said Captain Sanchez, beaming, "we must relax and celebrate
the friendship of our two countries."

Tom and Bud, though eager to get home, hesitated to hurt the friendly
officer's feelings. They sat through a delicious meal, followed by
numerous speeches. When his own turn to speak came, Tom used it to warn
against possible sabotage attempts by the Brungarians. At last the boys
were allowed to take off with their crew.

"Swell guys," Bud said, when the boys were airborne, "but a bit hard to
break away from!"

Tom grinned, then became serious. "You know, Bud," he said thoughtfully,
"those aerial hijackers gave me an idea."

"Let's have it, skipper."

"If only I could get Exman perfected so he would report back to me," Tom
explained, "I could _let_ him be kidnaped. Think what a wonderful
'inside man' he'd make in the enemy setup! He could tip us off to
everything the Brungarians were doing!"

"Hey, that's neat!" Bud exclaimed, wide-eyed. "But how could you be sure
those Brungarian rebel scientists wouldn't change him somehow? I mean
they might brainwash him or something."

"It's a risk," Tom agreed. "But that's my problem--how to make a perfect
spy out of him."

It was midnight when the cargo jet touched down on the Enterprises
airfield. The boys slept soundly.

The next morning Tom reported to Mr. Swift and Harlan Ames the outcome
of his trip to San Rosario, including the attack en route by unmarked
sky raiders. He also privately told his father about his plan to use
Exman as an electronic spy. Mr. Swift was enthusiastic.

The two scientists promptly set to work. Mr. Swift built two powerful
but miniature radio sets; one for receiving, one for transmitting. Tom,
meanwhile, was busy on another device, also highly miniaturized,
combining features of both the electronic decoder and Tom's famous
midget computers, known as Little Idiots.

With this equipment, Tom hoped, Exman would be able to monitor all
communications at Brungarian rebel headquarters, then radio the
information to Enterprises.

Chow brought lunch to the laboratory at noon, and Bud came in later.
Both stayed to watch the outcome of the experiment. Hank Sterling and
Arv Hanson joined the group.

By midafternoon the equipment was ready for a tryout. Tom opened Exman's
star head, inserted the gear, and made the delicate wiring connections.

"So far, so good," the young inventor murmured, stepping back. "Now for
the real test! Will Exman answer o