thatlater....
* * * * *
From the outside entrance of the tunnel, the dark spaceship seemeddisturbingly close, and the expanse between it and us free ofimpediments of any kind. Only fifty or sixty quick steps, and then....The Martians at the ship saw us and climbed aboard. The ship wasbeginning to vibrate again.
The two policemen were wandering around by the water's edge. We couldhear the dogs howling. Several others had joined in now, but we couldn'tsee them. They were above us.
"Walk slow to ship," Blekeke instructed, tenseness obvious in his voice."Casual. Like nothing. I right behind."
Maxwell and I glanced at each other and stepped from the aperture to thegravelly beach and started walking very slowly and casually toward thespaceship.
We had gone about ten feet when we heard, in the short intervals whenthe dogs weren't howling, the crunching footsteps of Blekeke behind us.They were faltering.
I couldn't resist a backward glance.
I saw about a half-dozen dogs on the hill behind and above Blekeke. Theywere squatting on their haunches, noses pointed at the spaceship, andthey were creating the damnedest racket I had ever heard. Surely thecops would at least _suspect_ something!
Blekeke was walking stiffly, slowly, keeping the blaster pointed at us,making a visible effort not to turn around.
"Hey, you goddam dogs!" one of the policemen on the beach shouted."Shut the hell up!" He picked up a rock and threw it, but he was too faraway. The missile whizzed low over my head. I ducked instinctively,turning to see where the stone hit. It missed the dogs by a good fifteenor twenty feet.
Other policemen were appearing from the direction of the road, runninganxiously toward the dogs, looking in the direction the dogs werepointing.
And seeing nothing.
Other dogs were appearing, too, some well within the vision ofBlekeke--but another quick glance showed me that he was staring rigidlyahead and walking steadily.
We were entering the shadow of the spaceship. Less than twenty feet togo. Even in the dim light, I could almost distinguish the features ofthe Martian waiting there to haul us aboard.
* * * * *
The policemen on the beach were now walking back to join the others. Theone who had yelled and thrown the stone now whistled shrilly, andshouted, "Commere, you lousy, flea-bitten mutts, and shut up!"
He whistled again. Insistently.
One dog stopped howling and slunk forward timidly, then halted.
The whistle was a shrill command.
I heard a soft gasp, perhaps a sob, from Blekeke.
The dog trotted slowly, reluctantly, forward, tail between its legs,growling and whining at the same time.
"Running! Running! Hurry!" Blekeke screamed.
Instead, I turned around to watch, and so did Maxwell.
The policeman continued to whistle. Another dog, a large, shaggy collie,left the pack. But it was not timid, and it paid no attention to thepolicemen--it had seen Blekeke, and it rushed at him, snarling andyapping.
The Martian made a gurgling noise. A shudder shook his frame, and heturned and fired.
I was watching, without really comprehending what I saw, the policemanwho had been whistling. Abruptly he stopped whistling. He was _looking_.But not at the dogs, nor at the other policemen. Not even at the shaggycollie that vanished suddenly in a blinding flash.
He was looking at the spaceship. And seeing it. He rubbed a hand acrosshis eyes.
When the collie was hit, the terrier which had slunk forward turned. Atfive feet from Blekeke, it growled and leaped at him.
Blekeke collapsed. The blaster dropped from his hand, and he crumpledinto a trembling, twitching, sobbing lump on the ground.
I rushed to grab the blaster, and Maxwell kicked the snarling,frightened dog away.
At the same time, the policeman yelled, "Jupiter! It _is_ a spaceship! Iknew I seen somethin'. I may have had a drink, but I ain't crazy!"
He fired while he was yelling, and the Martian who had been leaning fromthe port ducked inside. The ship shuddered and rose quickly, with arumble that was almost drowned by the racket the dogs were making.
The policeman rubbed his eyes. "Huh?... I coulda swore I saw aspaceship. Right _there_. Just _now_. Just a second ago."
"Man, you really _are_ drunk," his companion said.
The house blew up an instant later. No policemen were killed or injuredin the explosion. They were all gathered on the beach to see why thedogs were howling.
It took a bit of explaining.
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