map of the Southern Hemisphere of Venus.
The three cadets were grouped around him in the small control room of
the jet ship.

"I think so, sir," replied Astro. "I watched them circle and then climb.
There would be no reason to climb unless they were going over the
mountains."

"What do you think, Tom?" asked Connel.

"I don't know, sir. The map doesn't show anything but jungle for about a
thousand square miles. Unless there's a secret base somewhere between
here and there"--he placed his fingers on the map where the Sharkey and
Sinclair plantations were marked--"I don't see where they could have
gone."

"Well, that must be the answer, then," sighed the gruff spaceman. "Our
alert to the patrol ships in this area narrows it down. Nothing was
spotted in the air. And they couldn't have blasted off into space. All
their ships were low-flying stuff."

Blasting off from the Sinclair plantation immediately, the three cadets
and the major had hoped to find the operations base of the green-clad
invaders, but the ships had disappeared. The ship they had captured
proved to be a freighter with no name and all identifying marks removed.
They had asked the Solar Guard ship registry in Venusport to check on
the vessel's title but so far had received no answer.

Now blasting back to Venusport at full speed, Connel told the boys the
real nature of his mission to Venus. The boys were shocked, unable to
believe that anyone, or any group of persons, would dare to buck the
authority of the Solar Guard. Yet they had seen with their own eyes a
demonstration of the strength of the Nationalists. Roger had sent a
top-secret teleceiver message to Commander Walters at Space Academy,
requesting an immediate conference with Connel, and had received
confirmation within a half-hour.

"I think Captain Strong will be along too," said Roger to Tom after
Connel had retired to a compartment with a recorder to transcribe a
report of the affair at Sinclair's. "The message said we were to prepare
a full report for consideration by Commander Walters, Professor Sykes,
and Captain Strong."

"Boy," said the curly-haired cadet, "this thing is too big for me to
swallow. Imagine a bunch of dopes dressing up in uniforms and burning a
guy's buildings because he wrote a letter to his delegate!"

"I'd hate to be a member of that organization when Commander Walters
gets through with them," said Roger in a slow drawl. "And particularly
the guy that ordered Con