o receive the pirate once he
was finally brought in to them.

It was nearer an hour and a quarter later that the machine fell to the
great San Francisco landing field, where the mechanics at once set to
work bolting a huge electro-magnet on the landing skids on the bottom of
the machine. The most serious problem was connecting the terminals
electrically without making holes in the hull of the ship. Finally one
terminal was grounded, and the radio aerial used as the other. Fuller
was left behind on this trip, and a large number of cells were installed
in every possible position. In the power room, a hastily arranged motor
generator set was arranged, making it possible to run the entire ship
from the batteries. Scarcely had these been battened down to prevent
sliding under the accelerations necessary, than Arcot and Morey were
off. The entire operation had required but fifteen minutes.

"How are you going to catch him, Arcot?"

"I'll overtake him going west. If I went the other way I'd meet him
going at over 10 miles a second in relation to his machine. He had the
right idea. He told me to fall out to him at a greater than orbital
speed. I will go just within the Earth's atmosphere till I get just
under him, holding myself in the air by means of a downward acceleration
on the part of the regular lifting power units. I am going to try to
reach eight miles a second. We will be overhauling him at three a
second, and the ship will slow down to the right speed while falling out
to him. We must reach him before he gets into the shadow of the Earth,
though, for if he reaches 'night' he will be without heat, and he'll die
of cold. I think we can reach him, Dick!"

"I hope so. Those spare cells are all right, aren't they? We'll need
them! If they don't function when we get out there, we'll fall clear off
into space! At eight miles a second, we would leave Earth forever!"

The ship was accelerating steadily at the highest value the men aboard
could stand. The needle of the speedometer crept steadily across the
dial. They were flying at a height of forty miles that they might have
enough air and still not be too greatly hindered by air resistance. The
black sky above them was spotted with points of glowing light, the
blazing stars of space. But as they flew along, the sensation of weight
was lost; they had reached orbital speed, and as the car steadily
increased its velocity, there came a strange sensation! The Earth loomed
gig