y,
sometime; I just know that you will. Good-night, Conway."

"Good-night, Clio ... little sweetheart," he whispered, and went back to
Bradley's side.

In due time the captain recovered consciousness, and slept. Then for
days the speedster flashed on toward our distant solar system; days
during which her wide-flung detector screens remained cold.

"I don't know whether I'm afraid they'll hit something or afraid that
they won't," Costigan remarked more than once, but finally those tenuous
sentinels did in fact encounter an interfering vibration. Along the
detector line a visibeam sped, and Costigan's face hardened as he saw
the unmistakable outline of Nerado's interstellar cruiser, far behind
them.

"Well, a stern chase always was a long one," Costigan said finally. "He
can't catch us for plenty of days yet ... now what?" for the alarms of
the detectors had broken out anew. There was still another point of
interference to be investigated. Costigan traced it, and there, almost
dead ahead of them, between them and their sun, nearing them at the
incomprehensible rate of the sum of the two vessels' velocities, came
another cruiser of the Nevians!

"Must be the sister-ship, coming back from our System with a load of
iron," Costigan deduced. "Heavily loaded as she is, we may be able to
dodge her; and she's coming so fast that if we can stay out of her range
we'll be all right--he won't be able to stop for probably three or four
days. But if our super-ship is anywhere in these parts, now's the time
for her to rally 'round!"

He gave the speedster all the side-thrust she would take; then, putting
every available communicator tube behind a tight beam, he aimed it at
Sol and began sending out a long-continued call to his fellows of the
Triplanetary Service.

Nearer and nearer the Nevian flashed, trying with all her power to
intercept the speedster; and it soon became evident that, heavily laden
though she was, she could make enough sideway to bring her within range
at the time of meeting.

"Of course, they've got partial neutralization of inertia, the same as
we have," Costigan cogitated, "and by the way he's coming I'd say that
he had orders to blow us out of the ether--he knows as well as we do
that he can't capture us alive at anything like the relative velocities
we've got now. I can't give her any more side thrust without overloading
the gravity controls, so overloaded they've got to be. Strap down, you
two, becaus