exultation, and started to crowd toward him, shouting and gesticulating
in savage delight. Then something else happened so sudden and so
dreadful that the woman who was watching from the earth was turned
almost sick.

Like a flash Supreme dropped, headlong, toward the group of humans. In
two seconds the distance was covered, and in the last fifth of a second
Billie saw the key to the whole mystery.

In that last instant the man who before had seemed of ordinary size, was
magnified to the dimensions of a colossus. Instead of being under six
feet, he appeared to be near a hundred yards in height; but Billie
scarcely realized this till later, it all happened so quickly. There was
an outcry from the group, and then the commandant's aircraft crashed
into the man's HAND; a hand so huge that the very wrinkles in its skin
were like so many gulleys; even in that final flash Billie saw all this.

Simultaneously with the landing there was a loud pop, while Billie's
senses reeled with the stunning suddenness of the impact. Next second
the machine had darted to a safe distance, and Billie could see the man
gnawing frantically at the back of his hand. Too late; his hand went
stiff, and his arm twitched spasmodically. The fellow made a step or two
forward, then swayed where he stood, his whole body rigid and strained.
An expression of the utmost terror was upon his face; he could not utter
a sound, although his companions shrieked in horror. Another second and
the man fell flat, twitching convulsively; and in a moment or two it was
all over. He was dead!

And then the truth burst upon the watcher. In fact, it seemed to come to
all four at the same time, probably by reason of their mental