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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30307-0.txt b/30307-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0027b4e --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2432 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30307 *** + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Astounding Stories November 1931. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + Hawk Carse + + _A Complete Novelette_ + + + + By Anthony Gilmore + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_The Swoop of the Hawk_ + +[Illustration: _The Hawk stood there, both arms hanging easily at his +sides._] + +[Sidenote: One of the spectacular exploits of Hawk Carse, greatest of +space adventurers.] + + +Hawk Carse came to the frontiers of space when Saturn was the frontier +planet, which was years before the swift Patrol ships brought Earth's +law and order to those vast regions. A casual glance at his slender +figure made it seem impossible that he was to rise to be the greatest +adventurer in space, that his name was to carry such deadly +connotation in later years. But on closer inspection, a number of +little things became evident: the steadiness of his light gray eyes; +the marvelously strong-fingered hands; the wiry build of his +splendidly proportioned body. Summing these things up and adding the +brilliant resourcefulness of the man, the complete ignorance of fear, +one could perhaps understand why even his blood enemy, the impassive +Ku Sui, a man otherwise devoid of every human trait, could not face +Carse unmoved in his moments of cold fury. + +His name, we know, enters most histories of the period 2117-2148 A. +D., for he has at last been recognized as the one who probably did +most--unofficially, and not with the authority of the Earth +Government--to shape the raw frontiers of space, to push them outward +and to lay the foundations of the present tremendous commerce between +Earth, Vulcan, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. But, little +of his fascinating character may be gleaned from the dry words of +history; and it is Hawk Carse the adventurer, he of the spitting +ray-gun and the phenomenal draw, of the reckless space ship +maneuverings, of the queer bangs of flaxen hair that from a certain +year hid his forehead, of the score of blood feuds and the one great +feud that jarred nations in its final terrible settling--it is with +that man we are concerned here. + +A number of his exploits never recorded are still among the favorite +yarns spun by lonely outlanders in the scattered trading posts of the +planets, and among them is that of his final encounter with Judd the +Kite. It shows typically the cold deadliness, the prompt repaying of a +blood debt, the nerveless daring that were the outstanding qualities +of this almost legendary figure. + +It began one crisp, early morning on Iapetus, and it ended on Iapetus, +with the streaks of ray-guns searing the air; and it explains why +there are two square mounds of soil on Iapetus, eighth satellite of +Saturn. + + * * * * * + +Carse pioneered Iapetus and considered its product his by right of +prior exploration. One or two men had landed there before he came to +the frontiers of space and reported the satellite habitable, possessed +of gravital force only slightly under Earth's, despite its +twelve-hundred-mile diameter, and of an atmosphere merely a trifle +rarer; but they had gone no further. They had noticed the forms of +certain strange animals flitting through the satellite's jungles, but +had not investigated. It was Carse who captured one of the creatures +and saw the commercial possibilities of the pointed seven-inch horn +that grew on its head, and who named it phanti, after the now extinct +Venusian bird-mammal. + +There were great herds of them, and they constituted Iapetus' highest +form of life. The space trader cut off a few of their opalescent and +green-veined horns and sent them as samples to Earth; and, upon their +being valued highly, he two months later established his ranch on +Iapetus, and thus laid the foundation for the grim business that men +sometimes call the Exploit of the Hawk and the Kite. + +No doubt Carse expected trouble over the ranch. To protect the +valuable twice-yearly harvest of horn from Ku Sui's several bands of +pirates, and other semi-piratical traders who roamed space, he built a +formidable ranch-house with generators for powerful offensive rays and +a strong defensive ray-web, and manned it with six competent men. +Moreover, he came personally twice a year to transport the cargo of +horn, and let it be known throughout the frontiers that the sign of +the Hawk was on that portion of Iapetus, and that all who trespassed +would have to answer to him. This should have been, ordinarily, +enough. But there was always the sinister, brilliant Dr. Ku Sui, +plotting against him and his belongings, and reckless others to whom +the ranch might look like easy pickings. From these Carse had long +anticipated a raid on Iapetus. + + * * * * * + +And now he was worried. Clad as usual in a faded blue tunic, open at +the neck, soft blue trousers and old-fashioned rubber soled shoes, he +showed it by pulling occasionally at the bangs of flaxen hair that had +been trained to hang down his forehead to the thick, straw-colored +eyebrows. In his new cruiser, the _Star Devil_, he was within an +hour's time of Iapetus, which lay before the bow observation ports of +the control cabin like a giant buff-tinted orange, dark-splotched by +seas and jungles, on the third of his semi-annual voyages for the +harvest of horn. Away to the left, scintillating and flaming in the +blackness of space, whirled Saturn, his rings clear-cut and brilliant, +his hard light filling the control cabin. Carse was staring unseeingly +at the magnificent spectacle when the giant negro standing nearby at +the space-stick rumbled: + +"Well, suh, Ah cain't think they's anything wrong--no, suh. They's +nobody'd _dare_ touch that ranch! No, suh--not Hawk Carse's ranch." + +This was "Friday," the herculean black Earthling whom Carse had +rescued years before from one of the Venusian slave-ships, and now a +member of that strange trio of totally dissimilar comrades, the third +of whom was Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow, now absent and at work in +his secret laboratory. Friday thought the Hawk just about the greatest +man in the Solar System, and many times already had he given proof of +his devotion. + +Carse looked full at him. "You're a good mechanic, Eclipse," he said, +"but in some ways very innocent. Crane hasn't replied to us for +seventy minutes. He knows we're coming and he should be on duty. That +cargo's valuable, and it's all ready and packed." + +"Hmff," Friday grunted. "But who you think'd dare try an' swipe it +when we're so close? One o' Ku Sui's gang, maybe?" + +"Perhaps. I haven't heard anything of Ku Sui for some time, and he's +never more dangerous than when he keeps silent," said the Hawk +thoughtfully. "But Crane might be sick. Or his radio might have broken +down temporarily. Still--" + +It was then that the third man in the cabin, Harkness, the navigator, +straightened abruptly and put a sharp end to the trader's last word by +calling out: + +"Radio, sir!" + + * * * * * + +A red dot of light was winking on a switchboard. Friday watched the +Hawk move in his quick, effortless way to it and pull a lever down, +all in the same motion, and then the negro's neck muscles corded as he +listened to the sounds that came, choking and barely intelligible, +from a loudspeaker: + +"Carse--Hawk Carse--Crane speaking from the ranch. We're +besieged--pirate ship--outnumbered--can't hold out much longer. We got +most of the cargo inside here, but our generators--they're +weakening--and I'm fading, I guess, and the others that're left are +wounded. Carse--hurry--hurry...." + +Five words went back into the microphone before the receiver went +dead. + +"I'm coming, Crane! Hold on!" + +Friday had seen the Hawk in such moments before, and he knew the +sight; but the navigator, Harkness, had not been with Carse very long, +and now he stood silent, motionless, while despite himself a shiver +ran down his spine as he stared at the tight-pressed bloodless lips +and the gray eyes, cold now as space. He started nervously when the +Hawk turned and looked him in the eye. + +"I want speed," came his quiet, soft, deceptive voice. "I want that +hour's running time sliced by a third. Streak through that +atmosphere." + +"Yes, suh!" answered Friday. + +"And you"--to Harkness--"be very sure you get out every ounce she's +got. Tell the engineer personally." + +"Full speed. Yes, sir," said the navigator, and felt relieved when +Carse turned his eyes away. For the Hawk, as always when he learned +that property had been ravaged and his friends shot down, seemed less +human than the Indrots at the far end of the frigid deeps of space he +roamed. His face was mask-like, graven, totally expressionless: blood +had been shed, and for each ounce another had to be spilled to balance +the scales. At a speaking tube that reached aft to the three other +members of the crew, he whispered: "Fighting posts. Arm and be ready +for action. Pirates are attacking ranch," and then went noiselessly to +the forward electelscope. Meanwhile Friday kept his eyes strictly on +the dials before him and held the space-stick rigid, while aft, in the +ship's other compartments, three men strapped on ray-gun belts and +wondered who was doomed to be caught in the swoop of the Hawk. + + * * * * * + +Carse himself wondered that. The raider so far showed as a newcomer to +the frontiers of space; he was one who as yet had never faced the +Hawk, one to whom the tales that were told of him seemed laughable, to +whom the rich consignment of horn looked like a gift. Certainly such +an open attack did not resemble Ku Sui's subtle methods, or those of +his several henchmen, pirates of space all; they, rather, struck +behind his back, and then only when the infamous Eurasian had prepared +what seemed an escape-proof trap. + +"Foolish to raid when I'm so close!" he murmured as he trained the +electelscope and peered into its eye-piece. "Stupid! Unless...." + +Friday, at the space-stick, mopped the trickles of sweat from his brow +and with a vast sigh shifted his bulk. The job of speeding into an +atmospheric pressure was always ticklish, and it was with some relief +that he reported "Into th' atmosphere, suh," according to routine. He +waited for the usual acknowledgment, and when it did not come repeated +his observation in a louder voice. Two full minutes of silence passed. +Then, finally, Hawk Carse turned from the electelscope, and even the +negro shivered at sight of the deadly mask that was his face. + +For the ranch-house in its clearing had dimly appeared in the +electelscope just as Friday had spoken. + +Carse spoke. + +"More speed, if it burns us up," came his almost whispered words. "I +want much more speed." + +Harkness gulped. "Yes, sir," he said, and, moistening his lips, he +returned to the engine-room. The frigid gray eyes swung back to the +sight that was revealed on Iapetus. + +The long, lean shape of a rakish space ship was resting on the soil +some three hundred yards from the ranch-house, and between were the +hazy figures of six men, busily dragging as many boxes towards their +craft. The boxes contained the whole half-year's harvest of phanti +horns, and had obviously been looted from the house. The resistance +had been overcome; the pirate raid had succeeded. The trim, +gray-painted ranch-house was lifeless.... + + * * * * * + +The Hawk switched off the electelscope. His colorless lips were +compressed very tightly. "I'll take the helm," he said curtly to +Friday. "Turn on the defensive web, and prepare all ray batteries." + +"Yes, suh!" The negro's big, yellow-palmed hands worked dexterously +among the instruments to his right; then, amidships, grew a shrill +whine which keened upward in pitch. A few sparks raced by the _Star +Devil's_ after ports, quickly to disappear after they left the almost +invisible envelope of delicate bluish light that entirely wrapped her +hull. + +She was making dangerous speed. The wind screamed as she streaked +through the satellite's atmosphere, and the great friction of her +passage raised her outer shell to a perilous glow. The altitude +dial's finger almost jumped from forty thousand to thirty-five. + +"Ready for bow-ray salvo." + +"Aye, sir!" replied Harkness, and a moment later repeated crisply: +"All ready for bow-ray salvo, sir!" His voice showed no sign of the +fear within him--fear that the _Star Devil's_ outer hull would reach +the melting point--but his lips fell apart and his face lost its +discipline when the Hawk next spoke and acted. + +"Steady," came the low whisper to his ears--and he saw the controlling +space-stick being shoved down as far as it would go. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_Pursuit_ + + +That was the Hawk's method, and it had given him the name which he had +made famous. It was characteristic of the man that he preferred to +strike at an enemy ship in a wild, breath-taking swoop, even as the +fierce hawk plummets from high heaven to sink its talons deep into the +flesh of its more sluggish prey. Nerves were uncomfortable things to +have on such occasions, and Harkness had them, and accordingly he felt +his heart hammer and something tight seemed to bind his throat. He +tried to assume the unshakable calmness of the motionless figure at +the stick, but could not, for his body was only flesh and blood--and +Hawk Carse was tempered, frosty, steel. Through staring eyes the +navigator watched the surface of Iapetus rushing into the bow ports, +watched it spread accelerating outward, until he could plainly see the +pirate ship lying there, and the nearby figures of men tugging at the +heavy boxes of horns. + +His eyes were on those figures when they broke. First they teetered +hesitantly a moment, glancing wildly around and up at the vision of +death that was coming like a silver comet from the skies, and then +they melted apart. Three scrambled towards the rim of jungle foliage +close at hand, while their fellows leaped in the other direction, +trying to make an open port in their craft. Harkness saw them tumble +headlong through it and slam it shut. Then a web of blue streaks +appeared around the ship, and softened until her hull was bathed is +ghostly bluish light. + +"Their defensive ray-web's on, sir!" he managed to gasp. Carse, though +close, might not have heard, so intently was he watching. The altitude +dial's pointer reached for one thousand and slid past. Harkness's face +was pale and drawn; his tight-gripped fingers and clenched teeth +showed that he expected to crash into the ground in a molten, +shapeless tomb of steel. But Friday was grinning, his teeth a slash of +white. + +"Stand by bow projectors," sounded the Hawk's clipped voice. The negro +extended his hands and rumbled: + +"Ready, suh." + +"Fire." + +"Fire!" Friday roared. + +His rich laugh rang out and he whirled the wheels over. With a hissing +as of a hundred snakes, the rays struck. + + * * * * * + +Well aimed, the bolt speared straight and true. The distance was +short, and it came from generators that were perhaps not equaled in +space; no ordinary ship's defensive web could resist its vicious +thrust. From the streak of silver that represented the Hawk's swoop, a +stream of orange cut a swathe through the air ahead, holding +accurately on the brigand ship. For just a tick of time there was a +turmoil of color as offensive ray met defensive web; then the air +cleared again--and the pirate was unmarked! + +By rights she should have been split in two; and, though his face did +not show it, it must have been surprising to Carse that she wasn't. +With one flick of the wrist he wrenched the _Star Devil_ out of her +plunge and sent her scudding, a hundred feet up, over the jungle rim. +Friday was gaping. Harkness, still numb from the dive, foolishly +staring; and then the brigand bared her fangs in return. + +Orange light winked from her stern, and the Hawk's ship was bathed in +a streak of color. But the bolt caromed harmlessly off the side of the +arcing _Star Devil_! and the next instant the pirate's lean bulk +swayed, lifted a little and zoomed up into the heavens, abandoning the +boxes of horn without further fight. + +"Runnin' foh it! Scared stiff!" muttered Friday, unholy joy in his +gleaming eyes. He looked at the figure at the stick. "Follow 'em now, +suh, an' wear out their projectors?" + +Carse thoughtfully smoothed his bangs with his free hand. "Plenty of +time for that," he said patiently. "Some of the men on the ranch may +still be alive: we must care for them. I'm going to land. Tell the +engineer to keep watch through the electelscope on that ship. I'll +start overtaking it shortly." + +"Funny our rays didn't ha'm 'em," Friday ruminated aloud. "Ain't no +ordinary craft, that. No, suh, they's more in this heah business than +hits yo' eyes!" + +"Now you're getting cynical, Eclipse," the Hawk said dryly. + + * * * * * + +A quarter-mile-square block of land had been fenced off as a corral +for the ninety-head herd of bull phantis Carse kept on Iapetus. These +creatures resembled mostly the old ostrich of Earth, but grew no +feathers. The neck, however was shorter than the ostrich's; the +leathery skin of a drab gray color; the powerful hind feet, on which +they stood erect, prehensile and armed with short stabbing spurs; the +forearms short and used for plucking the delicate shoots and young +leaves on which they lived. There was a dim flicker of rudimentary +intelligence inside the bullet heads; they recognized men as their +enemies, and hated them. And therefore they necessitated careful +handling, for, even without the valuable head-horns, their +sharp-spurred feet could rip a human being into shreds in seconds. + +They were clustered now behind the wire corral-fence, electrified to +prevent them from breaking through. They bellowed angrily and shoved +each other about as their wicked little blood-shot eyes caught sight +of the _Star Devil_ as she came dropping gently down. + +At the electelscope of the descending craft was the ship's engineer. +He had just centered the instrument on the fleeing pirate craft that +by now was leaving the satellite's atmosphere, and the image was large +on the screen above the bow windows, where he kept a steady eye on it. +The inner door of the port-lock swung open, the outer door down, and +Carse walked through, followed by Friday and Harkness. + +An ugly scene lay spread out before them in the glaring daylight. The +trader had only gone a few paces when he paused and looked down at an +outsprawled thing that had once been a man. Stooping, he very gently +turned the mess of charred flesh over and peered at what was left of +the face. There were small, burnt holes in it, and the flesh +surrounding them looked as though it had been suspended for some time +over a slow fire.... + +Carse rose and stared into space. + +"Ruthers, a guard," he said softly, as if speaking to himself. He +walked on. + +Another heap of flesh was pitched before the front wall of the +ranch-house. The man it had been a little while before had evidently +been running for the door when the deadly rays had got him. His +ray-gun was lying a few feet away. Again Carse stooped and again very +gently pulled the ragged thing over. + +"By God!" stammered Harkness suddenly, staring, his face white, +"that--that's Jack O'Fallon--old Jack O'Fallon! Why, we went to +navigation school together! We--" + +"Yes," said the Hawk, "O'Fallon, overseer." He stepped into the house. +Friday, impassive and grim, pulled Harkness away from the distorted +body. + + * * * * * + +Three more were tumbled together behind a splintered table in the main +room. The rays had done their work well. Three were welded, it seemed, +into one.... It was some time before the Hawk's frigid whisper came. + +"Martin ... Olafson ... and this--Antil ... Antil was the only +Venusian I ever liked...." + +The chairs and tables in the room were overturned, most of them bore +the seared scars of ray-guns, which showed plainly enough that there +had been a desperate last minute hand-to-hand struggle there, after +the defensive ray-web had failed and the pirates rushed the building. +The radio alcove was choked with seared, cracked wreckage. Crane, the +operator, still sat in his seat, but he was slumped over forward, and +his head and chest were pitted with slanting ray holes. One hand had +been reaching for a dial. The other was twisted and charred. + +"And Crane, the last," said Hawk Carse, and for some moments he stood +there, his face cold and unmoving save for the tiny twitching of the +left eyelid. Utter silence rested over the bitter three--a silence +broken only by the occasional roar of an angry phanti bull outside in +the enclosure. + +Finally Carse took a deep breath and turned to Friday. + +"You'll see to their burying," he ordered quietly. "Get the power ray +from the ship and burn out two big pits on that knoll off the corner +of the corral." + +Friday looked at him in puzzlement. "Two, suh?" he repeated. "Why two? +Why not put 'em all in one?" + +"You will put all my men in one. I'll need the other later.... You," +he went on, to Harkness, "get the cargo of horns aboard. We can't +leave it out there, for three of those pirates fled into the jungle. I +haven't time to find them, and they'd come out and bury the horns if +we left them. I'll be with you soon. We take off in ten minutes." + +"Yes, sir," answered the navigator, and he and the negro went out. + + * * * * * + +For a little while Carse stayed in the cubby. As he softly stroked the +flaxen bangs of hair over his brow, he visualized what had happened +inside that house of death, piecing a number of things together and +forming a whole. On the surface it seemed plain enough, and yet there +were one or two points.... His face showed a trace of puzzlement. He +shook his head slightly; then he stooped and picked up the radio +operator's body with an ease that might have seemed surprising from +such a slender man, and walked out of the house. + +Beyond one corner of the corral, upon a slight rise in the ground, +Friday was melting out the second grave with the ship's great portable +ray-gun. Carse laid Crane's body gently down in the first grave, then +went to where Harkness, with the _Star Devil's_ radio-man and cook, +was loading the cargo of horns aboard. The trader opened several of +the boxes, glanced at the upper layers to inspect the quality, and, +satisfied, closed them again. All the boxes were trundled soon into +the craft's open port and aft to her cargo hold. + +The engineer on watch at the electelscope and visi-screen felt a hand +on his shoulder and looked around to find his captain standing by him. +He pointed up at the screen: on it, the brigand ship was a mere four +inches in size, and bearing straight out on an unwavering course. "I +reckoned their speed to be about ten thousand an hour, a minute ago, +sir," he reported. "Now about five thousand miles away." + +"How soon," Carse asked, "do you think we could overhaul them?" + +The other grinned. "If you're in a hurry, sir, about two hours and a +half." + +"I am in a hurry. I want all the speed you can muster." + +"Yes, sir. Might be able to get it down, to two." + +The Hawk nodded. "Try. Return to your post." + +Outside, through the port, he saw Friday smoothing over the grave, the +burying finished, and he beckoned him in. At that second Harkness +reported the cargo all fastened down. Carse snapped out his orders. + +"Harkness," he said shortly, "you and Friday with me in the control +cabin. Sparks, you can get an hour's sleep, but leave the radio +receiver open. Cook, an hour's rest if you want it--and I think you'd +better want it. There's war ahead. Close port!" + +The inner and outer doors nestled snugly, one after the other, into +place with a hiss; the rows of gravity plates in the ship's belly +angled ever so slightly. She quivered, then, in a surge of power, +lifted straight up and poised; then, answering the touch of +space-stick and accelerator, she went streaking through the atmosphere +on the trail of the distant craft that had left its mark of blood on +Iapetus and provoked the vengeance of the Hawk.... + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_Death Rides the Star Devil_ + + +Usually, when pursuing an enemy, Hawk Carse was impassive and grim, +apparently emotionless, icy. But now he seemed somehow disturbed. + +He fidgeted around, glancing occasionally at the visi-screen to make +sure his quarry was not changing course, now watching Friday juggle +through the skin of atmosphere into outer space, and now standing +apart, silent and solitary, brooding. + +There was something about the affair he didn't like. Something that +was deeply hidden, that could not be grasped clearly; that might, on +the other hand, be pure imagination. And yet, why-- + +Why, for instance, had the brigands taken to their heels with just the +barest semblance of fight? Why, with their defensive ray-web proof for +some time at least against his offensive rays, had they left without +more of a struggle for the horn? Why were they so willing to flee, +knowing as they must that he, the Hawk, would follow? Did they not +know he had--thanks to Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow--the fastest +ship in space, and would inevitably overtake them? + +Were they Ku Sui's men? It seemed so, certainly, from the great +strength of their defensive ray-web. No other ships that he knew of in +space save Ku Sui's possessed such power. But--it wasn't the brilliant +Eurasian's customary style. It was too simple for him. + +Carse stroked his bangs. The factors were all mixed up. He didn't like +it. + +Iapetus' atmosphere was left behind; in minutes the light blue wash of +her sky changed to the hard, frigid blackness of lifeless space. The +_Star Devil's_ lighting tubes glowed softly, though Saturn's rays, +coming through the wide bow windows, still lit every object in the +control cabin with hard and dazzling brilliancy. Inside, light and +color, life and action; outside, the eternal, sable void, sprinkled +with its millions of sparkling motes of worlds. And ahead--shown now +on the visa-screen only by the light dots of its ports--was the +brigand craft. + +The _Star Devil_ was smoothly building up the speed that would +eventually bring her up to the craft of the enemy. Carse's Earth-watch +told him that an hour and a half had passed. A vague anxiety oppressed +him, but he shook it off with the thought that soon the time for +accounting would arrive. Only forty minutes more; probably less. His +fears--foolish. He was getting too suspicious.... + + * * * * * + +Then came the voice. + +It pierced through the control cabin from the loudspeaker cone above +the radio switchboard. It was rough and mocking. It said: + +"Hawk Carse? Hawk Carse? You hear me?" Many times it repeated this. +"Yes? You hear me, Hawk Carse? I've a joke I want you to hear--a very +funny joke. You'll enjoy it!" There interrupted the staccato sounds of +an irrepressible amusement. + +Carse froze. His fingers by habit fluttered over his ray-gun butt as +he wheeled and looked into the loudspeaker. Friday, at the +space-stick, stared at him; Harkness's face was puzzled as he peered +at the loudspeaker and then turned and gazed at his captain. + +"But where," he asked, "--where does the voice come from? Who is it?" + +As if thinking aloud, Carse whispered: + +"From that ship ahead. I half expected ... I know it well, that voice. +Very well. It's the voice of ... of ... I can't quite place it.... In +a minute.... The voice of--" + +The chuckling ceased, and again the voice spoke. + +"Yes--a very funny joke! I can't share it all with you, Carse, because +you'd spoil it. But do you remember, some years ago, five men--and +another who lay before them? Do you remember how this last man said: +'Each one of you will die for what you've done to me?' That man didn't +wear bangs over his forehead then. Remember? Well, I'm one of the five +the mighty Hawk Carse swore he would kill!" + +Again the voice broke into a chuckle. + +But it ended suddenly. The tone it changed into was entirely +different, was cruel with a taunting sneer. + +"Bah! The avenging Hawk! The mighty Hawk! Well, in minutes, you'll be +dead. You'll be dead! The mighty Sparrow Carse will be dead!" + +A brief eternity went by. Carse remembered, and the glint in his gray +eyes grew colder. + +"Judd the Kite," he whispered. + +Friday's lips formed the words. + +And even Harkness, new to the frontiers of space, knew the name and +echoed it haltingly. + +"Judd the Kite...." + + * * * * * + +Of all the henchmen Dr. Ku Sui had gathered about him and banded +against Earth, and against Carse, and against all peaceful traders and +merchant-ships, Judd was perhaps the most cruel and relentless. + +The Kite he was called--though only behind his back--yet it might +better have been Vulture. Big and gross, with thick unstable lips and +stubby, hairy fingers, more than once he and his motley gang of +hi-jackers had painted a crimson splash across the far corners of the +frontiers, and daubed it to the tortured groans of the crews of honest +trading ships. Often they had plunged on isolated trading posts and +left their factors wallowing in their life blood. And more.... + +There are things that cannot be set down in print, that the carefully +edited history books only hint at, and into this class fell many of +the Kite's deeds. He was a master of the Venusian tortures. He and his +band during the unspeakable debauches which always followed a +successful raid would amuse themselves by practising certain of these +tortures on the day's captives; and his victims, both men and women, +would see and feel indescribable things, and Death would be kept most +carefully away until the last ounce of life and pain had been squeezed +quite dry. + +"Judd the Kite," Carse repeated in a hardly audible whisper. "Judd the +Kite ... one of the five...." Slowly his left hand rose and smoothed +his long bangs of flaxen hair. "I have been looking for him." + +"Will you reply to him, sir?" asked Harkness. + +"What use? His trap--Ku Sui's trap, of course--has already been set." +His brain raced. "What could it be?" he whispered slowly. + + * * * * * + +Friday was scratching his woolly hair, his smooth face puzzled, when +Carse, with the crisp decisiveness that always came to him when in +action, looked up at the visi-screen. The brigand was still clinging +to a straight course, and being overhauled rapidly. Another thirty +minutes and they would be within striking distance. He said tersely: + +"Set up the defensive web. Spiral and zig-zag the ship all you dare, +altering the period of the swing each time. Harkness, you and I are +going to make an inspection tour. General alarm if Judd's course +changes, Friday." + +"Yes, suh." The negro, frowning, gave his undivided attention to his +instruments as the Hawk and Harkness went aft into the next +compartment, the engine room. + +It looked quite normal. The great dynamos were humming smoothly; the +air-renewing machine was functioning steadily; the gauge hands all +slept or quivered in their usual places. Nothing uneven in the slight +vibration of the ship; nothing that might possibly forbode trouble. Up +on his perch, the engineer peered down curiously and asked: + +"Anything wrong, sir?" + +"Not yet," Carse answered shortly. "You're sure everything is regular +here?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Good. But check every vital spot at once--and quickly. Then keep +alert." + +They passed on into the following compartment, the mess-room and +sleeping quarters for the crew. Solid, rhythmical snores were issuing +from the cook's open mouth as he lay sprawled out on his bunk; the +smell of coffee hovered in the air; the cabin was quiet and +comfortable with an atmosphere of sleep and rest. The radio-man, +reading in his bunk, looked over and, seeing it was Carse, sat up. + +"Notice anything wrong?" he was asked. + +"Wrong? What--Why, no, sir. You want me for duty?" + +"Yes. Stay here and keep your eyes open for signs of trouble. I'm +expecting some. General alarm if the slightest thing happens." And +Carse went noiselessly into the last division of the ship. + +This was the cargo hold. The boxes of phanti horns were neatly stacked +in precise rows; the dim tube burning overhead showed nothing that +gave the smallest cause for alarm. The Hawk's narrowed eyes swept +walls, deck and ceiling in a search for signs of strain or buckling, +but found none. + + * * * * * + +Then he let himself down into the ship's belly, in the three-foot-high +space between the deck and the bottom outer hull. He found the three +rows of delicately adjusted gravity plates in good order. Harkness +joined him. + +Their hand-flashes scanned every inch of the narrow compartment as +they made the under-deck passage from stem to bow and up through the +forward trap-door into the control cabin. They found nothing abnormal. +The water and fuel tanks, built in the space between the inner and +outer shells above the living quarters, also yielded nothing; likewise +the storeroom. + +Nothing. Nothing at all. The whole ship was in excellent condition. +Everything was working as it should. Carse went forward again with +Harness; turned and faced him with puzzled eyes. + +"I can't understand it," he said. "Why that threat, when everything +seems all right? How can Judd reach me to kill me? And in minutes?" + +The navigator shook his head. "It's beyond me, sir." + +The Hawk shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we'll see. It might be +something altogether new. You report to the engine-room and keep on +watch there. Any sound or sign, give the general alarm." + +"Yes, sir," he said, and left. + +"He talkin' foolish, that Judd," grumbled Friday, seeing that the +search had been fruitless. "He think maybe he can bust through our +ray-web? Hmff!" + +His master said nothing. He was standing motionless in the center of +the cabin, waiting--waiting for he knew not what. + +Then it came. + +A preparatory sputter from the loudspeaker that spun Friday around. +Hawk looked up, tensed. Again sounded the hard, sneering voice of Judd +the Kite. + +"We're ready now, Carse: there was a little delay. I'll give you, say, +five seconds. Yes--one for each of the five men you did _not_ kill. +Shall I count them off? All right. You have till the fifth. + +"One." + +Friday's big eyes rolled nervously; he wiped a drop of sweat from his +brow and cursed. + +"Two." + + * * * * * + +He glanced at the Hawk, and tried himself to assume the unshakable +steely calm of the great adventurer. But his fists would clench and +unclench as he stared up at the visi-screen. No change! The brigand +was running straight ahead as ever, apparently fleeing. + +"Three." + +The negro's breath came more quickly; the tendons of his neck stood +sharply out, and his powerful arms twitched nervously. "What's he +goin' to do, suh? What's he goin' to do?" he asked hoarsely. "What's +he goin' to do?" + +"Four." + +"Change course--a-starboard!" Carse rapped. The space-stick moved a +little, all Friday dared, at their speed; the position dials swung; +the dot of a fixed star that had been visible a moment before through +the bow windows was now gone. Till the fifth, Judd had said. + +"Five!" + +The two men in the control cabin of the _Star Devil_ peered at each +other. One of them licked his lips and wiped the sweat from his brow. +But there was nothing. No sound, no change. No general alarm bell. No +offensive ray spearing across the reaches of space; no slightest +change in the brigand's course. He who had mopped the sweat away +laughed loud and long in overwhelming relief. + +"All foolishment!" he gurgled. "That Judd, he crazy. Try to scare us, +I guess--huh! Try to--" + +"_What's that?