he _Sirius_ was drawing near, and the
castaways upon Ganymede had donned their only suits of earthly clothing,
instead of the makeshifts of mole-skin, canvas, and leather they had
been wearing so long. Thorns and underbrush had pierced and torn their
once natty outing costumes, and sparks and flying drops of molten metal
from Stevens' first crude forges had burned in them many gaping holes.

"I did the best I could with them, Steve, but they look pretty crumby,"
Nadia wrinkled her nose as she studied the anything but invisible seams,
darns, and staring patches everywhere so evident, both in her own
apparel of gray silk and in the heavy whipcord clothing of her
companion.

"You did a great job, considering what you had to work with," he
reassured her. "Besides, who cares about a few patches? I feel a lot
more civilized in my own clothes, don't you?"

"Well ... yes," she admitted. "They're silk, anyway, even if they don't
look like much, and I'm just reveling in the feel of them next to me
after the horrible, rough, scratchy things I've been wearing. See
anything yet?"

"Not yet." Stevens had been scanning the heavens with a pair of
binoculars. "That doesn't mean much, though, as they'll be just about in
the sun and they'll be coming like a scared dog. Might as well put away
these glasses--we probably won't be able to see them until they're right
on top of us."

"What shall we take with us?"

"Don't know--nothing, probably, since they must have a campaign already
mapped out. I'd like to salvage a lot of this junk, but I'm afraid we
won't be able to. I'm going to take my bow and arrows, though, aren't
you?"

"Absolutely! That's one thing that's better than anything I ever had on
Earth. This bow of mine is perfect."

"There they are! Three rousing cheers! Say, but that old hulk looks good
to me!"

"Doesn't she, though!" cried Nadia, vibrant with excitement. "You know,
Steve. I've hardly dared really to believe it until this very minute. Oh
look! What's that?"

The _Sirius_ had stopped in midair and they could see, far in the
distance, the tiny sphere of the Jovians, rushing to the attack.

"Oh, how horrible!" cried the girl, her voice breaking. "I'm afraid,
Steve...."

"You needn't be, ace. I've told you they won't go off half-cocked as
long as Westfall is on the job. They're ready for anything, or they
wouldn't be here--but just the same I wish that they had that Titanian
mirror and a couple of those bombs