fears were justified.

A crew chief from one of the rescue squads approached Strong; his body
weightless in space, the man grappled for a handhold on a jutting piece
of the twisted wreck, and then spoke to Strong over the helmet
spacephones.

"We found only one person aboard, sir," he reported. "And the ship
appears to have been stripped of everything but engines and control
panel."

Behind the protective glass of his helmet, Strong grimaced. He turned to
Captain Randolph. "We've been tricked again, Randy," said Strong
bitterly. "We used a decoy and so did Coxine!"

* * * * *

"They're closing in!" Roger's voice crackled through the intercom from
the radar bridge. "Do we fight or do we let those space crawlers take
over?"

"Fight!" bellowed Astro from the power deck.

"No! Wait!" cried Tom. "We haven't a chance! If we don't heave to,
Coxine'll blast us into space junk!"

Rocketing through the asteroid belt with the Titan pay roll, the three
space cadets, under strict orders to maintain communications silence,
were unaware that Bull Coxine had outsmarted Captain Strong. Sending in
the rocket scout, he had sprung the Solar Guard trap and had cagily
scanned the belt for another ship. Finding the _Polaris_ easily, the
pirate captain was blasting in for the attack.

On the control deck of the Solar Guard cruiser, Tom Corbett desperately
tried to think of a plan to outwit Coxine, while his unit-mates urged
him to fight back.

"What's the matter, Junior?" Roger called over the intercom
sarcastically. "Scared to fight?"

"You know I'm not," snapped Tom in reply.

"By the rings of Saturn," growled Astro, "I never thought you'd
surrender to anybody, Tom!"

"Listen, both of you!" shouted Tom. "It's no use! We've got to play this
smart!"

"Well, start making with the brains," sneered Roger. "Coxine's in range
now."

"Attention--" A harsh unmistakable voice rumbled over the audioceiver.
"This is Bull Coxine! Heave to or you'll be blasted!"

"All right, Junior," said Roger bitterly, "company's coming. What now?"

"Cut all power, Astro--fast!" ordered Tom.

"What's the matter?" growled Astro. "Afraid they'll shoot if you don't
stop fast enough?"

"Keep your big trap shut and do as I tell you!" snapped Tom.

"Listen, Junior!" snarled Roger. "As far as I'm concerned--"

Tom interrupted him. "_You_ listen, you idiot! Don't you see what's
happened? Coxine must have found out abo