escape try to shoot me, that the inevitable contraction of my
muscles will send two bullets into your heart--even if I am dead. I
am a dead man, Senhor, if you give the word, but so are you if you
give it."

Ribiera gasped. His eyes rolled in his head.

"Send for her," said Bell very gently. "Send for her, Senhor. I
estimate that she has been in this house for less than half an hour.
Have her brought here at once, and if she has been harmed the three of
us will perish very promptly, and half of Rio will go mad after our
death."

And the muzzles of two revolvers bored into the fat flesh of Ribiera's
body, and a gasp that was almost a wail of terror came from the
watchers--armed watchers--who dared not kill the man they had been
posted to guard Ribiera against.

Ribiera lifted his hand and croaked an order.

(_To be continued._)

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Brigands of the Moon

(The Book of Gregg Haljan)

PART THREE OF A FOUR-PART NOVEL

_By Ray Cummings_

[Illustration: Light-rays and silent flashes seemed to envelop us.]

[Sidenote: Gregg and Anita risk quick, sure death in a desperate bluff
on the ruthless Martian brigands.]

_WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE_

One day in 2075 the Interplanetary Space-Ship _Planetara_ left the
Earth for Mars. I, Gregg Haljan, was third officer.

It was destined to be a tragic voyage. For in our midst were
unscrupulous brigands, masquerading as harmless passengers, intent on
seizing the secret treasure of radium ore Johnny Grantline of the
Grantline Expedition had dug from the Moon. The _Planetara_ was to
stop on the Moon and pick the treasure up on her return trip from
Mars.

Miko, a giant Martian, and his sister, Moa, were the ringleaders. With
them were, as passengers, Sir Arthur Coniston and Ob Hahn, a Venus
mystic. The whole crew was in their pay.

Miko struck. The captain was killed, as were the officers. Only Snap
Dean, the radio-helio operator, Venza, a girl of Venus, and I were
left. And, of course, Anita Prince, who had captivated my heart upon
my first glimpse of her.

The brigands abandoned the other passengers on a small asteroid, and
Miko signaled his space-ship far off on Mars to meet him on the Moon.
I was forced to guide the _Planetara_ to the Moon. We sighted the huts
of the Grantline Expedition, and suddenly, just as we started to
descend, the controls, snapped, and the _Planetara_ tumbled like a
spent rocket! Desperately I tried to check her, but only pa