he
things I said to those boys." He nodded toward Astro and Roger. "And all
the time they were right."

Astro grinned shyly. Roger was about to open his mouth and make a
typically flip remark when the hatch opened and Tom appeared, a bandage
covering his head. The two cadets jumped toward him and snowed him under
with affectionate slaps on the back.

"Wait a minute!" cried Tom. "I'm injured. Look at my head!"

"You couldn't have hit the control panel with anything better!" snorted
Connel.

"But what happened?" asked Tom.

"Two of the projectiles hit Devers' ship," said Roger. "One of them on
the power deck. Must've smashed the reaction tanks and made the stuff
wildcat, because it blew him into rocket dust!"

[Illustration: "_The projectiles blew Devers' ship into rocket
dust!_"]

"But his torpedo! He fired at the same time!" said Tom.

"This unit is the luckiest in the universe," said Roger proudly. "One of
the other projectiles smacked the torpedo and exploded the warhead. We
were bounced around by the shock wave but that's all!"

"Well, I'll be a Martian mouse," sighed Tom. "Then everything is O.K.
now?"

"So far as you three are concerned, it's perfect," said Strong. "Barret
has spilled everything. You're cleared of all charges!"

"What about Pat Troy?" asked Tom.

"He's in the clear, too," said Strong. "You may remember that he refused
to tell us who he was working for besides Professor Hemmingwell and that
made us suspicious of him. Well, we found out, when he regained
consciousness a short time ago, that he is a security agent for the
Solar Alliance Council. He had been assigned to work with the professor
and to help protect him. Barret has admitted that he tried to murder
Troy."

"Humph!" snorted Connel, suddenly rising.

The room was intensely quiet and Tom, Astro, and Roger felt that there
was something coming. Strong could hardly suppress a grin as Connel took
a paper from his tunic.

"This message was received just fifteen minutes ago," he said. "It
reads, quote, Major Connel, Solar Guard. With reference to Operation
Space Projectile, information has come to us that the Space Cadet unit,
known as the _Polaris_ unit, has contributed in an outstanding and
extraordinary way to the successful completion of this highly valuable
project. As Senior Line Officer of the Academy, it is hereby requested
that you bestow upon this unit some form of expression of the gratitude
of this Council for their