Chapter 12. _At Rope’s End_

With Boulton lying across the back seat, the four men acted simultaneously. Thinking only of self-defense, they drew their pistols and fired point-blank into the monsters attacking them. As the men emptied their guns, the Martians in front stumbled, fell, rolled over, or began to run aimlessly as the heavy slugs tore through them. They were not easy to kill--which was to be expected of creatures without much of a central consciousness--but on the other hand, once struck or injured, they seemed to lose contact with …