nd on--down the canal, the three boys floated. Days turned into
nights, and nights, cooling and refreshing, gave way to the blazing sun
of the next day. The silent desert swept past them.

One night, when Astro, unable to sleep, was staring ahead into the
darkness, he heard a rustling in the water alongside the raft. He moved
slowly to the edge of the raft and peered down into the clear water.

He saw a fish!

The big cadet watched it dart around the raft. He waited, his body
tense. Once the fish came to the edge of the raft, but before Astro
could move his arm, it darted off in another direction.

At last the fish disappeared and Astro sank back on the timbers. He
trailed one hand over the side in the water, and suddenly, felt the
rough scales of the fish brush his fingers. In a flash, Astro closed his
hand and snatched the wriggling creature out of the water.

"Tom--Roger--" he shouted. "Look--look--a fish--I caught a fish with my
bare hands!"

Tom rolled over and opened his eyes. Roger sat in bewilderment.

"I watched him--I was watching him and then he went away. And then I
held my hand over the side of the raft and he came snooping around
and--well, I just grabbed him!"

He held the fish in the viselike grip of his right hand until it stopped
moving.

"You know," said Tom weakly, "I just remembered. When we were in the
Science Building in Atom City, one of their projects was to breed both
Earth and Venus fish in the canals."

"I am going to shake, personally, the hand of the man who started this
project when we get back to Atom City," said Astro.

Suddenly Roger gripped Tom's arms. He was staring in the direction the
raft was going. "Tom--" he breathed, "Astro--look!"

They turned and peered into the dusk. In the distance, not a mile away,
was the huge crystal-clear dome of the atmosphere booster station, its
roaring atomic motors sending a steady purring sound out across the
desert.

"We made it," said Tom, choking back the tears. "We made it!"

"Well, blast my jets," said Astro. "We sure did!"

* * * * *

"And you mean to tell me, you _walked_ across that desert?" asked
Captain Strong.

Tom glanced over at Astro and Roger. "We sure did, sir."

"With Astro doing the last stretch to the canal carrying me and dragging
Tom," said Roger as he sipped his hot broth.

The room in the chief engineer's quarters at the atmosphere station was
crowded with workers, enlist