alf-raised pistol; it was as if some
secret thought had filled him with overpowering amusement. His broad
grin grew into a laugh. "That isn't all, big boy. What will you do if
you do land? What will you do when you open the ports and the--?" He
cut his words short, and the smile, with all other expression, was
carefully erased from his young face.

"No, I reckon I won't spoil the surprise. We got through it all right;
maybe you will, too--maybe!"

* * * * *

And again it was Diane who played up to Chet's lead without a moment's
hesitation.

"Chet," she demanded, "aren't you going to warn him? You would not
allow him and his men to be--"

She stopped in apparent horror of the unsaid words; Chet gave her an
approving glance.

"We'll see about that when we get there, Diane."

He turned abruptly back to Schwartzmann. "I'll forget what a rotten
winner you have been; I'll help you out; I'll take the controls if you
like. Of course, your man, Max, may set us down without damage; then
again--"

"Take them!" Schwartzmann ungraciously made an order of his
acceptance. "Take the controls, Herr Bullard! But if you make a
single false move!" The menacing pistol completed the threat.

But "Herr Bullard" merely turned to his companion with a level,
understanding look. "Come on," he said; "you can both help in working
out our location."

He stepped before the burly man that Diane might precede them through
the door. And he felt the hand of Walt Harkness on his arm in a
pressure that told what could not be said aloud.

* * * * *

There were pallid-faced men in the cabin through which they passed;
men who stared and stared from the window-ports into the black
immensity of space. Chet, too, stopped to look; there had been no
port-holes in that inner room where they had been confined.

He knew what to expect; he knew how awe-inspiring would be the sight
of strange, luminous bodies--great islands of light--masses of
animaculae--that glowed suddenly, then melted again into velvet black.
A whirl of violet grew almost golden in sudden motion; Chet knew it
for an invisible monster of space. Glowingly luminous as it threw
itself upon a subtle mass of shimmering light, it faded like a
flickering flame, and went dark as its motion ceased.

Life!--life everywhere in this ocean of space! And on every hand was
death. "Not surprising," Chet realized, "that these other Eart