_" whispered Hawk Carse. + +A sudden faint rustle of noise, of movement, had breathed through the +ship. + +At first it was hardly discernible; but it grew. It grew with +paralyzing rapidity into a low but steady murmur, blended soon with +voices raised in quick cries. There was one piercing, ragged shriek, +and all the time an undertone of the indefinite, peculiar sound of +something rustling, creeping, growing. + + * * * * * + +Then came the harsh jangle of the general alarm bell. + +"Space-suits!" Carse snapped. The alarm was the signal to put them on; +it was a safeguard from a possible breach in the ship's walls. Against +such an emergency they had drilled often, and all over the ship the +crew would be springing rapidly into space-suits hanging ready. + +The space-stick automatically locked as Friday, eyes rolling, leaped +with his master to the nearby locker. The shriek from aft had quickly +died, the alarm bell had snapped off; but now there came a frantic +rush of feet, and a man tumbled through into the control cabin, his +face white, his eyes stark with horror, his breath coming in gasps and +the sweat of fear on his brow. + +It was Harkness. + +He slammed the door tight shut behind him and stumbled to the suit +locker; and as his fingers fumbled at his suit with the clumsiness of +panic, he stammered: + +"The cargo--the boxes of horn--it came from aft! Fungus! Planted in +the horn! It's filling the ship! Got all the others and grew--_grew_ +on them! Dead already. There--look, look!" + +Carse and Friday, grotesque giants in the bulky sheathings of stiff, +many-plied fabric, turned as one and peered through their quartzite +face shields to where the navigator's bulging eyes directed them. + +It was the door between control cabin and engine room--the door he had +just slammed shut. At first nothing was visible; then they saw the van +of the enemy that had swarmed through the ship. + +A thin line of bright yellow color had appeared along the under crack +of the door. A second later the door was rimmed on all sides with it. +It grew; reached out. Energy flowed through it: fingers of dusty +yellow pronged out from the cracks where the door fitted, hung +wavering for a moment, melted together, then slumped to the floor to +more quickly continue the advance. It increased marvelously, in minor +jerks of speed. It was delicate in texture, mold-like. The more there +became, the faster it grew: in seconds shreds of it had darted out +from the main mass and affixed themselves to the walls and ceiling of +the cabin, there to accelerate the horrible filling process. + + * * * * * + +All this happened more quickly than it can be related. Within ten +seconds most of the cabin was coated by the yellow stuff; grotesquely +formed clumps and feathers hung from the ceiling; fern-like fingers +kept spurting everywhere. Friday stepped back, before the advance, but +not the Hawk. Useless to try and evade the stuff, he knew, and he was +fairly positive that there was no immediate danger: the tough fabric +of the suits should resist it. A pseudopod-like surge flicked to his +leg; crept up; cloaked the suit in patches of yellow; thickened and +enveloped him. But it could not pierce through. + +"Cap'n Carse! Look heah!" + +He turned to the alarmed voice, brushing light, feathery particles of +yellow from his face shield, and found the bulky giant that was Friday +a few steps behind him, and pointing mutely at Harkness. + +The young officer was slumped limply down against a wall, his legs +sprawled and body twisted unnaturally. His suit was covered with the +yellow, and he had fallen, silently, while they were watching the +advance of the fungus and checking the fastenings of their suits. + +Carse reached him in three steps, stooped, brushed the fungus off the +face-shield and peered through. Friday looked over his shoulder. The +yellow enemy had laid its deadly fingers on Harkness's fine pale face. +Sprouts of yellow trailed from the nostrils; the mouth was a clump of +it; tendrils of spongy substance had climbed out the ears and were +still threading rapidly over the head, even as the Hawk and Friday +watched. + +"That's how the others died," the adventurer said slowly. "Harkness +must have carried a bit of the stuff from aft. It was on him when he +put on his suit. At least I hope so. If it can get into these +suits...." He left the thought unfinished. + +"You mean, suh," asked Friday haltingly, "you mean that maybe--maybe +it'll get in our suits too?" + +"Maybe," said Carse without emotion. + +They waited. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_The Hawk Prepares a Surprise_ + + +Hawk Carse's icy poise in times of emotional stress never failed to +amaze friends and enemies alike. Most of them swore he had no nerves, +and that in that way he was not human. This estimate, of course, is +foolish; Carse was perhaps too human, as was proved by the +all-consuming object of his life. It was rather, probably, an inward +vanity that made him stand composed as a statue while death was +gnawing near; that had, once, led him actually to file his nails when +apparently trapped and hotly besieged, with the wicked hiss of +ray-guns all around. + +And so he stood within his suit now--calm, quite collected, his face +graven, while the yellow tendrils carpeted the whole cabin, penetrated +between the twin banks of instruments on each side and clouded the bow +windows, visi-screen and positionals until the two living men aboard +that ship of death were completely shut off from outside vision. +Friday, his large white eyes never for a moment still, and waiting as +the Hawk was waiting to find whether or not their suits, too, harbored +the fungus, could quite easily have been scared into a state of panic; +but the sight of the steely figure near him eased his nerves and +brought a vague kind of reassurance. + +Minutes went by. Presently the Hawk said softly into his microphone: + +"We're safe, now, I think. You'd better go aft and see what state the +ship's in. Come right back." And as Friday left, wading through the +clinging growth, the trader went to the eye-piece of the electelscope. + +He brushed the puffy covering of yellow silt away and adjusted the +instrument's controls as best he could, centering it on where Judd's +craft had last been. Then he peered through--and saw that which made +him start. + +The _Star Devil_ was rolling round and round, like a ball! + + * * * * * + +Carse looked out on a star-studded panorama that was sweeping crazily +by. Now the cloudy globe of Iapetus, which had just before lain far +behind, came swinging into view, sliding rapidly from the bottom of +his field of view to the top, and so out of sight again, to quickly +give place to the flaming, ringed sphere of Saturn, which in turn +passed away and left the star-spangled blackness of space. Then +Iapetus once more. He snapped the electelscope off abruptly, and +turned from it to see Friday come clumping back. + +"Swept everything clean, suh," the negro reported gloomily. "That +fungus's thick; cain't even see the men's bodies, it's so deep. It's +that way, all over." + +"It's down in the gravity propulsion plates too," Carse said shortly. +"Their adjustment's been ruined by it, and we're out of control, +turning over and over. I couldn't possibly see Judd. Well, we've got +to go down to the plates and try and clean them." + +It was a weird scene that faced him in the engine room. The complex +instruments and machinery were draped with straggling ferns of yellow; +up above, a solid clump some ten feet thick hung on the platform where +the engineer usually stood--a living tomb. The usual purr of the +mechanisms was muffled and hushed. So fecund was the fungus that the +path Friday had cleared in his passage aft was already filled, and +Carse had to clear a new one. The growth was deep there, but still +deeper in the next compartment. + +It was practically a solid mass of yellow, for in it their invader had +found food. It had fed well on the lockers of supplies and devoured +all but the bones and clothing of the two men whom it had +caught--radio-operator and cook. Carse fought on through this tough, +clinging sea and came at last to the cargo hold, where, in the deck, +was the man-hole that gave passage down to the 'tween-decks +compartment where the rows of gravity propulsion plates were located. + + * * * * * + +Friday raised the cover with a wrench: then, preceded by the rays of +their hand-flashes, they climbed down and wormed forward as best they +could in their hampering suits, to the plates. They found they had +lost their customary glitter beneath powdery coatings of yellow, +sufficient to disturb their faint electric currents and +microscopically adjusted angles. On hands and knees--for the +compartment, though as wide as the ship's inner shell, was only three +feet in height--the Hawk stopped and said: + +"We might be able to get some use out of these plates if we can keep +the fungus brushed off. It's thin: let's try it." + +But the yellow growth's vitality baulked them. Sweating from their +awkward exertions inside the hot space-suits, they again and again +brushed clean the plates with pieces of waste--only to see the +feathery particles regather as quickly as they were cleared away. +There wasn't more than an inch of the fungus, but that inch stuck. +There was no removing it. + +"No use, boss," gasped the negro, pausing breathless. "Cain't do it. +Nothin' to do, I guess, but wait an' see what de Kite does. He'll sure +want this ship and the horn." + +"I know," his captain answered slowly. "He'll want this ship, for it's +the fastest in space--but I can't understand how he'll board us. I'm +going up and see what I can find out. You stay here. Try cleaning the +plates again." + +Up through the man-hole he went, and forward to the control cabin. +And, as before, the electelscope's eye-piece held a surprise for him. + +Somehow, the _Star Devil's_ speed of wild tumbling had lessened. A +moment later the reason appeared. As her bow dipped down and down, +there slid across the field of view, about a mile away, the lighted +ports of another ship; and, from this other ship's nose there winked a +spot of green, the beginning of a ray-stream which stabbed across the +gulf to impinge on the _Star Devil's_ bow. Carse could feel his craft +steady as it struck. It was a gravital ray, with strong magnetic +properties, which Judd was using to stop her turnings so he and his +men could board! + + * * * * * + +Again and again the beam flashed across the Hawk's field of view, and +he knew it was raying its mark neatly each time her bow swung abeam, +for soon she was hardly turning at all. Then Judd evidently was +satisfied. The port-lights of his ship veered aside; drew to a +position abreast of the other. The two cold gray eyes that watched saw +the outer port-lock door of the pirate open, revealing six figures, +clad in space-suits and connected by a rope, that stepped out, pushed, +and came floating towards the _Star Devil_. + +Swiftly Carse moved. For many reasons it was useless, he rapidly +decided, to try and surprise them as they boarded; there was a better +and surer way. And, as always, he attended to every little +detail--details that to others might have seemed trivial--of this +preferred way. + +With quick, strong fingers he removed the fungus-choked body of +Harkness from its space-suit, and threw the suit into a nearby locker. +From another locker he selected a loop of yellow-encrusted rope. +Holding this over one arm, he made his way back rapidly to the aft +man-hole, closed it carefully behind him and crept forward to the +anxious negro who was still futilely dusting the plates. He told what +he had seen, but nothing else. + +Friday noted the rope, and he twisted his whole body to get a sight of +Carse's gray eyes, through the face-shield. + +"What we do, then, suh?" he asked. "Try an surprise 'em?" + +"Can't do that; we'd still be helpless, without a way to remove this +fungus. They probably know how to do it, and we've got to give them a +chance." + +Puzzlement pricked the negro. "Then what you goin' to do with that +rope?" + +"You'll soon see," snapped Hawk Carse. + + * * * * * + +They waited. + +It was hot and stuffy down in the belly of the ship, and also utterly +black, for the trader had flicked off his hand-flash. Friday was +unhappily possessed of an active curiosity; he wanted terribly to go +on with his questions and ask Carse what his plan was; but he did not +dare, for he knew very well from past experience that the Hawk was +impatient of detailing his schemes in advance. So he sat in silence, +and sweated, and stared gloomily into the darkness, thinking uneasy +thoughts. + +True, he thought, Judd the Kite did not know that Carse and he were +still alive; on the contrary, he was probably convinced that they were +dead; but what good did that do? Surely it would have been better to +have surprised the brigands when boarding, but Captain Carse was +against that. And they were hopelessly outnumbered. + +Friday remembered a tale told him once by a survivor of a trading ship +Judd the Kite had destroyed. It wasn't a nice tale. The Kite, so the +report ran, was diabolically ingenious with a long peeling knife, and +could improvise with it for hours. Friday pursued the tack of thought, and +then suddenly began to sweat in earnest. He recalled--horrible!--that Judd +possessed a special dislike for colored gentlemen!... + +"Oh, Lawd!" he groaned, unconsciously--to have a cold voice ring in +his earphones. + +"Quiet!" it snapped. "They're entering." + +The negro threw a switch on his helmet so he could catch outside +noises. His body tensed. From above, unmistakably, had come the hiss +of the inner port-lock door opening. And again, moments later, the +hiss echoed. Twice! The lock could hold three men at a time. That +probably meant that all six had boarded. Friday turned in the darkness +and peered at Carse. + +The adventurer without warning flicked on his hand-flash. The beam +fell on the parallel planes of the yellow-covered gravity plates. The +negro, every nerve in him jumping from impatience and suspense, gazed +at them, and suddenly straightened. The mold-like fungus which had +prevented them from getting the ship into control was slowly melting +away. It was dwindling into fine dust! + +"Gas," came a soft whisper to him. "As I expected, Judd's cleaning it +out with some sort of gas. But the plates won't work yet--not until +they're polished bright." Unthinking, Friday raised his hand to his +helmet fastenings. "Keep your face-shield shut!" he was ordered +crisply. "The gas would be as fatal as the fungus." + + * * * * * + +Silence rested tensely over the two men, to be broken at last by the +clump of feet proceeding aft on the deck above. + +Carse switched off the light. His voice was but faintly audible. + +"Coming down to clean off the dust. He'll have a flash. Hide behind +the truss-work at your side, and when he gets here seize him by the +neck. I'll be with you right away. I want no noise." + +Friday saw a great light, and grinned in the confidence it brought +him. Of course! That explained the rope. The plan was so simple it had +escaped him. Already he felt cheerful. It was only mental worries, and +never physical hazards, that unsettled him. He angled around the +truss-work and shrank into as small a space as possible--which wasn't +very small, as he still wore his bulky, clumsy suit. + +The clump-clump of feet had died: now there came the sound of the +man-hole aft being raised. A white beam pronged down into the +darkness, felt around and flicked off. Boots clanged on the connecting +ladder; reached the bottom. The light appeared again, lower now, and +came slowly forward. Limned faintly against the reflected light was +the outline of a crouching man's body. + +He went to hands and knees and progressed carefully, his flash darting +to left and right. Suddenly, in a certain light, the two who awaited +his coming saw a swarthy, black-stubbled face in profile. He wore no +space-suit! That meant, Friday reflected, that the brigands had +cleared the ship of the gas in some way. It meant that they could get +out of their own suits. + +But they could not possibly do so at the moment. They heard the nearby +pirate's breathing, a harsh oath as he stubbed a toe. The negro +tightened his giant arms and held himself ready, his eyes steady on +the black outline which signified his quarry. Then the pirate was +close enough. + +It was over in seconds. Rounding the truss, Friday caught the man in +the armored crook of his arm. A startled croak preluded the thump of +two bodies on the hull; there was the tinkle of a falling hand-flash +and a slight squirming which was quickly stopped by a belting punch. + + * * * * * + +Then Carse was there in the darkness, looping his rope around the +pirate's arms and legs--a difficult job when wearing a bulky +space-suit in such cramped quarters. He used a bunch of waste for a +gag and then hauled the captive to a girder farther forward and bound +him sitting to it. By the time he had finished, Friday was out of his +space-suit and asking: + +"Shall I rub him out, suh? Best make sure of him." + +"Never in cold blood," said the Hawk acidly. "You should know that +well enough by now! + +"Now, there should be five left above, and I think they'll send +another down. We must get him, too. Get back where you were." + +He took off his space-suit also: then, after minutes of silence, they +heard voices upraised in argument coming from the control cabin. Once +more came the sound of feet overhead; another flash bit down through +the man-hole, and another man wriggled into the compartment. He was +obviously uneasy and suspicious. He called: + +"Jake! Hey, Jake! You there? Where the hell are you?" + +Mumbling oaths, he advanced, his light ray weaving over every inch +before him. + +"What you doing, Jake? Where are you?" + +Friday gathered his muscles, unhampered now by the restricting suit. +But light must have been reflected by the round whites of his eyes, +for the pirate suddenly stopped and called in sharp alarm: + +"What's that? What's that there? You, Jake? Hey! I'll ray you--" + +And that was all he said. Friday was too far away to reach him in +time, but the Hawk was closer; he approached behind the brigand, +crouched on silent cat's feet. Two powerful arms reached out and +tightened in a strangle hold--and two minutes later the second man was +bound and gagged. + +Carse loosened his ray-gun in its holster. + +"Now we attack," he whispered. "Four to two are fair odds, I think. +You go aft and wait by the man-hole; wait till you hear me call. Don't +be seen--wait. And when I call, come at once." + +"Yes, suh. You goin' forward 'tween the hulls?" + +A curt nod answered him. + +"Then up through that--" + +"Don't ask so many questions!" the Hawk rasped crisply. + +They separated. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_The Hawk and the Kite_ + + +In the deck of the control cabin, between a bank of instruments and +the starboard wall, was another man-hole that gave entrance from the +'tween hulls compartment to the cabin. + +Only two men besides Carse knew of its existence. The adventurer for +good reasons of his own had it built in; and so cunningly was its +cover fitted on that its outlines were not visible. + +Beneath it, now, on the three-rung ladder that led up from the lower +shell, Hawk Carse waited. + +He could hear quite clearly the angry, snarling voice of Judd the +Kite, haranguing his men. + +"Rinker, you go down and see what's wrong. Just because Jake and Sako +don't come back right away, you guys seem to think the ship's haunted! +Haunted! By Betelguese! A sweet bunch of white-livered cowards I've +got for a crew--" + +"Ah, lay off!" growled a deep, sullen voice. "I ain't scared, but this +looks fishy to me. Something's wrong down there 'tween the hulls--damn +wrong, I tell you. We only found four skeletons, an' four, ain't the +full crew for a ship like this. There oughta to be a couple more +somewhere. Carse, blast him! he's got nine lives. How do we know he +was one of the four?" + +Another spoke up, as Rinker evidently hesitated. "I say we all go down +and investigate together." + +"Stow it!" thundered Judd. "They didn't get their space-suits out, did +they? Why, they hadn't a chance to escape--none of 'em. They were +killed, every one, quick! And four's plenty to work this ship. Carse +is dead, see, dead! This was one trick he didn't know--one time he +couldn't worm out. He was clever, all right, but he couldn't quite +stack up against me. I swore I'd get him and I did. He's dead!" + +"Judd," said a low, clear voice. + + * * * * * + +The Kite whirled around. He stared. The hand-flash he was holding +dropped to the deck with a clang. His hands went limp, and his voice +was suddenly weak and dazed. + +"My God--Carse! Hawk Carse!" + +"Yes," a whisper answered. "Hawk Carse. And not dead." + +It was a scene that might have puzzled a newcomer to the frontiers of +space. Certainly there seemed to be nothing menacing about the slender +figure that stood by the now open man-hole, both arms hanging easily +at his sides; the advantage, on the contrary, appeared to be all with +the men whom he confronted. All but one was big, and each was fully +armed with a brace of ray-guns and knives. + +But, though there were four guns to one, they made no attempt to draw. +For it was the Hawk they faced, the fastest, most accurate shot in all +those millions of leagues of space, and in his two icy eyes was a +menace that filled the control cabin with fine-drawn silence. + +At last Judd the Kite opened his lips and wetted them. + +"Where did you come from?" he stammered. + +"No matter," came the answer from the thinly smiling mouth. "Friday!" + +"Yes, suh!" boomed the big black's distant voice. + +Judd's three men turned their heads and saw Carse's famous satellite +step into the control cabin, a ray-gun in each capacious hand. He was +all flashing white teeth, so wide was his grin. + +"Well, well!" he chuckled. "Ain't this the pleasure! Certainly am +pleased to meet old friends like this--yes, suh! Jus' drop in?" + +But the Kite's head had not turned; he seemed not to hear Friday's +words; his eyes were held fascinated by Carse's. The attention of +everyone came back to the two leaders. + +"Ku Sui is in back of this?" asked the Hawk. + +Judd licked his lips again. He had to spar for time: to divert for a +while the vengeance he knew possessed the other's mind, so that he +might find some chance, some loop-hole. + +"That's right," he began eagerly, "it was Ku Sui. I had to do this, +Carse: I hadn't any choice. He's got something on me: I had to go +through with it. Had to!" + + * * * * * + +The Hawk's eyes were glacial; the ghost of a smile hovered once more +around the corners of his lips. + +"Go on," he said. "What was that fungus?" + +"I don't know. Ku Sui developed it in his laboratory. He just gave me +a sealed cartridge of the spores with instructions to raid your ranch, +as you saw, and plant them in a drilled-out phanti horn. There was a +simple mechanism in the cartridge that allowed us to release the +spores by a radio wave from our ship. When I wanted them to grow I +simply--" + +"I see. A clever scheme," Carse said. "Quite up to Ku Sui's standard. +The idea of those three men running for the jungle when I came down on +Iapetus was to insure my taking the horn cargo aboard, of course. The +raid was only incidental to your scheme to get me. And Crane, the +radio operator, was dead when I received that S.O.S. It was faked, to +bring me quickly for your schedule." + +Judd stared at him. "How in hell did you know that? Damn you, Carse, +you're--" + +"Where," interrupted the adventurer coldly, "is Ku Sui?" + +The pirate's eyes shifted nervously. "I don't know," he muttered. + +"Where," came the steady question again, "is Ku Sui?" + +The other licked his lips. His fingers clenched, unclenched, gripped +tight. "I don't know!" he protested. His eyes widened as he saw the +Hawk's left hand stir slightly, and he started as he heard the +whip-like word: + +"Talk!" + +"Carse. I swear it! No one knows where he is. When he wants to see me +personally, he comes out of darkness--out of empty space. I don't know +whether it's done by invisibility or the fourth dimension, but one +moment his ship's not there; the next it is; I don't know where his +base is; and if he knew I'd told you what I have, he'd--" + +"How do you arrange your meetings, then?" + +"They're always in a different place. The next is in seven days. I +don't remember the figures: they're in the log of my ship." + +Carse nodded. "All right. I believe you. And now--there are a few +accounts to be settled." + + * * * * * + +During the few minutes the Hawk had questioned Judd, the brigand crew +in the cabin had stood silent, their breath bated, their eyes watching +fascinated. But now they started, and shifted uneasily. They suspected +what was coming. The inexorable, seemingly inhuman adventurer went on +emotionlessly: + +"Six of my men were killed on Iapetus, treacherously, without a +chance. Four more were slaughtered by the fungus. That's ten. Back up +to your men, Judd." + +Judd knew all too well what that order portended. He could not move. +His cunning eyes protruded with fear as they shifted down and riveted +on the shabby holster that hung on Carse's left side. His breath came +unevenly, in short, ragged gasps through parted lips. + +"Back, Judd!" + +The stinging, icy force of the voice jolted him back despite his will. +One short retreating step after another he took, until at length he +was standing with his three men against the side wall of the cabin, +the dividing line between it and the engine room. Friday's guns were +still covering the pirates. + +"You goin' to shoot us down in cold blood?" one of them asked +hoarsely. + +The Hawk surveyed the speaker until the man shivered. Beneath their +coldness, his gray eyes were faintly contemptuous. + +"No--I leave that for yellow-streaked hi-jacking rats such as you. I'm +going to give you a chance: more than a chance. Friday," he called. + +"Yes, suh?" + +"Do you want to come in on this?" + +Without the slightest hesitation the negro answered, grinning: + +"Yes, suh!" + +"I thought you would. Come here alongside me, then sheathe your guns." + +Friday did so. He stood in position beside his master, just in front +of the opening that led below. The four brigands were some fifteen +feet away. The two groups faced each other squarely. + +"Good," whispered Carse. + + * * * * * + +They stood there, four men to two, deadly enemies; yet not one hand +moved toward a ray-gun. Again, an outsider would have marveled why +Judd, the numbers on his side did not draw and fire; why he waited; +why his face was pale, his eyes nervous. But he knew too well what the +least sign of a draw on his part would entail; he preferred to wait, +to receive the advantage of the cold vanity in Carse which demanded, +in gun-play, that the odds of numbers be against him. Perhaps this +time that vanity would lead the Hawk a little too far. Perhaps even +yet a loop-hole for strategy might appear. + +So the Kite waited, but fear was strong within him. + +"A little earlier," the Hawk's frigid voice went on, "there was some +counting. To the number five. Remember, Judd? Well, since you managed +so poorly before, perhaps you'll count again." + +"You mean to count to five?" + +"Yes. And on the fifth count, we draw and fire." + +Judd's eyes narrowed, shifted, while thoughts clashed and meshed in +his brain. Hawk Carse smiled icily. + +"Is that clear?" he asked. + +Judd said after a while: + +"All right." + +Friday noted one of the pirates: a brawny, black-browed giant almost +as large as himself, and decided to go for him when the time came. He +whispered this to Carse; then, keeping his gaze on the man, he stood +ready. + +"Begin, I'm waiting," reminded Hawk Carse. + + * * * * * + +The Kite crouched, drew a deep breath--but before his lips could form +the first count there was a quick, sharp stir of movement from the +brigand to his right; Carse's left hand seemed to vanish; a hiss +followed, a streak of wicked blue light. Friday grunted, not yet quite +realizing what had happened; Judd, gaped at Carse's lowering weapon, +then turned his eyes to the right--and choked out an oath. + +The brawny giant by his side was standing, but his face was creased +and puzzled. One hand was at a holster; the other grasped a +gun--unfired. Accurate to an inch, between his eyebrows there had +appeared is if by magic a neatly seared, round hole. + +His knees crumpled. His gun clanged to the deck. His head bowed; he +bent; he pitched forward, sprawled face downward. Then he quivered and +lay still. A burnt odor was in the air.... + +"I'm still waiting, Judd," came an ironic whisper. + +"My God!" stammered one of the pirate chief's two remaining men. "He's +a devil. Fast as light!" + +Judd's eyes had returned to the Hawk, and they still showed some of +his reaction of surprise to what had happened, when a peculiar thing +occurred. For a split second his gaze shot past Carse, took in +something, then switched back again. And when he had done so his face +showed a faint but unmistakable feeling of relief. + +This was old stuff to the Hawk, but he could not afford to take +chances. Instantly he rapped: + +"Look behind. Friday! Quick!" + +The negro jerked his head around. He was too late. He had a glimpse of +a man standing in the man-hole behind--a glimpse of a short steel bar +that flashed to Carse's head in a vicious arc, and again to his own. +He was rocked by pain is blackness came across his vision; and +together, white man and black crumpled to the deck.... + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Back to Iapetus_ + + +An indefinite time later Carse awoke to a trip-hammer of pain thudding +through his head. He groaned a little, and tried to turn over in an +effort to ease it. He found he could not. Then his eyes opened and he +blinked up. + +He found himself lying on the deck of the control cabin, near the +after wall, and bound hand and foot with tightly strapped rope. Over +him, looking down, was Judd the Kite, hands on his hips, a gloating +smile on his coarse lips, and in his eyes a look of taunting, exultant +triumph. He drew back his foot and kicked the netted Hawk in the ribs. +The trader made no sound; his pale face did not change, except to set +a trifle more rigidly. + +"Pretty easy the way my men got you, Carse," said Judd. "Seems to me +you're just a damned fool with a big rep you don't deserve. You're +too careless. You ought to know by now not to leave bound men in reach +of high-powered cable. It cuts as good as an electric knife. Does your +head hurt where you were hit?" Deliberately, still smiling, he rapped +his foot brutally against Carse's head. + +The trader said nothing. He glanced around, to get the situation +clearly. Friday, he saw, was in the control cabin too, lying stretched +out and bound as he was, but evidently still unconscious from the +ugly, bloody welt on his head. One of Judd's men was at the ship's +space-stick, another stood by her dials, occasionally glancing back at +the prisoners and grinning; the two remaining pirates were apparently +aft. The body of the one whom Carse had killed had been removed. + +Through the port bow window, far out, he noticed a small spot, half +black and half brilliant with the reflected light of Saturn: that +would be the other space ship, the Kite's, on the same course as they. +And ahead was the large-looming sphere of Iapetus. The pirate was +returning, then, to the ranch, probably to pick up his three men, and +perhaps to leave a small crew to work it. + +"Yes. I'm afraid this is the end of the Sparrow Hawk!" Judd sneered +the name and laughed harshly. "A lot of people will be glad to hear +it. There'll be a big reward for me, too, from Ku Sui. Head still +bad?" And again he swung his leg and drove its heavy shoe into his +captive's head. + + * * * * * + +Carse's lips compressed till they were colorless. He looked steadily +at Judd's eyes and asked: + +"What are you going to do with Friday and me?" + +"Well," grinned the pirate, "I can't tell you definitely, but it's +sure to be interesting. It'd suit me best if I could teach you a few +little tricks with a peeling knife--the Venusians have some very neat +ones, you know--and then perhaps burn you full of holes. Little holes, +done with a mild needle-ray. But unfortunately I can't kill you +personally, for Ku Sui will want to do that himself. You're worth a +hell of a lot of money alive." + +"I go to Ku Sui, then?" + +"That's right. I'll hand you over when I have my rendezvous with him, +seven days from now. Clever man, Ku Sui! Half Chinese, you know. He'll +be tickled to get you alive." + +A muscle in the Hawk's cheek quivered. Then he asked: + +"And Friday?" + +Judd laughed. "Oh, I don't much care; he's not worth anything. I'll +throw him in with you for good measure, probably. How's the head?" +Once more the foot swung. + +Carse's gray eyes were as frigid as the snow caps of Mars. The left +eyelid was twitching a little; otherwise his pale face was as if +graven from stone. + +"Judd," he whispered, so softly that his voice was almost inaudible. +"I shall kill you very soon. I shall make it a point to. Very soon. +Judd...." + +The Kite stared at the pallid gray eyes. His lips parted slightly. And +then he remembered that his captive was bound, helpless. He spat. + +"Bah!" he snarled. "Just your old stuff, Carse. It's all over with you +now. You'll be screaming to me to kill you when Ku Sui begins to touch +you up!" He guffawed, again kicked the man at his feet, and turned +away. + +Hawk Carse watched him walk to the forward end of the cabin; and, +after a little while, he sighed. He could be patient. He was still +alive, and he would stay alive, he felt. A chance would come--he did +not know how or when; it perhaps would not be soon; it might not come +until he had been delivered to Ku Sui, but it would arrive. And +then.... + +Then there would be a reckoning! + +The deceptively mild gray eyes of the Hawk were veiled by their lids. + + * * * * * + +Night had settled over the ranch by the time the _Star Devil_ and +Judd's accompanying ship were in the satellite's atmosphere. It was +the rare, deep, moonless night of Iapetus, when the only light came +from the far, cold, distant stars that hung faintly twinkling in the +great void above. Occasionally, the tiny world was lit clearly at +night by the rays of Saturn, reflected from one of the eight other +satellites; and occasionally, too, there was no night, the central sun +of the solar universe sending its distance-weakened shafts of fire to +light one side of the globe while ringed Saturn gilded the other. + +But this season was the one of dark, full-bodied nights; and it was +into the hush of their blackness that the _Star Devil_ and her +attendant brigand ship glided. + +Below, on the surface of the Satellite, glowed the pin-prick of a +camp-fire. When the ships were some fifteen thousand feet up, Judd's +orders caused long light-rays to shaft out from the _Star Devil_ and +finger the ground. They rested on the ranch house and then passed on +to douse with white the figures of three men standing by the fire. +Through the electelscope the pirate chief saw them wave their arms in +greeting. + +Ten minutes later the two ships nestled down close together a hundred +yards or more from the ranch clearing, and Judd said to his mate, +standing next to him: + +"We'll have a little celebration to-night. Break out a few cases of +alkite and send three of the boys to the ranch's storeroom after meat +for the cook to barbecue." + +"What you goin' to do with them two?" the other asked. + +"Carse and the nig? Keep them here in the control cabin; I'll detail a +couple of men to guard them. I'm taking no chances: they must be in +sight every minute. Carse is too damned dangerous." He peered back at +the captives. The trader's eyes were shut; Friday still appeared +unconscious from the brutal blow on his head. "Asleep. Well, they'd +better sleep--while they have eyelid's to close!" Judd said mockingly, +and his mate laughed in appreciation of his wit. + +But neither the Hawk or Friday was asleep. Nor was the negro +unconscious. Carse had ascertained this some time before by cautious +signals. + +A little stir had come within him when he heard Judd say there would +be a celebration, for a celebration, to these men, meant a debauch and +relaxed discipline, and relaxed discipline meant--a chance. First, +however, there were the tight bonds of rope; they were expertly tied, +and strong. But the Hawk was not particularly concerned about them. + +He had dismissed them as a problem after a few minutes of +consideration, and his mind ran farther ahead, planning coldly, +mechanically, the payment of his blood debts.... + + * * * * * + +All in all, Judd was to blame for what happened that night on Iapetus. +He was an old hand and a capable one, and certainly he should have +known that extraordinary measures had to be adopted when Hawk Carse +became his prisoner. By rights, he should have killed Friday +immediately, and steered straight for his rendezvous with Ku Sui, +keeping his eye on Carse all the time. He would have had to loaf on +his way to the rendezvous, of course, for it needed but five days to +get there, and he had seven; and he would also have had to pick up his +three marooned men later. But that was what he should have done. + +Yet, when one regards the personal angles, it is necessary to divide +Judd's responsibility for succeeding events. He felt like having a +celebration, and certainly he and his men had earned one. He had +captured the man who had stood, more than anyone else, in his and in +Ku Sui's way for years; the man who had quashed any number of their +outlaw schemes, and who had given more trouble to them than all the +forces of law and order on Earth and the patrol ships in space. More, +he had captured him alive, and that meant a much fatter reward from Ku +Sui. He possessed the valuable cargo of phanti horn; he had taken a +brand new ship, alone worth millions, besides being the fastest in +space. Judd was naturally elated; he had two nights and a day to +spare; he felt expansive, and ordered a celebration. + +Such decisions--trivial when seen from the eminence of a hundred +years--have directed the tide of history more than once. + +There were thirteen men left of Judd's crew, including the three +posted on Iapetus; these three and the six who manned the pirate's own +craft came running to the _Star Devil_ and piled into her open +port-lock. They milled around in the control cabin, shouting in high +spirits, swearing, throwing clumsy jests at the two silent figures on +the deck; and Judd joined with them. There was much loot to be split, +and the Hawk was snared at last! Their chief stilled them for a moment +and said: + +"Well, I guess we deserve a little jamboree. I'm breaking out some +alkite and meat; make a big fire outside and dig some barbecue pits. +Go ahead--out of here! But wait: you, Sharkey, and you, Keyger." + +These last two men, more husky and alert than most of their fellows, +he detailed for guard duty ever Carse and Friday. They were much cast +down at the job, but he premised them a larger slice of the loot for +recompense, and then stalked out after the other men. + +The two guards stuck a brace of ray-guns in their belts and looked +over the captives. Angry at missing the carousal, the man called +Keyger kicked Friday, whose eyelids did not budge and whose body did +not quiver, and then, more gingerly, kicked Carse and swore at +him--but he turned somewhat hastily when the mild gray eyes slowly +opened and stared up into his. + +Then the two guards pulled out chairs and placed them by the open +port-lock, where they could command a view of the celebration. They +drew one ray-gun each, laid them ready, close by, and sat down. