ng from Al Sharkey or the other plantation
owner, Rex Sinclair.

When he crossed the slidewalk and waited at the curb for a jet cab,
Connel suddenly paused and looked around. He felt a strange excitement
in the air--a kind of tension. The faces of passing pedestrians seemed
strained, intense, their eyes were glowing, as though they all were in
on some huge secret. He saw groups of men and women sitting in open
sidewalk cafes, leaning over the table to talk to each other, their
voices low and guarded. Connel shivered. He didn't like it. Something
was happening on Venus and he had to find out what it was before it was
too late.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 5

"Wow!" exclaimed Roger.

"Jumping Jupiter!" commented Tom.

"Blast my jets!" roared Astro.

Rex Sinclair smiled as he maneuvered the sleek black space yacht in a
tight circle a thousand feet above the Titan crystal roof of his
luxurious home in the heart of the wild Venusian jungle.

"She's built out of Venusian teak," said Sinclair. "Everything but the
roof. I wanted to keep the feeling of the jungle around me, so I used
the trees right out of the jungle there." He pointed to the sea of dense
tropical growth that surrounded the house and cleared land.

The ship nosed up for a thousand yards and then eased back, smoothly
braked, to a concrete ramp a thousand yards from the house. The
touchdown was as gentle as a falling leaf, and when Sinclair opened the
air lock, a tall man in worn but clean fatigues was waiting for them.

"Howdy, Mr. Sinclair," he called, a smile on his lined, weather-beaten
face. "Have a good trip?"

"Fine trip, George," replied Sinclair, climbing out of the ship. "I want
you to meet some friends of mine. Space Cadets Tom Corbett, Roger
Manning, and Astro. They're going to stay with us during their summer
leave while they hunt for tyranno. Boys, this is my foreman, George
Hill."

The boys shook hands with the thick-set, muscular man, who smiled
broadly. "Glad to meet you, boys. Always wanted to talk to someone from
the Academy. Wanted to go there myself but couldn't pass the physical.
Bad eyes."

Reaching into the ship, he began lifting out their equipment. "You chaps
go on up to the house now," he said. "I'll take care of your gear."

With Sinclair leading the way, the boys slowly walked up a flagstone
path toward the house, and they had their first chance to see a Venusian
plantation home at close range.

The Sinclair ho