women
for the present. Within an hour of the discovery, Morquil warned the men
at the controls to conserve the power as much as possible.

Every operation of the ship, was dependent on fuel. The generators for
heat, light and controls, were turned by discharge through the tubes. At
least _one_ blast must be fired at _all times_ to keep the controls
sensitized, and develop power for emergency equipment. The other tubes
were silenced.

During the rest migs Dick couldn't sleep, but spent every minute talking
to John McCarthy. There _must_ be some solution--_and they had to find
it_!

CHAPTER VI

_An Engineer's Mettle_

In the morning the earthmen were called together. They came with smiling
faces, which slowly changed to apprehension.

There were many suggestions in as many minutes, but none that gave a
possibility of accomplishing the impossible. They had to stretch the
fuel--_without visible means of stretching it_!

The women believed the meeting was a routine course in mechanics, and
went on enjoying their entertainment. The men explained they were
bothered by a knotty question about the machinery to account for their
worried concentration. It would have been a terrible handicap if the
women discovered the truth.

Three lix passed with little change. The fuel had been cut down for a
while, but the ship didn't hold its course. Every tube had been fired to
hold the direct route for Jupiter. They were constantly cutting into the
meager supply that remained--_and had to overcome the deficiency_!

Due to the slight conservation of fuel the ship had been operating far
below efficiency, and the cold of space began to seep through the walls.
This affected the dome people more than the earthmen, and they suffered
torture. Any change in temperature was unknown to them, they were
chilled at a few degrees below normal heat.

Suddenly, during dinner on the third evening, Peter Yarbro jumped up
from the table. The other men fastened eager eyes on his face, while the
women watched in amazement.

He started to speak, then remembered the women, sat down quietly. "I--I
think I've found the answer--to our _problem_! If you will join me in
the hold, when we finish eating, I would like to talk it over with you."

Mrs. Yarbro was even more amazed. "Peter! I'm surprised at you. Jumping
up from the table so excited, just because you happened to think of the
answer to a _problem_! You ought to be ashamed."

In spite o