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_Jamboree_ + + +Two hours later their eyes were taking in a fantastic, mad scene, one +that in some ways might have occurred in the days when buccaneers +roamed the Spanish Main of Earth. + +A little over a hundred yards away, straight before them, was the +corral of the phantis: far behind it encroached the shadowy fringe of +the jungle: to their right, closer to the corral than to the space +ships, was the ranch house, lonely now and silent. But these objects +were only the background for what had grown in front of the corral +wire. + +It was the roaring mass of the monster fire that had been lit, a +splash of fierce, leaping flames in the velvety cool of the night. +Black shapes were clustered around it; bottles were raised and +drained; and a frieze of shadows, staggered and jumped and danced +around the ruddy pile of fire. The carousal was in full swing; a +chorus of wild song rose noisily into the night; more cases were +smashed open and more alkite drawn out. The carcases of three animals +taken from the ranch's storehouse sizzled on the barbecue pits, to be +ripped apart and the rich, dripping meat torn at, tooth and claw. Ever +higher pierced the shrieks and oaths, till the calm night was +distorted and crazy. + +Other heavier sounds accompanied the bedlam of human noise: deep +snortings and roarings and the scraping of scores of horn-shod feet. +Behind their wired electric fence was clustered the herd of phantis, +staring with their evil, red-shot little eyes at the flames and the +shapes of the hated men. The big bulls were bellowing, bucking their +heads angrily, churning up the soft soil with their strong, +dagger-spurred feet: the welter of noise and the sight of so many men +had wrought them up into a vicious and dangerous state. + +Judd the Kite, a bottle in one hand and in the other a huge joint of +meat which he was tearing at with his teeth, suddenly paused with +mouth crammed full and stared over through the flickering light at the +phanti corral. A cruel light gleamed in his eyes: he gulped down the +meat and then turned to the shapes staggering around him. He yelled: + +"Hey, there--let's get out the nigger! A little entertainment, +fellows! Bring him out; but don't touch Carse: he's Ku Sui's. Douse +him with water if he's unconscious." + + * * * * * + +They yelled in drunken delight at his words, and half of them reeled +off towards the _Star Devil_. Judd, lips up-curved in a smile, drew +his ray-gun and set the lever over for the low-power, continuous +ray-stream. These guns, unlike our present weapons, could shoot in two +ways: they could spit about twenty high-power discharges, a fraction +of a second each in duration and easily sufficient to burn a man's +head through; or they could deliver a long-lasting low-power stream, +just strong enough to sear and crisp a human skin. For the +entertainment Judd had in mind he needed low power. + +The men sent to the _Star Devil_ shoved past the guards on watch near +the port-lock and over to the prisoners. They found them lying, very +close together near the after wall. + +"Gonna have some fun with the black, Judd's orders," they explained to +the guards. "Still unconscious?" + +Certainly Friday looked unconscious, his eyes closed, his full lips +slightly parted, showing the powerful white teeth. + +"I'll give him a shot of the ray," another brigand cut in. "That'll +bring him to. Be ready to grab him." + +They got an unpleasant shock when the low-power stream flicked the +negro's leg. With a gigantic bellow that rang throughout the ship, +Friday resisted. + +It was like seeing a dead man come to life, and it startled them. +Bound as he was, Friday made things unhealthy for his would-be +captors; he shunted his legs up and down and squirmed mightily, and +once his gleaming teeth snapped into an arm, bringing a howl of pain +and several minutes of cursing. The unexpected resistance, once the +surprise was over, infuriated the rum-sodden men. One of them yelled: +"Sock him; Shorty!" A ray-gun's butt was slapped down on Friday's +head; the negro rolled over, stunned. Then he was picked up without +resistance and borne out into the night, where fantastic figures +cavorted around the towering fire. + +"The black devil was faking all the time!" one of the guards said +amazedly. "He wasn't unconscious. What in hell did he do that for?" + +"Dunno," snarled the other, rubbing a bruised leg. "Must have +suspected what he's gonna get. Wish we was over there." + +"Well, we can watch from here," grumbled his companion, and returned +to the seats by the port-lock. + +They both sat down, their backs half turned to the figure still lying +on the deck. + + * * * * * + +Carse had said nothing, made no protest, had not even moved when +Friday struggled in fierce resistance. He could have done much more, +but it would have been useless. Long before, he had seen the negro's +opening eyes and signaled him to feign unconsciousness thus deflecting +attention and making him appear harmless. He had also broached his +plan for escape to Friday. He had not, however, reckoned on Judd's +desire to torture: he would, he now saw, have to act with his greatest +speed to save his mate from as much pain as possible. + +And he began to act. + +The control cabin was streaked with patches of shadow and light, made +vague by pools of darkness thrown by the banks of instruments. Only +one lighting tube was dimly burning. In this indefinite half-light the +Hawk set about stalking his prey. + +With eyes narrowed and steady on the two guards who were completely +absorbed in the happenings outside, he drew his hands from beneath +him. They were no longer bound. The rope knotted around them had been +gnawed through strand by strand--sliced by the strong white teeth of a +negro.... + +Cautiously, without a whisper of sound, Carse reached towards the +bonds on his legs. The lean fingers worked rapidly. Quickly the knots, +yielded and the rope was unwound. The legs were free. For a moment +Hawk Carse, ever with careful calculation of time, stretched his +cramped muscles, limbering them for action. + +A mutter came from the port-lock. He froze. But it was only: + +"Look at 'im! This is goin' to be good! Judd gets some damn clever +ideas!" + +They were utterly wrapped up in the scene outside, and unconscious of +the low blot that moved with steely purpose behind them. + + * * * * * + +The Hawk got to hands and knees; moved forward, the ghost of a shadow. +The two men who were his quarry were sitting close together, hunched a +little forward in their eagerness not to miss a single detail. Their +heads were not a foot apart. Each wore a ray-gun and had another lying +on the deck at his side. + +Carse came near to their backs. He paused, imperceptibly tensed, +judged the distance carefully. Then in a sudden, snake-like movement, +he sprang. + +A forearm of steel clamped around the back of each guard's head and +jerked it sharply into the other's. There was a quick crack; then, +dazed, only half-conscious, the two men toppled off their seats and +fell to the deck. + +"Quiet!" warned an icy whisper. They stared, gaping, then staggered up +to their feet. + +A ray-gun that just before had been lying on the deck was leveled +steadily at them, held in the hand of a gray-eyed man whose fine +features were as if graven from stone and on whose wrists were deep +blue lines that showed where ropes had pressed. The guards' faces +whitened as realization came. One of them choked: + +"It's him!" + +"Yes," whispered the Hawk dryly. He took a few steps backward, eyes +not moving. "Go to that locker," he said to the shorter of the men, +indicating with a curt nod the place where space suits were stowed. +"First draw your gun and lay it on that table. Hurry!" + +The man hastily complied. Anything else was unthinkable; meant quick +and lonely and useless death. Shouts and laughter and drunken shrieks +were echoing from outside. No one would have ears for him. + +When he had stepped into the locker, Carse closed and sealed the door. + +"What you goin' to do with me?" croaked the remaining guard. He was +big and burly and he towered inches over the figure facing him, but +his lips were trembling and his eyes wild with fear. + +"You," whispered the Hawk frigidly, "kicked me when I was bound." He +sheathed his ray-gun in his holster, then spoke again. "Go for your +gun." + +The pirate trembled all over. His mouth fell open, and his eyes stuck +on Carse's shabby holster. He seemed half hypnotized. + +"Draw." + +The other's swarthy brow beaded with sudden-starting sweat. His hands +hung limp, twitching at the finger-tips. He watched death stare him in +the face. + +"Damn you, Carse!" he burst out and suddenly went for his ray. + + * * * * * + +Carse deliberately let him get the gun out. Not until then did his +left hand move. But even with such a head-start, so bewildering was +the adventurer's speed that only one streak of orange light made a +flash in the cabin, and that streak was the Hawk's. The brigand +quivered, his face still contorted with his last desperate emotion; +then he fell slowly forward and thudded into the deck. His body +twitched a little, and in a spasm rolled over. Square between the eyes +was a crisp, smooth-burned hole. + +Hawk Carse gave the body not a glance, but sheathed his ray-gun, +picked up the three others, stuck them in his belt, and glided to the +port-lock. There, he peered outside. + +His face hardened. + +Blobs of flame that flared from wood torches were clustered about the +nearest side of the phanti corral. A dark blur of figures were ringed +in a half-circle, and from it came yells of delight and almost +hysterical laughter. The Hawk's eyes were chilling to look at when he +saw, through gaps in the circle of black shapes, the figure of a huge +negro, standing with his back almost touching the wire fence of the +corral. The actions of Friday gave the clue to what was happening. + +He was caught in a broad ray of orange light, and in it he shuddered +and hopped grotesquely from one leg to the other in an agony of pain, +his lips drawn back taut over the gleaming teeth, his face flexed and +the whites of his eyes showing as the eyeballs rolled. The glow that +in part hung around him streamed from a ray-gun that was held in the +right hand of Judd the Kite. Heat! Friday was being slowly crisped +alive; seared on his feet in a furnace of heat: and the men who ringed +him were yelling advice at him between their laughter. Carse strained +his ears. In a jumble, he caught: + +"Jump over"--"Nah, he'd have to climb"--"Climb! The juice's +cut!"--"Into the corral!"--"Climb over, you black buzzard"--"Hoowee!" + + * * * * * + +About a foot behind Friday was the wire fence, behind which the +phantis, their snouts converged towards the pirates, their red-shot +eyes glaring, their powerful hind feet clawing at the ground, were +bellowing in wild and ferocious excitement. Sudden, awful death waited +on the other side of the fence; slow death by burning on this side. +Yet Friday still hoped, still had faith in his master, for he did not +put a quick end to his living death by rushing the devilish circle or +clambering over into the thick of the sharp stabbing spurs. + +Carse's brain moved with the swiftness of light. He could not rush the +group: the odds were too great, and besides, Judd's gun was already +out. Nor could he dive at them with the _Star Devil_ itself, or ray +them from above: that would mean Friday's death too. It would have to +be something else--and in a moment he had it. Carefully he examined +all variations and checked the scheme back: it promised to be the +final move, engendering the final meeting, and there must be no slip. + +First, the Hawk slipped shadow-like to the entrance port of the other +space ship, lying a few hundred feet away, shrouded in darkness. He +had to know if anyone were aboard. + +Gruffly he called inside: + +"Judd! Hey, Judd! You there?" + +There was no answer. Again he called, but the gloomy interior's +silence was not broken. Satisfied that it was empty, he doubled back +with noiseless speed, skirted round the _Star Devil_ and arrived like +a wind-carried wraith at the rear wall of the ranch house. + +A short leap and his hands closed on the copper drain. The muscles of +his wiry arms flexed, and the lean figure raised himself foot by foot +to the eaves, where a pull and press up brought him over the edge. +Stooping, he padded to the side which faced on the clearing and the +corral. + +And then the ray-gun was drawn from its holster. + +For seconds the cold gray eyes reckoned the shooting distance and the +angle. The weapon came up and rested at arm's length. The first finger +of the deadly left hand began to squeeze back. + +A pencil-thin streak of orange light speared the air! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_Stampede_ + + +Judd the Kite was enjoying himself hugely. His bestial sense of humor +was tickled. It was very funny, the contortions of the negro in the +orange ray-stream! + +"Climb over!" he suggested, amid roars of laughter from the circle of +men. "Climb over, why don't you? I've turned off the current. There's +no electricity in the fence. You won't be hurt. Why don't you climb +over?" + +Friday did not, could not answer. His lips were sucked tight together +now in wordless agony; the cheek muscles, strained taut, stood out +like welts of flesh; the huge body, bathed always in that steady glow +of orange, was slightly livid in patches. He hopped mechanically, +changing from one aching leg to the other; his eyes were closed half +the time, his whole being one dumb agony. He did not know when it +would end, but he still had faith. + +Overhead, the flames of four tarred wood torches bobbed and reeled as +the men who held them reeled; seemed to shake in the gusts of laughter +and yells and oaths that came ceaselessly from the onlookers. And in +this distorted light the half-shadowed snouts and bodies of the +phantis, clustered behind their nine-foot-high fence, looked indeed +diabolical. The fence was high, for the creatures possessed surprising +jumping powers; it was composed of eight strands of wire, running +parallel a foot apart from each other, with inter-crossing supports. +The electric current, now turned off, always kept the phantis from +crashing through. + +Judd smiled more widely. "I guess I'll increase the power," his coarse +lips pronounced. "We'll see how you can duck a strong thin beam. I'll +give you about five minutes to climb over. After that you'll be burned +down slowly to a cinder. Now--will you climb? See--I'm moving the +lever over. Watch, now, and feel--" + + * * * * * + +Suddenly his voice broke off short. There had been a hiss--a +_spang_--a slight whip of sound. He glanced around swiftly. No, his +men had not noticed it. They were still laughing, roaring, swaying in +drunken merriment. The Kite's lips curved upward again. He continued: + +"Feel the heat increase. It's stronger, now, and--" + +Again the _spang_, the whip, the streak of something swift. The men +noticed his expression and quieted somewhat. Judd was looking around +him, and even as he saw what it was there came a cry from a pirate +nearby. + +"Look! The fence!" + +Judd's eyes widened; his lips slackened and lost their smile. The +noise, the laughs, the shouts, screams and oaths died into the night; +frightened silence fell over the group, and all that was left were the +concerted bellowings and snortings from the enraged herd of beasts +just beyond. + +All--except for another _spang_ that sounded as a streak of orange +light arrowed from somewhere through the flickering torchlight. And +with its coming the third parallel strand of the corral-fence whipped +apart with a little singing swish, shot neatly through, as were the +two below it. Ten feet of fence on each side slumped visibly. + +"Someone's shooting it through!" came a scared whisper. Yet still the +brigands, held fascinated by fear and puzzlement, stared at the fence +and at the surging crowd of stampede-crazy animals beyond. + +Another _spang_, another streak of light! With deadly accuracy the +shot clove the fourth strand. The lower half of a whole section of +fence was gone. Behind it the bucking, red-eyed phantis inched +forward, still afraid of the electric shock they thought was somewhere +there, but drawn to the opening by their hatred of the two-legged +creatures so near. Closer, closer! Then the befuddled pirates found +their senses. Even as the fifth arrow of light came from the invisible +marksman and snapped the fifth strand, a concerted cry of fear of the +advancing beasts went up from the crowd of men. + +"Run! Run! They're coming! They're coming out!" + +They turned, panic-stricken; the torches fell flaring to the ground, +to lie there in pools of flame; the brigands ran for the nearest +shelter, the dark bulk of the ranch house close by. They ran, fear +tingling their spines, in their ears the sound of the maddened +phantis. + + * * * * * + +From his vantage point on the roof of the ranch house, the Hawk +confirmed his quick decision that this was the only way. + +Rapidly, as was his custom, he had reckoned the problem out minutely +and carefully; had considered and checked every possibility. He had +to shoot the fence, not the brigands. For he couldn't hope to get more +than a couple of them: a pirate toppling over dead would jar the +others into instant action; they would scatter in the darkness, +leaving the odds too great. And leaving, besides, small chance of +wiping out every one of the pirates. + +As for Friday, he had to take his chance. There was, this way, a good +chance, if he used his brain. For, to the left, as close as the ranch +house to the corral, were the grave-pits he himself had dug some hours +before, and one was still empty, waiting to be filled. It offered +shelter, a good chance--if he used his brain. He, Carse, would do all +he could to protect him from the stampeding beasts while he ran. + +Some of the pirates would be snared by the rush of phantis. Four or +five would probably reach the ranch house. That was what he wanted. + +And that was what he got. His fifth shot fired, straight and true from +the ray-gun of the most accurate marksman of space, the Hawk lowered +the weapon and gazed at the scene resulting, a ghost of a smile on his +lips. + +He saw the mob of creatures, in a bedlam of noise, sweep under the +fence that had for so long kept them back. Bellowing their hatred, +their cruel spurs eager for blood, they charged. Before them fled the +thin fringe of men, Friday on one flank. A man went down with a +scream; a half-grown horn knifed into him; he was trampled, gored, +spurred, and left a bloody welter of death in seconds. Another, +hearing the loud thud of feet just behind, turned with desperate eyes, +dodged, tripped, shrieked and was caught and ripped. Another and +another. In the dancing, flickering half-light of the flames of fire +and torches, a hellish scene of devastation and death spun out. + + * * * * * + +Carse was shooting again, with the cold mechanical precision of a +machine. There was Friday to be guarded. He was now separated from the +other men--cut off and edging to one side--to the side where was the +grave-pit! Dodging, wildly twisting and turning, he several times +barely escaped three or four phantis that thundered after him. The +leader took perhaps ten steps: then its body quivered and it tumbled +over and flopped on the ground, a little wisp of smoke curling from +its body. The other two went down in swift succession. But there were +many, and even as Friday melted into the shadows, a group of several +beasts detached themselves and roared after him. The deadly ray-gun on +the roof wrought swift slaughter amongst them, but some got into the +darkness beyond vision of the icy gray eyes. + +Carse lowered his weapon. His face was very hard and very set. Would +they catch the negro? Tumble down on him if he made the pit? Well, +there was no helping it.... + +But the reckoning would soon be finished; the time was at hand. Cold +as the deeps of space despite the awful havoc he had just created, +totally without visible emotion, he drew the last unused ray-gun from +his belt and put it in the shabby holster. One would be enough. + +Shadow-like, noiseless and swift, he moved towards the far end of the +roof. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_The Hawk Strikes_ + + +His face red, his breath coming in hoarse gasps, Judd the Kite +stumbled through the house's door on the heels of four of his men. He +swung rapidly and flung his weight against the door: locked and +double-locked it. A second later fists pounded on the outer panel, and +a voice, racked with fear and terror, screamed: + +"Let me in! Let me in! Oh, God, let me in! Judd!" + +Then there was the thud of drumming feet, and one awful shriek from +the man who had found the door locked against him. + +But the Kite was not listening. A measure of courage returning to him +with the building's protection, he snapped: + +"Get those other doors locked quick! And lights. Then search the +house." + +The lighting tubes glowed, filling the room with soft radiance. Judd +survey his position. + +He saw that it could have been far worse. But his men needed courage. + +The rapid change from orgy to deadly peril had sobered them +completely. And they were frightened; nor was it fear of the beasts. +They came treading silently back from their inspection of the house, +reporting it empty; but their eyes kept shifting, their ray-guns ready +in hand. Each one knew, deep within him, who had fired the shots that +collapsed the fence. They had taken two captives; Friday had been +under their eyes; there was only one other, and he was--the Hawk. + +Hawk Carse! The four men were nervous. More than a few lonely spots in +the countless leagues of space had seen his vengeance: and they--they +had killed his guards and his overseer, his radio-man, and, with the +fungus, his ship's crew; they had tortured Friday. They were now marks +for the fatal left hand: fugitives from gray, icy eyes. The Hawk was +loose! + + * * * * * + +Judd saw the fear gnawing at their vitals. He felt it too. But there +seemed no immediate danger, so, with a ray-gun in each hand, he +summoned a blustering courage and said to the others, harshly: + +"Yes, it was that damned Carse! He must have got loose in some way. +But pull yourselves together: we're safe here. He's somewhere +outside." + +He reasoned it out for them. + +"He couldn't have done that shooting from the _Star Devil_; it's too +far away. And he's not in it now or he'd be using it to try and find +that black of his--if the black's still alive. No, he's not in the +ship, and he's not in this house. He's somewhere outside, and he can't +reach us here while the phantis have the place surrounded. We can +shoot them down from the attic, and they'll soon beat it for the +jungle. When that happens we'll rush to the ships, and before Carse +knows what it's all about we'll be up and away and he'll be marooned. +Then we'll get him later." + +His words brought a return of confidence. It was true, the others +thought: the Hawk could not reach them as long as the phantis were +around the house; and when they were driven away, the ships were near +at hand and empty. All they had to do was get to the ships before +Carse. The adventurer certainly was not then in one of the craft, or +he would be wasting no time hunting for Friday--and raying their +stronghold. No doubt he was up a tree somewhere; perhaps gored and +dead. + +One of the men snickered, and Judd smiled at the sound. Their +confidence in him was encouraging. + +"Get to the windows of the attic," he ordered. "Some of those crazy +brutes are horning at the house. We've got to shoot them and get out +of here, quick!" + + * * * * * + +There were two rooms in the attic; the large one, used as a storeroom +for staple foods, had five windows, long, sloping affairs, three in +front and one in each side wall. The second room was small and at the +rear, and was used to store tools and spare technical apparatus. It +had one little window, set high up, and connected with the larger room +by a door set in the middle of the partition. + +Judd placed one of his pirates at each of the windows of the large +room, taking himself the center one. + +Around the house milled dozens of animal bodies, snorting, bellowing +and roaring, their little red eyes flashing, claws tearing the soil in +futile rage at the men they knew to be safely within. A babel of +brutish sounds rose from them. Two of the bulls fell foul of each +other and fought in fury, to suddenly turn and hurl their weight +against a ground floor door, quivering it. But their rashness was +answered by a streak of light from an attic window, and as one toppled +back, its body burnt through, the sights of the destroying ray-gun +were already on its fellow. + +The huge fire the brigands had laid was dying, and night was seeping +ever thickening darkness over the scene. Glinting very slightly in the +starlight were the black shapes of the two silent space ships. + +Then Judd the Kite, as he aimed and shot and aimed and shot again, was +suddenly struck by a disturbing idea. From where had Carse fired at +the corral fence? What was the logical vantage point for him? + +A shiver trembled down his spine. He saw suddenly with terrible +clearness where that vantage point was--and it had not been searched. +The roof! + +He turned swiftly, his lips opening to give orders. + +And there, standing on the threshold of the door to the smaller +adjoining room, stood the figure of a man whose eyes were cold with +the absolute cold of space, and whose left hand held a steady-leveled +ray-gun that pointed as straight as his eyes at Judd! + +"Hawk--Carse!" + +"Judd," said the quiet, icy voice. + + * * * * * + +The Kite went white as a sheet. His men turned slowly as one. One of +them gasped at what he saw; another cursed; the other two simply +stared with fear-flooded eyes; only one thing flamed in every +mind--the never-failing vengeance of the Hawk. + +"Carse!" repeated Judd stupidly. "You--again!" + +"Yes," whispered the trader. "And for the last time. We settle now. +There are a few debts--a few lives--a few blows and kicks--and a +matter of some torture to be paid for. The accounts must be squared, +Judd." + +And slowly he raised his right hand to the queer bangs of flaxen hair +which hung down over his forehead. He stroked them gently. Judd's +eyes, dry, hot, held fascinated on the hand. He shuddered. + +"It's not pleasant," came the whisper, "to always have to wear my hair +like this. That's another debt--the largest of all--I have to settle. +_Sheathe your guns!_" + +The voice cracked like a whip. They obeyed without sound, though they +read death in the frigid gray eyes. As their guns went into holsters, +Carse's followed suit; he stood then with both hands hanging at his +sides. And he said, in the whisper that carried more weight to them +than the trumpets of a host: + +"Once before we were interrupted. This time we won't be. This time we +will see certainly for whom the number five brings death. Count, +Judd." + +With a jerk, the Kite regained some control over himself. The odds +were five to one. Five guns to one gun. Carse was a great shot, but +such odds were surely too great. Perhaps--perhaps there might be a +chance. He said in a strained voice to his men: + +"Shoot when I reach five." + +Then he swallowed and counted: + +"One." + +Aside from the tiny flickering of the left eyelid, the Hawk was +graven, motionless, apparently without feeling. Judd, he knew, was +just fairly fast; as for the others-- + +"Two." + +--they were unknown quantities, except for one, the man called Jake. +He had the reputation of possessing a lightning draw; his eyes were +narrowed, his hands steady, and the body crouched, a sure sign of-- + +"Three." + +--a gunman who knew his business, who was fast. His hip holsters were +not really worn on the hips, but in front, very close together; that +meant-- + +"Four." + +--that he would probably draw both guns. So Judd must wait; the other +three, being unknowns, disposed of in the order in which they were +standing; but Jake must be-- + +"Five!" + +--first! + + * * * * * + +One second there was nothing; the next, wicked pencils of orange light +were snaking across the attic! And then two guns clanged on the floor, +unfired, and the man called Jake staggered forward, crumpled and fell, +a puzzled look on his face and accurately between his eyes a little +round neat hole that had come as if by magic. Two others, similarly +stricken, toppled down, their fingers still tensed on ray-gun +triggers; the fourth pirate, his heart drilled, went back from the +force of it and crashed into the wall, slithering down slowly into a +limp heap. But Judd the Kite was still on his feet. + +His lips were twisted in a snarl; his hands seemed locked. His eyes +met the two cold gray ones across the room--and then his coarse face +contorted, and he croaked: + +"Damn you, Carse! Damn you--" + +His body spun around and flattened out on the floor with arms and legs +flung wide. A tiny black hole was visible through his shirt. He had +been last, and the Hawk had struck him less accurately than his +fellows. + +The trader was unwounded. He stood there for several minutes, +surveying what lay before him. He looked at each body in turn, and his +eyes were calm and clear and mild, his face devoid of expression. +Silence hung over the attic, for the bellowings and snortings of the +beasts outside had died into faint murmurings as they straggled off +for their jungle home. The single living man of the six who had lived +and breathed there minutes before holstered his still warm ray-gun; +and then the sound of a step on the stairs leading from the rooms +below made him look up. + +A man stood in the doorway of the attic. + + * * * * * + +He was big and brawny; but, though his arms and bare torso were +streaked with blood, and his trousers torn into shreds, and his legs +crisscrossed with cuts, there was broad grin on his face--a grin that +widened as his rolling white eyes took in what lay on the attic floor. + +Neither said anything for a moment. Then the Hawk smiled, and there +was all friendliness and affection in his face. + +"You made the pit, Eclipse?" he asked, softly. + +Friday nodded, and chuckled. "Yes, suh! But only just. If Ah'd bin a +leap an' a skip slower Ah'd bin a _tee-total_ eclipse!" + +Dancing lights of laughter came to the Hawk's eyes. + +"Still feeling chipper," he said, "--in spite of your burns. Well, +good for you. But I guess you've had enough of Ku Sui for a little +while!" + +The negro grunted indignantly. "You surely don't imply Ah'm _sca'ed_ +of that yellow Chink? Hell, no! Why--" + +Carse chuckled and cut him off. + +"I see. Well, then, drag these carrion out to your pit. And then--" + +There was something in the air, something big. Friday listened +eagerly. "Yes, suh?" he reminded his master after a pause. + +"Judd," said Hawk Carse softly, "was to have had a rendezvous with Dr. +Ku Sui in seven days. The place of the rendezvous is entered in the +log of his ship. I've got the last of Judd's crew a captive on the +_Star Devil_...." + +The adventurer paused a moment in thought, and when he resumed his +words came clipped and decisive. + +"I myself am going to keep that rendezvous with Ku Sui. I want to see +him very badly." + +Friday looked at the man's gray eyes, his icy graven face, the bangs +of flaxen hair which obscured his forehead. He understood. + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawk Carse, by Anthony Gilmore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30307 *** diff --git a/30307-h/30307-h.htm b/30307-h/30307-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07f1689 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/30307-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2567 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hawk Carse, by Anthony Gilmore + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; background-color: #FFFFFF; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + + +.tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.sidenote { + width: 30%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; font-size:smaller;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-right: 0.25em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + + +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30307 ***</div> + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<p class="center">This etext was produced from Astounding Stories November 1931. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. </p></div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="360" height="528" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="600" height="365" alt="The Hawk stood there, both arms hanging easily at his +sides." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Hawk stood there, both arms hanging easily at his +sides.</span> +</div> +<p> </p> +<h1>Hawk Carse</h1> + +<h4><i>A Complete Novelette</i></h4> +<p> </p> +<h2>By Anthony Gilmore</h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h2><i>The Swoop of the Hawk</i></h2> + +<div class="sidenote"><p>One of the spectacular exploits of Hawk Carse, greatest of +space adventurers.</p></div> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>awk Carse came to the frontiers of space when Saturn was the frontier +planet, which was years before the swift Patrol ships brought Earth's +law and order to those vast regions. A casual glance at his slender +figure made it seem impossible that he was to rise to be the greatest +adventurer in space, that his name was to carry such deadly +connotation in later years. But on closer inspection, a number of +little things became evident: the steadiness of his light gray eyes; +the marvelously strong-fingered hands; the wiry build of his +splendidly proportioned body. Summing these things up and adding the +brilliant resourcefulness of the man, the complete ignorance of fear, +one could perhaps understand why even his blood enemy, the impassive +Ku Sui, a man otherwise devoid of every human trait, could not face +Carse unmoved in his moments of cold fury.</p> + +<p>His name, we know, enters most histories of the period 2117-2148 A. +D., for he has at last been recognized as the one who probably did +most—unofficially, and not with the authority of the Earth +Government—to shape the raw frontiers of space, to push them outward +and to lay the foundations of the present tremendous commerce between +Earth, Vulcan, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. But, little +of his fascinating character may be gleaned from the dry words of +history; and it is Hawk Carse the adventurer, he of the spitting +ray-gun and the phenomenal draw, of the reckless space ship +maneuverings, of the queer bangs of flaxen hair that from a certain +year hid his forehead, of the score of blood feuds and the one great +feud that jarred nations in its final terrible settling—it is with +that man we are concerned here.</p> + +<p>A number of his exploits never recorded are still among the favorite +yarns spun by lonely outlanders in the scattered trading posts of the +planets, and among them is that of his final encounter with Judd the +Kite. It shows typically the cold deadliness, the prompt repaying of a +blood debt, the nerveless daring that were the outstanding qualities +of this almost legendary figure.</p> + +<p>It began one crisp, early morning on Iapetus, and it ended on Iapetus, +with the streaks of ray-guns searing the air; and it explains why +there are two square mounds of soil on Iapetus, eighth satellite of +Saturn.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse pioneered Iapetus and considered its product his by right of +prior exploration. One or two men had landed there before he came to +the frontiers of space and reported the satellite habitable, possessed +of gravital force only slightly under Earth's, despite its +twelve-hundred-mile diameter, and of an atmosphere merely a trifle +rarer; but they had gone no further. They had noticed the forms of +certain strange animals flitting through the satellite's jungles, but +had not investigated. It was Carse who captured one of the creatures +and saw the commercial possibilities of the pointed seven-inch horn +that grew on its head, and who named it phanti, after the now extinct +Venusian bird-mammal.</p> + +<p>There were great herds of them, and they constituted Iapetus' highest +form of life. The space trader cut off a few of their opalescent and +green-veined horns and sent them as samples to Earth; and, upon their +being valued highly, he two months later established his ranch on +Iapetus, and thus laid the foundation for the grim business that men +sometimes call the Exploit of the Hawk and the Kite.</p> + +<p>No doubt Carse expected trouble over the ranch. To protect the +valuable twice-yearly harvest of horn from Ku Sui's several bands of +pirates, and other semi-piratical traders who roamed space, he built a +formidable ranch-house with generators for powerful offensive rays and +a strong defensive ray-web, and manned it with six competent men. +Moreover, he came personally twice a year to transport the cargo of +horn, and let it be known throughout the frontiers that the sign of +the Hawk was on that portion of Iapetus, and that all who trespassed +would have to answer to him. This should have been, ordinarily, +enough. But there was always the sinister, brilliant Dr. Ku Sui, +plotting against him and his belongings, and reckless others to whom +the ranch might look like easy pickings. From these Carse had long +anticipated a raid on Iapetus.