Part 5 (1/2)

Captain Walls, entering the cabin in urgent haste, had eyes only for Kenniston in the first moment

”Ah, there you are, Mr Kenniston!” the captain exclai for you We've reached Vesta! I've ordered the pilot to slon, for I want you to pilot us through the swared as for the first tiun

”We're not going in to Vesta, captain,” rapped Murdock ”John Dark and his pirates are on the asteroid--_alive_!”

Captain Walls' plump face axy as he heard the name of the ?” he stuttered ”Good God, you ure shi+vering and her teeth chattering with terror, pointed a finger at Kenniston and the Jovian

”They're two of the pirates!” she shrilled ”They ht have murdered us all in our beds! I knew this would happen e left Earth--”

Kenniston'swith despair as he stood there with hands upraised His whole desperate plan was ruined at this last et this cargo of machines and materials to John Dark if it meant his life!

”Turn back at once toward Mars, captain,” Gloria was saying quietly to the stunned officer Her face was still very pale

Kenniston, standing tense, had had an idea A desperate chance to un

The captain had said that he had just ordered the pilot to slon the _Sunsprite_ In afrom the bows--

That shock came an instant after the wild expedient flashed across Kenniston's h the fabric of the shi+p, for the pilot knew his business

It staggered them all on their feet, for just a h Murdock un-ared forward

”The bridge, Holk!” he yelled as he hurled himself

Kenniston's shoulder hit the captain and sent hi into Murdock The two men sprawled on the floor

Holk Or, with instant understanding, already had the door of the cabin open They plunged out into the corridor together

”Our only chance is to rab the controls!”

Kenniston cried as they raced down the corridor ”We can keep theh to land on Vesta--”

Hiss--_flash!+_ The crackling blast of the atoun tore into the lower steps of the ladder up which he and the Jovian frantically cli after them as he fired, and there were shouts of alarlassite-walled bridge Bray, the pilot, turned for a startled moment from his rocket-throttles

Beyond the pilot, the transparent front wall framed a square of black space in which bulked the monstrous sphere of the nearby asteroid

The World with a Thousand Moons! It looreen sphere encircled by the vast globular swar little meteor-satellites