instrument room. We saw the deck of the brigand
ship and the blurred interior of the cabins.

"Try the search-beam, Franck. We don't need the other."

The zed-ray went off. We gazed down our search-light which clung to
the dome of the distant enemy vessel. We could see movement there.

"The telescope," Grantline ordered.

* * * * *

The little dynamos hummed. The telescope-finder glowed and clarified.
On the deck of the ship we saw the brigands working with the
assembling of ore-carts. A deck landing-porte was open. The ore-carts
were being carried out through a porte-lock and down a landing
incline. And on the rocks outside, we saw several of the carts--and
rail-sections and the sections of an ore-shute.

Miko was unloading his mining apparatus! He was making ready to come
up for the treasure!

The discovery, startling as it was, nevertheless was far overshadowed
by an imperative danger alarm from our main building. Brigands were
outside on our ledge! Miko's search-beam, sweeping the ledge a moment
before, had carefully avoided revealing them. It had been done just
for that purpose, no doubt--making us sure that the ledge was
unoccupied and thus to guard against our own light making a search.

But there was a brigand group here close outside our walls! By the
merest chance the radiating glow from our search-ray had shown the
helmeted figures scurrying for shelter.

Grantline leaped to his feet.

We rushed for the rear exit-porte which was nearest us. The giant
bloated figures had been seen running along the outside of the
connecting corridor, in this direction. But before we ever got there,
a new alarm came. A brigand was crouching at a front corner of the
main building! His hydrogen heat-torch had already opened a rift in
the wall!

CHAPTER XXXV

_Desperate Offensive_

"In with you!" ordered Grantline. "Get your helmets on! How many? Six?
Enough--get back there, Williams--you were last. The lock won't hold
any more."

I was one of the six who jammed into the manual exit lock. We went
through it: in a moment we were outside. It was less than three
minutes since the prowling brigands had been seen.

Grantline touched me just as we emerged. "Don't wait for orders! Get
them!"

"That fellow with the torch, the most dangerous--"

"Yes! I'm with you."

We went out with a rush. We had already discarded our shoe and belt
weights. I leaped, regardless of my companions.