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>nd now he was worried. Clad as usual in a faded blue tunic, open at +the neck, soft blue trousers and old-fashioned rubber soled shoes, he +showed it by pulling occasionally at the bangs of flaxen hair that had +been trained to hang down his forehead to the thick, straw-colored +eyebrows. In his new cruiser, the <i>Star Devil</i>, he was within an +hour's time of Iapetus, which lay before the bow observation ports of +the control cabin like a giant buff-tinted orange, dark-splotched by +seas and jungles, on the third of his semi-annual voyages for the +harvest of horn. Away to the left, scintillating and flaming in the +blackness of space, whirled Saturn, his rings clear-cut and brilliant, +his hard light filling the control cabin. Carse was staring unseeingly +at the magnificent spectacle when the giant negro standing nearby at +the space-stick rumbled:</p> + +<p>"Well, suh, Ah cain't think they's anything wrong—no, suh. They's +nobody'd <i>dare</i> touch that ranch! No, suh—not Hawk Carse's ranch."</p> + +<p>This was "Friday," the herculean black Earthling whom Carse had +rescued years before from one of the Venusian slave-ships, and now a +member of that strange trio of totally dissimilar comrades, the third +of whom was Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow, now absent and at work in +his secret laboratory. Friday thought the Hawk just about the greatest +man in the Solar System, and many times already had he given proof of +his devotion.</p> + +<p>Carse looked full at him. "You're a good mechanic, Eclipse," he said, +"but in some ways very innocent. Crane hasn't replied to us for +seventy minutes. He knows we're coming and he should be on duty. That +cargo's valuable, and it's all ready and packed."</p> + +<p>"Hmff," Friday grunted. "But who you think'd dare try an' swipe it +when we're so close? One o' Ku Sui's gang, maybe?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. I haven't heard anything of Ku Sui for some time, and he's +never more dangerous than when he keeps silent," said the Hawk +thoughtfully. "But Crane might be sick. Or his radio might have broken +down temporarily. Still—"</p> + +<p>It was then that the third man in the cabin, Harkness, the navigator, +straightened abruptly and put a sharp end to the trader's last word by +calling out:</p> + +<p>"Radio, sir!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p> red dot of light was winking on a switchboard. Friday watched the +Hawk move in his quick, effortless way to it and pull a lever down, +all in the same motion, and then the negro's neck muscles corded as he +listened to the sounds that came, choking and barely intelligible, +from a loudspeaker:</p> + +<p>"Carse—Hawk Carse—Crane speaking from the ranch. We're +besieged—pirate ship—outnumbered—can't hold out much longer. We got +most of the cargo inside here, but our generators—they're +weakening—and I'm fading, I guess, and the others that're left are +wounded. Carse—hurry—hurry...."</p> + +<p>Five words went back into the microphone before the receiver went +dead.</p> + +<p>"I'm coming, Crane! Hold on!"</p> + +<p>Friday had seen the Hawk in such moments before, and he knew the +sight; but the navigator, Harkness, had not been with Carse very long, +and now he stood silent, motionless, while despite himself a shiver +ran down his spine as he stared at the tight-pressed bloodless lips +and the gray eyes, cold now as space. He started nervously when the +Hawk turned and looked him in the eye.</p> + +<p>"I want speed," came his quiet, soft, deceptive voice. "I want that +hour's running time sliced by a third. Streak through that +atmosphere."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh!" answered Friday.</p> + +<p>"And you"—to Harkness—"be very sure you get out every ounce she's +got. Tell the engineer personally."</p> + +<p>"Full speed. Yes, sir," said the navigator, and felt relieved when +Carse turned his eyes away. For the Hawk, as always when he learned +that property had been ravaged and his friends shot down, seemed less +human than the Indrots at the far end of the frigid deeps of space he +roamed. His face was mask-like, graven, totally expressionless: blood +had been shed, and for each ounce another had to be spilled to balance +the scales. At a speaking tube that reached aft to the three other +members of the crew, he whispered: "Fighting posts. Arm and be ready +for action. Pirates are attacking ranch," and then went noiselessly to +the forward electelscope. Meanwhile Friday kept his eyes strictly on +the dials before him and held the space-stick rigid, while aft, in the +ship's other compartments, three men strapped on ray-gun belts and +wondered who was doomed to be caught in the swoop of the Hawk.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse himself wondered that. The raider so far showed as a newcomer to +the frontiers of space; he was one who as yet had never faced the +Hawk, one to whom the tales that were told of him seemed laughable, to +whom the rich consignment of horn looked like a gift. Certainly such +an open attack did not resemble Ku Sui's subtle methods, or those of +his several henchmen, pirates of space all; they, rather, struck +behind his back, and then only when the infamous Eurasian had prepared +what seemed an escape-proof trap.</p> + +<p>"Foolish to raid when I'm so close!" he murmured as he trained the +electelscope and peered into its eye-piece. "Stupid! Unless ..."</p> + +<p>Friday, at the space-stick, mopped the trickles of sweat from his brow +and with a vast sigh shifted his bulk. The job of speeding into an +atmospheric pressure was always ticklish, and it was with some relief +that he reported "Into th' atmosphere, suh," according to routine. He +waited for the usual acknowledgment, and when it did not come repeated +his observation in a louder voice. Two full minutes of silence passed. +Then, finally, Hawk Carse turned from the electelscope, and even the +negro shivered at sight of the deadly mask that was his face.</p> + +<p>For the ranch-house in its clearing had dimly appeared in the +electelscope just as Friday had spoken.</p> + +<p>Carse spoke.</p> + +<p>"More speed, if it burns us up," came his almost whispered words. "I +want much more speed."</p> + +<p>Harkness gulped. "Yes, sir," he said, and, moistening his lips, he +returned to the engine-room. The frigid gray eyes swung back to the +sight that was revealed on Iapetus.</p> + +<p>The long, lean shape of a rakish space ship was resting on the soil +some three hundred yards from the ranch-house, and between were the +hazy figures of six men, busily dragging as many boxes towards their +craft. The boxes contained the whole half-year's harvest of phanti +horns, and had obviously been looted from the house. The resistance +had been overcome; the pirate raid had succeeded. The trim, +gray-painted ranch-house was lifeless....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Hawk switched off the electelscope. His colorless lips were +compressed very tightly. "I'll take the helm," he said curtly to +Friday. "Turn on the defensive web, and prepare all ray batteries."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh!" The negro's big, yellow-palmed hands worked dexterously +among the instruments to his right; then, amidships, grew a shrill +whine which keened upward in pitch. A few sparks raced by the <i>Star +Devil's</i> after ports, quickly to disappear after they left the almost +invisible envelope of delicate bluish light that entirely wrapped her +hull.</p> + +<p>She was making dangerous speed. The wind screamed as she streaked +through the satellite's atmosphere, and the great friction of her +passage raised her outer shell to a perilous glow. The altitude +dial's finger almost jumped from forty thousand to thirty-five.</p> + +<p>"Ready for bow-ray salvo."</p> + +<p>"Aye, sir!" replied Harkness, and a moment later repeated crisply: +"All ready for bow-ray salvo, sir!" His voice showed no sign of the +fear within him—fear that the <i>Star Devil's</i> outer hull would reach +the melting point—but his lips fell apart and his face lost its +discipline when the Hawk next spoke and acted.</p> + +<p>"Steady," came the low whisper to his ears—and he saw the controlling +space-stick being shoved down as far as it would go.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h2><i>Pursuit</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hat was the Hawk's method, and it had given him the name which he had +made famous. It was characteristic of the man that he preferred to +strike at an enemy ship in a wild, breath-taking swoop, even as the +fierce hawk plummets from high heaven to sink its talons deep into the +flesh of its more sluggish prey. Nerves were uncomfortable things to +have on such occasions, and Harkness had them, and accordingly he felt +his heart hammer and something tight seemed to bind his throat. He +tried to assume the unshakable calmness of the motionless figure at +the stick, but could not, for his body was only flesh and blood—and +Hawk Carse was tempered, frosty, steel. Through staring eyes the +navigator watched the surface of Iapetus rushing into the bow ports, +watched it spread accelerating outward, until he could plainly see the +pirate ship lying there, and the nearby figures of men tugging at the +heavy boxes of horns.</p> + +<p>His eyes were on those figures when they broke. First they teetered +hesitantly a moment, glancing wildly around and up at the vision of +death that was coming like a silver comet from the skies, and then +they melted apart. Three scrambled towards the rim of jungle foliage +close at hand, while their fellows leaped in the other direction, +trying to make an open port in their craft. Harkness saw them tumble +headlong through it and slam it shut. Then a web of blue streaks +appeared around the ship, and softened until her hull was bathed is +ghostly bluish light.</p> + +<p>"Their defensive ray-web's on, sir!" he managed to gasp. Carse, though +close, might not have heard, so intently was he watching. The altitude +dial's pointer reached for one thousand and slid past. Harkness's face +was pale and drawn; his tight-gripped fingers and clenched teeth +showed that he expected to crash into the ground in a molten, +shapeless tomb of steel. But Friday was grinning, his teeth a slash of +white.</p> + +<p>"Stand by bow projectors," sounded the Hawk's clipped voice. The negro +extended his hands and rumbled:</p> + +<p>"Ready, suh."</p> + +<p>"Fire."</p> + +<p>"Fire!" Friday roared.</p> + +<p>His rich laugh rang out and he whirled the wheels over. With a hissing +as of a hundred snakes, the rays struck.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ell aimed, the bolt speared straight and true. The distance was +short, and it came from generators that were perhaps not equaled in +space; no ordinary ship's defensive web could resist its vicious +thrust. From the streak of silver that represented the Hawk's swoop, a +stream of orange cut a swathe through the air ahead, holding +accurately on the brigand ship. For just a tick of time there was a +turmoil of color as offensive ray met defensive web; then the air +cleared again—and the pirate was unmarked!</p> + +<p>By rights she should have been split in two; and, though his face did +not show it, it must have been surprising to Carse that she wasn't. +With one flick of the wrist he wrenched the <i>Star Devil</i> out of her +plunge and sent her scudding, a hundred feet up, over the jungle rim. +Friday was gaping. Harkness, still numb from the dive, foolishly +staring; and then the brigand bared her fangs in return.</p> + +<p>Orange light winked from her stern, and the Hawk's ship was bathed in +a streak of color. But the bolt caromed harmlessly off the side of the +arcing <i>Star Devil</i>! and the next instant the pirate's lean bulk +swayed, lifted a little and zoomed up into the heavens, abandoning the +boxes of horn without further fight.</p> + +<p>"Runnin' foh it! Scared stiff!" muttered Friday, unholy joy in his +gleaming eyes. He looked at the figure at the stick. "Follow 'em now, +suh, an' wear out their projectors?"</p> + +<p>Carse thoughtfully smoothed his bangs with his free hand. "Plenty of +time for that," he said patiently. "Some of the men on the ranch may +still be alive: we must care for them. I'm going to land. Tell the +engineer to keep watch through the electelscope on that ship. I'll +start overtaking it shortly."</p> + +<p>"Funny our rays didn't ha'm 'em," Friday ruminated aloud. "Ain't no +ordinary craft, that. No, suh, they's more in this heah business than +hits yo' eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Now you're getting cynical, Eclipse," the Hawk said dryly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p> quarter-mile-square block of land had been fenced off as a corral +for the ninety-head herd of bull phantis Carse kept on Iapetus. These +creatures resembled mostly the old ostrich of Earth, but grew no +feathers. The neck, however was shorter than the ostrich's; the +leathery skin of a drab gray color; the powerful hind feet, on which +they stood erect, prehensile and armed with short stabbing spurs; the +forearms short and used for plucking the delicate shoots and young +leaves on which they lived. There was a dim flicker of rudimentary +intelligence inside the bullet heads; they recognized men as their +enemies, and hated them. And therefore they necessitated careful +handling, for, even without the valuable head-horns, their +sharp-spurred feet could rip a human being into shreds in seconds.</p> + +<p>They were clustered now behind the wire corral-fence, electrified to +prevent them from breaking through. They bellowed angrily and shoved +each other about as their wicked little blood-shot eyes caught sight +of the <i>Star Devil</i> as she came dropping gently down.</p> + +<p>At the electelscope of the descending craft was the ship's engineer. +He had just centered the instrument on the fleeing pirate craft that +by now was leaving the satellite's atmosphere, and the image was large +on the screen above the bow windows, where he kept a steady eye on it. +The inner door of the port-lock swung open, the outer door down, and +Carse walked through, followed by Friday and Harkness.</p> + +<p>An ugly scene lay spread out before them in the glaring daylight. The +trader had only gone a few paces when he paused and looked down at an +outsprawled thing that had once been a man. Stooping, he very gently +turned the mess of charred flesh over and peered at what was left of +the face. There were small, burnt holes in it, and the flesh +surrounding them looked as though it had been suspended for some time +over a slow fire....</p> + +<p>Carse rose and stared into space.</p> + +<p>"Ruthers, a guard," he said softly, as if speaking to himself. He +walked on.</p> + +<p>Another heap of flesh was pitched before the front wall of the +ranch-house. The man it had been a little while before had evidently +been running for the door when the deadly rays had got him. His +ray-gun was lying a few feet away. Again Carse stooped and again very +gently pulled the ragged thing over.</p> + +<p>"By God!" stammered Harkness suddenly, staring, his face white, +"that—that's Jack O'Fallon—old Jack O'Fallon! Why, we went to +navigation school together! We—"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Hawk, "O'Fallon, overseer." He stepped into the house. +Friday, impassive and grim, pulled Harkness away from the distorted +body.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hree more were tumbled together behind a splintered table in the main +room. The rays had done their work well. Three were welded, it seemed, +into one.... It was some time before the Hawk's frigid whisper came.</p> + +<p>"Martin ... Olafson ... and this—Antil ... Antil was the only +Venusian I ever liked...."</p> + +<p>The chairs and tables in the room were overturned, most of them bore +the seared scars of ray-guns, which showed plainly enough that there +had been a desperate last minute hand-to-hand struggle there, after +the defensive ray-web had failed and the pirates rushed the building. +The radio alcove was choked with seared, cracked wreckage. Crane, the +operator, still sat in his seat, but he was slumped over forward, and +his head and chest were pitted with slanting ray holes. One hand had +been reaching for a dial. The other was twisted and charred.</p> + +<p>"And Crane, the last," said Hawk Carse, and for some moments he stood +there, his face cold and unmoving save for the tiny twitching of the +left eyelid. Utter silence rested over the bitter three—a silence +broken only by the occasional roar of an angry phanti bull outside in +the enclosure.</p> + +<p>Finally Carse took a deep breath and turned to Friday.</p> + +<p>"You'll see to their burying," he ordered quietly. "Get the power ray +from the ship and burn out two big pits on that knoll off the corner +of the corral."</p> + +<p>Friday looked at him in puzzlement. "Two, suh?" he repeated. "Why two? +Why not put 'em all in one?"</p> + +<p>"You will put all my men in one. I'll need the other later.... You," +he went on, to Harkness, "get the cargo of horns aboard. We can't +leave it out there, for three of those pirates fled into the jungle. I +haven't time to find them, and they'd come out and bury the horns if +we left them. I'll be with you soon. We take off in ten minutes."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," answered the navigator, and he and the negro went out.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> + +<p>or a little while Carse stayed in the cubby. As he softly stroked the +flaxen bangs of hair over his brow, he visualized what had happened +inside that house of death, piecing a number of things together and +forming a whole. On the surface it seemed plain enough, and yet there +were one or two points.... His face showed a trace of puzzlement. He +shook his head slightly; then he stooped and picked up the radio +operator's body with an ease that might have seemed surprising from +such a slender man, and walked out of the house.</p> + +<p>Beyond one corner of the corral, upon a slight rise in the ground, +Friday was melting out the second grave with the ship's great portable +ray-gun. Carse laid Crane's body gently down in the first grave, then +went to where Harkness, with the <i>Star Devil's</i> radio-man and cook, +was loading the cargo of horns aboard. The trader opened several of +the boxes, glanced at the upper layers to inspect the quality, and, +satisfied, closed them again. All the boxes were trundled soon into +the craft's open port and aft to her cargo hold.</p> + +<p>The engineer on watch at the electelscope and visi-screen felt a hand +on his shoulder and looked around to find his captain standing by him. +He pointed up at the screen: on it, the brigand ship was a mere four +inches in size, and bearing straight out on an unwavering course. "I +reckoned their speed to be about ten thousand an hour, a minute ago, +sir," he reported. "Now about five thousand miles away."</p> + +<p>"How soon," Carse asked, "do you think we could overhaul them?"</p> + +<p>The other grinned. "If you're in a hurry, sir, about two hours and a +half."</p> + +<p>"I am in a hurry. I want all the speed you can muster."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Might be able to get it down, to two."</p> + +<p>The Hawk nodded. "Try. Return to your post."</p> + +<p>Outside, through the port, he saw Friday smoothing over the grave, the +burying finished, and he beckoned him in. At that second Harkness +reported the cargo all fastened down. Carse snapped out his orders.</p> + +<p>"Harkness," he said shortly, "you and Friday with me in the control +cabin. Sparks, you can get an hour's sleep, but leave the radio +receiver open. Cook, an hour's rest if you want it—and I think you'd +better want it. There's war ahead. Close port!"</p> + +<p>The inner and outer doors nestled snugly, one after the other, into +place with a hiss; the rows of gravity plates in the ship's belly +angled ever so slightly. She quivered, then, in a surge of power, +lifted straight up and poised; then, answering the touch of +space-stick and accelerator, she went streaking through the atmosphere +on the trail of the distant craft that had left its mark of blood on +Iapetus and provoked the vengeance of the Hawk....</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h2><i>Death Rides the Star Devil</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_u.jpg" alt="U" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>sually, when pursuing an enemy, Hawk Carse was impassive and grim, +apparently emotionless, icy. But now he seemed somehow disturbed.</p> + +<p>He fidgeted around, glancing occasionally at the visi-screen to make +sure his quarry was not changing course, now watching Friday juggle +through the skin of atmosphere into outer space, and now standing +apart, silent and solitary, brooding.</p> + +<p>There was something about the affair he didn't like. Something that +was deeply hidden, that could not be grasped clearly; that might, on +the other hand, be pure imagination. And yet, why—</p> + +<p>Why, for instance, had the brigands taken to their heels with just the +barest semblance of fight? Why, with their defensive ray-web proof for +some time at least against his offensive rays, had they left without +more of a struggle for the horn? Why were they so willing to flee, +knowing as they must that he, the Hawk, would follow? Did they not +know he had—thanks to Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow—the fastest +ship in space, and would inevitably overtake them?</p> + +<p>Were they Ku Sui's men? It seemed so, certainly, from the great +strength of their defensive ray-web. No other ships that he knew of in +space save Ku Sui's possessed such power. But—it wasn't the brilliant +Eurasian's customary style. It was too simple for him.</p> + +<p>Carse stroked his bangs. The factors were all mixed up. He didn't like +it.</p> + +<p>Iapetus' atmosphere was left behind; in minutes the light blue wash of +her sky changed to the hard, frigid blackness of lifeless space. The +<i>Star Devil's</i> lighting tubes glowed softly, though Saturn's rays, +coming through the wide bow windows, still lit every object in the +control cabin with hard and dazzling brilliancy. Inside, light and +color, life and action; outside, the eternal, sable void, sprinkled +with its millions of sparkling motes of worlds. And ahead—shown now +on the visa-screen only by the light dots of its ports—was the +brigand craft.</p> + +<p>The <i>Star Devil</i> was smoothly building up the speed that would +eventually bring her up to the craft of the enemy. Carse's Earth-watch +told him that an hour and a half had passed. A vague anxiety oppressed +him, but he shook it off with the thought that soon the time for +accounting would arrive. Only forty minutes more; probably less. His +fears—foolish. He was getting too suspicious....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hen came the voice.</p> + +<p>It pierced through the control cabin from the loudspeaker cone above +the radio switchboard. It was rough and mocking. It said:</p> + +<p>"Hawk Carse? Hawk Carse? You hear me?" Many times it repeated this. +"Yes? You hear me, Hawk Carse? I've a joke I want you to hear—a very +funny joke. You'll enjoy it!" There interrupted the staccato sounds of +an irrepressible amusement.</p> + +<p>Carse froze. His fingers by habit fluttered over his ray-gun butt as +he wheeled and looked into the loudspeaker. Friday, at the +space-stick, stared at him; Harkness's face was puzzled as he peered +at the loudspeaker and then turned and gazed at his captain.</p> + +<p>"But where," he asked, "—where does the voice come from? Who is it?"</p> + +<p>As if thinking aloud, Carse whispered:</p> + +<p>"From that ship ahead. I half expected ... I know it well, that voice. +Very well. It's the voice of ... of ... I can't quite place it.... In +a minute.... The voice of—"</p> + +<p>The chuckling ceased, and again the voice spoke.</p> + +<p>"Yes—a very funny joke! I can't share it all with you, Carse, because +you'd spoil it. But do you remember, some years ago, five men—and +another who lay before them? Do you remember how this last man said: +'Each one of you will die for what you've done to me?' That man didn't +wear bangs over his forehead then. Remember? Well, I'm one of the five +the mighty Hawk Carse swore he would kill!"</p> + +<p>Again the voice broke into a chuckle.</p> + +<p>But it ended suddenly. The tone it changed into was entirely +different, was cruel with a taunting sneer.</p> + +<p>"Bah! The avenging Hawk! The mighty Hawk! Well, in minutes, you'll be +dead. You'll be dead! The mighty Sparrow Carse will be dead!"</p> + +<p>A brief eternity went by. Carse remembered, and the glint in his gray +eyes grew colder.</p> + +<p>"Judd the Kite," he whispered.</p> + +<p>Friday's lips formed the words.</p> + +<p>And even Harkness, new to the frontiers of space, knew the name and +echoed it haltingly.</p> + +<p>"Judd the Kite...."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>f all the henchmen Dr. Ku Sui had gathered about him and banded +against Earth, and against Carse, and against all peaceful traders and +merchant-ships, Judd was perhaps the most cruel and relentless.</p> + +<p>The Kite he was called—though only behind his back—yet it might +better have been Vulture. Big and gross, with thick unstable lips and +stubby, hairy fingers, more than once he and his motley gang of +hi-jackers had painted a crimson splash across the far corners of the +frontiers, and daubed it to the tortured groans of the crews of honest +trading ships. Often they had plunged on isolated trading posts and +left their factors wallowing in their life blood. And more....</p> + +<p>There are things that cannot be set down in print, that the carefully +edited history books only hint at, and into this class fell many of +the Kite's deeds. He was a master of the Venusian tortures. He and his +band during the unspeakable debauches which always followed a +successful raid would amuse themselves by practising certain of these +tortures on the day's captives; and his victims, both men and women, +would see and feel indescribable things, and Death would be kept most +carefully away until the last ounce of life and pain had been squeezed +quite dry.</p> + +<p>"Judd the Kite," Carse repeated in a hardly audible whisper. "Judd the +Kite ... one of the five...." Slowly his left hand rose and smoothed +his long bangs of flaxen hair. "I have been looking for him."</p> + +<p>"Will you reply to him, sir?" asked Harkness.</p> + +<p>"What use? His trap—Ku Sui's trap, of course—has already been set." +His brain raced. "What could it be?" he whispered slowly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> + +<p>riday was scratching his woolly hair, his smooth face puzzled, when +Carse, with the crisp decisiveness that always came to him when in +action, looked up at the visi-screen. The brigand was still clinging +to a straight course, and being overhauled rapidly. Another thirty +minutes and they would be within striking distance. He said tersely:</p> + +<p>"Set up the defensive web. Spiral and zig-zag the ship all you dare, +altering the period of the swing each time. Harkness, you and I are +going to make an inspection tour. General alarm if Judd's course +changes, Friday."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh." The negro, frowning, gave his undivided attention to his +instruments as the Hawk and Harkness went aft into the next +compartment, the engine room.</p> + +<p>It looked quite normal. The great dynamos were humming smoothly; the +air-renewing machine was functioning steadily; the gauge hands all +slept or quivered in their usual places. Nothing uneven in the slight +vibration of the ship; nothing that might possibly forbode trouble. Up +on his perch, the engineer peered down curiously and asked:</p> + +<p>"Anything wrong, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet," Carse answered shortly. "You're sure everything is regular +here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Good. But check every vital spot at once—and quickly. Then keep +alert."</p> + +<p>They passed on into the following compartment, the mess-room and +sleeping quarters for the crew. Solid, rhythmical snores were issuing +from the cook's open mouth as he lay sprawled out on his bunk; the +smell of coffee hovered in the air; the cabin was quiet and +comfortable with an atmosphere of sleep and rest. The radio-man, +reading in his bunk, looked over and, seeing it was Carse, sat up.</p> + +<p>"Notice anything wrong?" he was asked.</p> + +<p>"Wrong? What—Why, no, sir. You want me for duty?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Stay here and keep your eyes open for signs of trouble. I'm +expecting some. General alarm if the slightest thing happens." And +Carse went noiselessly into the last division of the ship.</p> + +<p>This was the cargo hold. The boxes of phanti horns were neatly stacked +in precise rows; the dim tube burning overhead showed nothing that +gave the smallest cause for alarm. The Hawk's narrowed eyes swept +walls, deck and ceiling in a search for signs of strain or buckling, +but found none.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hen he let himself down into the ship's belly, in the three-foot-high +space between the deck and the bottom outer hull. He found the three +rows of delicately adjusted gravity plates in good order. Harkness +joined him.</p> + +<p>Their hand-flashes scanned every inch of the narrow compartment as +they made the under-deck passage from stem to bow and up through the +forward trap-door into the control cabin. They found nothing abnormal. +The water and fuel tanks, built in the space between the inner and +outer shells above the living quarters, also yielded nothing; likewise +the storeroom.</p> + +<p>Nothing. Nothing at all. The whole ship was in excellent condition. +Everything was working as it should. Carse went forward again with +Harness; turned and faced him with puzzled eyes.</p> + +<p>"I can't understand it," he said. "Why that threat, when everything +seems all right? How can Judd reach me to kill me? And in minutes?"</p> + +<p>The navigator shook his head. "It's beyond me, sir."</p> + +<p>The Hawk shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we'll see. It might be +something altogether new. You report to the engine-room and keep on +watch there. Any sound or sign, give the general alarm."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he said, and left.</p> + +<p>"He talkin' foolish, that Judd," grumbled Friday, seeing that the +search had been fruitless. "He think maybe he can bust through our +ray-web? Hmff!"</p> + +<p>His master said nothing. He was standing motionless in the center of +the cabin, waiting—waiting for he knew not what.</p> + +<p>Then it came.</p> + +<p>A preparatory sputter from the loudspeaker that spun Friday around. +Hawk looked up, tensed. Again sounded the hard, sneering voice of Judd +the Kite.</p> + +<p>"We're ready now, Carse: there was a little delay. I'll give you, say, +five seconds. Yes—one for each of the five men you did <i>not</i> kill. +Shall I count them off? All right. You have till the fifth.</p> + +<p>"One."</p> + +<p>Friday's big eyes rolled nervously; he wiped a drop of sweat from his +brow and cursed.</p> + +<p>"Two."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>e glanced at the Hawk, and tried himself to assume the unshakable +steely calm of the great adventurer. But his fists would clench and +unclench as he stared up at the visi-screen. No change! The brigand +was running straight ahead as ever, apparently fleeing.</p> + +<p>"Three."</p> + +<p>The negro's breath came more quickly; the tendons of his neck stood +sharply out, and his powerful arms twitched nervously. "What's he +goin' to do, suh? What's he goin' to do?" he asked hoarsely. "What's +he goin' to do?"</p> + +<p>"Four."</p> + +<p>"Change course—a-starboard!" Carse rapped. The space-stick moved a +little, all Friday dared, at their speed; the position dials swung; +the dot of a fixed star that had been visible a moment before through +the bow windows was now gone. Till the fifth, Judd had said.</p> + +<p>"Five!"</p> + +<p>The two men in the control cabin of the <i>Star Devil</i> peered at each +other. One of them licked his lips and wiped the sweat from his brow. +But there was nothing. No sound, no change. No general alarm bell. No +offensive ray spearing across the reaches of space; no slightest +change in the brigand's course. He who had mopped the sweat away +laughed loud and long in overwhelming relief.</p> + +<p>"All foolishment!" he gurgled. "That Judd, he crazy. Try to scare us, +I guess—huh! Try to—"</p> + +<p>"<i>What's that?</i>" whispered Hawk Carse.</p> + +<p>A sudden faint rustle of noise, of movement, had breathed through the +ship.</p> + +<p>At first it was hardly discernible; but it grew. It grew with +paralyzing rapidity into a low but steady murmur, blended soon with +voices raised in quick cries. There was one piercing, ragged shriek, +and all the time an undertone of the indefinite, peculiar sound of +something rustling, creeping, growing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hen came the harsh jangle of the general alarm bell.</p> + +<p>"Space-suits!" Carse snapped. The alarm was the signal to put them on; +it was a safeguard from a possible breach in the ship's walls. Against +such an emergency they had drilled often, and all over the ship the +crew would be springing rapidly into space-suits hanging ready.</p> + +<p>The space-stick automatically locked as Friday, eyes rolling, leaped +with his master to the nearby locker. The shriek from aft had quickly +died, the alarm bell had snapped off; but now there came a frantic +rush of feet, and a man tumbled through into the control cabin, his +face white, his eyes stark with horror, his breath coming in gasps and +the sweat of fear on his brow.</p> + +<p>It was Harkness.</p> + +<p>He slammed the door tight shut behind him and stumbled to the suit +locker; and as his fingers fumbled at his suit with the clumsiness of +panic, he stammered:</p> + +<p>"The cargo—the boxes of horn—it came from aft! Fungus! Planted in +the horn! It's filling the ship! Got all the others and grew—<i>grew</i> +on them! Dead already. There—look, look!"</p> + +<p>Carse and Friday, grotesque giants in the bulky sheathings of stiff, +many-plied fabric, turned as one and peered through their quartzite +face shields to where the navigator's bulging eyes directed them.</p> + +<p>It was the door between control cabin and engine room—the door he had +just slammed shut. At first nothing was visible; then they saw the van +of the enemy that had swarmed through the ship.</p> + +<p>A thin line of bright yellow color had appeared along the under crack +of the door. A second later the door was rimmed on all sides with it. +It grew; reached out. Energy flowed through it: fingers of dusty +yellow pronged out from the cracks where the door fitted, hung +wavering for a moment, melted together, then slumped to the floor to +more quickly continue the advance. It increased marvelously, in minor +jerks of speed. It was delicate in texture, mold-like. The more there +became, the faster it grew: in seconds shreds of it had darted out +from the main mass and affixed themselves to the walls and ceiling of +the cabin, there to accelerate the horrible filling process.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ll this happened more quickly than it can be related. Within ten +seconds most of the cabin was coated by the yellow stuff; grotesquely +formed clumps and feathers hung from the ceiling; fern-like fingers +kept spurting everywhere. Friday stepped back, before the advance, but +not the Hawk. Useless to try and evade the stuff, he knew, and he was +fairly positive that there was no immediate danger: the tough fabric +of the suits should resist it. A pseudopod-like surge flicked to his +leg; crept up; cloaked the suit in patches of yellow; thickened and +enveloped him. But it could not pierce through.</p> + +<p>"Cap'n Carse! Look heah!"</p> + +<p>He turned to the alarmed voice, brushing light, feathery particles of +yellow from his face shield, and found the bulky giant that was Friday +a few steps behind him, and pointing mutely at Harkness.</p> + +<p>The young officer was slumped limply down against a wall, his legs +sprawled and body twisted unnaturally. His suit was covered with the +yellow, and he had fallen, silently, while they were watching the +advance of the fungus and checking the fastenings of their suits.</p> + +<p>Carse reached him in three steps, stooped, brushed the fungus off the +face-shield and peered through. Friday looked over his shoulder. The +yellow enemy had laid its deadly fingers on Harkness's fine pale face. +Sprouts of yellow trailed from the nostrils; the mouth was a clump of +it; tendrils of spongy substance had climbed out the ears and were +still threading rapidly over the head, even as the Hawk and Friday +watched.</p> + +<p>"That's how the others died," the adventurer said slowly. "Harkness +must have carried a bit of the stuff from aft. It was on him when he +put on his suit. At least I hope so. If it can get into these +suits...." He left the thought unfinished.</p> + +<p>"You mean, suh," asked Friday haltingly, "you mean that maybe—maybe +it'll get in our suits too?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Carse without emotion.</p> + +<p>They waited.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h2><i>The Hawk Prepares a Surprise</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>awk Carse's icy poise in times of emotional stress never failed to +amaze friends and enemies alike. Most of them swore he had no nerves, +and that in that way he was not human. This estimate, of course, is +foolish; Carse was perhaps too human, as was proved by the +all-consuming object of his life. It was rather, probably, an inward +vanity that made him stand composed as a statue while death was +gnawing near; that had, once, led him actually to file his nails when +apparently trapped and hotly besieged, with the wicked hiss of +ray-guns all around.