"I can see light outside!" suddenly cried Monk. "But there's a lot of stuff to be pulled down before we can reach it!"

  His long arms worked with great effectiveness. Beside him, Renny seemed to be moving whole tons of the brittle rock. Their arms were bleeding to the elbows. King Lumos had sunk down from exhaustion.

  Ham forced his waspish body as far as possible into the aperture. He saw the way to escape was so blocked that many hours might be required to move all of the caved rock.

  Then the lawyer slipped slowly back among his companions. His hands hung at his sides. Without speaking he walked slowly across the cavern. His thought was that it might be as well if the others did not know.

  He had been able to get a brief glimpse of Zoro's men outside. Detonating boxes already had been placed.

  Zoro and Cassalano were at this moment stepping away to set off the mighty blast of trinitromite.

  Ham looked once at the powerful Monk and Renny. They were still heaving whole blocks of crystal back into the cavern.

  "Dag-gonit!" squealed Monk. "When I get my hands on that dirty heathen I'll unwind him from his head!"

  Ham groaned aloud.

  "The big, ugly ape," he muttered. "He'd do it, too."

  Chapter 19. THE MISPLACED BLAST

  ZORO'S three Uni-Ships sat a short distance from the entrance to the solar system tunnel. Zoro's entire force encircled the space. The Uni-Ships had been placed at what seemed a safe distance from any disaster.

  "Better be very sure about the ships," advised Caulkins. "That trinitromite is liable to lift the whole hill. Its explosive effect is upward and outward, not downward like dynamite."

  Cassalano surveyed the Uni-Ships from his small, glittering eyes. His double chins quivered. A short laugh wheezed from his throat.

  "The ships are safe enough," he remarked, "but we can't take any chances on being too close ourselves. If we'd had more wire, I'd put those detonating boxes farther away. However, I've fixed them so a couple of bullets from Doc Savage's pistols will make the contact."

  Two square black boxes had been placed about one hundred yards from the blocked tunnel. Here the supply of wire had given out. Zoro had become abusive. He blamed some of his men for the shortage of wire.

  "We had a much greater amount than this," he declared. "But we have no time to search for it. I can hear them digging their way out. You are sure, Cassalano, you have fixed these strange boxes so the bullets will set off the explosive force?"

  Cassalano smiled placatingly.

  "Do you doubt that I understand these instruments?" he barked. "The charged plates are so fixed in the detonators that the impact of a bullet cannot miss driving them together. The contact of the plates sends the spark to the concussion caps. When you fire the pistol, you may see half of the magnetic hill dissolve before your eyes. You will then be fortunate to be at a distance. I judge the boxes will be buried."

  Princess Lanta remained close beside Zoro. The beautiful girl apparently had forgotten all allegiance to her kingdom and all filial respect and affection. She made a request that strengthened the appearance of unnatural emotion.

  "If I am to become the queen, then should I not discharge one of the weapons?"

  Her liquid voice was cold, colorless. She had directed the inquiry at Cassalano. That fat-faced conspirator smirked at her openly.

  "Indeed, that would be fitting to the occasion, princess," he agreed.

  ZORO'S ugly face scowled, but his piercing eyes lightened as he gazed upon Princess Lanta's lovely figure. In his great conceit, he could understand her apparent abject surrender to his will.

  Zoro covered the moment with a sharp order.

  "Remove the Uni-Ships to a safer distance. We must take no risk with them. They will be needed for an immediate attack upon the city of Manyon."

  His men immediately changed the location of the Uni-Ships by a slightly wider margin. Two of the supermachine pistols were produced. One of these had been carried by Princess Lanta when she was captured. Others had been taken from the prisoners in the death tunnel.

  Princess Lanta herself instructed Zoro in the operation of the drum loaded with mercy bullets. These were of sufficient force to penetrate the thin walls of the detonating boxes. These were at a distance of nearly a hundred yards.

  Standing side by side, Zoro and Princess Lanta lifted the pistols.

  "You don't have to aim carefully," advised Cassalano. "Just point them toward the boxes. You couldn't miss them with all of the bullets."

  At the moment when Ham, inside the cavern of doom, groaned in despairing submission to the inevitable, Princess Lanta and Zoro pulled the triggers of the supermachine weapons. The pistols jumped and vibrated in their hands.

  Two smoking streams of bullets furrowed the ground near the detonating boxes. The princess and Zoro corrected their aims. The hissing line of slugs was lifted. Simultaneously the bullets crashed into the pair of sinister black boxes.

  For an instant it seemed as if the whole side of the magnetic hill had lifted. The air cracked with the detonation. Fragments of rock and earth showered around Zoro and his group. Princess Lanta's slim figure swayed far to one side.

  The bulky, fat Cassalano sprang toward the girl and Zoro, as if to catch the princess before she fell. Zoromen around them were jarred from their feet. A mushroom of gray smoke obscured all of the magnetic hill.

  Then an incredible thing happened.

  Princess Lanta had swung about. The mercy pistol in her hand was still erupting. But the remainder of the stream of bullets was pouring into the nearest Zoromen. A dozen went down like tenpins in a direct strike.

