found his mother! She
must have weighed twenty-five or thirty tons. Biggest tyranno I've ever
seen. She spotted me the same time I saw her and I didn't even stop to
fire. I never could have dented her hide. I started running and she came
after me. I made it to a cave and went as far back inside as I could.
She stuck her head in after me, and by the craters of Luna, she was only
about three feet away, with me backed up against a wall. She tried to
get farther in, opened her mouth, and snapped and roared like twenty
rocket cruisers going off at once."

[Illustration: "_She tried to get farther into the cave._"]

Tom gulped and Roger's eyes widened.

"I figured there was only one thing to do," continued Astro. "Use the
blaster, even though it couldn't do much damage. I let her have one
right in the eye!" Astro shook his head and laughed. "You should have
seen her pull her head out of that cave! I couldn't sleep for months
after that. I used to dream that she was sticking her head in my window,
always getting closer."

"Did the blaster do any damage at all?" asked Sinclair.

"Oh, yes, sir," said Astro. "I was close enough for the heat charge from
the muzzle to get her on the side of the head. Nothing fatal, but she's
probably still out there in the jungle more ugly than ever with half a
face."

The group fell silent, each thinking of how he would have reacted under
similar conditions; each silently thankful that it hadn't happened to
him. Finally Mrs. Hill rose and said good night, and George excused
himself to take a last look at the stock. Remembering their early call
for the next morning, the cadets said good night to Sinclair and retired
to their comfortable rooms. In bed at last, each boy stretched full
length on his bed and in no time was sound asleep.

It was still dark, an hour and a half before the sun would burst over
the top of the jungle, when Sinclair went to the cadets' room to rouse
them. He found them already up and dressed in their jungle garb. Each
boy was wearing skin-tight trousers and jerseys made of double strength
space-suit cloth and colored a dark moldy green. A hunter dressed in
this manner and standing still could not be seen at twenty paces. The
snug fit of the suit was protection against thorns and snags that could
find no hold on the hard, smooth-surfaced material.

After a hearty breakfast the three cadets collected their gear, the
paralo-ray pistols, the shock rifles, and the small