nothing.

"He got out maybe fifteen seconds of transmission," said Bors somberly,
"which may or may not be picked up from this distance, and may or may
not tell anything. He got a tape ready while he was in overdrive, with
plenty of time for the job. My guess is that he'd take at least fifteen
seconds to identify his ship, give her code number, her skipper, and
such things. I hope so...."

But for minutes he was irresolute. He'd send his own minutely detailed
report back to Glamis on the second captured ship. He did not need to
return to report in person. He hadn't yet sent back provisions enough
for the intended voyage of the fleet. The solar system of Mekin was an
especially well-stocked hunting-ground for such marauders as Bors and
his crew declared themselves to be--so long as word did not get to
ground on Mekin.

But it did not get down. From time to time--at intervals of a few
hours--specks appeared in emptiness. Mekin monopolized the off-planet
trade of its satellite world. There would be many times the
space-traffic here that would be found off any other planet in the
Mekinese empire.

One ship got to ground unchallenged. By pure accident it came out of
overdrive within half a million miles of Mekin. To have attacked it
would have been noted. But he got two more cargo-ships. Then he found
the _Horus_ alongside a passenger-ship. But it couldn't be allowed to
ground, to report that it had been stopped by an armed ship. A
prize-crew took it off to Glamis.

Bors made a formal announcement to his crew. "I think," he told them
over the all-speaker circuit, "that we got the ship which could have
reported our action off Meriden. I'm sure we've sent four shiploads of
food back to the fleet, besides the passenger-ship we'd rather have
missed. But there's still something to be done. To confuse Mekin and
keep it busy, and therefore off Kandar's neck, we have to start trouble
elsewhere. From now on we are pirates pure and simple."

And he headed the _Horus_ for the planet Cassis, which was another
victim of the Mekinese. It was a rocky, mountainous world with many
mines. Mekin depended on it for metal in vast quantities. The _Horus_
hovered over it and sent down a sardonic challenge. One missile came up
in defiance. But it was badly aimed and Bors ignored it. Then voices
called to him, sharp with excitement. He heard shots and shouting and a
voice said feverishly that rebels on Cassis, who had been fighting in
the s