on't send the boys out without some means of quick communication. You
lab boys put your brains to work and see what you can turn out in the
way of talk boxes that they can't snoop. Time!" He drummed on his knee
with his thick fingers. "It all comes back to a question of time."

"Which we do not have," Ashe observed in his usual quiet voice. "If the
Reds are afraid they have been spotted, they must be dismantling their
post right now, working around the clock. We'll never again have such a
good chance to nail them. We must move now."

Millaird's lids drooped almost shut; he might have been napping.
Kelgarries stirred restlessly by the door, and Webb's round face had
settled into what looked like permanent lines of disapproval.

"Doc," Millaird spoke over his shoulder to the fourth man of his
following, "what is your report?"

"Ashe must be under treatment for at least five days. McNeil's burns
aren't too bad, and Murdock's slash is almost healed."

"Five days--" Millaird droned, and then flashed a glance at the major.
"Personnel. We're tied down without any useful personnel. Who in
processing could be switched without tangling them up entirely?"

"No one. I can recall Jansen and Van Wyke. These ax people might be a
good cover for them." The momentary light in Kelgarries' eyes faded.
"No, we have no proper briefing and can't get it until the tribe does
appear on the map. I won't send any men in cold. Their blunders would
not only endanger them but might menace the whole project."

"So that leaves us with you three," Millaird said. "We'll recall what
men we can and brief them again as fast as possible. But you know how
long that will take. In the meantime----"

Ashe spoke directly to Webb. "You can't pinpoint the region closer than
just the Baltic?"

"We can do this much," the other answered him slowly, and with obvious
reluctance. "We can send the sub cruising offshore there for the next
five days. If there is any radio activity--any communication--we should
be able to trace the beams. It all depends upon whether the Reds have
any parties operating from their post. Flimsy----"

"But something!" Kelgarries seized upon it with the relief of one who
needed action.

"And they will be waiting for just such a move on our part," Webb
continued deliberately.

"All right, so they'll be watching!" the major said, about to lose his
temper, "but it is about the only move we can make to back up the boys
when they do go i