Page:Amazing Stories Volume 15 Number 10.djvu/70

70 "Have you seen anything of Princess Wimpolo?" Don asked.

They looked blank, but one girl remembered seeing a girl wearing royal insignia being marched through the street by a group of apes who were making a lot of noise as though very pleased with themselves. The Martian girl had not thought it possible at the time that it could really be the Princess.

"Then I am on the right trail. Is there any way that I can get to this submarine and stow away on board?"

The Martians looked at one another.

"You haven't a chance, Earthling. All ways to the docks and the docks themselves will be swarming with apemen. Best not to throw your life away trying it. There is no possibility of getting near that submarine, unless you swim."

"That's an idea," Don said. "And, say, I have a plan to help you to escape, if you like to try it."

"I'll try anything," the big Martian said. "What's your idea?"

"My zekolo will take each of you in turn and lift you onto the roof. This block is huge. You can hide yourselves anywhere in it. The apes will be too busy getting away before King Usulor's army gets here to have much time to hunt for you."

The Martian looked out of the window.

"We should be seen getting out," he said.

Many batches of ape-men were coming down the street. A squad of them turned into the house where Don watched.

"They've come for us," the Martian said.

HE steps of the ape-men could be heard padding through the house, grunts, half-animal cries and primitive speech.

"All stand well away from the door," Don directed. "Zeko! Climb!"

The zekolo knew what was wanted. It elongated two of its arms like long stilts and stood over the doorway, one arm on each side, Don sat on its back, over the door.

They had not long to wait. Soon the door was unlocked. Ten ape-men with metal clubs in their hands lurched in on short, bowed legs.

Don dropped to the floor behind them, sword in hand. To his amazement the zekolo gripped his belt in one of its pincers and placed him behind it, out of the way. The zekolo was going into action, and it had ten enemies to fight at once. It had many arms and pincers, but only one pair of eyes. It could not watch what all of its arms were doing. For some minutes it would be dangerous to be anywhere within range of those pincers.

Don had seen the zekolo fight several times before, but never in such a confined space against so many opponents at once. It simply lay on the floor and shot out all its. arms at once, pincers clashing.

The three ape-men in the lead it seized by the neck and simply pinched off their heads as scissors might cut off the heads of men of paper. The rest of the pincers clashed more or less at random, pinching at anything in the way, arms, legs, bodies, the wall, the door, furniture.

Metal clubs crashed on tough shell and rubbery arms, apparently doing no damage. The zekolo's eyes turned. The blue-haired arms of the ape-men tried to cover their throats, and were promptly cut off. A swinging club might knock out of the way the first reaching pincer, but not the second and third.

In less than a minute the fight was over. Two ape-men tried to run away.