taking a different section of the pack as we do."

Kent nodded. "It may change our luck," he said.

It did; for when they had gone not more than a half-mile back, they
glimpsed one of their men waving excitedly from the top of a Pluto
liner.

They hastened at once toward him, the other men gathering also; and when
Kent grasped the man's hand he heard his excited voice.

"Fuel-tanks here are more than half-full, sir!"

* * * * *

They descended quickly into the liner, finding that though its whole
stern had been sheared away by a meteor, its tanks had remained
miraculously unstrained.

"Enough fuel here to take the _Pallas_ to Neptune!" Kent exclaimed.

"How will you get it over to your ship?" Krell asked. Kent pointed to
great reels of flexible metal tubing hanging near the tanks.

"We'll pump it over. The _Pallas_ has tubing like this ship's, for
taking on fuel in space, and, by joining its tubing to this, we'll have
a tube-line between the two ships. It's hardly more than a
quarter-mile."

"Let's get back and let them know about it," Liggett urged, and they
climbed back out of the liner.

They worked their way out of the wreck-pack with much greater speed than
that with which they had entered, needing only an occasional brace
against a ship's side to send them floating over the wrecks. They came
to the wreck-pack's edge at a little distance from the _Pallas_, and
hastened toward it.

They found the outer door of the _Pallas'_ airlock open, and entered,
Krell remaining with them. As the outer door closed and air hissed into
the lock, Kent and the rest removed their helmets. The inner door slid
open as they were doing this, and from inside almost a score of men
leapt upon them!

Kent, stunned for a moment, saw Jandron among their attackers, bellowing
orders to them, and even as he struck out furiously he comprehended.
Jandron and the men of the _Martian Queen_ had somehow captured the
_Pallas_ from Crain and had been awaiting their return!

* * * * *

The struggle was almost instantly over, for, outnumbered and hampered as
they were by their heavy space-suits, Kent and Liggett and their
followers had no chance. Their hands, still in the suits, were bound
quickly behind them at Jandron's orders.

Kent heard an exclamation, and saw Marta starting toward him from
behind Jandron's men. But a sweep of Jandron's arm brushed her rudely
back. Kent strained