"

"Why go down to the power deck?" asked Roger.

"There's a huge hole in the upper part of the ship's hull. That sand
will come in here by the ton and there's nothing to stop it," Tom
answered Roger, but kept his eyes on the churning black cloud. Already,
the first gusts of wind were lashing at the stricken _Lady Venus_.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 18

"You think it'll last much longer?" asked Astro.

"I don't know, old fellow," replied Tom.

"You know, sometimes you can hear the wind even through the skin of the
ship," commented Roger.

For two days the cadets of the _Polaris_ unit had been held prisoner in
the power deck while the violence of the New Sahara sandstorm raged
around them outside the ship. For a thousand square miles the desert was
a black cloud of churning sand, sweeping across the surface of Mars like
a giant shroud.

After many attempts to repair a small generator, Astro finally
succeeded, only to discover that he had no means of running the unit.
His plan was to relieve the rapidly weakening emergency batteries with a
more steady source of power.

While Astro occupied himself repairing the generator, Tom and Roger had
slept, but after the first day, when sleep would no longer come, they
resorted to playing checkers with washers and nuts on a board scratched
on the deck.

"Think it's going to let up soon?" asked Roger.

"They've been known to last for a week or more," said Astro.

"Wonder if Strong has discovered we're missing?" mused Roger.

"Sure he has," replied Tom. "He's a real spaceman. Can smell out trouble
like a telemetered alarm system."

Astro got up and stretched. "I'll bet we're out of this five hours after
the sand settles down."

The big Venusian walked to the side of the power deck and pressed his
ear against the hull, listening for the sound of the wind.

After a few seconds he turned back. "I can't hear a thing, fellas. I
have a feeling it's about played itself out."

"Of course," reasoned Tom, "we have no real way of knowing when it's
stopped and when it hasn't."

"Want to open the hatch and take a look?" asked Astro.

Tom looked questioningly at Roger, who nodded his head in agreement.

Tom walked over to the hatch and began undogging the heavy door. As the
last of the heavy metal bars were raised, sand began to trickle inside
around the edges. Astro bent down and sifted a handful through his
fingers. "It's so fine, it's like powder," he said as it f