led and hushed. So fecund was the fungus that the
path Friday had cleared in his passage aft was already filled, and
Carse had to clear a new one. The growth was deep there, but still
deeper in the next compartment.

It was practically a solid mass of yellow, for in it their invader had
found food. It had fed well on the lockers of supplies and devoured
all but the bones and clothing of the two men whom it had
caught--radio-operator and cook. Carse fought on through this tough,
clinging sea and came at last to the cargo hold, where, in the deck,
was the man-hole that gave passage down to the 'tween-decks
compartment where the rows of gravity propulsion plates were located.

* * * * *

Friday raised the cover with a wrench: then, preceded by the rays of
their hand-flashes, they climbed down and wormed forward as best they
could in their hampering suits, to the plates. They found they had
lost their customary glitter beneath powdery coatings of yellow,
sufficient to disturb their faint electric currents and
microscopically adjusted angles. On hands and knees--for the
compartment, though as wide as the ship's inner shell, was only three
feet in height--the Hawk stopped and said:

"We might be able to get some use out of these plates if we can keep
the fungus brushed off. It's thin: let's try it."

But the yellow growth's vitality baulked them. Sweating from their
awkward exertions inside the hot space-suits, they again and again
brushed clean the plates with pieces of waste--only to see the
feathery particles regather as quickly as they were cleared away.
There wasn't more than an inch of the fungus, but that inch stuck.
There was no removing it.

"No use, boss," gasped the negro, pausing breathless. "Cain't do it.
Nothin' to do, I guess, but wait an' see what de Kite does. He'll sure
want this ship and the horn."

"I know," his captain answered slowly. "He'll want this ship, for it's
the fastest in space--but I can't understand how he'll board us. I'm
going up and see what I can find out. You stay here. Try cleaning the
plates again."

Up through the man-hole he went, and forward to the control cabin.
And, as before, the electelscope's eye-piece held a surprise for him.

Somehow, the _Star Devil's_ speed of wild tumbling had lessened. A
moment later the reason appeared. As her bow dipped down and down,
there slid across the field of view, about a mile away, the lighted
ports of a