it of the Hawk and
the Kite.

It will be remembered--as related in "Hawk Carse"[1]--that Dr. Ku laid a
most ingenious trap for Carse on the latter's ranch on Iapetus, eighth
satellite of Saturn. Judd the Kite, pirate and scavenger, was the
Eurasian's tool in this plot, which started with a raid on the ranch.
The fracas which followed the Hawk's escape from the trap was bloody and
grim enough, and resulted in the erasure of Judd and all his men save
one; but the important thing to the following affair was that Judd's
ship, the Scorpion, fell into Carse's hands with one prisoner and the
ship's log, containing the space coordinates for a prearranged
assignation of Judd with Ku Sui.

[1] See the November, 1931, issue of Astounding Stories.

All other projects were postponed by the Hawk at this opportunity to
meet Dr. Ku face to face. The trail of the Eurasian was the guiding
trail of his life, and swiftly he moved along it.

There was work to be done before he could set out. Three men had emerged
alive from the clash between the Hawk and the Kite: Carse himself,
Friday, his gigantic negro companion in adventure, and a bearded
half-caste called Sako, sole survivor of Judd's crew. Aided sullenly by
this man, they first cleaned up the ravaged ranch, burying the bodies
of the dead, repairing fences and generally bringing order out of
confusion. Then, under Carse's instructions, Friday and the captive
brigand tooled the adventurer's own ship, the _Star Devil_, well into
the near-by jungle, while the Hawk returned to the _Scorpion_.

He went into her control cabin, opened her log book and once more
scanned what interested him there. The notation ran:

"E.D. (Earth Date) 16 January, E.T. (Earth Time) 2:40 P.M. Meeting
ordered by Ku Sui, for purpose of delivering the skeleton and
clothing of Carse to him, at N.S. (New System) X-33.7; Y-241.3;
Z-92.8 on E.D. 24 January, E.T. 10:20 P.M. Note: the ship is to
stand by at complete stop, the radio's receiver open to Ku Sui's
private wave (D37, X1293, R3) for further instructions."

He mulled over it, slowly stroking his flaxen bangs. It was a chance,
and a good one. Judd's ship would keep that rendezvous, but it would
sheathe the talons of the Hawk. This time a trap would be laid for Ku
Sui.

* * * * *

The plan was simple enough, on the face of it, but the Eurasian was a
master of cunning as well as a mast