threatened.

Jerry had phoned before leaving for New York earlier in the day. After
consultation with Duke, they had agreed that Jerry would bring the
pictures directly to the island, and that Rick and Scotty would leave
the boat at the landing for him to use.

The editor was as anxious as any of them to see the pictures, but, as
he pointed out, there was no longer any special haste, and he
preferred not to have both himself and Jerry away from the paper at
the same time, especially in the very early or very late evening when
the wire service newscasts were coming in.

Rick had agreed. He planned to project the film, choose the single
frames that would be the most useful, rephotograph them, and make
enlargements for Duke and Captain Douglas. The rephotographing was
done with a special, inexpensive device that could be purchased at any
photo supply store.

Scotty opened the window wider and stuck his head out. "Thought I
heard something."

Rick looked at his watch. It was shortly after eight. "Let's take the
glasses and walk out to the north side," he said. "It won't be
completely dark until around nine, and we'll be able to see him
coming."

"Wait a minute." Scotty held up his hand. "There. I thought I heard
something. He's coming now. I recognize the launch motor."

Rick started for the door, then he hesitated. "You go meet him. I'll
get the projector set up in the library."

He ran down the stairs and called, "Mother. Dad. Jerry's coming with
the pictures." Then he hurried into the library, took his folding
screen from the closet and set it up. He got the projector from its
case, plugged it in, using his father's desk as a table, and put on
the take-up reel. He finished focusing just as Scotty and Jerry burst
into the room. Mr. and Mrs. Brant were right behind them.

"Got a clogged gas line," Jerry explained breathlessly. "I finally got
a man to push me to the nearest gas station. We took the gas line off
at the carburetor and blew it out with compressed air. I didn't dare
take time to find out what had clogged it, because I knew you'd lynch
me."

"You're forgiven," Rick said. He had already taken the film from
Jerry and was threading it through the projector gate. He inserted the
loose end in the take-up reel and motioned to Scotty. "Here we go."

Scotty snapped out the light and Rick started the projector. White
leader ran through the gate, then suddenly, clear as day, there were
two ships below, the