ring of the Master Pilot this sound
of many fans meant no little craft. It was a big ship that was landing,
and it was coming down fast. The blue-striped monster looming large in
the glow of the midnight sun was not entirely a surprise to Chet's
staring eyes.

But--blue-striped! The markings of the Schwartzmann line!--He had hardly
sensed the danger when it was upon him.

A man, heavy and broad of frame, was giving orders. Only once had Chet
seen this Herr Schwartzmann, but there was no mistaking him now. And he
was sending a squad of rushing figures toward the man who struggled to
close a great door.

Chet crouched to meet the attack. He was outnumbered; he could never win
out. But the knowledge of his own helplessness was nothing beside that
other conviction that flooded him with sickening certainty--

A hoax!--that was what they had called Walt's story; Schwartzmann had so
named it, and now Schwartzmann had been the one to fool them; the
message was a fake--a bait to draw him out; and he, Chet, had taken the
bait. He had led Schwartzmann here; had delivered their ship into his
hands--

[Illustration: _He landed one blow on the nearest face._]

He landed one blow on the nearest face; he had one glimpse of a clubbed
weapon swinging above him--and the world went dark.

CHAPTER II

_Into Space_

A pulsing pain that stabbed through his head was Chet's first conscious
impression. Then, as objects came slowly into focus before his eyes, he
knew that above him a ray of light was striking slantingly through the
thick glass of a control-room lookout.

Other lookouts were black, the dead black of empty space. Through them,
sparkling points of fire showed here and there--suns, sending their
light across millions of years to strike at last on a speeding ship.
But, from the one port that caught the brighter light, came that
straight ray to illumine the room.

"Space," thought Chet vaguely. "That is the sunlight of space!"

He was trying to arrange his thoughts in some sensible sequence. His
head!--what had happened to his head?... And then he remembered. Again
he saw a clubbed weapon descending, while the face of Schwartzmann
stared at him through bulbous eyes....

And this control-room where he lay--he knew in an instant where he was.
It was his own ship that was roaring and trembling beneath him--his and
Walt Harkness'--it was flying through space! And, with the sudden
realization of what this meant, he