s, and the
two inventors, with an exultant certainty of their success, flew out
beyond man's wildest imaginings. Had it not been for the haunting fear
for Dorothy's safety, the journey would have been one of pure triumph,
and even that anxiety did not prevent a profound joy in the enterprise.

"If that misguided mutt thinks he can pull off a stunt like that and get
away with it, he's got another think coming," asserted Seaton, after
making a reading on the other car after several days of the flight. "He
went off half-cocked this time, for sure, and we've got him foul. We'd
better put on some negative pretty soon hadn't we, Mart? Only a little
over a hundred light-years now."

Crane nodded agreement and Seaton continued:

"It'll take as long to stop, of course, as it has taken to get out here,
and if we ram them--GOOD NIGHT! Let's figure it out as nearly as we
can."

They calculated their own speed, and that of the other vessel, as shown
by the various readings taken, and applied just enough negative
acceleration to slow the Skylark down to the speed of the other
space-car when they should come up with it. They smiled at each other in
recognition of the perfect working of the mechanism when the huge vessel
had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the
instant the power was reversed. Each knew that they were actually
traveling in a direction that to them seemed "down," but with a
constantly diminishing velocity, even though they seemed to be still
going "up" with an increasing speed.

Until nearly the end of the calculated time the two took turns as
before, but as the time of meeting drew near both men were on the alert,
taking readings on the object-compass every few minutes. Finally Crane
announced:

"We are almost on them, Dick. They are so close that it is almost
impossible to time the needle--less than ten thousand miles."

Seaton gradually increased the retarding force until the needle showed
that they were very close to the other vessel and maintaining a constant
distance from it. He then shut off the power, and both men hurried to
the bottom window to search for the fleeing ship with their powerful
night-glasses. They looked at each other in amazement as they felt
themselves falling almost directly downward, with an astounding
acceleration.

"What do you make of it, Dick?" asked Crane calmly, as he brought his
glasses to his eyes and stared out into the black heavens, studded with