ds," said
Strong. "They were ready to tear them apart!"

"Can't say that I blame them," snorted Connel. "Some of those poor
devils had been working in the caves for three years!"

Tom, Roger, and Astro sat sprawled in chairs in one of the offices of
the Nationalist headquarters listening to Strong and Major Connel sum up
the day's battle. The entire army of Nationalist guards, Division
Chiefs, and workers had been rounded up and put aboard the troop
carriers to be taken to a prison asteroid. Each individual rebel would
be dealt with under special court proceedings to be established by Solar
Alliance decree later.

"There are still some things I don't understand," said Astro. "How did
they know you were going to investigate them in the first place?"

"After our meeting with Commander Walters," said Connel, "we sent a
special coded message to the Solar Alliance Delegate here on Venus. His
secretary intercepted the message, used stolen priorities for himself
and two assistants to get to Earth and back on an express space liner
without being missed."

"The secretary!" shouted Tom. "That's the same fellow I saw in Atom City
when we were bumped out of our seats on the _Venus Lark_!"

Roger looked up at Tom with a scowl. "A fine time to remember!"

Strong grinned. "We discovered him, Tom, when that attempt was made to
kidnap you by the cab driver. We also picked up the owner of the
pawnshop."

"The most amazing thing about this space joker, Sinclair," commented
Connel, "was the way he had everyone fooled. I couldn't figure out how
he was able to get around so quickly until I learned about those
buildings."

"What buildings?" asked Tom, suddenly remembering how the rebel leader
had disappeared so quickly and quietly when he was being held captive
with Mr. and Mrs. Hill in the Sinclair home.

"Every one of the important members of the organization, the Division
Chiefs, they called themselves, had a small shack on his property near
the edge of the jungle. It was nothing more than a covering for a shaft
that led to a tunnel, which, in turn, led to other tunnels under the
jungle and eventually connected with one leading right into the base."

"You mean," said Astro, "they have underground tunnels all through the
jungle?"

"That's right," asserted Connel. "If they had been prepared for our
attack, they could have beaten the pants off us. Not only in space, but
on the ground. They could have run circles around us in th