This had received the brunt of our fire and seemed to be entirely unmanned, as not a moving figure was visible upon her decks.  Slowly she swung from her course, circling back toward us in an erratic and pitiful manner.  Instantly the warriors ceased firing, for it was quite apparent that the vessel was entirely helpless, and, far from being in a position to inflict harm upon us, she could not even control herself sufficiently to escape.


As she neared the city the warriors rushed out upon the plain to meet her, but it was evident that she still was too high for them to hope to reach her decks.  From my vantage point in the window I could see the bodies of her crew strewn about, although I could not make out what manner of creatures they might be.  Not a sign of life was manifest upon her as she drifted slowly with the light breeze in a southeasterly direction.

She was drifting some fifty feet above the ground, followed by all but some hundred of the warriors who had been ordered back to the roofs to cover the possibility of a return of the fleet, or of reinforcements. It soon became evident that she would strike the face of the buildings about a mile south of our position, and as I watched the progress of the chase I saw a number of warriors gallop ahead, dismount and enter the building she seemed destined to touch.

As the craft neared the building, and just before she struck, the Martian warriors swarmed upon her from the windows, and with their great spears eased the shock of the collision, and in a few moments they had thrown out grappling hooks and the big boat was being hauled to ground by their fellows below.