  THE fat Cassalano had not attempted to assist the princess, as it had appeared. One pudgy hand had twisted the supermachine pistol from Zoro's grasp. The surprised Zoro was caught unprepared. He started to shout a command.

  Cassalano's fist did not seem at all cushioned by fat as it lashed out. In fact, the blow was faster than the human eye could have followed. Zoro was lifted from his feet and overturned yards away.

  Cassalano's weapon joined its staccato output of mercy bullets to that of the princess. Three or four Zoromen put their murder flutes to their lips. But they dropped them without blowing death music.

  They had remembered the protective yellow wax in the ears of Princess Lanta, Cassalano and Caulkins.

  For Caulkins also was armed with one of the super-machine pistols. The lean, bony economist had slyly moved away from the remainder of the group. He was closer to the Uni-Ships. Bullets erupted from his vibrating weapon into the Zoromen around the ships.

  Though the surprise attack had wrought wide havoc, Zoro's band was numerous. First, the majority had gaped at the apparent dissolution of the hillside under the force of the blast. Then they were seeking to escape the sweeping stream of drugged bullets that had caught their companions.

  Zoro, knocked to the ground, himself had escaped the mercy slugs. He came to his feet shouting commands. Some fifty or more of his men rallied. The mercy pistol of the fat Cassalano was emptied. So was the weapon the princess held.

  Zoro led a group in a massed rush. For a fat man, Cassalano moved with blinding speed. The pudgy fists operated like electrically driven pistons. A queer circumstance accompanied these blows that accounted for an enemy with each whiplike snapping of the man's arms. The pudgy aspect of the fists themselves was undergoing a change. It was as if the heat of combat were melting the fat from Cassalano's hands.

  A dozen Zoromen were piled around him. But the massed weight bore him to the ground. Zoromen were now using death flutes in dagger fashion. They were striking at Cassalano's eyes. The end of one instrument ripped across the double chins.

  Astoundingly, the lower chin was torn off by the force of the blow. But no blood appeared. Cassalano rolled over and away from the wedged attack. As he did, he glimpsed the gaunt figure of Caulkins surrounded by Zoromen. Caulkins's pistol had ceased exploding. He was fighting desperately, but was being overwhelmed.

  The now one-chinned Cassalano thrust his hand under the tunic loosely enveloping his body. His fingers came into contact with a small flat case attached to straps over his shoulders. This case had numerals on a dial. The finger tips read them as if they had been the Braille system used for blind persons.

  A knob twisted. A pointer moved from "Off" to the first number. Close to the group around Caulkins sounded two loud, mushy explosions. Zoromen began screaming. They fell to the ground, writhing. Quickly they became motionless.

  As they toppled over, their silvery skins looked as if they had been pierced by thousands of tiny needles. Drops of blood appeared. They were surrounded by an acrid haze of powder.

  The knob turned again to the second number on the dial. Another mushy explosion tore up the earth in front of a stream of Zoromen running toward the Uni-Ships. They staggered and toppled.

  Caulkins looked at his companion, Cassalano, with an aggrieved expression on his lean, ascetic countenance.

  "Did you have to do--" he started to say. He did not finish.

  For he had toppled across the body of a Zoroman.

  ONLY Zoro and about a score of his henchmen remained on their feet. Zoro cried out desperately and led them toward the Uni-Ships. Cassalano made no effort to prevent their flight. He smiled queerly. His face was strangely contorted.

  Not only had one of his chins been cut off, but his puffed cheeks had disappeared. With a quick movement he was removing ridges of wax from the gums about both upper and lower teeth. With a thumbnail he flicked away two shell-like coverings from his eyeballs.

  The flaky gold eyes of Doc Savage were looking at Princess Lanta. His orbs stirred in little whirlpools of light.

  "You gave a remarkable performance, Princess Lanta," stated the bronze man. "Your father will be grateful indeed."

  "My poor father," sighed Princess Lanta. "If only he hasn't been hurt. I'll never forgive myself for deceiving him, but I know it was the only way. Zoro would have overwhelmed all of us in the tunnel."

  "That is true, so do not accuse yourself," advised Doc. "We could not have acted sooner with any hope of success."

  Where the mushy blasts had occurred lay many of the Zoromen. Near the one group the bony figure of the apparent Caulkins still reposed. Doc went to his side. He slipped a hypodermic needle under the skin. Within a minute the pseudo Caulkins opened his eyes.

  "Good gosh, Doc!" exploded the voice of Long Tom. "I feel like I'd been stung by a million bees!"

  Like those around him, he had been peppered with particles of a solidified drug. It was the same anaesthetic Ham used on the tip of his sword blade.

  Doc had employed minute portions of the trinitromite to manufacture the small boxes buried in strategic spots. The explosions had been caused by remote radio control.

  Overhead, Zoro's three Uni-Ships were circling. Doc led Long Tom and Princess Lanta toward the tunnel of the magnetic cavern.

  HAM, for the moment hopeless, had heard the rippling explosions of the super-machine pistols in the hands of Zoro and Princess Lanta. Instantly there was a terrific blast. The walls of the crystal cavern quivered. New fragments of loosened roof rained down.

