er.

"How much farther, Astro?" asked Tom, his voice weak with fatigue. "I'm
starting to fold too."

"Not too far now, Tom," the big cadet assured him. "We should be hitting
the clearing soon now." He turned and looked back. "If we could only get
a clear shot at that brute's head!"

"Hang on, Roger," said Tom. "Just a little more now."

Roger didn't answer, merely bobbing his head in acknowledgment.

Behind them, the crashing thunderous steps seemed to be getting closer
and Astro drove himself harder, slashing at the vines and tangled
underbrush, sometimes just bursting through by sheer driving strength.
But the heavy-footed creature still stalked them ponderously.

Suddenly Astro stopped and sniffed the air. "Smoke!" he cried. "We're
almost there!"

Tom and Roger smiled wanly and they pushed on. A moment later the giant
cadet pointed through the underbrush. "There! I see the clearing!
And--by the stars--there's a fire! The house is burning!"

Forgetting the danger behind them, the three boys raced toward the
clearing. Just before they emerged from the jungle, they stopped and
stood openmouthed with astonishment, staring at the scene before them.

"By the craters of Luna!" gasped Astro. "Look!"

The outbuildings of the plantation were burning furiously, sending up
thick columns of smoke. The wind blew the dense fumes toward them and
they began to cough and gag. Through the smoke they saw a strange array
of jet craft in the clearing. Then suddenly their attention was jerked
back to another danger. The tyrannosaurus was nearly upon them.

"Run!" roared Astro. He broke for the clearing, followed by Roger and
Tom. Once in the open, the boys ran several hundred yards to the nearest
jet craft, and safely in the hatch, turned to see the monster come to
the edge of the clearing and stop. They saw the brute clearly for the
first time.

It stood up on its hind legs, standing almost a hundred feet high. It
moved its flat, triangular-shaped head in a slow arc, peering out over
the clearing. The smoke billowed around it. It snorted several times in
fear and anger. Astro looked at it, wide-eyed, and finally spoke in awed
tones. "By the rings of Saturn, it is!"

"Is what?" asked Tom.

"The same tyranno I blasted when I was a kid, the one that trapped me in
the cave!"

"Impossible!" snorted Roger. "How can you tell?"

"There on the head, the scars--and that eye. That's the mark of a
blaster!"

"Well, I'll be a roc