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"It was a machine in which men traveled," his thoughts arose to her. "But they were not as the men of Memphir. Perhaps not even as the sons of Erb " "Not as the sons of Erb!" her astonishment broke into open speech. Lur's neck twisted as he looked up at her. "Did the men of Erb, even in the old chronicles fight with weapons such as would make a desert of glass?
Then on the faraway planet of their birth there had begun a great war, a war which brought flaming death to all that world. The survivors of a last battle in outer space had fled to the colonies on Erb. But among this handful were men driven mad by the death of their world, and these had blasted the cities of Erb, saying that their kind must be wiped out.
Bill, having met the world squarely and shown it what was what, stood where he was, whistling nonchalantly. Henry removed his finger from his mouth. "Lend me the loan of that stick of yours, Erb," he said tensely. Erb silently yielded up the stout stick which was his inseparable companion. Henry, a vastly different man from the genial saunterer of a moment ago, poked wildly through the railings.
There are other worlds than Erb, mayhap this strange thing was a sky ship from such a world. All things are possible by the Will of Asti." Varta nodded. "All things are possible by the Will of Asti," she repeated. "But, Lur," her eyes were round with wonder, "perhaps it is Asti's Will which brought us here to find this marvel! Perhaps He has some use for us and it!"
Then he laid it down again, and said: 'It doesn't matter, chaps. Poor 'Erb wouldn't a made it, anyway. I 'ad four queens." "Tommy has his own ideas of fun, I'll admit," said Bobby. "Do you remember those first trenches of ours at Festubert? There was a dead Frenchman buried in the parapet you know how they used to bury people in those days?" "I did notice it. Go on."
'Erb had been a football player before he married, and there were photographs on the wall of various teams in self-conscious attitudes, with neatly plastered hair, the captain seated proudly in the middle holding a cup.
He bit, and Henry one feels sorry for Henry: he was a well-meaning man leaped back with a loud howl. "That'll be 'arf a pint," said Erb, always the business man. There was a lull in the rapid action. The dog, mumbling softly to himself, had moved away again and was watching affairs from the edge of the sidewalk. Erb, having won, his point, was silent once more. Henry sucked his finger.
The breaths were deeper Then the man half turned, his arm moved. Varta and Lur drew back. For the first time the girl probed gently the sleeping mind before her even as she had read the minds of those few of Memphir who had ascended to the temple precincts in the last days. Much of what she read now was confused or so alien to Erb that it had no meaning for her.
Polly was flustered, and she thought 'Erb a regular caution, you never knew what ideas 'e'd get in 'is 'ead next; but she got a plate and wiped it quickly with her apron, then took a new knife and fork from the chest of drawers, where her best cutlery rested among her best clothes. There was a jug of stout on the table, and 'Erb poured Philip out a glass.
Swiftly she loosed the other hoops and restored the sun and worlds to their place over her head as the captive slumped across the threshold of his cell. Tugging and straining they brought him out of the broken ship into the sunlight of Erb.
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