</p> + +<p>And so he stood within his suit now—calm, quite collected, his face +graven, while the yellow tendrils carpeted the whole cabin, penetrated +between the twin banks of instruments on each side and clouded the bow +windows, visi-screen and positionals until the two living men aboard +that ship of death were completely shut off from outside vision. +Friday, his large white eyes never for a moment still, and waiting as +the Hawk was waiting to find whether or not their suits, too, harbored +the fungus, could quite easily have been scared into a state of panic; +but the sight of the steely figure near him eased his nerves and +brought a vague kind of reassurance.</p> + +<p>Minutes went by. Presently the Hawk said softly into his microphone:</p> + +<p>"We're safe, now, I think. You'd better go aft and see what state the +ship's in. Come right back." And as Friday left, wading through the +clinging growth, the trader went to the eye-piece of the electelscope.</p> + +<p>He brushed the puffy covering of yellow silt away and adjusted the +instrument's controls as best he could, centering it on where Judd's +craft had last been. Then he peered through—and saw that which made +him start.</p> + +<p>The <i>Star Devil</i> was rolling round and round, like a ball!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse looked out on a star-studded panorama that was sweeping crazily +by. Now the cloudy globe of Iapetus, which had just before lain far +behind, came swinging into view, sliding rapidly from the bottom of +his field of view to the top, and so out of sight again, to quickly +give place to the flaming, ringed sphere of Saturn, which in turn +passed away and left the star-spangled blackness of space. Then +Iapetus once more. He snapped the electelscope off abruptly, and +turned from it to see Friday come clumping back.</p> + +<p>"Swept everything clean, suh," the negro reported gloomily. "That +fungus's thick; cain't even see the men's bodies, it's so deep. It's +that way, all over."</p> + +<p>"It's down in the gravity propulsion plates too," Carse said shortly. +"Their adjustment's been ruined by it, and we're out of control, +turning over and over. I couldn't possibly see Judd. Well, we've got +to go down to the plates and try and clean them."</p> + +<p>It was a weird scene that faced him in the engine room. The complex +instruments and machinery were draped with straggling ferns of yellow; +up above, a solid clump some ten feet thick hung on the platform where +the engineer usually stood—a living tomb. The usual purr of the +mechanisms was muffled and hushed. So fecund was the fungus that the +path Friday had cleared in his passage aft was already filled, and +Carse had to clear a new one. The growth was deep there, but still +deeper in the next compartment.</p> + +<p>It was practically a solid mass of yellow, for in it their invader had +found food. It had fed well on the lockers of supplies and devoured +all but the bones and clothing of the two men whom it had +caught—radio-operator and cook. Carse fought on through this tough, +clinging sea and came at last to the cargo hold, where, in the deck, +was the man-hole that gave passage down to the 'tween-decks +compartment where the rows of gravity propulsion plates were located.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> + +<p>riday raised the cover with a wrench: then, preceded by the rays of +their hand-flashes, they climbed down and wormed forward as best they +could in their hampering suits, to the plates. They found they had +lost their customary glitter beneath powdery coatings of yellow, +sufficient to disturb their faint electric currents and +microscopically adjusted angles. On hands and knees—for the +compartment, though as wide as the ship's inner shell, was only three +feet in height—the Hawk stopped and said:</p> + +<p>"We might be able to get some use out of these plates if we can keep +the fungus brushed off. It's thin: let's try it."</p> + +<p>But the yellow growth's vitality baulked them. Sweating from their +awkward exertions inside the hot space-suits, they again and again +brushed clean the plates with pieces of waste—only to see the +feathery particles regather as quickly as they were cleared away. +There wasn't more than an inch of the fungus, but that inch stuck. +There was no removing it.</p> + +<p>"No use, boss," gasped the negro, pausing breathless. "Cain't do it. +Nothin' to do, I guess, but wait an' see what de Kite does. He'll sure +want this ship and the horn."</p> + +<p>"I know," his captain answered slowly. "He'll want this ship, for it's +the fastest in space—but I can't understand how he'll board us. I'm +going up and see what I can find out. You stay here. Try cleaning the +plates again."</p> + +<p>Up through the man-hole he went, and forward to the control cabin. +And, as before, the electelscope's eye-piece held a surprise for him.</p> + +<p>Somehow, the <i>Star Devil's</i> speed of wild tumbling had lessened. A +moment later the reason appeared. As her bow dipped down and down, +there slid across the field of view, about a mile away, the lighted +ports of another ship; and, from this other ship's nose there winked a +spot of green, the beginning of a ray-stream which stabbed across the +gulf to impinge on the <i>Star Devil's</i> bow. Carse could feel his craft +steady as it struck. It was a gravital ray, with strong magnetic +properties, which Judd was using to stop her turnings so he and his +men could board!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>gain and again the beam flashed across the Hawk's field of view, and +he knew it was raying its mark neatly each time her bow swung abeam, +for soon she was hardly turning at all. Then Judd evidently was +satisfied. The port-lights of his ship veered aside; drew to a +position abreast of the other. The two cold gray eyes that watched saw +the outer port-lock door of the pirate open, revealing six figures, +clad in space-suits and connected by a rope, that stepped out, pushed, +and came floating towards the <i>Star Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>Swiftly Carse moved. For many reasons it was useless, he rapidly +decided, to try and surprise them as they boarded; there was a better +and surer way. And, as always, he attended to every little +detail—details that to others might have seemed trivial—of this +preferred way.</p> + +<p>With quick, strong fingers he removed the fungus-choked body of +Harkness from its space-suit, and threw the suit into a nearby locker. +From another locker he selected a loop of yellow-encrusted rope. +Holding this over one arm, he made his way back rapidly to the aft +man-hole, closed it carefully behind him and crept forward to the +anxious negro who was still futilely dusting the plates. He told what +he had seen, but nothing else.</p> + +<p>Friday noted the rope, and he twisted his whole body to get a sight of +Carse's gray eyes, through the face-shield.</p> + +<p>"What we do, then, suh?" he asked. "Try an surprise 'em?"</p> + +<p>"Can't do that; we'd still be helpless, without a way to remove this +fungus. They probably know how to do it, and we've got to give them a +chance."</p> + +<p>Puzzlement pricked the negro. "Then what you goin' to do with that +rope?"</p> + +<p>"You'll soon see," snapped Hawk Carse.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hey waited.</p> + +<p>It was hot and stuffy down in the belly of the ship, and also utterly +black, for the trader had flicked off his hand-flash. Friday was +unhappily possessed of an active curiosity; he wanted terribly to go +on with his questions and ask Carse what his plan was; but he did not +dare, for he knew very well from past experience that the Hawk was +impatient of detailing his schemes in advance. So he sat in silence, +and sweated, and stared gloomily into the darkness, thinking uneasy +thoughts.</p> + +<p>True, he thought, Judd the Kite did not know that Carse and he were +still alive; on the contrary, he was probably convinced that they were +dead; but what good did that do? Surely it would have been better to +have surprised the brigands when boarding, but Captain Carse was +against that. And they were hopelessly outnumbered.</p> + +<p>Friday remembered a tale told him once by a survivor of a trading ship +Judd the Kite had destroyed. It wasn't a nice tale. The Kite, so the +report ran, was diabolically ingenious with a long peeling knife, and +could improvise with it for hours. Friday pursued the tack of thought, +and then suddenly began to sweat in earnest. He +recalled—horrible!—that Judd possessed a special dislike for colored +gentlemen!...</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lawd!" he groaned, unconsciously—to have a cold voice ring in +his earphones.</p> + +<p>"Quiet!" it snapped. "They're entering."</p> + +<p>The negro threw a switch on his helmet so he could catch outside +noises. His body tensed. From above, unmistakably, had come the hiss +of the inner port-lock door opening. And again, moments later, the +hiss echoed. Twice! The lock could hold three men at a time. That +probably meant that all six had boarded. Friday turned in the darkness +and peered at Carse.</p> + +<p>The adventurer without warning flicked on his hand-flash. The beam +fell on the parallel planes of the yellow-covered gravity plates. The +negro, every nerve in him jumping from impatience and suspense, gazed +at them, and suddenly straightened. The mold-like fungus which had +prevented them from getting the ship into control was slowly melting +away. It was dwindling into fine dust!</p> + +<p>"Gas," came a soft whisper to him. "As I expected, Judd's cleaning it +out with some sort of gas. But the plates won't work yet—not until +they're polished bright." Unthinking, Friday raised his hand to his +helmet fastenings. "Keep your face-shield shut!" he was ordered +crisply. "The gas would be as fatal as the fungus."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ilence rested tensely over the two men, to be broken at last by the +clump of feet proceeding aft on the deck above.</p> + +<p>Carse switched off the light. His voice was but faintly audible.</p> + +<p>"Coming down to clean off the dust. He'll have a flash. Hide behind +the truss-work at your side, and when he gets here seize him by the +neck. I'll be with you right away. I want no noise."</p> + +<p>Friday saw a great light, and grinned in the confidence it brought +him. Of course! That explained the rope. The plan was so simple it had +escaped him. Already he felt cheerful. It was only mental worries, and +never physical hazards, that unsettled him. He angled around the +truss-work and shrank into as small a space as possible—which wasn't +very small, as he still wore his bulky, clumsy suit.</p> + +<p>The clump-clump of feet had died: now there came the sound of the +man-hole aft being raised. A white beam pronged down into the +darkness, felt around and flicked off. Boots clanged on the connecting +ladder; reached the bottom. The light appeared again, lower now, and +came slowly forward. Limned faintly against the reflected light was +the outline of a crouching man's body.</p> + +<p>He went to hands and knees and progressed carefully, his flash darting +to left and right. Suddenly, in a certain light, the two who awaited +his coming saw a swarthy, black-stubbled face in profile. He wore no +space-suit! That meant, Friday reflected, that the brigands had +cleared the ship of the gas in some way. It meant that they could get +out of their own suits.</p> + +<p>But they could not possibly do so at the moment. They heard the nearby +pirate's breathing, a harsh oath as he stubbed a toe. The negro +tightened his giant arms and held himself ready, his eyes steady on +the black outline which signified his quarry. Then the pirate was +close enough.</p> + +<p>It was over in seconds. Rounding the truss, Friday caught the man in +the armored crook of his arm. A startled croak preluded the thump of +two bodies on the hull; there was the tinkle of a falling hand-flash +and a slight squirming which was quickly stopped by a belting punch.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hen Carse was there in the darkness, looping his rope around the +pirate's arms and legs—a difficult job when wearing a bulky +space-suit in such cramped quarters. He used a bunch of waste for a +gag and then hauled the captive to a girder farther forward and bound +him sitting to it. By the time he had finished, Friday was out of his +space-suit and asking:</p> + +<p>"Shall I rub him out, suh? Best make sure of him."</p> + +<p>"Never in cold blood," said the Hawk acidly. "You should know that +well enough by now!</p> + +<p>"Now, there should be five left above, and I think they'll send +another down. We must get him, too. Get back where you were."</p> + +<p>He took off his space-suit also: then, after minutes of silence, they +heard voices upraised in argument coming from the control cabin. Once +more came the sound of feet overhead; another flash bit down through +the man-hole, and another man wriggled into the compartment. He was +obviously uneasy and suspicious. He called:</p> + +<p>"Jake! Hey, Jake! You there? Where the hell are you?"</p> + +<p>Mumbling oaths, he advanced, his light ray weaving over every inch +before him.</p> + +<p>"What you doing, Jake? Where are you?"</p> + +<p>Friday gathered his muscles, unhampered now by the restricting suit. +But light must have been reflected by the round whites of his eyes, +for the pirate suddenly stopped and called in sharp alarm:</p> + +<p>"What's that? What's that there? You, Jake? Hey! I'll ray you—"</p> + +<p>And that was all he said. Friday was too far away to reach him in +time, but the Hawk was closer; he approached behind the brigand, +crouched on silent cat's feet. Two powerful arms reached out and +tightened in a strangle hold—and two minutes later the second man was +bound and gagged.</p> + +<p>Carse loosened his ray-gun in its holster.</p> + +<p>"Now we attack," he whispered. "Four to two are fair odds, I think. +You go aft and wait by the man-hole; wait till you hear me call. Don't +be seen—wait. And when I call, come at once."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh. You goin' forward 'tween the hulls?"</p> + +<p>A curt nod answered him.</p> + +<p>"Then up through that—"</p> + +<p>"Don't ask so many questions!" the Hawk rasped crisply.</p> + +<p>They separated.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h2><i>The Hawk and the Kite</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the deck of the control cabin, between a bank of instruments and +the starboard wall, was another man-hole that gave entrance from the +'tween hulls compartment to the cabin.</p> + +<p>Only two men besides Carse knew of its existence. The adventurer for +good reasons of his own had it built in; and so cunningly was its +cover fitted on that its outlines were not visible.</p> + +<p>Beneath it, now, on the three-rung ladder that led up from the lower +shell, Hawk Carse waited.</p> + +<p>He could hear quite clearly the angry, snarling voice of Judd the +Kite, haranguing his men.</p> + +<p>"Rinker, you go down and see what's wrong. Just because Jake and Sako +don't come back right away, you guys seem to think the ship's haunted! +Haunted! By Betelguese! A sweet bunch of white-livered cowards I've +got for a crew—"</p> + +<p>"Ah, lay off!" growled a deep, sullen voice. "I ain't scared, but this +looks fishy to me. Something's wrong down there 'tween the hulls—damn +wrong, I tell you. We only found four skeletons, an' four, ain't the +full crew for a ship like this. There oughta to be a couple more +somewhere. Carse, blast him! he's got nine lives. How do we know he +was one of the four?"</p> + +<p>Another spoke up, as Rinker evidently hesitated. "I say we all go down +and investigate together."</p> + +<p>"Stow it!" thundered Judd. "They didn't get their space-suits out, did +they? Why, they hadn't a chance to escape—none of 'em. They were +killed, every one, quick! And four's plenty to work this ship. Carse +is dead, see, dead! This was one trick he didn't know—one time he +couldn't worm out. He was clever, all right, but he couldn't quite +stack up against me. I swore I'd get him and I did. He's dead!"</p> + +<p>"Judd," said a low, clear voice.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Kite whirled around. He stared. The hand-flash he was holding +dropped to the deck with a clang. His hands went limp, and his voice +was suddenly weak and dazed.</p> + +<p>"My God—Carse! Hawk Carse!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," a whisper answered. "Hawk Carse. And not dead."</p> + +<p>It was a scene that might have puzzled a newcomer to the frontiers of +space. Certainly there seemed to be nothing menacing about the slender +figure that stood by the now open man-hole, both arms hanging easily +at his sides; the advantage, on the contrary, appeared to be all with +the men whom he confronted. All but one was big, and each was fully +armed with a brace of ray-guns and knives.</p> + +<p>But, though there were four guns to one, they made no attempt to draw. +For it was the Hawk they faced, the fastest, most accurate shot in all +those millions of leagues of space, and in his two icy eyes was a +menace that filled the control cabin with fine-drawn silence.</p> + +<p>At last Judd the Kite opened his lips and wetted them.</p> + +<p>"Where did you come from?" he stammered.</p> + +<p>"No matter," came the answer from the thinly smiling mouth. "Friday!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh!" boomed the big black's distant voice.</p> + +<p>Judd's three men turned their heads and saw Carse's famous satellite +step into the control cabin, a ray-gun in each capacious hand. He was +all flashing white teeth, so wide was his grin.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" he chuckled. "Ain't this the pleasure! Certainly am +pleased to meet old friends like this—yes, suh! Jus' drop in?"</p> + +<p>But the Kite's head had not turned; he seemed not to hear Friday's +words; his eyes were held fascinated by Carse's. The attention of +everyone came back to the two leaders.</p> + +<p>"Ku Sui is in back of this?" asked the Hawk.</p> + +<p>Judd licked his lips again. He had to spar for time: to divert for a +while the vengeance he knew possessed the other's mind, so that he +might find some chance, some loop-hole.</p> + +<p>"That's right," he began eagerly, "it was Ku Sui. I had to do this, +Carse: I hadn't any choice. He's got something on me: I had to go +through with it. Had to!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Hawk's eyes were glacial; the ghost of a smile hovered once more +around the corners of his lips.</p> + +<p>"Go on," he said. "What was that fungus?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Ku Sui developed it in his laboratory. He just gave me +a sealed cartridge of the spores with instructions to raid your ranch, +as you saw, and plant them in a drilled-out phanti horn. There was a +simple mechanism in the cartridge that allowed us to release the +spores by a radio wave from our ship. When I wanted them to grow I +simply—"</p> + +<p>"I see. A clever scheme," Carse said. "Quite up to Ku Sui's standard. +The idea of those three men running for the jungle when I came down on +Iapetus was to insure my taking the horn cargo aboard, of course. The +raid was only incidental to your scheme to get me. And Crane, the +radio operator, was dead when I received that S.O.S. It was faked, to +bring me quickly for your schedule."</p> + +<p>Judd stared at him. "How in hell did you know that? Damn you, Carse, +you're—"</p> + +<p>"Where," interrupted the adventurer coldly, "is Ku Sui?"</p> + +<p>The pirate's eyes shifted nervously. "I don't know," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"Where," came the steady question again, "is Ku Sui?"</p> + +<p>The other licked his lips. His fingers clenched, unclenched, gripped +tight. "I don't know!" he protested. His eyes widened as he saw the +Hawk's left hand stir slightly, and he started as he heard the +whip-like word:</p> + +<p>"Talk!"</p> + +<p>"Carse. I swear it! No one knows where he is. When he wants to see me +personally, he comes out of darkness—out of empty space. I don't know +whether it's done by invisibility or the fourth dimension, but one +moment his ship's not there; the next it is; I don't know where his +base is; and if he knew I'd told you what I have, he'd—"</p> + +<p>"How do you arrange your meetings, then?"</p> + +<p>"They're always in a different place. The next is in seven days. I +don't remember the figures: they're in the log of my ship."</p> + +<p>Carse nodded. "All right. I believe you. And now—there are a few +accounts to be settled."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> + +<p>uring the few minutes the Hawk had questioned Judd, the brigand crew +in the cabin had stood silent, their breath bated, their eyes watching +fascinated. But now they started, and shifted uneasily. They suspected +what was coming. The inexorable, seemingly inhuman adventurer went on +emotionlessly:</p> + +<p>"Six of my men were killed on Iapetus, treacherously, without a +chance. Four more were slaughtered by the fungus. That's ten. Back up +to your men, Judd."</p> + +<p>Judd knew all too well what that order portended. He could not move. +His cunning eyes protruded with fear as they shifted down and riveted +on the shabby holster that hung on Carse's left side. His breath came +unevenly, in short, ragged gasps through parted lips.</p> + +<p>"Back, Judd!"</p> + +<p>The stinging, icy force of the voice jolted him back despite his will. +One short retreating step after another he took, until at length he +was standing with his three men against the side wall of the cabin, +the dividing line between it and the engine room. Friday's guns were +still covering the pirates.</p> + +<p>"You goin' to shoot us down in cold blood?" one of them asked +hoarsely.</p> + +<p>The Hawk surveyed the speaker until the man shivered. Beneath their +coldness, his gray eyes were faintly contemptuous.</p> + +<p>"No—I leave that for yellow-streaked hi-jacking rats such as you. I'm +going to give you a chance: more than a chance. Friday," he called.</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh?"</p> + +<p>"Do you want to come in on this?"</p> + +<p>Without the slightest hesitation the negro answered, grinning:</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh!"</p> + +<p>"I thought you would. Come here alongside me, then sheathe your guns."</p> + +<p>Friday did so. He stood in position beside his master, just in front +of the opening that led below. The four brigands were some fifteen +feet away. The two groups faced each other squarely.</p> + +<p>"Good," whispered Carse.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hey stood there, four men to two, deadly enemies; yet not one hand +moved toward a ray-gun. Again, an outsider would have marveled why +Judd, the numbers on his side did not draw and fire; why he waited; +why his face was pale, his eyes nervous. But he knew too well what the +least sign of a draw on his part would entail; he preferred to wait, +to receive the advantage of the cold vanity in Carse which demanded, +in gun-play, that the odds of numbers be against him. Perhaps this +time that vanity would lead the Hawk a little too far. Perhaps even +yet a loop-hole for strategy might appear.</p> + +<p>So the Kite waited, but fear was strong within him.</p> + +<p>"A little earlier," the Hawk's frigid voice went on, "there was some +counting. To the number five. Remember, Judd? Well, since you managed +so poorly before, perhaps you'll count again."</p> + +<p>"You mean to count to five?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. And on the fifth count, we draw and fire."</p> + +<p>Judd's eyes narrowed, shifted, while thoughts clashed and meshed in +his brain. Hawk Carse smiled icily.</p> + +<p>"Is that clear?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Judd said after a while:</p> + +<p>"All right."</p> + +<p>Friday noted one of the pirates: a brawny, black-browed giant almost +as large as himself, and decided to go for him when the time came. He +whispered this to Carse; then, keeping his gaze on the man, he stood +ready.</p> + +<p>"Begin, I'm waiting," reminded Hawk Carse.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Kite crouched, drew a deep breath—but before his lips could form +the first count there was a quick, sharp stir of movement from the +brigand to his right; Carse's left hand seemed to vanish; a hiss +followed, a streak of wicked blue light. Friday grunted, not yet quite +realizing what had happened; Judd, gaped at Carse's lowering weapon, +then turned his eyes to the right—and choked out an oath.</p> + +<p>The brawny giant by his side was standing, but his face was creased +and puzzled. One hand was at a holster; the other grasped a +gun—unfired. Accurate to an inch, between his eyebrows there had +appeared is if by magic a neatly seared, round hole.</p> + +<p>His knees crumpled. His gun clanged to the deck. His head bowed; he +bent; he pitched forward, sprawled face downward. Then he quivered and +lay still. A burnt odor was in the air....</p> + +<p>"I'm still waiting, Judd," came an ironic whisper.</p> + +<p>"My God!" stammered one of the pirate chief's two remaining men. "He's +a devil. Fast as light!"</p> + +<p>Judd's eyes had returned to the Hawk, and they still showed some of +his reaction of surprise to what had happened, when a peculiar thing +occurred. For a split second his gaze shot past Carse, took in +something, then switched back again. And when he had done so his face +showed a faint but unmistakable feeling of relief.</p> + +<p>This was old stuff to the Hawk, but he could not afford to take +chances. Instantly he rapped:</p> + +<p>"Look behind. Friday! Quick!"</p> + +<p>The negro jerked his head around. He was too late. He had a glimpse of +a man standing in the man-hole behind—a glimpse of a short steel bar +that flashed to Carse's head in a vicious arc, and again to his own. +He was rocked by pain is blackness came across his vision; and +together, white man and black crumpled to the deck....</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h2><i>Back to Iapetus</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>n indefinite time later Carse awoke to a trip-hammer of pain thudding +through his head. He groaned a little, and tried to turn over in an +effort to ease it. He found he could not. Then his eyes opened and he +blinked up.</p> + +<p>He found himself lying on the deck of the control cabin, near the +after wall, and bound hand and foot with tightly strapped rope. Over +him, looking down, was Judd the Kite, hands on his hips, a gloating +smile on his coarse lips, and in his eyes a look of taunting, exultant +triumph. He drew back his foot and kicked the netted Hawk in the ribs. +The trader made no sound; his pale face did not change, except to set +a trifle more rigidly.</p> + +<p>"Pretty easy the way my men got you, Carse," said Judd. "Seems to me +you're just a damned fool with a big rep you don't deserve. You're +too careless. You ought to know by now not to leave bound men in reach +of high-powered cable. It cuts as good as an electric knife. Does your +head hurt where you were hit?" Deliberately, still smiling, he rapped +his foot brutally against Carse's head.</p> + +<p>The trader said nothing. He glanced around, to get the situation +clearly. Friday, he saw, was in the control cabin too, lying stretched +out and bound as he was, but evidently still unconscious from the +ugly, bloody welt on his head. One of Judd's men was at the ship's +space-stick, another stood by her dials, occasionally glancing back at +the prisoners and grinning; the two remaining pirates were apparently +aft. The body of the one whom Carse had killed had been removed.</p> + +<p>Through the port bow window, far out, he noticed a small spot, half +black and half brilliant with the reflected light of Saturn: that +would be the other space ship, the Kite's, on the same course as they. +And ahead was the large-looming sphere of Iapetus. The pirate was +returning, then, to the ranch, probably to pick up his three men, and +perhaps to leave a small crew to work it.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I'm afraid this is the end of the Sparrow Hawk!" Judd sneered +the name and laughed harshly. "A lot of people will be glad to hear +it. There'll be a big reward for me, too, from Ku Sui. Head still +bad?" And again he swung his leg and drove its heavy shoe into his +captive's head.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse's lips compressed till they were colorless. He looked steadily +at Judd's eyes and asked:</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with Friday and me?"</p> + +<p>"Well," grinned the pirate, "I can't tell you definitely, but it's +sure to be interesting. It'd suit me best if I could teach you a few +little tricks with a peeling knife—the Venusians have some very neat +ones, you know—and then perhaps burn you full of holes. Little holes, +done with a mild needle-ray. But unfortunately I can't kill you +personally, for Ku Sui will want to do that himself. You're worth a +hell of a lot of money alive."</p> + +<p>"I go to Ku Sui, then?"</p> + +<p>"That's right. I'll hand you over when I have my rendezvous with him, +seven days from now. Clever man, Ku Sui! Half Chinese, you know. He'll +be tickled to get you alive."</p> + +<p>A muscle in the Hawk's cheek quivered. Then he asked:</p> + +<p>"And Friday?"</p> + +<p>Judd laughed. "Oh, I don't much care; he's not worth anything. I'll +throw him in with you for good measure, probably. How's the head?" +Once more the foot swung.</p> + +<p>Carse's gray eyes were as frigid as the snow caps of Mars. The left +eyelid was twitching a little; otherwise his pale face was as if +graven from stone.</p> + +<p>"Judd," he whispered, so softly that his voice was almost inaudible. +"I shall kill you very soon. I shall make it a point to. Very soon. +Judd...."</p> + +<p>The Kite stared at the pallid gray eyes. His lips parted slightly. And +then he remembered that his captive was bound, helpless. He spat.</p> + +<p>"Bah!" he snarled. "Just your old stuff, Carse. It's all over with you +now. You'll be screaming to me to kill you when Ku Sui begins to touch +you up!" He guffawed, again kicked the man at his feet, and turned +away.</p> + +<p>Hawk Carse watched him walk to the forward end of the cabin; and, +after a little while, he sighed. He could be patient. He was still +alive, and he would stay alive, he felt. A chance would come—he did +not know how or when; it perhaps would not be soon; it might not come +until he had been delivered to Ku Sui, but it would arrive. And +then....</p> + +<p>Then there would be a reckoning!</p> + +<p>The deceptively mild gray eyes of the Hawk were veiled by their lids.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ight had settled over the ranch by the time the <i>Star Devil</i> and +Judd's accompanying ship were in the satellite's atmosphere. It was +the rare, deep, moonless night of Iapetus, when the only light came +from the far, cold, distant stars that hung faintly twinkling in the +great void above. Occasionally, the tiny world was lit clearly at +night by the rays of Saturn, reflected from one of the eight other +satellites; and occasionally, too, there was no night, the central sun +of the solar universe sending its distance-weakened shafts of fire to +light one side of the globe while ringed Saturn gilded the other.</p> + +<p>But this season was the one of dark, full-bodied nights; and it was +into the hush of their blackness that the <i>Star Devil</i> and her +attendant brigand ship glided.</p> + +<p>Below, on the surface of the Satellite, glowed the pin-prick of a +camp-fire. When the ships were some fifteen thousand feet up, Judd's +orders caused long light-rays to shaft out from the <i>Star Devil</i> and +finger the ground. They rested on the ranch house and then passed on +to douse with white the figures of three men standing by the fire. +Through the electelscope the pirate chief saw them wave their arms in +greeting.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later the two ships nestled down close together a hundred +yards or more from the ranch clearing, and Judd said to his mate, +standing next to him:</p> + +<p>"We'll have a little celebration to-night. Break out a few cases of +alkite and send three of the boys to the ranch's storeroom after meat +for the cook to barbecue."</p> + +<p>"What you goin' to do with them two?" the other asked.</p> + +<p>"Carse and the nig? Keep them here in the control cabin; I'll detail a +couple of men to guard them. I'm taking no chances: they must be in +sight every minute. Carse is too damned dangerous." He peered back at +the captives. The trader's eyes were shut; Friday still appeared +unconscious from the brutal blow on his head. "Asleep. Well, they'd +better sleep—while they have eyelid's to close!" Judd said mockingly, +and his mate laughed in appreciation of his wit.</p> + +<p>But neither the Hawk or Friday was asleep. Nor was the negro +unconscious. Carse had ascertained this some time before by cautious +signals.</p> + +<p>A little stir had come within him when he heard Judd say there would +be a celebration, for a celebration, to these men, meant a debauch and +relaxed discipline, and relaxed discipline meant—a chance. First, +however, there were the tight bonds of rope; they were expertly tied, +and strong. But the Hawk was not particularly concerned about them.</p> + +<p>He had dismissed them as a problem after a few minutes of +consideration, and his mind ran farther ahead, planning coldly, +mechanically, the payment of his blood debts....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ll in all, Judd was to blame for what happened that night on Iapetus. +He was an old hand and a capable one, and certainly he should have +known that extraordinary measures had to be adopted when Hawk Carse +became his prisoner. By rights, he should have killed Friday +immediately, and steered straight for his rendezvous with Ku Sui, +keeping his eye on Carse all the time. He would have had to loaf on +his way to the rendezvous, of course, for it needed but five days to +get there, and he had seven; and he would also have had to pick up his +three marooned men later. But that was what he should have done.</p> + +<p>Yet, when one regards the personal angles, it is necessary to divide +Judd's responsibility for succeeding events. He felt like having a +celebration, and certainly he and his men had earned one. He had +captured the man who had stood, more than anyone else, in his and in +Ku Sui's way for years; the man who had quashed any number of their +outlaw schemes, and who had given more trouble to them than all the +forces of law and order on Earth and the patrol ships in space. More, +he had captured him alive, and that meant a much fatter reward from Ku +Sui. He possessed the valuable cargo of phanti horn; he had taken a +brand new ship, alone worth millions, besides being the fastest in +space. Judd was naturally elated; he had two nights and a day to +spare; he felt expansive, and ordered a celebration.</p> + +<p>Such decisions—trivial when seen from the eminence of a hundred +years—have directed the tide of history more than once.</p> + +<p>There were thirteen men left of Judd's crew, including the three +posted on Iapetus; these three and the six who manned the pirate's own +craft came running to the <i>Star Devil</i> and piled into her open +port-lock. They milled around in the control cabin, shouting in high +spirits, swearing, throwing clumsy jests at the two silent figures on +the deck; and Judd joined with them. There was much loot to be split, +and the Hawk was snared at last! Their chief stilled them for a moment +and said:</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess we deserve a little jamboree. I'm breaking out some +alkite and meat; make a big fire outside and dig some barbecue pits. +Go ahead—out of here! But wait: you, Sharkey, and you, Keyger."</p> + +<p>These last two men, more husky and alert than most of their fellows, +he detailed for guard duty ever Carse and Friday. They were much cast +down at the job, but he premised them a larger slice of the loot for +recompense, and then stalked out after the other men.</p> + +<p>The two guards stuck a brace of ray-guns in their belts and looked +over the captives. Angry at missing the carousal, the man called +Keyger kicked Friday, whose eyelids did not budge and whose body did +not quiver, and then, more gingerly, kicked Carse and swore at +him—but he turned somewhat hastily when the mild gray eyes slowly +opened and stared up into his.</p> + +<p>Then the two guards pulled out chairs and placed them by the open +port-lock, where they could command a view of the celebration. They +drew one ray-gun each, laid them ready, close by, and sat down.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2><i>Jamboree</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>wo hours later their eyes were taking in a fantastic, mad scene, one +that in some ways might have occurred in the days when buccaneers +roamed the Spanish Main of Earth.</p> + +<p>A little over a hundred yards away, straight before them, was the +corral of the phantis: far behind it encroached the shadowy fringe of +the jungle: to their right, closer to the corral than to the space +ships, was the ranch house, lonely now and silent. But these objects +were only the background for what had grown in front of the corral +wire.