this morning," he said. "If I had only known."

"Don't blame yourself, sir," said Jeff. "You didn't know it was there!"

"Let's find it now," said Jane desperately. "We're losing time. Those
men back in the hills may catch the boys."

"They haven't been caught yet," asserted Strong. "And if I know my
cadets, those men will have a hard time nailing them. Come on!" He
turned and raced into the Administration Building, heading for Professor
Sykes's laboratory.

In less than five minutes Jeff was searching through the pages of the
professor's work journal. "There's no telling when he made the
discovery," said Jeff, scanning the mass of complicated diagrams and
figures.

"It must have been soon after our arrival on Roald," said Jane. "That
was when we saw him searching the hills around our farm."

Jeff flipped the pages back to the front of the book and began to read
it from the beginning. "Here's something!" He quoted some figures from
the book and looked at Strong.

"That make any sense to you, sir?" he asked.

"It sure does!" said Strong. "That's a preliminary survey on uranium!
He's just getting the scent there. Keep reading."

Jeff turned a few more pages and suddenly stopped. "Here it is!" he
exclaimed. "And say--look at this!" He handed the journal over to Strong
who began to read quickly. "'... conclusive proof found today in hills
surrounding farming area of Hyram Logan. Potentially the biggest hot
metal strike I've ever seen. Am going to make a report to Vidac today.
This could mean the beginning of a new era in space travel. Enough fuel
to send fleets of ships on protracted voyages to any part of the
universe....'"

Strong stopped reading and looked at Jane and Jeff.

"This was dated the tenth." He turned the page and continued, "This is
the day after, the eleventh. Listen to this! '... Vidac is sending my
information to the Solar Council immediately. He was very impressed.'
And so forth and so forth."

Strong closed the journal and faced Jeff and Jane again, a triumphant
smile on his lips. "This is just what we needed. This journal is
admissible in Solar Courts as evidence the same way a ship's log is!
Come on. Now we've got to get Vidac before he gets the cadets!"

"Wait," said Jane in a fearful whisper. "Listen."

Strong and Jeff stood still. In the distance they heard the unmistakable
roar of jet cars converging on the Plaza. Strong turned to Jeff.
"They've either found the cadets or--"

"Or