o were to see us following? Suppose he stopped and
lay in ambush to fire at us as we came leaping heedlessly by?

"Anita, wait," I said, checking her.

I drew her down amid a group of tumbled boulders. And then abruptly
she clung to me.

"Gregg, I know what we can do! Gregg, don't tell me you won't let me
try it!"

* * * * *

I listened to her plan. Incredible! Incredibly dangerous! Yet, as I
pondered it, the very daring of the thing seemed the measure of its
possible success. The brigands would never imagine we could be so
rash!

"But Anita--"

"Gregg, you're stupid!" It was her turn to be exasperated. In truth, I
was indeed in no mood for daring, for my mind was obsessed with
Anita's safety. I had been planning that we might see the glow of
Miko's encampment, and then return to Grantline and hope that he would
have the portes repaired.

"But Gregg--the safety of the treasure--of all the Grantline men...."

"To the infernal with that! It's you--your safety."

"My safety, then! If you put me in the camp and the brigands attack it
and I am killed--what then? But this plan of mine, if we can do it,
Gregg ... safety, in the end, for all of us."

And it seemed possible. We crouched, discussing it. So daring a thing!

The brigand ship would come down near Archimedes. That was fifty miles
from Grantline. The brigands from Mars would not have seen the dark
Grantline buildings hidden in the little crater-pit. They would wait
for Miko and his men to make their whereabouts known.

* * * * *

Miko's encampment was ahead of us now, undoubtedly. We had been
following him toward the Mare Imbrium; we were at its borders now.
Archimedes from here was also about fifty miles.

And Anita proposed that we go to Archimedes, climb in slope and await
the coming of the brigand ship. Miko would be off in the Mare Imbrium.
Or at least, we hoped so. He would signal his ship. But Anita and I,
closer to it, would also signal it--and, posing as brigands, could
join it!

"Remember, Gregg, I am Anita Prince, George's sister." Her voice
trembled as, she mentioned her dead brother. "They know that George
was in Miko's pay, and I am his sister.... It will help convince
them."

This daring scheme! If we could join the ship, we might be able to
persuade its leader that Miko's distant signals were merely a ruse of
Grantline to lure the brigands in that direction. A long-ran