</p> + +<p>It was the roaring mass of the monster fire that had been lit, a +splash of fierce, leaping flames in the velvety cool of the night. +Black shapes were clustered around it; bottles were raised and +drained; and a frieze of shadows, staggered and jumped and danced +around the ruddy pile of fire. The carousal was in full swing; a +chorus of wild song rose noisily into the night; more cases were +smashed open and more alkite drawn out. The carcases of three animals +taken from the ranch's storehouse sizzled on the barbecue pits, to be +ripped apart and the rich, dripping meat torn at, tooth and claw. Ever +higher pierced the shrieks and oaths, till the calm night was +distorted and crazy.</p> + +<p>Other heavier sounds accompanied the bedlam of human noise: deep +snortings and roarings and the scraping of scores of horn-shod feet. +Behind their wired electric fence was clustered the herd of phantis, +staring with their evil, red-shot little eyes at the flames and the +shapes of the hated men. The big bulls were bellowing, bucking their +heads angrily, churning up the soft soil with their strong, +dagger-spurred feet: the welter of noise and the sight of so many men +had wrought them up into a vicious and dangerous state.</p> + +<p>Judd the Kite, a bottle in one hand and in the other a huge joint of +meat which he was tearing at with his teeth, suddenly paused with +mouth crammed full and stared over through the flickering light at the +phanti corral. A cruel light gleamed in his eyes: he gulped down the +meat and then turned to the shapes staggering around him. He yelled:</p> + +<p>"Hey, there—let's get out the nigger! A little entertainment, +fellows! Bring him out; but don't touch Carse: he's Ku Sui's. Douse +him with water if he's unconscious."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hey yelled in drunken delight at his words, and half of them reeled +off towards the <i>Star Devil</i>. Judd, lips up-curved in a smile, drew +his ray-gun and set the lever over for the low-power, continuous +ray-stream. These guns, unlike our present weapons, could shoot in two +ways: they could spit about twenty high-power discharges, a fraction +of a second each in duration and easily sufficient to burn a man's +head through; or they could deliver a long-lasting low-power stream, +just strong enough to sear and crisp a human skin. For the +entertainment Judd had in mind he needed low power.</p> + +<p>The men sent to the <i>Star Devil</i> shoved past the guards on watch near +the port-lock and over to the prisoners. They found them lying, very +close together near the after wall.</p> + +<p>"Gonna have some fun with the black, Judd's orders," they explained to +the guards. "Still unconscious?"</p> + +<p>Certainly Friday looked unconscious, his eyes closed, his full lips +slightly parted, showing the powerful white teeth.</p> + +<p>"I'll give him a shot of the ray," another brigand cut in. "That'll +bring him to. Be ready to grab him."</p> + +<p>They got an unpleasant shock when the low-power stream flicked the +negro's leg. With a gigantic bellow that rang throughout the ship, +Friday resisted.</p> + +<p>It was like seeing a dead man come to life, and it startled them. +Bound as he was, Friday made things unhealthy for his would-be +captors; he shunted his legs up and down and squirmed mightily, and +once his gleaming teeth snapped into an arm, bringing a howl of pain +and several minutes of cursing. The unexpected resistance, once the +surprise was over, infuriated the rum-sodden men. One of them yelled: +"Sock him; Shorty!" A ray-gun's butt was slapped down on Friday's +head; the negro rolled over, stunned. Then he was picked up without +resistance and borne out into the night, where fantastic figures +cavorted around the towering fire.</p> + +<p>"The black devil was faking all the time!" one of the guards said +amazedly. "He wasn't unconscious. What in hell did he do that for?"</p> + +<p>"Dunno," snarled the other, rubbing a bruised leg. "Must have +suspected what he's gonna get. Wish we was over there."</p> + +<p>"Well, we can watch from here," grumbled his companion, and returned +to the seats by the port-lock.</p> + +<p>They both sat down, their backs half turned to the figure still lying +on the deck.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse had said nothing, made no protest, had not even moved when +Friday struggled in fierce resistance. He could have done much more, +but it would have been useless. Long before, he had seen the negro's +opening eyes and signaled him to feign unconsciousness thus deflecting +attention and making him appear harmless. He had also broached his +plan for escape to Friday. He had not, however, reckoned on Judd's +desire to torture: he would, he now saw, have to act with his greatest +speed to save his mate from as much pain as possible.</p> + +<p>And he began to act.</p> + +<p>The control cabin was streaked with patches of shadow and light, made +vague by pools of darkness thrown by the banks of instruments. Only +one lighting tube was dimly burning. In this indefinite half-light the +Hawk set about stalking his prey.</p> + +<p>With eyes narrowed and steady on the two guards who were completely +absorbed in the happenings outside, he drew his hands from beneath +him. They were no longer bound. The rope knotted around them had been +gnawed through strand by strand—sliced by the strong white teeth of a +negro....</p> + +<p>Cautiously, without a whisper of sound, Carse reached towards the +bonds on his legs. The lean fingers worked rapidly. Quickly the knots, +yielded and the rope was unwound. The legs were free. For a moment +Hawk Carse, ever with careful calculation of time, stretched his +cramped muscles, limbering them for action.</p> + +<p>A mutter came from the port-lock. He froze. But it was only:</p> + +<p>"Look at 'im! This is goin' to be good! Judd gets some damn clever +ideas!"</p> + +<p>They were utterly wrapped up in the scene outside, and unconscious of +the low blot that moved with steely purpose behind them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Hawk got to hands and knees; moved forward, the ghost of a shadow. +The two men who were his quarry were sitting close together, hunched a +little forward in their eagerness not to miss a single detail. Their +heads were not a foot apart. Each wore a ray-gun and had another lying +on the deck at his side.</p> + +<p>Carse came near to their backs. He paused, imperceptibly tensed, +judged the distance carefully. Then in a sudden, snake-like movement, +he sprang.</p> + +<p>A forearm of steel clamped around the back of each guard's head and +jerked it sharply into the other's. There was a quick crack; then, +dazed, only half-conscious, the two men toppled off their seats and +fell to the deck.</p> + +<p>"Quiet!" warned an icy whisper. They stared, gaping, then staggered up +to their feet.</p> + +<p>A ray-gun that just before had been lying on the deck was leveled +steadily at them, held in the hand of a gray-eyed man whose fine +features were as if graven from stone and on whose wrists were deep +blue lines that showed where ropes had pressed. The guards' faces +whitened as realization came. One of them choked:</p> + +<p>"It's him!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," whispered the Hawk dryly. He took a few steps backward, eyes +not moving. "Go to that locker," he said to the shorter of the men, +indicating with a curt nod the place where space suits were stowed. +"First draw your gun and lay it on that table. Hurry!"</p> + +<p>The man hastily complied. Anything else was unthinkable; meant quick +and lonely and useless death. Shouts and laughter and drunken shrieks +were echoing from outside. No one would have ears for him.</p> + +<p>When he had stepped into the locker, Carse closed and sealed the door.</p> + +<p>"What you goin' to do with me?" croaked the remaining guard. He was +big and burly and he towered inches over the figure facing him, but +his lips were trembling and his eyes wild with fear.</p> + +<p>"You," whispered the Hawk frigidly, "kicked me when I was bound." He +sheathed his ray-gun in his holster, then spoke again. "Go for your +gun."</p> + +<p>The pirate trembled all over. His mouth fell open, and his eyes stuck +on Carse's shabby holster. He seemed half hypnotized.</p> + +<p>"Draw."</p> + +<p>The other's swarthy brow beaded with sudden-starting sweat. His hands +hung limp, twitching at the finger-tips. He watched death stare him in +the face.</p> + +<p>"Damn you, Carse!" he burst out and suddenly went for his ray.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse deliberately let him get the gun out. Not until then did his +left hand move. But even with such a head-start, so bewildering was +the adventurer's speed that only one streak of orange light made a +flash in the cabin, and that streak was the Hawk's. The brigand +quivered, his face still contorted with his last desperate emotion; +then he fell slowly forward and thudded into the deck. His body +twitched a little, and in a spasm rolled over. Square between the eyes +was a crisp, smooth-burned hole.</p> + +<p>Hawk Carse gave the body not a glance, but sheathed his ray-gun, +picked up the three others, stuck them in his belt, and glided to the +port-lock. There, he peered outside.</p> + +<p>His face hardened.</p> + +<p>Blobs of flame that flared from wood torches were clustered about the +nearest side of the phanti corral. A dark blur of figures were ringed +in a half-circle, and from it came yells of delight and almost +hysterical laughter. The Hawk's eyes were chilling to look at when he +saw, through gaps in the circle of black shapes, the figure of a huge +negro, standing with his back almost touching the wire fence of the +corral. The actions of Friday gave the clue to what was happening.</p> + +<p>He was caught in a broad ray of orange light, and in it he shuddered +and hopped grotesquely from one leg to the other in an agony of pain, +his lips drawn back taut over the gleaming teeth, his face flexed and +the whites of his eyes showing as the eyeballs rolled. The glow that +in part hung around him streamed from a ray-gun that was held in the +right hand of Judd the Kite. Heat! Friday was being slowly crisped +alive; seared on his feet in a furnace of heat: and the men who ringed +him were yelling advice at him between their laughter. Carse strained +his ears. In a jumble, he caught:</p> + +<p>"Jump over"—"Nah, he'd have to climb"—"Climb! The juice's +cut!"—"Into the corral!"—"Climb over, you black buzzard"—"Hoowee!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>bout a foot behind Friday was the wire fence, behind which the +phantis, their snouts converged towards the pirates, their red-shot +eyes glaring, their powerful hind feet clawing at the ground, were +bellowing in wild and ferocious excitement. Sudden, awful death waited +on the other side of the fence; slow death by burning on this side. +Yet Friday still hoped, still had faith in his master, for he did not +put a quick end to his living death by rushing the devilish circle or +clambering over into the thick of the sharp stabbing spurs.</p> + +<p>Carse's brain moved with the swiftness of light. He could not rush the +group: the odds were too great, and besides, Judd's gun was already +out. Nor could he dive at them with the <i>Star Devil</i> itself, or ray +them from above: that would mean Friday's death too. It would have to +be something else—and in a moment he had it. Carefully he examined +all variations and checked the scheme back: it promised to be the +final move, engendering the final meeting, and there must be no slip.</p> + +<p>First, the Hawk slipped shadow-like to the entrance port of the other +space ship, lying a few hundred feet away, shrouded in darkness. He +had to know if anyone were aboard.</p> + +<p>Gruffly he called inside:</p> + +<p>"Judd! Hey, Judd! You there?"</p> + +<p>There was no answer. Again he called, but the gloomy interior's +silence was not broken. Satisfied that it was empty, he doubled back +with noiseless speed, skirted round the <i>Star Devil</i> and arrived like +a wind-carried wraith at the rear wall of the ranch house.</p> + +<p>A short leap and his hands closed on the copper drain. The muscles of +his wiry arms flexed, and the lean figure raised himself foot by foot +to the eaves, where a pull and press up brought him over the edge. +Stooping, he padded to the side which faced on the clearing and the +corral.</p> + +<p>And then the ray-gun was drawn from its holster.</p> + +<p>For seconds the cold gray eyes reckoned the shooting distance and the +angle. The weapon came up and rested at arm's length. The first finger +of the deadly left hand began to squeeze back.</p> + +<p>A pencil-thin streak of orange light speared the air!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2><i>Stampede</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>udd the Kite was enjoying himself hugely. His bestial sense of humor +was tickled. It was very funny, the contortions of the negro in the +orange ray-stream!</p> + +<p>"Climb over!" he suggested, amid roars of laughter from the circle of +men. "Climb over, why don't you? I've turned off the current. There's +no electricity in the fence. You won't be hurt. Why don't you climb +over?"</p> + +<p>Friday did not, could not answer. His lips were sucked tight together +now in wordless agony; the cheek muscles, strained taut, stood out +like welts of flesh; the huge body, bathed always in that steady glow +of orange, was slightly livid in patches. He hopped mechanically, +changing from one aching leg to the other; his eyes were closed half +the time, his whole being one dumb agony. He did not know when it +would end, but he still had faith.</p> + +<p>Overhead, the flames of four tarred wood torches bobbed and reeled as +the men who held them reeled; seemed to shake in the gusts of laughter +and yells and oaths that came ceaselessly from the onlookers. And in +this distorted light the half-shadowed snouts and bodies of the +phantis, clustered behind their nine-foot-high fence, looked indeed +diabolical. The fence was high, for the creatures possessed surprising +jumping powers; it was composed of eight strands of wire, running +parallel a foot apart from each other, with inter-crossing supports. +The electric current, now turned off, always kept the phantis from +crashing through.</p> + +<p>Judd smiled more widely. "I guess I'll increase the power," his coarse +lips pronounced. "We'll see how you can duck a strong thin beam. I'll +give you about five minutes to climb over. After that you'll be burned +down slowly to a cinder. Now—will you climb? See—I'm moving the +lever over. Watch, now, and feel—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> + +<p>uddenly his voice broke off short. There had been a hiss—a +<i>spang</i>—a slight whip of sound. He glanced around swiftly. No, his +men had not noticed it. They were still laughing, roaring, swaying in +drunken merriment. The Kite's lips curved upward again. He continued:</p> + +<p>"Feel the heat increase. It's stronger, now, and—"</p> + +<p>Again the <i>spang</i>, the whip, the streak of something swift. The men +noticed his expression and quieted somewhat. Judd was looking around +him, and even as he saw what it was there came a cry from a pirate +nearby.</p> + +<p>"Look! The fence!"</p> + +<p>Judd's eyes widened; his lips slackened and lost their smile. The +noise, the laughs, the shouts, screams and oaths died into the night; +frightened silence fell over the group, and all that was left were the +concerted bellowings and snortings from the enraged herd of beasts +just beyond.</p> + +<p>All—except for another <i>spang</i> that sounded as a streak of orange +light arrowed from somewhere through the flickering torchlight. And +with its coming the third parallel strand of the corral-fence whipped +apart with a little singing swish, shot neatly through, as were the +two below it. Ten feet of fence on each side slumped visibly.</p> + +<p>"Someone's shooting it through!" came a scared whisper. Yet still the +brigands, held fascinated by fear and puzzlement, stared at the fence +and at the surging crowd of stampede-crazy animals beyond.</p> + +<p>Another <i>spang</i>, another streak of light! With deadly accuracy the +shot clove the fourth strand. The lower half of a whole section of +fence was gone. Behind it the bucking, red-eyed phantis inched +forward, still afraid of the electric shock they thought was somewhere +there, but drawn to the opening by their hatred of the two-legged +creatures so near. Closer, closer! Then the befuddled pirates found +their senses. Even as the fifth arrow of light came from the invisible +marksman and snapped the fifth strand, a concerted cry of fear of the +advancing beasts went up from the crowd of men.</p> + +<p>"Run! Run! They're coming! They're coming out!"</p> + +<p>They turned, panic-stricken; the torches fell flaring to the ground, +to lie there in pools of flame; the brigands ran for the nearest +shelter, the dark bulk of the ranch house close by. They ran, fear +tingling their spines, in their ears the sound of the maddened +phantis.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> + +<p>rom his vantage point on the roof of the ranch house, the Hawk +confirmed his quick decision that this was the only way.</p> + +<p>Rapidly, as was his custom, he had reckoned the problem out minutely +and carefully; had considered and checked every possibility. He had +to shoot the fence, not the brigands. For he couldn't hope to get more +than a couple of them: a pirate toppling over dead would jar the +others into instant action; they would scatter in the darkness, +leaving the odds too great. And leaving, besides, small chance of +wiping out every one of the pirates.</p> + +<p>As for Friday, he had to take his chance. There was, this way, a good +chance, if he used his brain. For, to the left, as close as the ranch +house to the corral, were the grave-pits he himself had dug some hours +before, and one was still empty, waiting to be filled. It offered +shelter, a good chance—if he used his brain. He, Carse, would do all +he could to protect him from the stampeding beasts while he ran.</p> + +<p>Some of the pirates would be snared by the rush of phantis. Four or +five would probably reach the ranch house. That was what he wanted.</p> + +<p>And that was what he got. His fifth shot fired, straight and true from +the ray-gun of the most accurate marksman of space, the Hawk lowered +the weapon and gazed at the scene resulting, a ghost of a smile on his +lips.</p> + +<p>He saw the mob of creatures, in a bedlam of noise, sweep under the +fence that had for so long kept them back. Bellowing their hatred, +their cruel spurs eager for blood, they charged. Before them fled the +thin fringe of men, Friday on one flank. A man went down with a +scream; a half-grown horn knifed into him; he was trampled, gored, +spurred, and left a bloody welter of death in seconds. Another, +hearing the loud thud of feet just behind, turned with desperate eyes, +dodged, tripped, shrieked and was caught and ripped. Another and +another. In the dancing, flickering half-light of the flames of fire +and torches, a hellish scene of devastation and death spun out.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse was shooting again, with the cold mechanical precision of a +machine. There was Friday to be guarded. He was now separated from the +other men—cut off and edging to one side—to the side where was the +grave-pit! Dodging, wildly twisting and turning, he several times +barely escaped three or four phantis that thundered after him. The +leader took perhaps ten steps: then its body quivered and it tumbled +over and flopped on the ground, a little wisp of smoke curling from +its body. The other two went down in swift succession. But there were +many, and even as Friday melted into the shadows, a group of several +beasts detached themselves and roared after him. The deadly ray-gun on +the roof wrought swift slaughter amongst them, but some got into the +darkness beyond vision of the icy gray eyes.</p> + +<p>Carse lowered his weapon. His face was very hard and very set. Would +they catch the negro? Tumble down on him if he made the pit? Well, +there was no helping it....</p> + +<p>But the reckoning would soon be finished; the time was at hand. Cold +as the deeps of space despite the awful havoc he had just created, +totally without visible emotion, he drew the last unused ray-gun from +his belt and put it in the shabby holster. One would be enough.</p> + +<p>Shadow-like, noiseless and swift, he moved towards the far end of the +roof.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h2><i>The Hawk Strikes</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>is face red, his breath coming in hoarse gasps, Judd the Kite +stumbled through the house's door on the heels of four of his men. He +swung rapidly and flung his weight against the door: locked and +double-locked it. A second later fists pounded on the outer panel, and +a voice, racked with fear and terror, screamed:</p> + +<p>"Let me in! Let me in! Oh, God, let me in! Judd!"</p> + +<p>Then there was the thud of drumming feet, and one awful shriek from +the man who had found the door locked against him.</p> + +<p>But the Kite was not listening. A measure of courage returning to him +with the building's protection, he snapped:</p> + +<p>"Get those other doors locked quick! And lights. Then search the +house."</p> + +<p>The lighting tubes glowed, filling the room with soft radiance. Judd +survey his position.</p> + +<p>He saw that it could have been far worse. But his men needed courage.</p> + +<p>The rapid change from orgy to deadly peril had sobered them +completely. And they were frightened; nor was it fear of the beasts. +They came treading silently back from their inspection of the house, +reporting it empty; but their eyes kept shifting, their ray-guns ready +in hand. Each one knew, deep within him, who had fired the shots that +collapsed the fence. They had taken two captives; Friday had been +under their eyes; there was only one other, and he was—the Hawk.</p> + +<p>Hawk Carse! The four men were nervous. More than a few lonely spots in +the countless leagues of space had seen his vengeance: and they—they +had killed his guards and his overseer, his radio-man, and, with the +fungus, his ship's crew; they had tortured Friday. They were now marks +for the fatal left hand: fugitives from gray, icy eyes. The Hawk was +loose!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> + +<p>udd saw the fear gnawing at their vitals. He felt it too. But there +seemed no immediate danger, so, with a ray-gun in each hand, he +summoned a blustering courage and said to the others, harshly:</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was that damned Carse! He must have got loose in some way. +But pull yourselves together: we're safe here. He's somewhere +outside."</p> + +<p>He reasoned it out for them.</p> + +<p>"He couldn't have done that shooting from the <i>Star Devil</i>; it's too +far away. And he's not in it now or he'd be using it to try and find +that black of his—if the black's still alive. No, he's not in the +ship, and he's not in this house. He's somewhere outside, and he can't +reach us here while the phantis have the place surrounded. We can +shoot them down from the attic, and they'll soon beat it for the +jungle. When that happens we'll rush to the ships, and before Carse +knows what it's all about we'll be up and away and he'll be marooned. +Then we'll get him later."</p> + +<p>His words brought a return of confidence. It was true, the others +thought: the Hawk could not reach them as long as the phantis were +around the house; and when they were driven away, the ships were near +at hand and empty. All they had to do was get to the ships before +Carse. The adventurer certainly was not then in one of the craft, or +he would be wasting no time hunting for Friday—and raying their +stronghold. No doubt he was up a tree somewhere; perhaps gored and +dead.</p> + +<p>One of the men snickered, and Judd smiled at the sound. Their +confidence in him was encouraging.</p> + +<p>"Get to the windows of the attic," he ordered. "Some of those crazy +brutes are horning at the house. We've got to shoot them and get out +of here, quick!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>here were two rooms in the attic; the large one, used as a storeroom +for staple foods, had five windows, long, sloping affairs, three in +front and one in each side wall. The second room was small and at the +rear, and was used to store tools and spare technical apparatus. It +had one little window, set high up, and connected with the larger room +by a door set in the middle of the partition.</p> + +<p>Judd placed one of his pirates at each of the windows of the large +room, taking himself the center one.</p> + +<p>Around the house milled dozens of animal bodies, snorting, bellowing +and roaring, their little red eyes flashing, claws tearing the soil in +futile rage at the men they knew to be safely within. A babel of +brutish sounds rose from them. Two of the bulls fell foul of each +other and fought in fury, to suddenly turn and hurl their weight +against a ground floor door, quivering it. But their rashness was +answered by a streak of light from an attic window, and as one toppled +back, its body burnt through, the sights of the destroying ray-gun +were already on its fellow.</p> + +<p>The huge fire the brigands had laid was dying, and night was seeping +ever thickening darkness over the scene. Glinting very slightly in the +starlight were the black shapes of the two silent space ships.</p> + +<p>Then Judd the Kite, as he aimed and shot and aimed and shot again, was +suddenly struck by a disturbing idea. From where had Carse fired at +the corral fence? What was the logical vantage point for him?</p> + +<p>A shiver trembled down his spine. He saw suddenly with terrible +clearness where that vantage point was—and it had not been searched. +The roof!</p> + +<p>He turned swiftly, his lips opening to give orders.</p> + +<p>And there, standing on the threshold of the door to the smaller +adjoining room, stood the figure of a man whose eyes were cold with +the absolute cold of space, and whose left hand held a steady-leveled +ray-gun that pointed as straight as his eyes at Judd!</p> + +<p>"Hawk—Carse!"</p> + +<p>"Judd," said the quiet, icy voice.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Kite went white as a sheet. His men turned slowly as one. One of +them gasped at what he saw; another cursed; the other two simply +stared with fear-flooded eyes; only one thing flamed in every +mind—the never-failing vengeance of the Hawk.</p> + +<p>"Carse!" repeated Judd stupidly. "You—again!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," whispered the trader. "And for the last time. We settle now. +There are a few debts—a few lives—a few blows and kicks—and a +matter of some torture to be paid for. The accounts must be squared, +Judd."</p> + +<p>And slowly he raised his right hand to the queer bangs of flaxen hair +which hung down over his forehead. He stroked them gently. Judd's +eyes, dry, hot, held fascinated on the hand. He shuddered.</p> + +<p>"It's not pleasant," came the whisper, "to always have to wear my hair +like this. That's another debt—the largest of all—I have to settle. +<i>Sheathe your guns!</i>"</p> + +<p>The voice cracked like a whip. They obeyed without sound, though they +read death in the frigid gray eyes. As their guns went into holsters, +Carse's followed suit; he stood then with both hands hanging at his +sides. And he said, in the whisper that carried more weight to them +than the trumpets of a host:</p> + +<p>"Once before we were interrupted. This time we won't be. This time we +will see certainly for whom the number five brings death. Count, +Judd."</p> + +<p>With a jerk, the Kite regained some control over himself. The odds +were five to one. Five guns to one gun. Carse was a great shot, but +such odds were surely too great. Perhaps—perhaps there might be a +chance. He said in a strained voice to his men:</p> + +<p>"Shoot when I reach five."</p> + +<p>Then he swallowed and counted:</p> + +<p>"One."</p> + +<p>Aside from the tiny flickering of the left eyelid, the Hawk was +graven, motionless, apparently without feeling. Judd, he knew, was +just fairly fast; as for the others—</p> + +<p>"Two."</p> + +<p>—they were unknown quantities, except for one, the man called Jake. +He had the reputation of possessing a lightning draw; his eyes were +narrowed, his hands steady, and the body crouched, a sure sign of—</p> + +<p>"Three."</p> + +<p>—a gunman who knew his business, who was fast. His hip holsters were +not really worn on the hips, but in front, very close together; that +meant—</p> + +<p>"Four."</p> + +<p>—that he would probably draw both guns. So Judd must wait; the other +three, being unknowns, disposed of in the order in which they were +standing; but Jake must be—</p> + +<p>"Five!"</p> + +<p>—first!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ne second there was nothing; the next, wicked pencils of orange light +were snaking across the attic! And then two guns clanged on the floor, +unfired, and the man called Jake staggered forward, crumpled and fell, +a puzzled look on his face and accurately between his eyes a little +round neat hole that had come as if by magic. Two others, similarly +stricken, toppled down, their fingers still tensed on ray-gun +triggers; the fourth pirate, his heart drilled, went back from the +force of it and crashed into the wall, slithering down slowly into a +limp heap. But Judd the Kite was still on his feet.</p> + +<p>His lips were twisted in a snarl; his hands seemed locked. His eyes +met the two cold gray ones across the room—and then his coarse face +contorted, and he croaked:</p> + +<p>"Damn you, Carse! Damn you—"</p> + +<p>His body spun around and flattened out on the floor with arms and legs +flung wide. A tiny black hole was visible through his shirt. He had +been last, and the Hawk had struck him less accurately than his +fellows.</p> + +<p>The trader was unwounded. He stood there for several minutes, +surveying what lay before him. He looked at each body in turn, and his +eyes were calm and clear and mild, his face devoid of expression. +Silence hung over the attic, for the bellowings and snortings of the +beasts outside had died into faint murmurings as they straggled off +for their jungle home. The single living man of the six who had lived +and breathed there minutes before holstered his still warm ray-gun; +and then the sound of a step on the stairs leading from the rooms +below made him look up.</p> + +<p>A man stood in the doorway of the attic.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>e was big and brawny; but, though his arms and bare torso were +streaked with blood, and his trousers torn into shreds, and his legs +crisscrossed with cuts, there was broad grin on his face—a grin that +widened as his rolling white eyes took in what lay on the attic floor.</p> + +<p>Neither said anything for a moment. Then the Hawk smiled, and there +was all friendliness and affection in his face.</p> + +<p>"You made the pit, Eclipse?" he asked, softly.</p> + +<p>Friday nodded, and chuckled. "Yes, suh! But only just. If Ah'd bin a +leap an' a skip slower Ah'd bin a <i>tee-total</i> eclipse!"</p> + +<p>Dancing lights of laughter came to the Hawk's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Still feeling chipper," he said, "—in spite of your burns. Well, +good for you. But I guess you've had enough of Ku Sui for a little +while!"</p> + +<p>The negro grunted indignantly. "You surely don't imply Ah'm <i>sca'ed</i> +of that yellow Chink? Hell, no! Why—"</p> + +<p>Carse chuckled and cut him off.</p> + +<p>"I see. Well, then, drag these carrion out to your pit. And then—"</p> + +<p>There was something in the air, something big. Friday listened +eagerly. "Yes, suh?" he reminded his master after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Judd," said Hawk Carse softly, "was to have had a rendezvous with Dr. +Ku Sui in seven days. The place of the rendezvous is entered in the +log of his ship. I've got the last of Judd's crew a captive on the +<i>Star Devil</i>...."</p> + +<p>The adventurer paused a moment in thought, and when he resumed his +words came clipped and decisive.</p> + +<p>"I myself am going to keep that rendezvous with Ku Sui. I want to see +him very badly."</p> + +<p>Friday looked at the man's gray eyes, his icy graven face, the bangs +of flaxen hair which obscured his forehead. He understood.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30307 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30307-h/images/cover.jpg b/30307-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..068f8ae --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_001.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..24b88c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_001.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_a.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_a.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa86591 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_a.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_c.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_c.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..75c583a --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_c.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_d.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_d.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c80263 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_d.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_f.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_f.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ed7f74 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_f.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_h.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_h.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6d0e81 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_h.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_i.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_i.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbd5c4e --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_i.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_j.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_j.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..efc286d --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_j.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_n.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_n.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb6bdc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_n.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_o.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_o.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..45d6c7e --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_o.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_s.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c25f47f --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_s.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_t.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c51d25a --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_t.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_u.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_u.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8dfb002 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_u.jpg diff --git a/30307-h/images/image_w.jpg b/30307-h/images/image_w.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..61a4298 --- /dev/null +++ b/30307-h/images/image_w.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..490f5a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #30307 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30307) diff --git a/old/30307-h.zip b/old/30307-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6defd89 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30307-h.zip diff --git a/old/30307-h/30307-h.htm b/old/30307-h/30307-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..046dc59 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30307-h/30307-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2983 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hawk Carse, by Anthony Gilmore + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; background-color: #FFFFFF; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + + +.tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.sidenote { + width: 30%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; font-size:smaller;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-right: 0.25em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + + +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawk Carse, by Anthony Gilmore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hawk Carse + +Author: Anthony Gilmore + +Release Date: October 21, 2009 [EBook #30307] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWK CARSE *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<p class="center">This etext was produced from Astounding Stories November 1931. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. </p></div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="360" height="528" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="600" height="365" alt="The Hawk stood there, both arms hanging easily at his +sides." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Hawk stood there, both arms hanging easily at his +sides.</span> +</div> +<p> </p> +<h1>Hawk Carse</h1> + +<h4><i>A Complete Novelette</i></h4> +<p> </p> +<h2>By Anthony Gilmore</h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h2><i>The Swoop of the Hawk</i></h2> + +<div class="sidenote"><p>One of the spectacular exploits of Hawk Carse, greatest of +space adventurers.