ed
down for good. You are tough, Murdock. I saw your record, and I'm
betting that you did not come here with the intention of staying.
So--here is your chance to go along with one who knows the ropes. You
will not have such a good one again."

The longer Kurt talked, the more convincing he was. Ross lost a few of
his suspicions. It was true that he had come prepared to run at the
first possible opportunity, and if Kurt had everything planned, so much
the better. Of course, it was possible that Kurt was a stool pigeon,
leading him on as a test. But that was a chance Ross would have to take.

"Look here, Murdock, maybe you think it's easy to break out of here. Do
you know where we are, boy? We're near enough to the North Pole as makes
no difference! Are you going to leg it back some hundreds of miles
through thick ice and snow? A nice jaunt if you make it. I do not think
that you can--not without plans and a partner who knows what he is
about."

"And how _do_ we go? Steal one of those atomjets? I'm no pilot--are
you?"

"They have other things besides a-j's here. This place is strictly
hush-hush. Even the a-j's do not set down too often for fear they will
be tracked by radar. Where have you been, boy? Don't you know the Reds
are circling around up here? These fellows watch for Red activity, and
the Reds watch them. They play it under the table on both sides. We get
our supplies overland by cats----"

"Cats?"

"Snow sleds, like tractors," the other answered impatiently. "Our stuff
is dumped miles to the south, and the cats go down once a month to bring
it back. There's no trick to driving a cat, and they tear off the
miles----"

"How many miles to the south?" inquired Ross skeptically. Granted Kurt
was speaking the truth, travel over an arctic wilderness in a stolen
machine was risky, to say the least. Ross had only a very vague idea of
the polar regions, but he was sure that they could easily swallow up the
unwary forever.

"Maybe only a hundred or so, boy. But I have more than one plan, and I'm
willing to risk _my_ neck. Do you think I intend to start out blind?"

There was that, of course. Ross had early sized up his visitor as one
who was first of all interested in his own welfare. He wouldn't risk his
neck without a definite plan in mind.

"Well, what do you say, Murdock? Are you with me or not?"

"I'll take some time to chew it over----"

"Time is what you do not have, boy. Tomorrow they will tape you.