ride.

Scotty moved, instinctively, his finely trained body responding with
perfect co-ordination. Straight toward the oncoming flood he ran, into
the edge of the flames, leaping the rapidly widening trench. Rick ran,
too, but Scotty's fast reaction had carried his pal beyond reach. He saw
the husky ex-marine stoop into the flames, pick up the fallen fireman,
and literally throw him across the trench to safety.

Then Rick was at his friend's side, slapping at the burning places on
his clothes, rushing him away from the spreading propellant. But Scotty
wasn't through. He helped the fireman to his feet and pulled at the
protective suit. Rick saw instantly what had happened. The suit had been
torn in the fall, and some propellant had gotten in through the rents.
The fireman was burning under the protective cover!

Other hands came to help and they got the man out of his cover, out of
his burning clothes. Then the first-aid squad moved in.

Not until the fireman had been cared for did Scotty say, almost
apologetically, "Any of that stuff left? I've got a couple of burns."

Then Rick noticed for the first time that his own hands were scorched
and in need of the soothing unguent. By the time he and Scotty were
smeared with the ointment, the fire was out.

The boys watched as water was sprayed over the white-hot wreckage until
at last the safety officer pronounced the torn remnants cool enough for
inspection. Then John Gordon and the senior staff moved in.

It was past noon before they emerged from their inch-by-inch examination
of the rocket, but no one left to eat, to change clothes, or even to sit
down. No one thought of it.

John Gordon motioned to Dr. Albert Hiller, the Orion project officer.
Hiller nodded. He spoke quietly, but not one of the hundreds watching
missed a single word.

"Apparently a fuel-pump bearing froze at the critical moment. With an
unstable fuel like boron hydride, that made the difference. Internal
pressure was too much for the shell to take."

The engineer paused, and the tense, waiting silence became almost too
much to bear. Hiller knew what the men were waiting for.

"We found no pictures," he said. "We'll continue the examination in the
laboratory, of course. But as of this moment we cannot say whether it
was the kind of accident that rocketeers always have to expect, or
whether someone tampered with the pump. By someone, I mean--the
Earthman."

CHAPTER IX

Ghost Town Clue