</p></div> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>awk Carse came to the frontiers of space when Saturn was the frontier +planet, which was years before the swift Patrol ships brought Earth's +law and order to those vast regions. A casual glance at his slender +figure made it seem impossible that he was to rise to be the greatest +adventurer in space, that his name was to carry such deadly +connotation in later years. But on closer inspection, a number of +little things became evident: the steadiness of his light gray eyes; +the marvelously strong-fingered hands; the wiry build of his +splendidly proportioned body. Summing these things up and adding the +brilliant resourcefulness of the man, the complete ignorance of fear, +one could perhaps understand why even his blood enemy, the impassive +Ku Sui, a man otherwise devoid of every human trait, could not face +Carse unmoved in his moments of cold fury.</p> + +<p>His name, we know, enters most histories of the period 2117-2148 A. +D., for he has at last been recognized as the one who probably did +most—unofficially, and not with the authority of the Earth +Government—to shape the raw frontiers of space, to push them outward +and to lay the foundations of the present tremendous commerce between +Earth, Vulcan, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. But, little +of his fascinating character may be gleaned from the dry words of +history; and it is Hawk Carse the adventurer, he of the spitting +ray-gun and the phenomenal draw, of the reckless space ship +maneuverings, of the queer bangs of flaxen hair that from a certain +year hid his forehead, of the score of blood feuds and the one great +feud that jarred nations in its final terrible settling—it is with +that man we are concerned here.</p> + +<p>A number of his exploits never recorded are still among the favorite +yarns spun by lonely outlanders in the scattered trading posts of the +planets, and among them is that of his final encounter with Judd the +Kite. It shows typically the cold deadliness, the prompt repaying of a +blood debt, the nerveless daring that were the outstanding qualities +of this almost legendary figure.</p> + +<p>It began one crisp, early morning on Iapetus, and it ended on Iapetus, +with the streaks of ray-guns searing the air; and it explains why +there are two square mounds of soil on Iapetus, eighth satellite of +Saturn.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse pioneered Iapetus and considered its product his by right of +prior exploration. One or two men had landed there before he came to +the frontiers of space and reported the satellite habitable, possessed +of gravital force only slightly under Earth's, despite its +twelve-hundred-mile diameter, and of an atmosphere merely a trifle +rarer; but they had gone no further. They had noticed the forms of +certain strange animals flitting through the satellite's jungles, but +had not investigated. It was Carse who captured one of the creatures +and saw the commercial possibilities of the pointed seven-inch horn +that grew on its head, and who named it phanti, after the now extinct +Venusian bird-mammal.</p> + +<p>There were great herds of them, and they constituted Iapetus' highest +form of life. The space trader cut off a few of their opalescent and +green-veined horns and sent them as samples to Earth; and, upon their +being valued highly, he two months later established his ranch on +Iapetus, and thus laid the foundation for the grim business that men +sometimes call the Exploit of the Hawk and the Kite.</p> + +<p>No doubt Carse expected trouble over the ranch. To protect the +valuable twice-yearly harvest of horn from Ku Sui's several bands of +pirates, and other semi-piratical traders who roamed space, he built a +formidable ranch-house with generators for powerful offensive rays and +a strong defensive ray-web, and manned it with six competent men. +Moreover, he came personally twice a year to transport the cargo of +horn, and let it be known throughout the frontiers that the sign of +the Hawk was on that portion of Iapetus, and that all who trespassed +would have to answer to him. This should have been, ordinarily, +enough. But there was always the sinister, brilliant Dr. Ku Sui, +plotting against him and his belongings, and reckless others to whom +the ranch might look like easy pickings. From these Carse had long +anticipated a raid on Iapetus.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>nd now he was worried. Clad as usual in a faded blue tunic, open at +the neck, soft blue trousers and old-fashioned rubber soled shoes, he +showed it by pulling occasionally at the bangs of flaxen hair that had +been trained to hang down his forehead to the thick, straw-colored +eyebrows. In his new cruiser, the <i>Star Devil</i>, he was within an +hour's time of Iapetus, which lay before the bow observation ports of +the control cabin like a giant buff-tinted orange, dark-splotched by +seas and jungles, on the third of his semi-annual voyages for the +harvest of horn. Away to the left, scintillating and flaming in the +blackness of space, whirled Saturn, his rings clear-cut and brilliant, +his hard light filling the control cabin. Carse was staring unseeingly +at the magnificent spectacle when the giant negro standing nearby at +the space-stick rumbled:</p> + +<p>"Well, suh, Ah cain't think they's anything wrong—no, suh. They's +nobody'd <i>dare</i> touch that ranch! No, suh—not Hawk Carse's ranch."</p> + +<p>This was "Friday," the herculean black Earthling whom Carse had +rescued years before from one of the Venusian slave-ships, and now a +member of that strange trio of totally dissimilar comrades, the third +of whom was Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow, now absent and at work in +his secret laboratory. Friday thought the Hawk just about the greatest +man in the Solar System, and many times already had he given proof of +his devotion.</p> + +<p>Carse looked full at him. "You're a good mechanic, Eclipse," he said, +"but in some ways very innocent. Crane hasn't replied to us for +seventy minutes. He knows we're coming and he should be on duty. That +cargo's valuable, and it's all ready and packed."</p> + +<p>"Hmff," Friday grunted. "But who you think'd dare try an' swipe it +when we're so close? One o' Ku Sui's gang, maybe?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. I haven't heard anything of Ku Sui for some time, and he's +never more dangerous than when he keeps silent," said the Hawk +thoughtfully. "But Crane might be sick. Or his radio might have broken +down temporarily. Still—"</p> + +<p>It was then that the third man in the cabin, Harkness, the navigator, +straightened abruptly and put a sharp end to the trader's last word by +calling out:</p> + +<p>"Radio, sir!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p> red dot of light was winking on a switchboard. Friday watched the +Hawk move in his quick, effortless way to it and pull a lever down, +all in the same motion, and then the negro's neck muscles corded as he +listened to the sounds that came, choking and barely intelligible, +from a loudspeaker:</p> + +<p>"Carse—Hawk Carse—Crane speaking from the ranch. We're +besieged—pirate ship—outnumbered—can't hold out much longer. We got +most of the cargo inside here, but our generators—they're +weakening—and I'm fading, I guess, and the others that're left are +wounded. Carse—hurry—hurry...."</p> + +<p>Five words went back into the microphone before the receiver went +dead.</p> + +<p>"I'm coming, Crane! Hold on!"</p> + +<p>Friday had seen the Hawk in such moments before, and he knew the +sight; but the navigator, Harkness, had not been with Carse very long, +and now he stood silent, motionless, while despite himself a shiver +ran down his spine as he stared at the tight-pressed bloodless lips +and the gray eyes, cold now as space. He started nervously when the +Hawk turned and looked him in the eye.</p> + +<p>"I want speed," came his quiet, soft, deceptive voice. "I want that +hour's running time sliced by a third. Streak through that +atmosphere."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh!" answered Friday.</p> + +<p>"And you"—to Harkness—"be very sure you get out every ounce she's +got. Tell the engineer personally."</p> + +<p>"Full speed. Yes, sir," said the navigator, and felt relieved when +Carse turned his eyes away. For the Hawk, as always when he learned +that property had been ravaged and his friends shot down, seemed less +human than the Indrots at the far end of the frigid deeps of space he +roamed. His face was mask-like, graven, totally expressionless: blood +had been shed, and for each ounce another had to be spilled to balance +the scales. At a speaking tube that reached aft to the three other +members of the crew, he whispered: "Fighting posts. Arm and be ready +for action. Pirates are attacking ranch," and then went noiselessly to +the forward electelscope. Meanwhile Friday kept his eyes strictly on +the dials before him and held the space-stick rigid, while aft, in the +ship's other compartments, three men strapped on ray-gun belts and +wondered who was doomed to be caught in the swoop of the Hawk.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse himself wondered that. The raider so far showed as a newcomer to +the frontiers of space; he was one who as yet had never faced the +Hawk, one to whom the tales that were told of him seemed laughable, to +whom the rich consignment of horn looked like a gift. Certainly such +an open attack did not resemble Ku Sui's subtle methods, or those of +his several henchmen, pirates of space all; they, rather, struck +behind his back, and then only when the infamous Eurasian had prepared +what seemed an escape-proof trap.</p> + +<p>"Foolish to raid when I'm so close!" he murmured as he trained the +electelscope and peered into its eye-piece. "Stupid! Unless ..."</p> + +<p>Friday, at the space-stick, mopped the trickles of sweat from his brow +and with a vast sigh shifted his bulk. The job of speeding into an +atmospheric pressure was always ticklish, and it was with some relief +that he reported "Into th' atmosphere, suh," according to routine. He +waited for the usual acknowledgment, and when it did not come repeated +his observation in a louder voice. Two full minutes of silence passed. +Then, finally, Hawk Carse turned from the electelscope, and even the +negro shivered at sight of the deadly mask that was his face.</p> + +<p>For the ranch-house in its clearing had dimly appeared in the +electelscope just as Friday had spoken.</p> + +<p>Carse spoke.</p> + +<p>"More speed, if it burns us up," came his almost whispered words. "I +want much more speed."</p> + +<p>Harkness gulped. "Yes, sir," he said, and, moistening his lips, he +returned to the engine-room. The frigid gray eyes swung back to the +sight that was revealed on Iapetus.</p> + +<p>The long, lean shape of a rakish space ship was resting on the soil +some three hundred yards from the ranch-house, and between were the +hazy figures of six men, busily dragging as many boxes towards their +craft. The boxes contained the whole half-year's harvest of phanti +horns, and had obviously been looted from the house. The resistance +had been overcome; the pirate raid had succeeded. The trim, +gray-painted ranch-house was lifeless....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Hawk switched off the electelscope. His colorless lips were +compressed very tightly. "I'll take the helm," he said curtly to +Friday. "Turn on the defensive web, and prepare all ray batteries."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh!" The negro's big, yellow-palmed hands worked dexterously +among the instruments to his right; then, amidships, grew a shrill +whine which keened upward in pitch. A few sparks raced by the <i>Star +Devil's</i> after ports, quickly to disappear after they left the almost +invisible envelope of delicate bluish light that entirely wrapped her +hull.</p> + +<p>She was making dangerous speed. The wind screamed as she streaked +through the satellite's atmosphere, and the great friction of her +passage raised her outer shell to a perilous glow. The altitude +dial's finger almost jumped from forty thousand to thirty-five.</p> + +<p>"Ready for bow-ray salvo."</p> + +<p>"Aye, sir!" replied Harkness, and a moment later repeated crisply: +"All ready for bow-ray salvo, sir!" His voice showed no sign of the +fear within him—fear that the <i>Star Devil's</i> outer hull would reach +the melting point—but his lips fell apart and his face lost its +discipline when the Hawk next spoke and acted.</p> + +<p>"Steady," came the low whisper to his ears—and he saw the controlling +space-stick being shoved down as far as it would go.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h2><i>Pursuit</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hat was the Hawk's method, and it had given him the name which he had +made famous. It was characteristic of the man that he preferred to +strike at an enemy ship in a wild, breath-taking swoop, even as the +fierce hawk plummets from high heaven to sink its talons deep into the +flesh of its more sluggish prey. Nerves were uncomfortable things to +have on such occasions, and Harkness had them, and accordingly he felt +his heart hammer and something tight seemed to bind his throat. He +tried to assume the unshakable calmness of the motionless figure at +the stick, but could not, for his body was only flesh and blood—and +Hawk Carse was tempered, frosty, steel. Through staring eyes the +navigator watched the surface of Iapetus rushing into the bow ports, +watched it spread accelerating outward, until he could plainly see the +pirate ship lying there, and the nearby figures of men tugging at the +heavy boxes of horns.</p> + +<p>His eyes were on those figures when they broke. First they teetered +hesitantly a moment, glancing wildly around and up at the vision of +death that was coming like a silver comet from the skies, and then +they melted apart. Three scrambled towards the rim of jungle foliage +close at hand, while their fellows leaped in the other direction, +trying to make an open port in their craft. Harkness saw them tumble +headlong through it and slam it shut. Then a web of blue streaks +appeared around the ship, and softened until her hull was bathed is +ghostly bluish light.</p> + +<p>"Their defensive ray-web's on, sir!" he managed to gasp. Carse, though +close, might not have heard, so intently was he watching. The altitude +dial's pointer reached for one thousand and slid past. Harkness's face +was pale and drawn; his tight-gripped fingers and clenched teeth +showed that he expected to crash into the ground in a molten, +shapeless tomb of steel. But Friday was grinning, his teeth a slash of +white.</p> + +<p>"Stand by bow projectors," sounded the Hawk's clipped voice. The negro +extended his hands and rumbled:</p> + +<p>"Ready, suh."</p> + +<p>"Fire."</p> + +<p>"Fire!" Friday roared.</p> + +<p>His rich laugh rang out and he whirled the wheels over. With a hissing +as of a hundred snakes, the rays struck.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ell aimed, the bolt speared straight and true. The distance was +short, and it came from generators that were perhaps not equaled in +space; no ordinary ship's defensive web could resist its vicious +thrust. From the streak of silver that represented the Hawk's swoop, a +stream of orange cut a swathe through the air ahead, holding +accurately on the brigand ship. For just a tick of time there was a +turmoil of color as offensive ray met defensive web; then the air +cleared again—and the pirate was unmarked!</p> + +<p>By rights she should have been split in two; and, though his face did +not show it, it must have been surprising to Carse that she wasn't. +With one flick of the wrist he wrenched the <i>Star Devil</i> out of her +plunge and sent her scudding, a hundred feet up, over the jungle rim. +Friday was gaping. Harkness, still numb from the dive, foolishly +staring; and then the brigand bared her fangs in return.</p> + +<p>Orange light winked from her stern, and the Hawk's ship was bathed in +a streak of color. But the bolt caromed harmlessly off the side of the +arcing <i>Star Devil</i>! and the next instant the pirate's lean bulk +swayed, lifted a little and zoomed up into the heavens, abandoning the +boxes of horn without further fight.</p> + +<p>"Runnin' foh it! Scared stiff!" muttered Friday, unholy joy in his +gleaming eyes. He looked at the figure at the stick. "Follow 'em now, +suh, an' wear out their projectors?"</p> + +<p>Carse thoughtfully smoothed his bangs with his free hand. "Plenty of +time for that," he said patiently. "Some of the men on the ranch may +still be alive: we must care for them. I'm going to land. Tell the +engineer to keep watch through the electelscope on that ship. I'll +start overtaking it shortly."</p> + +<p>"Funny our rays didn't ha'm 'em," Friday ruminated aloud. "Ain't no +ordinary craft, that. No, suh, they's more in this heah business than +hits yo' eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Now you're getting cynical, Eclipse," the Hawk said dryly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p> quarter-mile-square block of land had been fenced off as a corral +for the ninety-head herd of bull phantis Carse kept on Iapetus. These +creatures resembled mostly the old ostrich of Earth, but grew no +feathers. The neck, however was shorter than the ostrich's; the +leathery skin of a drab gray color; the powerful hind feet, on which +they stood erect, prehensile and armed with short stabbing spurs; the +forearms short and used for plucking the delicate shoots and young +leaves on which they lived. There was a dim flicker of rudimentary +intelligence inside the bullet heads; they recognized men as their +enemies, and hated them. And therefore they necessitated careful +handling, for, even without the valuable head-horns, their +sharp-spurred feet could rip a human being into shreds in seconds.</p> + +<p>They were clustered now behind the wire corral-fence, electrified to +prevent them from breaking through. They bellowed angrily and shoved +each other about as their wicked little blood-shot eyes caught sight +of the <i>Star Devil</i> as she came dropping gently down.</p> + +<p>At the electelscope of the descending craft was the ship's engineer. +He had just centered the instrument on the fleeing pirate craft that +by now was leaving the satellite's atmosphere, and the image was large +on the screen above the bow windows, where he kept a steady eye on it. +The inner door of the port-lock swung open, the outer door down, and +Carse walked through, followed by Friday and Harkness.</p> + +<p>An ugly scene lay spread out before them in the glaring daylight. The +trader had only gone a few paces when he paused and looked down at an +outsprawled thing that had once been a man. Stooping, he very gently +turned the mess of charred flesh over and peered at what was left of +the face. There were small, burnt holes in it, and the flesh +surrounding them looked as though it had been suspended for some time +over a slow fire....</p> + +<p>Carse rose and stared into space.</p> + +<p>"Ruthers, a guard," he said softly, as if speaking to himself. He +walked on.</p> + +<p>Another heap of flesh was pitched before the front wall of the +ranch-house. The man it had been a little while before had evidently +been running for the door when the deadly rays had got him. His +ray-gun was lying a few feet away. Again Carse stooped and again very +gently pulled the ragged thing over.</p> + +<p>"By God!" stammered Harkness suddenly, staring, his face white, +"that—that's Jack O'Fallon—old Jack O'Fallon! Why, we went to +navigation school together! We—"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Hawk, "O'Fallon, overseer." He stepped into the house. +Friday, impassive and grim, pulled Harkness away from the distorted +body.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hree more were tumbled together behind a splintered table in the main +room. The rays had done their work well. Three were welded, it seemed, +into one.... It was some time before the Hawk's frigid whisper came.</p> + +<p>"Martin ... Olafson ... and this—Antil ... Antil was the only +Venusian I ever liked...."</p> + +<p>The chairs and tables in the room were overturned, most of them bore +the seared scars of ray-guns, which showed plainly enough that there +had been a desperate last minute hand-to-hand struggle there, after +the defensive ray-web had failed and the pirates rushed the building. +The radio alcove was choked with seared, cracked wreckage. Crane, the +operator, still sat in his seat, but he was slumped over forward, and +his head and chest were pitted with slanting ray holes. One hand had +been reaching for a dial. The other was twisted and charred.</p> + +<p>"And Crane, the last," said Hawk Carse, and for some moments he stood +there, his face cold and unmoving save for the tiny twitching of the +left eyelid. Utter silence rested over the bitter three—a silence +broken only by the occasional roar of an angry phanti bull outside in +the enclosure.</p> + +<p>Finally Carse took a deep breath and turned to Friday.</p> + +<p>"You'll see to their burying," he ordered quietly. "Get the power ray +from the ship and burn out two big pits on that knoll off the corner +of the corral."</p> + +<p>Friday looked at him in puzzlement. "Two, suh?" he repeated. "Why two? +Why not put 'em all in one?"</p> + +<p>"You will put all my men in one. I'll need the other later.... You," +he went on, to Harkness, "get the cargo of horns aboard. We can't +leave it out there, for three of those pirates fled into the jungle. I +haven't time to find them, and they'd come out and bury the horns if +we left them. I'll be with you soon. We take off in ten minutes."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," answered the navigator, and he and the negro went out.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> + +<p>or a little while Carse stayed in the cubby. As he softly stroked the +flaxen bangs of hair over his brow, he visualized what had happened +inside that house of death, piecing a number of things together and +forming a whole. On the surface it seemed plain enough, and yet there +were one or two points.... His face showed a trace of puzzlement. He +shook his head slightly; then he stooped and picked up the radio +operator's body with an ease that might have seemed surprising from +such a slender man, and walked out of the house.</p> + +<p>Beyond one corner of the corral, upon a slight rise in the ground, +Friday was melting out the second grave with the ship's great portable +ray-gun. Carse laid Crane's body gently down in the first grave, then +went to where Harkness, with the <i>Star Devil's</i> radio-man and cook, +was loading the cargo of horns aboard. The trader opened several of +the boxes, glanced at the upper layers to inspect the quality, and, +satisfied, closed them again. All the boxes were trundled soon into +the craft's open port and aft to her cargo hold.</p> + +<p>The engineer on watch at the electelscope and visi-screen felt a hand +on his shoulder and looked around to find his captain standing by him. +He pointed up at the screen: on it, the brigand ship was a mere four +inches in size, and bearing straight out on an unwavering course. "I +reckoned their speed to be about ten thousand an hour, a minute ago, +sir," he reported. "Now about five thousand miles away."</p> + +<p>"How soon," Carse asked, "do you think we could overhaul them?"</p> + +<p>The other grinned. "If you're in a hurry, sir, about two hours and a +half."</p> + +<p>"I am in a hurry. I want all the speed you can muster."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Might be able to get it down, to two."</p> + +<p>The Hawk nodded. "Try. Return to your post."</p> + +<p>Outside, through the port, he saw Friday smoothing over the grave, the +burying finished, and he beckoned him in. At that second Harkness +reported the cargo all fastened down. Carse snapped out his orders.</p> + +<p>"Harkness," he said shortly, "you and Friday with me in the control +cabin. Sparks, you can get an hour's sleep, but leave the radio +receiver open. Cook, an hour's rest if you want it—and I think you'd +better want it. There's war ahead. Close port!"</p> + +<p>The inner and outer doors nestled snugly, one after the other, into +place with a hiss; the rows of gravity plates in the ship's belly +angled ever so slightly. She quivered, then, in a surge of power, +lifted straight up and poised; then, answering the touch of +space-stick and accelerator, she went streaking through the atmosphere +on the trail of the distant craft that had left its mark of blood on +Iapetus and provoked the vengeance of the Hawk....</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h2><i>Death Rides the Star Devil</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_u.jpg" alt="U" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>sually, when pursuing an enemy, Hawk Carse was impassive and grim, +apparently emotionless, icy. But now he seemed somehow disturbed.</p> + +<p>He fidgeted around, glancing occasionally at the visi-screen to make +sure his quarry was not changing course, now watching Friday juggle +through the skin of atmosphere into outer space, and now standing +apart, silent and solitary, brooding.</p> + +<p>There was something about the affair he didn't like. Something that +was deeply hidden, that could not be grasped clearly; that might, on +the other hand, be pure imagination. And yet, why—</p> + +<p>Why, for instance, had the brigands taken to their heels with just the +barest semblance of fight? Why, with their defensive ray-web proof for +some time at least against his offensive rays, had they left without +more of a struggle for the horn? Why were they so willing to flee, +knowing as they must that he, the Hawk, would follow? Did they not +know he had—thanks to Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow—the fastest +ship in space, and would inevitably overtake them?</p> + +<p>Were they Ku Sui's men? It seemed so, certainly, from the great +strength of their defensive ray-web. No other ships that he knew of in +space save Ku Sui's possessed such power. But—it wasn't the brilliant +Eurasian's customary style. It was too simple for him.</p> + +<p>Carse stroked his bangs. The factors were all mixed up. He didn't like +it.</p> + +<p>Iapetus' atmosphere was left behind; in minutes the light blue wash of +her sky changed to the hard, frigid blackness of lifeless space. The +<i>Star Devil's</i> lighting tubes glowed softly, though Saturn's rays, +coming through the wide bow windows, still lit every object in the +control cabin with hard and dazzling brilliancy. Inside, light and +color, life and action; outside, the eternal, sable void, sprinkled +with its millions of sparkling motes of worlds. And ahead—shown now +on the visa-screen only by the light dots of its ports—was the +brigand craft.</p> + +<p>The <i>Star Devil</i> was smoothly building up the speed that would +eventually bring her up to the craft of the enemy. Carse's Earth-watch +told him that an hour and a half had passed. A vague anxiety oppressed +him, but he shook it off with the thought that soon the time for +accounting would arrive. Only forty minutes more; probably less. His +fears—foolish. He was getting too suspicious....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hen came the voice.</p> + +<p>It pierced through the control cabin from the loudspeaker cone above +the radio switchboard. It was rough and mocking. It said:</p> + +<p>"Hawk Carse? Hawk Carse? You hear me?" Many times it repeated this. +"Yes? You hear me, Hawk Carse? I've a joke I want you to hear—a very +funny joke. You'll enjoy it!" There interrupted the staccato sounds of +an irrepressible amusement.</p> + +<p>Carse froze. His fingers by habit fluttered over his ray-gun butt as +he wheeled and looked into the loudspeaker. Friday, at the +space-stick, stared at him; Harkness's face was puzzled as he peered +at the loudspeaker and then turned and gazed at his captain.</p> + +<p>"But where," he asked, "—where does the voice come from? Who is it?"</p> + +<p>As if thinking aloud, Carse whispered:</p> + +<p>"From that ship ahead. I half expected ... I know it well, that voice. +Very well. It's the voice of ... of ... I can't quite place it.... In +a minute.... The voice of—"</p> + +<p>The chuckling ceased, and again the voice spoke.</p> + +<p>"Yes—a very funny joke! I can't share it all with you, Carse, because +you'd spoil it. But do you remember, some years ago, five men—and +another who lay before them? Do you remember how this last man said: +'Each one of you will die for what you've done to me?' That man didn't +wear bangs over his forehead then. Remember? Well, I'm one of the five +the mighty Hawk Carse swore he would kill!"</p> + +<p>Again the voice broke into a chuckle.</p> + +<p>But it ended suddenly. The tone it changed into was entirely +different, was cruel with a taunting sneer.</p> + +<p>"Bah! The avenging Hawk! The mighty Hawk! Well, in minutes, you'll be +dead. You'll be dead! The mighty Sparrow Carse will be dead!"</p> + +<p>A brief eternity went by. Carse remembered, and the glint in his gray +eyes grew colder.</p> + +<p>"Judd the Kite," he whispered.</p> + +<p>Friday's lips formed the words.</p> + +<p>And even Harkness, new to the frontiers of space, knew the name and +echoed it haltingly.</p> + +<p>"Judd the Kite...."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>f all the henchmen Dr. Ku Sui had gathered about him and banded +against Earth, and against Carse, and against all peaceful traders and +merchant-ships, Judd was perhaps the most cruel and relentless.</p> + +<p>The Kite he was called—though only behind his back—yet it might +better have been Vulture. Big and gross, with thick unstable lips and +stubby, hairy fingers, more than once he and his motley gang of +hi-jackers had painted a crimson splash across the far corners of the +frontiers, and daubed it to the tortured groans of the crews of honest +trading ships. Often they had plunged on isolated trading posts and +left their factors wallowing in their life blood. And more....</p> + +<p>There are things that cannot be set down in print, that the carefully +edited history books only hint at, and into this class fell many of +the Kite's deeds. He was a master of the Venusian tortures. He and his +band during the unspeakable debauches which always followed a +successful raid would amuse themselves by practising certain of these +tortures on the day's captives; and his victims, both men and women, +would see and feel indescribable things, and Death would be kept most +carefully away until the last ounce of life and pain had been squeezed +quite dry.</p> + +<p>"Judd the Kite," Carse repeated in a hardly audible whisper. "Judd the +Kite ... one of the five...." Slowly his left hand rose and smoothed +his long bangs of flaxen hair. "I have been looking for him."</p> + +<p>"Will you reply to him, sir?" asked Harkness.</p> + +<p>"What use? His trap—Ku Sui's trap, of course—has already been set." +His brain raced. "What could it be?" he whispered slowly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> + +<p>riday was scratching his woolly hair, his smooth face puzzled, when +Carse, with the crisp decisiveness that always came to him when in +action, looked up at the visi-screen. The brigand was still clinging +to a straight course, and being overhauled rapidly. Another thirty +minutes and they would be within striking distance. He said tersely:</p> + +<p>"Set up the defensive web. Spiral and zig-zag the ship all you dare, +altering the period of the swing each time. Harkness, you and I are +going to make an inspection tour. General alarm if Judd's course +changes, Friday."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh." The negro, frowning, gave his undivided attention to his +instruments as the Hawk and Harkness went aft into the next +compartment, the engine room.</p> + +<p>It looked quite normal. The great dynamos were humming smoothly; the +air-renewing machine was functioning steadily; the gauge hands all +slept or quivered in their usual places. Nothing uneven in the slight +vibration of the ship; nothing that might possibly forbode trouble. Up +on his perch, the engineer peered down curiously and asked:</p> + +<p>"Anything wrong, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet," Carse answered shortly. "You're sure everything is regular +here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Good. But check every vital spot at once—and quickly. Then keep +alert."</p> + +<p>They passed on into the following compartment, the mess-room and +sleeping quarters for the crew. Solid, rhythmical snores were issuing +from the cook's open mouth as he lay sprawled out on his bunk; the +smell of coffee hovered in the air; the cabin was quiet and +comfortable with an atmosphere of sleep and rest. The radio-man, +reading in his bunk, looked over and, seeing it was Carse, sat up.</p> + +<p>"Notice anything wrong?" he was asked.</p> + +<p>"Wrong? What—Why, no, sir. You want me for duty?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Stay here and keep your eyes open for signs of trouble. I'm +expecting some. General alarm if the slightest thing happens." And +Carse went noiselessly into the last division of the ship.</p> + +<p>This was the cargo hold. The boxes of phanti horns were neatly stacked +in precise rows; the dim tube burning overhead showed nothing that +gave the smallest cause for alarm. The Hawk's narrowed eyes swept +walls, deck and ceiling in a search for signs of strain or buckling, +but found none.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hen he let himself down into the ship's belly, in the three-foot-high +space between the deck and the bottom outer hull. He found the three +rows of delicately adjusted gravity plates in good order. Harkness +joined him.</p> + +<p>Their hand-flashes scanned every inch of the narrow compartment as +they made the under-deck passage from stem to bow and up through the +forward trap-door into the control cabin. They found nothing abnormal. +The water and fuel tanks, built in the space between the inner and +outer shells above the living quarters, also yielded nothing; likewise +the storeroom.</p> + +<p>Nothing. Nothing at all. The whole ship was in excellent condition. +Everything was working as it should. Carse went forward again with +Harness; turned and faced him with puzzled eyes.</p> + +<p>"I can't understand it," he said. "Why that threat, when everything +seems all right? How can Judd reach me to kill me? And in minutes?"</p> + +<p>The navigator shook his head. "It's beyond me, sir."</p> + +<p>The Hawk shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we'll see. It might be +something altogether new. You report to the engine-room and keep on +watch there. Any sound or sign, give the general alarm."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he said, and left.</p> + +<p>"He talkin' foolish, that Judd," grumbled Friday, seeing that the +search had been fruitless. "He think maybe he can bust through our +ray-web? Hmff!"</p> + +<p>His master said nothing. He was standing motionless in the center of +the cabin, waiting—waiting for he knew not what.</p> + +<p>Then it came.</p> + +<p>A preparatory sputter from the loudspeaker that spun Friday around. +Hawk looked up, tensed. Again sounded the hard, sneering voice of Judd +the Kite.</p> + +<p>"We're ready now, Carse: there was a little delay. I'll give you, say, +five seconds. Yes—one for each of the five men you did <i>not</i> kill. +Shall I count them off? All right. You have till the fifth.</p> + +<p>"One."</p> + +<p>Friday's big eyes rolled nervously; he wiped a drop of sweat from his +brow and cursed.</p> + +<p>"Two."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>e glanced at the Hawk, and tried himself to assume the unshakable +steely calm of the great adventurer. But his fists would clench and +unclench as he stared up at the visi-screen. No change! The brigand +was running straight ahead as ever, apparently fleeing.</p> + +<p>"Three."</p> + +<p>The negro's breath came more quickly; the tendons of his neck stood +sharply out, and his powerful arms twitched nervously. "What's he +goin' to do, suh? What's he goin' to do?" he asked hoarsely. "What's +he goin' to do?"</p> + +<p>"Four."</p> + +<p>"Change course—a-starboard!" Carse rapped. The space-stick moved a +little, all Friday dared, at their speed; the position dials swung; +the dot of a fixed star that had been visible a moment before through +the bow windows was now gone. Till the fifth, Judd had said.</p> + +<p>"Five!"</p> + +<p>The two men in the control cabin of the <i>Star Devil</i> peered at each +other. One of them licked his lips and wiped the sweat from his brow. +But there was nothing. No sound, no change. No general alarm bell. No +offensive ray spearing across the reaches of space; no slightest +change in the brigand's course. He who had mopped the sweat away +laughed loud and long in overwhelming relief.</p> + +<p>"All foolishment!" he gurgled. "That Judd, he crazy. Try to scare us, +I guess—huh! Try to—"</p> + +<p>"<i>What's that?</i>" whispered Hawk Carse.</p> + +<p>A sudden faint rustle of noise, of movement, had breathed through the +ship.</p> + +<p>At first it was hardly discernible; but it grew. It grew with +paralyzing rapidity into a low but steady murmur, blended soon with +voices raised in quick cries. There was one piercing, ragged shriek, +and all the time an undertone of the indefinite, peculiar sound of +something rustling, creeping, growing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hen came the harsh jangle of the general alarm bell.</p> + +<p>"Space-suits!" Carse snapped. The alarm was the signal to put them on; +it was a safeguard from a possible breach in the ship's walls. Against +such an emergency they had drilled often, and all over the ship the +crew would be springing rapidly into space-suits hanging ready.</p> + +<p>The space-stick automatically locked as Friday, eyes rolling, leaped +with his master to the nearby locker. The shriek from aft had quickly +died, the alarm bell had snapped off; but now there came a frantic +rush of feet, and a man tumbled through into the control cabin, his +face white, his eyes stark with horror, his breath coming in gasps and +the sweat of fear on his brow.