continued forward and stopped
when a few feet away. Dr. Ku bowed as well as he could in his stiff
suit and said courteously, in English:

"So I am trapped. My congratulations, Captain Carse! It was very
neatly done."

* * * * *

The two puffed-out, metal-gleaming figures faced each other for a
moment without speaking. And in the silence, Ban Wilson, watchful,
with a raygun he had drawn from his belt, fancied he could _feel_ the
long, bitter, bloody feud between the two, adventurer and scientist,
there met again....

Carse spoke first, his voice steel-cold.

"You take it lightly, Dr. Ku. Do not rely too much on those words you
spoke in Chinese. I could not understand them--but such things as I do
not know about your asteroid I have already guarded against; and I
think we can forestall whatever you have set in action.... You will
please take off your space-suit."

"Willingly, my friend!"

"Watch close, Ban," said the Hawk.

Dr. Ku Sui unbuckled the heavy clasps of his suit, unscrewed the
cumbersome helmet, and in a moment stepped free. At the suit slid to
the ground, there stood revealed his tall, slim-waisted form, clad in
the customary silk. He wore a high-collared green silk blouse,
tailored to the lines of his body, full trousers of the same material,
and pointed red slippers and red sash, which set the green off
tastefully. A lithe, silky figure; and above the silk the high
forehead, the saffron, delicately carved face, the fine black hair.
Half-veiled by their long lashes, his exotic eyes rested like a cat's
on his old enemy.

The Hawk moved close to him, and swiftly patted one hand over his
body. From inside one of the blouse's sleeves he drew a pencil-thin
blade of steel from its hidden sheath. He found no other weapon.
Stepping back, he quickly divested himself of his suit also.

"And now, Captain?" the Eurasian murmured softly.

"Now, Dr. Ku," answered Carse, once again a slender, wiry figure in
soft blue shirt and blue denim trousers, "we are going to have a
little talk. In your living room, I think.

"Ban," he continued. "I don't believe there's anyone else who can even
see the asteroid, but we have to be careful. Will you stay on guard
here by the port-lock? Good. Close its doors, and yell or come to me
if anything should occur."

He turned to the waiting Eurasian again.

"You may go first, Dr. Ku. Into the laboratory, and then to the living
room of your quar