rds, all right, those
amphibians--they know what they got back there and how they got it. That
changes things, girl! If we use gas here we won't stand a chance in the
world of getting old Bradley. Stand by to jump when I open that door!"

"Hurry, dear! They are coming out here after me!"

"Sure they are." Costigan had already seen the two Nevians swimming out
toward Clio's cage, and had hurled his vessel downward in a screaming
power dive. "You're too valuable a specimen for them to let you be
gassed, but if they can get there before I do they're traveling fools!"

He miscalculated slightly, so that instead of coming to a halt at the
surface of the liquid medium the speedster struck with a crash that
hurled solid masses of water for hundreds of yards. But no ordinary
crash could harm that vessel's structure, her gravity controls were not
overloaded, and she shot back to the surface; gallant ship and reckless
pilot alike unharmed. Costigan trained his key-tube upon the doorway of
Clio's cell, then tossed it aside.

"Different combination over here!" he barked. "Got to cut you out--lie
down in that far corner!"

His hands flashed over the panel, and as Clio fell prone without
hesitation or question a heavy beam literally blasted away a large
portion of the roof of the structure. The speedster shot into the air
and dropped down until she rested upon the tops of opposite walls; walls
still glowing, semi-molten. The girl piled a stool upon the table and
stood upon it, reached upward and seized the mailed hands extended
downward toward her. Costigan heaved her up into the vessel with a
powerful jerk, slammed the door shut, leaped to the controls, and the
speedster darted away.

"Your armor's in that bundle there. Better put it on, and check your
Lewistons and pistols--no telling what kind of jams we'll get into," he
snapped, without turning. "Bradley, start talking ... all right, I've
got your line. Better get your wet rags ready and get organized
generally--every second will count by the time we get there. We're
coming so fast that our outer plating's white hot, but it may not be
fast enough, at that."

"It isn't fast enough, quite," Bradley announced, calmly. "They're
coming out after me now."

"Don't fight them and probably they won't paralyze you. Keep on
talking, so that I can find out where they take you."

"No good, Costigan." The voice of the old spacehound did not reveal a
sign of emotion as he made his dr