om this place was impossible. With this conviction there came
to him a deeper bitterness and the resolve that he, Luke Fenton, would
have his revenge before he went the way of the rest.

Perhaps the law had him for keeps this time--it certainly seemed so; but
he'd leave his mark on its representatives yet.

* * * * *

At inspection preceding the next labor period, Luke began doing things.

The prisoners were lined up and the guards were parading the line,
reassigning them to new working squads, which were shifted and
rearranged every third day. Kulan, the big Martian, selected Luke.

"You, Fenton," he snapped, "ten paces forward."

Luke grinned but made no move.

Amazed, the guard stepped closer. "You heard me!" he roared. "I'm
keepin' you in my squad, tough guy."

A ripple of astonished comment ran along the line and the other guards
bellowed for silence. Kulan fingered the black tube of his neutro-beam
and his broad face was chalky white.

Luke advanced two paces, still grinning. And he looked up sneeringly
into the grim face that was a foot above his own.

"That's right, you big ape," he grated, "you ain't man enough to fight
the way men fight. Gotta use dart guns, or gravity."

It was sheer baiting of the big Martian. Fenton was shrewd and he knew
the fellow's kind, quick to resent insult and prouder of their physical
size and prowess than of any other possession. He saw the flush that
rose to replace the guard's pallor, saw the huge lithe body go tense.
Laughing derisively, he completed his ten paces with leisurely aplomb.

Speechless with rage, Kulan stood rigid. Furtive boos and a few hoarse
cheers came from somewhere in the long line of convicts, and Luke saw
several men flattened to the ground by swift darting neutro-beams.

And then the head guard came running from the small bastion. "What the
hell?" he demanded of Kulan. "Any trouble?"

Kulan saluted, and his eyes were narrow slits. "No sir," he returned
stiffly, "no trouble."

Eyeing Luke suspiciously, the senior guard grunted, then moved on along
the line. And the work of reallotting squads went on.

* * * * *

It was exactly as Fenton had expected. This Kulan, a head over him in
stature and broad in proportion, was sure in his mind that he could
handle the red-headed Earthman without resort to weapons. And the taunt
as to his physical ability had struck hom