  Monk, Renny and the others rolled out of the tunnel just in time to miss a deluge of stalactites. Ham was on his feet. His hands went carefully over his own waspish figure.

  "I'm all right," he muttered. "We're all O. K. What could have happened?"

  The buried trinitromite remained safely under the entombing rocks. The great blast had been outside.

  Ham was electrified with new hope. He sprung lightly toward the entombing downfall of crystal. His slender hands tore at the obstruction.

  "Holy cow!" thundered Renny. "Something blew up outside! Let's steam-shovel this stuff!"

  With Monk beside him, the big engineer tried to emulate the device he had named. The loose rock rolled behind the sinewed pair. King Lumos stared at them bleakly. Perhaps even death would have been preferred by the ruler of Subterranae to the supposed knowledge of Lanta's treachery.

  A staccato of shooting slapped on the ears of the imprisoned men. Through it Ham detected a voice of smooth command. The tones were not excited, but they penetrated into the tunnel.

  "Doc himself!" shouted Ham. "Everybody hit the stuff!"

  A fainter voice buzzed inside the cavern. It was emanating from the portable radio receiver of King Lumos. It was assurance being uttered by Princess Lanta, even as she was engaged in battling beside the man of bronze.

  King Lumos dropped at least half a century of his more than one hundred years. Youth flowed back into his veins. Again he was a young man leading his loyal followers.

  "We must save ourselves, Crado!" he commanded. "Follow me!"

  Like a monarch of ancient times who led his broadswords-men to an attack, the king shouldered his way between Renny and Monk. His aged arms were imbued with new strength.

  In front of Ham the small opening widened. Renny and Monk heaved the last and largest fragment of crystal to one side.

  Monk loped toward the exit. Ham interposed his waspish figure.

  "Keep back, you clumsy gorilla!" barked the lawyer. "Even an ape ought to know the rights of kings! The place of King Lumos is at the head of his men!"

  For once, Monk had no reply ready. The big chemist's hands and forearms were sliced to ribbons by the sharp rock he had handled. He mopped at his sweating face. With the hair matted on his sloping countenance he achieved the ugliest moment of his career.

  THE released men burst into the open. Acrid smoke of an explosion lay in wisps about them. Overhead floated the three Uni-Ships of Zoro. From one of these a dark object shot down. It struck the ground and split asunder. A wide crevasse opened only a few yards from King Lumos and his men.

  Earth and rocks pelted around the escaping prisoners.

  Two of the ships circled. Ham and the others saw the pair they had believed to be Caulkins and Cassalano. Princess Lanta was beside them. The princess cried out joyfully. She ran toward her father.

  Another bomb flashed down. The ground was furrowed by its ripping impact. Several of Zoro's unconscious men were blown to bits. The rebel chief had become desperately ruthless. His Uni-Ship came over King Lumos and Doc's three companions.

  "Back into the cavern!" came the voice of Doc Savage.

  Doc was pulling a small, flat box from Long Tom's shirt. On this glistened a number of dials. Coiled wires enwrapped the outside. Doc twisted one of the dials. The others could feel the air crackling on a static wave.

  Up above, the three Uni-Ships of Zoro suddenly ceased to move. They remained suspended as if hung on cables. Within one of the ships there was abrupt commotion. The members of the crew were apparently fighting among themselves.

  One of the Uni-Ship's hatchways was opened. A bulky figure was propelled into space. The ship was several hundred feet in the air. The body of a man started falling. Arms and legs sprawled grotesquely.

  It was Zoro.

  In a panic over their defeat and the loss of both power and gravity control, the Zoromen had thrown out their chief. By this evidently they hoped to win some leniency from King Lumos.

  Zoro's belt had been pulled from him. If his henchmen had realized it, his gravity control would have been useless.

  The chief of the Land of Beyond struck the ground. The pretender to the throne of King Lumos became only a gruesome blot. Princess Lanta turned her eyes away.

  Monk was close to the princess and her father. He was a bloody, grimy spectacle. Princess Lanta looked at him and smiled. Ham was in the act of restoring his rumpled raiment. Even in the face of greatest stress, the lawyer seemed a dapper figure. He moved carefully to be sure the princess had noticed him.

  Princess Lanta put one white hand on Monk's bulletlike head. She gently wiped the blood from his blinking eyes.

  "I thank you, man with the funny face I like, for saving my father," she said softly. "And for your bravery in coming to my rescue in the garden."

  Ham moved disgustedly away.

  "It just goes to show there isn't any justice," he muttered.

  King Lumos was looking at Doc and Long Tom. The man of bronze had only about half of his disguise removed. His hands and face were once more a golden hue. His hair was still an indeterminate color.

  "But it seems impossible, Doc Savage," said the king. "What became of the two scientists?"

  Doc strode to a spot not far from the cavern entrance. Again he turned a knob on the box he had taken from Long Tom. The ground immediately trembled with a minor quake.

  A Uni-Ship bored into view. Doc's remote control box stopped it directly before the king. A hatchway opened.

 

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