cation of the moment's tenseness and of the pilot's full
understanding of their position.

The answering order was crisply spoken; this was a different Jimmy
Maddux from the one who had chaffed the Irish pilot some hours before.

"Stand by! We're coming down! Records at Hoover Terminal show two men
reporting at pilots' gate under the number of your engineer, CG41. Hold
your ship exactly where you are; we're sending a man aboard!"

* * * * *

Chet had moved silently to the controls. The old multiple-lever
instrument--he knew it well! But he looked at Spud O'Malley and waited
for his nod of assent before he presumed to trespass on another pilot's
domain. Then he shifted two little levers, and the ship fell away
beneath them as it plunged toward the Earth.

And Pilot O'Malley was explaining to the Patrol Ship Captain as best he
could for the rolling plunge of the careening ship:

"I can't hold her, sir. And you'd best be keepin' away. It's stormin'
fearful down here, and I can't rise above it! Keep clear!--I'm warnin'
you!" The hum of their helicopters rose to a shrill whine as Chet drove
the ship out and down through the smothering clouds. "You must hear her
fans on your instruments; you can see how we're pitchin'!"

He switched off the transmitter for a moment and faced Chet. "They've
been checkin' close," he stated. "That was my engineer's number I gave
you as we came through the gate. And, of course, he had given it before
when he reported in. Now we're up against it."

The collision instrument was humming with the sound of many motors, and
warning lights were giving their silent alarm of the oncoming ships.

"They're comin' in," Spud went on hopelessly, "like a flock of kites in
the tropics when one of them's found somethin' dead--and it's us that's
the carcass!"

* * * * *

But Chet was not listening. The snowy clouds had broken for an instant;
their ship had driven through and beneath them. Through the wild,
whirling chaos of white there came for an instant a rift--and far across
an icy expanse Chet glimpsed a range of black hills!

He spoke sharply to the pilot. "That's Jimmy Maddux above us--kid him
along, Spud! Tell him we're coming up, don't let him grab us with his
magnets! This is putting you in a devil of a hole, old man. I'm
sorry!--but we've got to see it through now.

"You can never set this ship down, Spud; that patrol would be on