y've made the wrong move. Burning Sinclair's property and
attacking an officer of the Solar Guard is going too far."

"What are you going to do about it?" asked George.

"I'm not at liberty to say, Mr. Hill," replied Connel. "But I can tell
you this. When any person, or group of persons, tries to dictate to the
Alliance, the Solar Guard steps in and puts a stop to it!"

Suddenly the silence of the jungle clearing was shattered by the roar of
a single jet craft coming in for a landing. Without looking out the
window, George smiled and said, "There's Mr. Sinclair now! I know the
sound of his jets."

The group crowded out onto the front porch while George took the jet car
and drove off to pick up his employer. A few moments later Sinclair was
seated before Connel, wiping his sweating brow and accepting a cool
drink from Mrs. Hill.

"I was on my way to the north boundary when I saw your ship landing,"
explained Sinclair. "At first I thought it might be those devils coming
back, but then I saw the Solar Guard insigne on the ship and figured it
might be you." He looked at Connel closely. "Anything new, Major?"

"Not yet," replied Connel. "But you can rest assured that you won't be
bothered by them again."

Sinclair paused, eying the major speculatively. "You know, as soon as
you left, I went over to talk to Al Sharkey. I was plenty mad and really
blasted him, but he swears that he was in Venusport at the time and
doesn't know a thing about the raid."

Connel nodded. "That's true. We checked on him. But while he might not
have been in on the raid itself, there's nothing that says he didn't
order it done!"

"I doubt it," said Sinclair, with a queer apologetic note in his voice.
"I'm inclined to believe that it was nothing more than a bunch of the
younger, more hotheaded kids in the organization. As a matter of fact,
Sharkey told me he was quitting as president. Seems you fellows in
Venusport scared him plenty. Not only that, but I heard him calling up
the other planters telling them what happened and every one of them is
chipping in to rebuild my plantation."

Connel looked at the planter steely-eyed. "So you think it was done by a
bunch of kids, huh?"

Sinclair nodded. "Wouldn't be surprised if they're not scared too!"

"Well, you are entitled to your opinion, Mr. Sinclair. And if the other
planters are going to rebuild your buildings, that's fine and charitable
of them." Suddenly Connel's voice became harsh. "Th