into her eyes, he
announced, "Tell you what, Astro, you and Tom go hunting. I've found all
I could ever want to find right here. Tell me, my little space pet, are
you engaged for dinner tonight?"

Agnes looked back into his eyes innocently. "As a matter of fact I am."
Then, grinning mischievously, she added, "But don't let that stop you."

"I wouldn't let a tyranno stop me," bragged the blond-haired cadet.
"Tell me who your previous engagement is with and I'll get rid of him in
nothing flat!"

The girl giggled and looked past Roger. He turned to see a tall, solidly
built man in coveralls scowling at him.

"Friend of yours, Agnes?" the newcomer asked.

"Friend of Astro's, Roy," said Agnes. "Cadet Manning, I'd like you to
meet my brother, Roy Keene."

Roger jumped up and stuck out his hand. "Oh--er--ah--how do you do,
sir?"

"Quite well, Cadet," replied Keene gruffly, but with a slight twinkle in
his eye. He turned to Astro and gripped the big cadet's hand solidly.
"Well, Astro, it's good to see you. How's everything going at Space
Academy?"

"Swell, sir," replied Astro, and after introducing Tom and bringing
Keene up to date on his life history, he explained the purpose of their
visit. "We're on summer leave, sir, and we'd like to go hunting
tyrannosaurus. But what we need most right now is a jet boat. We'd like
to rent one, or if you've got something cheap, we'd buy it."

Keene rubbed his chin. "I'm afraid I can't help you, Astro. There's
nothing available in the shop right now. I'd lend you my Beetle, but one
of the boys has it out on a three-day repair job."

Astro's face fell. "Oh, that's too bad." He turned to Tom and Roger.
"Well, we could drop in from a stratosphere cruiser and then work our
way back to the nearest colony in three or four weeks."

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Keene. "I've got an idea." He turned and
called to a man standing on the other side of the hangar, studying a
radar scanner for private yachts. "Hey, Rex, mind coming over here a
minute."

The man walked over. He was in his late thirties, tall and
broad-shouldered, his hair was almost snow-white, contrasting sharply
with his deeply tanned and handsome features.

"This is the _Polaris_ unit from Space Academy, Rex," said Keene. "Boys,
meet Rex Sinclair." After the introductions were completed, Keene
explained the cadets' situation. Sinclair broke into a smile. "It would
be a pleasure to have you three boys as my guests!"

"Gue