d. And
both of them heard the Hawk murmur:

"Nor do I. But he must be--Ah! There! Careful! They're coming!"

"Where? Where is it?" yapped Ban excitedly, jerking the instrument to
his eyes again.

"Speak low. Not the asteroid. Three men."

For a tense minute there was silence between them, until, in a low,
crisp voice, the Hawk added:

"Three men in space-suits like ours, coming from the "north" straight
for Tantril's. Ban, you may not be able to see them till they get to
the ranch, so you keep hunting for the asteroid with your glasses.
Friday, you see them?"

"Yes, suh! Three! One ahead of the others!"

"Keep your eyes tight on them. No talking now from either of you
unless it's important."

The steely voice snapped off. And carefully, in his tree, Hawk Carse
brushed aside a fringe of leaves and concentrated on the three figures
the dawn had brought.

* * * * *

Hard and sharp they glittered in the flood of ruddy light from
Jupiter, great grotesque figures of metal and bulging fabric, with
shining quarzite face-plates and the abnormally large helmets and
boot-pieces which identified them as being of the enemy. At a level
fifty feet above the jungle's crown they came in fast, horizontal
transit, and there was much of beauty in the picture that they
made--sparkling shapes flying without sound or movement of limb
against the blue sky, over the heaped colors of the jungle below. One
flew slightly in the lead, and he, the watching Hawk felt positive,
was Ku Sui, and the other two his servants--probably men whose brains
had been violated, dehumanized--mere machines in human form.

Straight in the three figures flew, without hesitation or swerving,
closer and closer to the watching man in the tree. The Hawk's lips
compressed as his old enemy neared, and into his watching gray eyes
came the deadly cold emotionless look that was known and feared
throughout space, wherever outlaws walked or flew. Ku Sui--so close!
There, in that even-gliding figure, was the author of the infamy done
to Leithgow, of the crime to the brains that lived though their bodies
were dead; of the organized isuan trade. Go for him now? The thought
flashed temptingly through Carse's head, but he saw sense at once. Far
too dangerous, with the powerful, watching ranch so close. He could
not jeopardize the success of his promise to the brains.

And so Dr. Ku Sui passed, while two pairs of eyes from two leafy trees