e
occupied. At the Captain's table I saw the objects of my search:
George Prince and his sister, one on each side of the Captain. I saw
George Prince in the life now as a man who looked hardly twenty-five.
He was at this moment evidently in a gay mood. His clean-cut, handsome
profile, with its poetic dark curls, was turned toward me. There
seemed little of the villain about him.

And I saw Anita Prince now as a dark-haired, black-eyed little beauty,
in feature resembling her brother very strongly. She presently
finished her meal. She rose, with him after her. She was dressed in
Earth-fashion--white blouse and dark jacket, wide, knee-length
trousers of gray, with a red sash her only touch of color. She went
past me, flashed me a smile.

My heart was pounding. I answered her greeting, and met George
Prince's casual gaze. He, too, smiled, as though to signify that his
sister had told him of the service I had done her. Or was his smile an
ironical memory of how he had eluded me this morning when I chased
him?

I gazed after his small white-suited figure as he followed Anita from
the salon. And thinking of her, I prayed that Carter and Halsey might
be wrong. Whatever plotting against the Grantline Expedition might be
going on, I hoped that George Prince was innocent of it. Yet I knew in
my heart it was a futile hope. Prince had been the eavesdropper
outside the radio room. I could not doubt it. But that his sister must
be ignorant of what he was doing, I was sure.

My attention was brought suddenly back to the reality of our table. I
heard Ob Hahn's silky voice. "We passed quite close to the Moon last
night, Mr. Dean."

"Yes," said Snap. "We did, didn't we? Always do--it's a technical
problem of the exigencies of interstellar navigation. Explain it to
them, Gregg. You're an expert."

I waved it away with a laugh. There was a brief silence. I could not
help noticing Sir Arthur Coniston's queer look, and I have never seen
so keen a glance as Rance Rankin shot at me. Were all three people
aware of Grantline's treasure on the Moon? It suddenly seemed so. I
wished fervently at that instant that the ten days of this voyage were
over. Captain Carter was right. Coming back we should have a cordon of
Interplanetary Police aboard.

Sir Arthur broke the awkward silence. "Magnificent sight, the Moon,
from so close--though I was too much afraid of pressure sickness to be
up to see it."

I had nearly finished my hasty meal whe