. I figured the best way to hold you would be to make you
take your clothes off."

"What did he look like?" asked Roger.

"A little guy, with a bald head and a limp. That's all I know--honest."

"A limp, eh?" asked Tom. "A little fellow?"

"How little?" asked Astro, getting the drift of Tom's question.

"Real little. About five feet maybe, not much more'n that!"

The three boys looked at each other and nodded.

"The guy we bought our jungle gear from in the pawnshop!" exclaimed
Astro.

"Yeah," said Tom. "It sure sounds like him. But why would he want to
stop us? And more important, who told him that Captain Strong was
sending a cab for us?"

They turned back to the cab driver for further explanation, but the man
was now actually crying with fright.

"We won't get anything more out of this little creep," said Astro.
"Let's just turn him over to the Solar Guard at the spaceport. They'll
know how to handle him."

"Right," Tom agreed. "We've lost enough time as it is."

"No, no--please!" moaned the cabman. "Lemme go! Take the cab. Drive it
to the spaceport and just leave it, but please don't turn me over to
the Solar Guard. If I'm seen with them, I'll be--" Suddenly the man
darted to one side, eluded Astro's lunge, and scampered away. In a
moment he was swallowed up in the darkness.

"Boy," breathed Astro, "he was sure scared of something!"

"Yes," said Tom. "And I'm beginning to get a little scared myself!"

The cadets climbed into the cab and roared off toward the spaceport,
each boy with the feeling that he was sitting on a smoldering volcano
that was suddenly starting to erupt around him.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 9

"Rocket cruiser _Polaris_ to Solar Guard Venusport! Request emergency
relay circuit to Commander Walters en route Earth!"

On the radar bridge of the _Polaris_, Roger Manning spoke quickly into
the teleceiver microphone. Just a few minutes before the giant spaceship
had blasted off from Venusport, heading for the Sinclair plantation,
Major Connel had ordered Roger to get in touch with Walters to report
the latest security leak. On the control deck the major paced back and
forth restlessly as Tom guided the _Polaris_ on its short flight.

"I'll find the spy in the Solar Guard if I have to tear Venusport apart
piece by piece!" fumed Connel.

"What about that jet freighter we took away from the Nationalists, sir?"
asked Tom. "Did you ever find out where it came from?"

Connel