</p> + +<p>It was Harkness.</p> + +<p>He slammed the door tight shut behind him and stumbled to the suit +locker; and as his fingers fumbled at his suit with the clumsiness of +panic, he stammered:</p> + +<p>"The cargo—the boxes of horn—it came from aft! Fungus! Planted in +the horn! It's filling the ship! Got all the others and grew—<i>grew</i> +on them! Dead already. There—look, look!"</p> + +<p>Carse and Friday, grotesque giants in the bulky sheathings of stiff, +many-plied fabric, turned as one and peered through their quartzite +face shields to where the navigator's bulging eyes directed them.</p> + +<p>It was the door between control cabin and engine room—the door he had +just slammed shut. At first nothing was visible; then they saw the van +of the enemy that had swarmed through the ship.</p> + +<p>A thin line of bright yellow color had appeared along the under crack +of the door. A second later the door was rimmed on all sides with it. +It grew; reached out. Energy flowed through it: fingers of dusty +yellow pronged out from the cracks where the door fitted, hung +wavering for a moment, melted together, then slumped to the floor to +more quickly continue the advance. It increased marvelously, in minor +jerks of speed. It was delicate in texture, mold-like. The more there +became, the faster it grew: in seconds shreds of it had darted out +from the main mass and affixed themselves to the walls and ceiling of +the cabin, there to accelerate the horrible filling process.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ll this happened more quickly than it can be related. Within ten +seconds most of the cabin was coated by the yellow stuff; grotesquely +formed clumps and feathers hung from the ceiling; fern-like fingers +kept spurting everywhere. Friday stepped back, before the advance, but +not the Hawk. Useless to try and evade the stuff, he knew, and he was +fairly positive that there was no immediate danger: the tough fabric +of the suits should resist it. A pseudopod-like surge flicked to his +leg; crept up; cloaked the suit in patches of yellow; thickened and +enveloped him. But it could not pierce through.</p> + +<p>"Cap'n Carse! Look heah!"</p> + +<p>He turned to the alarmed voice, brushing light, feathery particles of +yellow from his face shield, and found the bulky giant that was Friday +a few steps behind him, and pointing mutely at Harkness.</p> + +<p>The young officer was slumped limply down against a wall, his legs +sprawled and body twisted unnaturally. His suit was covered with the +yellow, and he had fallen, silently, while they were watching the +advance of the fungus and checking the fastenings of their suits.</p> + +<p>Carse reached him in three steps, stooped, brushed the fungus off the +face-shield and peered through. Friday looked over his shoulder. The +yellow enemy had laid its deadly fingers on Harkness's fine pale face. +Sprouts of yellow trailed from the nostrils; the mouth was a clump of +it; tendrils of spongy substance had climbed out the ears and were +still threading rapidly over the head, even as the Hawk and Friday +watched.</p> + +<p>"That's how the others died," the adventurer said slowly. "Harkness +must have carried a bit of the stuff from aft. It was on him when he +put on his suit. At least I hope so. If it can get into these +suits...." He left the thought unfinished.</p> + +<p>"You mean, suh," asked Friday haltingly, "you mean that maybe—maybe +it'll get in our suits too?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Carse without emotion.</p> + +<p>They waited.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h2><i>The Hawk Prepares a Surprise</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>awk Carse's icy poise in times of emotional stress never failed to +amaze friends and enemies alike. Most of them swore he had no nerves, +and that in that way he was not human. This estimate, of course, is +foolish; Carse was perhaps too human, as was proved by the +all-consuming object of his life. It was rather, probably, an inward +vanity that made him stand composed as a statue while death was +gnawing near; that had, once, led him actually to file his nails when +apparently trapped and hotly besieged, with the wicked hiss of +ray-guns all around.</p> + +<p>And so he stood within his suit now—calm, quite collected, his face +graven, while the yellow tendrils carpeted the whole cabin, penetrated +between the twin banks of instruments on each side and clouded the bow +windows, visi-screen and positionals until the two living men aboard +that ship of death were completely shut off from outside vision. +Friday, his large white eyes never for a moment still, and waiting as +the Hawk was waiting to find whether or not their suits, too, harbored +the fungus, could quite easily have been scared into a state of panic; +but the sight of the steely figure near him eased his nerves and +brought a vague kind of reassurance.</p> + +<p>Minutes went by. Presently the Hawk said softly into his microphone:</p> + +<p>"We're safe, now, I think. You'd better go aft and see what state the +ship's in. Come right back." And as Friday left, wading through the +clinging growth, the trader went to the eye-piece of the electelscope.</p> + +<p>He brushed the puffy covering of yellow silt away and adjusted the +instrument's controls as best he could, centering it on where Judd's +craft had last been. Then he peered through—and saw that which made +him start.</p> + +<p>The <i>Star Devil</i> was rolling round and round, like a ball!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse looked out on a star-studded panorama that was sweeping crazily +by. Now the cloudy globe of Iapetus, which had just before lain far +behind, came swinging into view, sliding rapidly from the bottom of +his field of view to the top, and so out of sight again, to quickly +give place to the flaming, ringed sphere of Saturn, which in turn +passed away and left the star-spangled blackness of space. Then +Iapetus once more. He snapped the electelscope off abruptly, and +turned from it to see Friday come clumping back.</p> + +<p>"Swept everything clean, suh," the negro reported gloomily. "That +fungus's thick; cain't even see the men's bodies, it's so deep. It's +that way, all over."</p> + +<p>"It's down in the gravity propulsion plates too," Carse said shortly. +"Their adjustment's been ruined by it, and we're out of control, +turning over and over. I couldn't possibly see Judd. Well, we've got +to go down to the plates and try and clean them."</p> + +<p>It was a weird scene that faced him in the engine room. The complex +instruments and machinery were draped with straggling ferns of yellow; +up above, a solid clump some ten feet thick hung on the platform where +the engineer usually stood—a living tomb. The usual purr of the +mechanisms was muffled and hushed. So fecund was the fungus that the +path Friday had cleared in his passage aft was already filled, and +Carse had to clear a new one. The growth was deep there, but still +deeper in the next compartment.</p> + +<p>It was practically a solid mass of yellow, for in it their invader had +found food. It had fed well on the lockers of supplies and devoured +all but the bones and clothing of the two men whom it had +caught—radio-operator and cook. Carse fought on through this tough, +clinging sea and came at last to the cargo hold, where, in the deck, +was the man-hole that gave passage down to the 'tween-decks +compartment where the rows of gravity propulsion plates were located.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> + +<p>riday raised the cover with a wrench: then, preceded by the rays of +their hand-flashes, they climbed down and wormed forward as best they +could in their hampering suits, to the plates. They found they had +lost their customary glitter beneath powdery coatings of yellow, +sufficient to disturb their faint electric currents and +microscopically adjusted angles. On hands and knees—for the +compartment, though as wide as the ship's inner shell, was only three +feet in height—the Hawk stopped and said:</p> + +<p>"We might be able to get some use out of these plates if we can keep +the fungus brushed off. It's thin: let's try it."</p> + +<p>But the yellow growth's vitality baulked them. Sweating from their +awkward exertions inside the hot space-suits, they again and again +brushed clean the plates with pieces of waste—only to see the +feathery particles regather as quickly as they were cleared away. +There wasn't more than an inch of the fungus, but that inch stuck. +There was no removing it.</p> + +<p>"No use, boss," gasped the negro, pausing breathless. "Cain't do it. +Nothin' to do, I guess, but wait an' see what de Kite does. He'll sure +want this ship and the horn."</p> + +<p>"I know," his captain answered slowly. "He'll want this ship, for it's +the fastest in space—but I can't understand how he'll board us. I'm +going up and see what I can find out. You stay here. Try cleaning the +plates again."</p> + +<p>Up through the man-hole he went, and forward to the control cabin. +And, as before, the electelscope's eye-piece held a surprise for him.</p> + +<p>Somehow, the <i>Star Devil's</i> speed of wild tumbling had lessened. A +moment later the reason appeared. As her bow dipped down and down, +there slid across the field of view, about a mile away, the lighted +ports of another ship; and, from this other ship's nose there winked a +spot of green, the beginning of a ray-stream which stabbed across the +gulf to impinge on the <i>Star Devil's</i> bow. Carse could feel his craft +steady as it struck. It was a gravital ray, with strong magnetic +properties, which Judd was using to stop her turnings so he and his +men could board!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>gain and again the beam flashed across the Hawk's field of view, and +he knew it was raying its mark neatly each time her bow swung abeam, +for soon she was hardly turning at all. Then Judd evidently was +satisfied. The port-lights of his ship veered aside; drew to a +position abreast of the other. The two cold gray eyes that watched saw +the outer port-lock door of the pirate open, revealing six figures, +clad in space-suits and connected by a rope, that stepped out, pushed, +and came floating towards the <i>Star Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>Swiftly Carse moved. For many reasons it was useless, he rapidly +decided, to try and surprise them as they boarded; there was a better +and surer way. And, as always, he attended to every little +detail—details that to others might have seemed trivial—of this +preferred way.</p> + +<p>With quick, strong fingers he removed the fungus-choked body of +Harkness from its space-suit, and threw the suit into a nearby locker. +From another locker he selected a loop of yellow-encrusted rope. +Holding this over one arm, he made his way back rapidly to the aft +man-hole, closed it carefully behind him and crept forward to the +anxious negro who was still futilely dusting the plates. He told what +he had seen, but nothing else.</p> + +<p>Friday noted the rope, and he twisted his whole body to get a sight of +Carse's gray eyes, through the face-shield.</p> + +<p>"What we do, then, suh?" he asked. "Try an surprise 'em?"</p> + +<p>"Can't do that; we'd still be helpless, without a way to remove this +fungus. They probably know how to do it, and we've got to give them a +chance."</p> + +<p>Puzzlement pricked the negro. "Then what you goin' to do with that +rope?"</p> + +<p>"You'll soon see," snapped Hawk Carse.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hey waited.</p> + +<p>It was hot and stuffy down in the belly of the ship, and also utterly +black, for the trader had flicked off his hand-flash. Friday was +unhappily possessed of an active curiosity; he wanted terribly to go +on with his questions and ask Carse what his plan was; but he did not +dare, for he knew very well from past experience that the Hawk was +impatient of detailing his schemes in advance. So he sat in silence, +and sweated, and stared gloomily into the darkness, thinking uneasy +thoughts.</p> + +<p>True, he thought, Judd the Kite did not know that Carse and he were +still alive; on the contrary, he was probably convinced that they were +dead; but what good did that do? Surely it would have been better to +have surprised the brigands when boarding, but Captain Carse was +against that. And they were hopelessly outnumbered.</p> + +<p>Friday remembered a tale told him once by a survivor of a trading ship +Judd the Kite had destroyed. It wasn't a nice tale. The Kite, so the +report ran, was diabolically ingenious with a long peeling knife, and +could improvise with it for hours. Friday pursued the tack of thought, +and then suddenly began to sweat in earnest. He +recalled—horrible!—that Judd possessed a special dislike for colored +gentlemen!...</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lawd!" he groaned, unconsciously—to have a cold voice ring in +his earphones.</p> + +<p>"Quiet!" it snapped. "They're entering."</p> + +<p>The negro threw a switch on his helmet so he could catch outside +noises. His body tensed. From above, unmistakably, had come the hiss +of the inner port-lock door opening. And again, moments later, the +hiss echoed. Twice! The lock could hold three men at a time. That +probably meant that all six had boarded. Friday turned in the darkness +and peered at Carse.</p> + +<p>The adventurer without warning flicked on his hand-flash. The beam +fell on the parallel planes of the yellow-covered gravity plates. The +negro, every nerve in him jumping from impatience and suspense, gazed +at them, and suddenly straightened. The mold-like fungus which had +prevented them from getting the ship into control was slowly melting +away. It was dwindling into fine dust!</p> + +<p>"Gas," came a soft whisper to him. "As I expected, Judd's cleaning it +out with some sort of gas. But the plates won't work yet—not until +they're polished bright." Unthinking, Friday raised his hand to his +helmet fastenings. "Keep your face-shield shut!" he was ordered +crisply. "The gas would be as fatal as the fungus."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ilence rested tensely over the two men, to be broken at last by the +clump of feet proceeding aft on the deck above.</p> + +<p>Carse switched off the light. His voice was but faintly audible.</p> + +<p>"Coming down to clean off the dust. He'll have a flash. Hide behind +the truss-work at your side, and when he gets here seize him by the +neck. I'll be with you right away. I want no noise."</p> + +<p>Friday saw a great light, and grinned in the confidence it brought +him. Of course! That explained the rope. The plan was so simple it had +escaped him. Already he felt cheerful. It was only mental worries, and +never physical hazards, that unsettled him. He angled around the +truss-work and shrank into as small a space as possible—which wasn't +very small, as he still wore his bulky, clumsy suit.</p> + +<p>The clump-clump of feet had died: now there came the sound of the +man-hole aft being raised. A white beam pronged down into the +darkness, felt around and flicked off. Boots clanged on the connecting +ladder; reached the bottom. The light appeared again, lower now, and +came slowly forward. Limned faintly against the reflected light was +the outline of a crouching man's body.</p> + +<p>He went to hands and knees and progressed carefully, his flash darting +to left and right. Suddenly, in a certain light, the two who awaited +his coming saw a swarthy, black-stubbled face in profile. He wore no +space-suit! That meant, Friday reflected, that the brigands had +cleared the ship of the gas in some way. It meant that they could get +out of their own suits.</p> + +<p>But they could not possibly do so at the moment. They heard the nearby +pirate's breathing, a harsh oath as he stubbed a toe. The negro +tightened his giant arms and held himself ready, his eyes steady on +the black outline which signified his quarry. Then the pirate was +close enough.</p> + +<p>It was over in seconds. Rounding the truss, Friday caught the man in +the armored crook of his arm. A startled croak preluded the thump of +two bodies on the hull; there was the tinkle of a falling hand-flash +and a slight squirming which was quickly stopped by a belting punch.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hen Carse was there in the darkness, looping his rope around the +pirate's arms and legs—a difficult job when wearing a bulky +space-suit in such cramped quarters. He used a bunch of waste for a +gag and then hauled the captive to a girder farther forward and bound +him sitting to it. By the time he had finished, Friday was out of his +space-suit and asking:</p> + +<p>"Shall I rub him out, suh? Best make sure of him."</p> + +<p>"Never in cold blood," said the Hawk acidly. "You should know that +well enough by now!</p> + +<p>"Now, there should be five left above, and I think they'll send +another down. We must get him, too. Get back where you were."</p> + +<p>He took off his space-suit also: then, after minutes of silence, they +heard voices upraised in argument coming from the control cabin. Once +more came the sound of feet overhead; another flash bit down through +the man-hole, and another man wriggled into the compartment. He was +obviously uneasy and suspicious. He called:</p> + +<p>"Jake! Hey, Jake! You there? Where the hell are you?"</p> + +<p>Mumbling oaths, he advanced, his light ray weaving over every inch +before him.</p> + +<p>"What you doing, Jake? Where are you?"</p> + +<p>Friday gathered his muscles, unhampered now by the restricting suit. +But light must have been reflected by the round whites of his eyes, +for the pirate suddenly stopped and called in sharp alarm:</p> + +<p>"What's that? What's that there? You, Jake? Hey! I'll ray you—"</p> + +<p>And that was all he said. Friday was too far away to reach him in +time, but the Hawk was closer; he approached behind the brigand, +crouched on silent cat's feet. Two powerful arms reached out and +tightened in a strangle hold—and two minutes later the second man was +bound and gagged.</p> + +<p>Carse loosened his ray-gun in its holster.</p> + +<p>"Now we attack," he whispered. "Four to two are fair odds, I think. +You go aft and wait by the man-hole; wait till you hear me call. Don't +be seen—wait. And when I call, come at once."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh. You goin' forward 'tween the hulls?"</p> + +<p>A curt nod answered him.</p> + +<p>"Then up through that—"</p> + +<p>"Don't ask so many questions!" the Hawk rasped crisply.</p> + +<p>They separated.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h2><i>The Hawk and the Kite</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the deck of the control cabin, between a bank of instruments and +the starboard wall, was another man-hole that gave entrance from the +'tween hulls compartment to the cabin.</p> + +<p>Only two men besides Carse knew of its existence. The adventurer for +good reasons of his own had it built in; and so cunningly was its +cover fitted on that its outlines were not visible.</p> + +<p>Beneath it, now, on the three-rung ladder that led up from the lower +shell, Hawk Carse waited.</p> + +<p>He could hear quite clearly the angry, snarling voice of Judd the +Kite, haranguing his men.</p> + +<p>"Rinker, you go down and see what's wrong. Just because Jake and Sako +don't come back right away, you guys seem to think the ship's haunted! +Haunted! By Betelguese! A sweet bunch of white-livered cowards I've +got for a crew—"</p> + +<p>"Ah, lay off!" growled a deep, sullen voice. "I ain't scared, but this +looks fishy to me. Something's wrong down there 'tween the hulls—damn +wrong, I tell you. We only found four skeletons, an' four, ain't the +full crew for a ship like this. There oughta to be a couple more +somewhere. Carse, blast him! he's got nine lives. How do we know he +was one of the four?"</p> + +<p>Another spoke up, as Rinker evidently hesitated. "I say we all go down +and investigate together."</p> + +<p>"Stow it!" thundered Judd. "They didn't get their space-suits out, did +they? Why, they hadn't a chance to escape—none of 'em. They were +killed, every one, quick! And four's plenty to work this ship. Carse +is dead, see, dead! This was one trick he didn't know—one time he +couldn't worm out. He was clever, all right, but he couldn't quite +stack up against me. I swore I'd get him and I did. He's dead!"</p> + +<p>"Judd," said a low, clear voice.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Kite whirled around. He stared. The hand-flash he was holding +dropped to the deck with a clang. His hands went limp, and his voice +was suddenly weak and dazed.</p> + +<p>"My God—Carse! Hawk Carse!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," a whisper answered. "Hawk Carse. And not dead."</p> + +<p>It was a scene that might have puzzled a newcomer to the frontiers of +space. Certainly there seemed to be nothing menacing about the slender +figure that stood by the now open man-hole, both arms hanging easily +at his sides; the advantage, on the contrary, appeared to be all with +the men whom he confronted. All but one was big, and each was fully +armed with a brace of ray-guns and knives.</p> + +<p>But, though there were four guns to one, they made no attempt to draw. +For it was the Hawk they faced, the fastest, most accurate shot in all +those millions of leagues of space, and in his two icy eyes was a +menace that filled the control cabin with fine-drawn silence.</p> + +<p>At last Judd the Kite opened his lips and wetted them.</p> + +<p>"Where did you come from?" he stammered.</p> + +<p>"No matter," came the answer from the thinly smiling mouth. "Friday!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh!" boomed the big black's distant voice.</p> + +<p>Judd's three men turned their heads and saw Carse's famous satellite +step into the control cabin, a ray-gun in each capacious hand. He was +all flashing white teeth, so wide was his grin.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" he chuckled. "Ain't this the pleasure! Certainly am +pleased to meet old friends like this—yes, suh! Jus' drop in?"</p> + +<p>But the Kite's head had not turned; he seemed not to hear Friday's +words; his eyes were held fascinated by Carse's. The attention of +everyone came back to the two leaders.</p> + +<p>"Ku Sui is in back of this?" asked the Hawk.</p> + +<p>Judd licked his lips again. He had to spar for time: to divert for a +while the vengeance he knew possessed the other's mind, so that he +might find some chance, some loop-hole.</p> + +<p>"That's right," he began eagerly, "it was Ku Sui. I had to do this, +Carse: I hadn't any choice. He's got something on me: I had to go +through with it. Had to!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Hawk's eyes were glacial; the ghost of a smile hovered once more +around the corners of his lips.</p> + +<p>"Go on," he said. "What was that fungus?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Ku Sui developed it in his laboratory. He just gave me +a sealed cartridge of the spores with instructions to raid your ranch, +as you saw, and plant them in a drilled-out phanti horn. There was a +simple mechanism in the cartridge that allowed us to release the +spores by a radio wave from our ship. When I wanted them to grow I +simply—"</p> + +<p>"I see. A clever scheme," Carse said. "Quite up to Ku Sui's standard. +The idea of those three men running for the jungle when I came down on +Iapetus was to insure my taking the horn cargo aboard, of course. The +raid was only incidental to your scheme to get me. And Crane, the +radio operator, was dead when I received that S.O.S. It was faked, to +bring me quickly for your schedule."</p> + +<p>Judd stared at him. "How in hell did you know that? Damn you, Carse, +you're—"</p> + +<p>"Where," interrupted the adventurer coldly, "is Ku Sui?"</p> + +<p>The pirate's eyes shifted nervously. "I don't know," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"Where," came the steady question again, "is Ku Sui?"</p> + +<p>The other licked his lips. His fingers clenched, unclenched, gripped +tight. "I don't know!" he protested. His eyes widened as he saw the +Hawk's left hand stir slightly, and he started as he heard the +whip-like word:</p> + +<p>"Talk!"</p> + +<p>"Carse. I swear it! No one knows where he is. When he wants to see me +personally, he comes out of darkness—out of empty space. I don't know +whether it's done by invisibility or the fourth dimension, but one +moment his ship's not there; the next it is; I don't know where his +base is; and if he knew I'd told you what I have, he'd—"</p> + +<p>"How do you arrange your meetings, then?"</p> + +<p>"They're always in a different place. The next is in seven days. I +don't remember the figures: they're in the log of my ship."</p> + +<p>Carse nodded. "All right. I believe you. And now—there are a few +accounts to be settled."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> + +<p>uring the few minutes the Hawk had questioned Judd, the brigand crew +in the cabin had stood silent, their breath bated, their eyes watching +fascinated. But now they started, and shifted uneasily. They suspected +what was coming. The inexorable, seemingly inhuman adventurer went on +emotionlessly:</p> + +<p>"Six of my men were killed on Iapetus, treacherously, without a +chance. Four more were slaughtered by the fungus. That's ten. Back up +to your men, Judd."</p> + +<p>Judd knew all too well what that order portended. He could not move. +His cunning eyes protruded with fear as they shifted down and riveted +on the shabby holster that hung on Carse's left side. His breath came +unevenly, in short, ragged gasps through parted lips.</p> + +<p>"Back, Judd!"</p> + +<p>The stinging, icy force of the voice jolted him back despite his will. +One short retreating step after another he took, until at length he +was standing with his three men against the side wall of the cabin, +the dividing line between it and the engine room. Friday's guns were +still covering the pirates.</p> + +<p>"You goin' to shoot us down in cold blood?" one of them asked +hoarsely.</p> + +<p>The Hawk surveyed the speaker until the man shivered. Beneath their +coldness, his gray eyes were faintly contemptuous.</p> + +<p>"No—I leave that for yellow-streaked hi-jacking rats such as you. I'm +going to give you a chance: more than a chance. Friday," he called.</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh?"</p> + +<p>"Do you want to come in on this?"</p> + +<p>Without the slightest hesitation the negro answered, grinning:</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh!"</p> + +<p>"I thought you would. Come here alongside me, then sheathe your guns."</p> + +<p>Friday did so. He stood in position beside his master, just in front +of the opening that led below. The four brigands were some fifteen +feet away. The two groups faced each other squarely.</p> + +<p>"Good," whispered Carse.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hey stood there, four men to two, deadly enemies; yet not one hand +moved toward a ray-gun. Again, an outsider would have marveled why +Judd, the numbers on his side did not draw and fire; why he waited; +why his face was pale, his eyes nervous. But he knew too well what the +least sign of a draw on his part would entail; he preferred to wait, +to receive the advantage of the cold vanity in Carse which demanded, +in gun-play, that the odds of numbers be against him. Perhaps this +time that vanity would lead the Hawk a little too far. Perhaps even +yet a loop-hole for strategy might appear.</p> + +<p>So the Kite waited, but fear was strong within him.</p> + +<p>"A little earlier," the Hawk's frigid voice went on, "there was some +counting. To the number five. Remember, Judd? Well, since you managed +so poorly before, perhaps you'll count again."</p> + +<p>"You mean to count to five?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. And on the fifth count, we draw and fire."</p> + +<p>Judd's eyes narrowed, shifted, while thoughts clashed and meshed in +his brain. Hawk Carse smiled icily.</p> + +<p>"Is that clear?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Judd said after a while:</p> + +<p>"All right."</p> + +<p>Friday noted one of the pirates: a brawny, black-browed giant almost +as large as himself, and decided to go for him when the time came. He +whispered this to Carse; then, keeping his gaze on the man, he stood +ready.</p> + +<p>"Begin, I'm waiting," reminded Hawk Carse.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Kite crouched, drew a deep breath—but before his lips could form +the first count there was a quick, sharp stir of movement from the +brigand to his right; Carse's left hand seemed to vanish; a hiss +followed, a streak of wicked blue light. Friday grunted, not yet quite +realizing what had happened; Judd, gaped at Carse's lowering weapon, +then turned his eyes to the right—and choked out an oath.</p> + +<p>The brawny giant by his side was standing, but his face was creased +and puzzled. One hand was at a holster; the other grasped a +gun—unfired. Accurate to an inch, between his eyebrows there had +appeared is if by magic a neatly seared, round hole.</p> + +<p>His knees crumpled. His gun clanged to the deck. His head bowed; he +bent; he pitched forward, sprawled face downward. Then he quivered and +lay still. A burnt odor was in the air....</p> + +<p>"I'm still waiting, Judd," came an ironic whisper.</p> + +<p>"My God!" stammered one of the pirate chief's two remaining men. "He's +a devil. Fast as light!"</p> + +<p>Judd's eyes had returned to the Hawk, and they still showed some of +his reaction of surprise to what had happened, when a peculiar thing +occurred. For a split second his gaze shot past Carse, took in +something, then switched back again. And when he had done so his face +showed a faint but unmistakable feeling of relief.</p> + +<p>This was old stuff to the Hawk, but he could not afford to take +chances. Instantly he rapped:</p> + +<p>"Look behind. Friday! Quick!"</p> + +<p>The negro jerked his head around. He was too late. He had a glimpse of +a man standing in the man-hole behind—a glimpse of a short steel bar +that flashed to Carse's head in a vicious arc, and again to his own. +He was rocked by pain is blackness came across his vision; and +together, white man and black crumpled to the deck....</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h2><i>Back to Iapetus</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>n indefinite time later Carse awoke to a trip-hammer of pain thudding +through his head. He groaned a little, and tried to turn over in an +effort to ease it. He found he could not. Then his eyes opened and he +blinked up.</p> + +<p>He found himself lying on the deck of the control cabin, near the +after wall, and bound hand and foot with tightly strapped rope. Over +him, looking down, was Judd the Kite, hands on his hips, a gloating +smile on his coarse lips, and in his eyes a look of taunting, exultant +triumph. He drew back his foot and kicked the netted Hawk in the ribs. +The trader made no sound; his pale face did not change, except to set +a trifle more rigidly.</p> + +<p>"Pretty easy the way my men got you, Carse," said Judd. "Seems to me +you're just a damned fool with a big rep you don't deserve. You're +too careless. You ought to know by now not to leave bound men in reach +of high-powered cable. It cuts as good as an electric knife. Does your +head hurt where you were hit?" Deliberately, still smiling, he rapped +his foot brutally against Carse's head.</p> + +<p>The trader said nothing. He glanced around, to get the situation +clearly. Friday, he saw, was in the control cabin too, lying stretched +out and bound as he was, but evidently still unconscious from the +ugly, bloody welt on his head. One of Judd's men was at the ship's +space-stick, another stood by her dials, occasionally glancing back at +the prisoners and grinning; the two remaining pirates were apparently +aft. The body of the one whom Carse had killed had been removed.</p> + +<p>Through the port bow window, far out, he noticed a small spot, half +black and half brilliant with the reflected light of Saturn: that +would be the other space ship, the Kite's, on the same course as they. +And ahead was the large-looming sphere of Iapetus. The pirate was +returning, then, to the ranch, probably to pick up his three men, and +perhaps to leave a small crew to work it.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I'm afraid this is the end of the Sparrow Hawk!" Judd sneered +the name and laughed harshly. "A lot of people will be glad to hear +it. There'll be a big reward for me, too, from Ku Sui. Head still +bad?" And again he swung his leg and drove its heavy shoe into his +captive's head.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse's lips compressed till they were colorless. He looked steadily +at Judd's eyes and asked:</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with Friday and me?"</p> + +<p>"Well," grinned the pirate, "I can't tell you definitely, but it's +sure to be interesting. It'd suit me best if I could teach you a few +little tricks with a peeling knife—the Venusians have some very neat +ones, you know—and then perhaps burn you full of holes. Little holes, +done with a mild needle-ray. But unfortunately I can't kill you +personally, for Ku Sui will want to do that himself. You're worth a +hell of a lot of money alive."</p> + +<p>"I go to Ku Sui, then?"</p> + +<p>"That's right. I'll hand you over when I have my rendezvous with him, +seven days from now. Clever man, Ku Sui! Half Chinese, you know. He'll +be tickled to get you alive."</p> + +<p>A muscle in the Hawk's cheek quivered. Then he asked:</p> + +<p>"And Friday?"</p> + +<p>Judd laughed. "Oh, I don't much care; he's not worth anything. I'll +throw him in with you for good measure, probably. How's the head?" +Once more the foot swung.</p> + +<p>Carse's gray eyes were as frigid as the snow caps of Mars. The left +eyelid was twitching a little; otherwise his pale face was as if +graven from stone.</p> + +<p>"Judd," he whispered, so softly that his voice was almost inaudible. +"I shall kill you very soon. I shall make it a point to. Very soon. +Judd...."</p> + +<p>The Kite stared at the pallid gray eyes. His lips parted slightly. And +then he remembered that his captive was bound, helpless. He spat.</p> + +<p>"Bah!" he snarled. "Just your old stuff, Carse. It's all over with you +now. You'll be screaming to me to kill you when Ku Sui begins to touch +you up!" He guffawed, again kicked the man at his feet, and turned +away.</p> + +<p>Hawk Carse watched him walk to the forward end of the cabin; and, +after a little while, he sighed. He could be patient. He was still +alive, and he would stay alive, he felt. A chance would come—he did +not know how or when; it perhaps would not be soon; it might not come +until he had been delivered to Ku Sui, but it would arrive. And +then....</p> + +<p>Then there would be a reckoning!</p> + +<p>The deceptively mild gray eyes of the Hawk were veiled by their lids.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ight had settled over the ranch by the time the <i>Star Devil</i> and +Judd's accompanying ship were in the satellite's atmosphere. It was +the rare, deep, moonless night of Iapetus, when the only light came +from the far, cold, distant stars that hung faintly twinkling in the +great void above. Occasionally, the tiny world was lit clearly at +night by the rays of Saturn, reflected from one of the eight other +satellites; and occasionally, too, there was no night, the central sun +of the solar universe sending its distance-weakened shafts of fire to +light one side of the globe while ringed Saturn gilded the other.</p> + +<p>But this season was the one of dark, full-bodied nights; and it was +into the hush of their blackness that the <i>Star Devil</i> and her +attendant brigand ship glided.</p> + +<p>Below, on the surface of the Satellite, glowed the pin-prick of a +camp-fire. When the ships were some fifteen thousand feet up, Judd's +orders caused long light-rays to shaft out from the <i>Star Devil</i> and +finger the ground. They rested on the ranch house and then passed on +to douse with white the figures of three men standing by the fire. +Through the electelscope the pirate chief saw them wave their arms in +greeting.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later the two ships nestled down close together a hundred +yards or more from the ranch clearing, and Judd said to his mate, +standing next to him:</p> + +<p>"We'll have a little celebration to-night. Break out a few cases of +alkite and send three of the boys to the ranch's storeroom after meat +for the cook to barbecue."</p> + +<p>"What you goin' to do with them two?" the other asked.</p> + +<p>"Carse and the nig? Keep them here in the control cabin; I'll detail a +couple of men to guard them. I'm taking no chances: they must be in +sight every minute. Carse is too damned dangerous." He peered back at +the captives. The trader's eyes were shut; Friday still appeared +unconscious from the brutal blow on his head. "Asleep. Well, they'd +better sleep—while they have eyelid's to close!" Judd said mockingly, +and his mate laughed in appreciation of his wit.</p> + +<p>But neither the Hawk or Friday was asleep. Nor was the negro +unconscious. Carse had ascertained this some time before by cautious +signals.</p> + +<p>A little stir had come within him when he heard Judd say there would +be a celebration, for a celebration, to these men, meant a debauch and +relaxed discipline, and relaxed discipline meant—a chance. First, +however, there were the tight bonds of rope; they were expertly tied, +and strong. But the Hawk was not particularly concerned about them.</p> + +<p>He had dismissed them as a problem after a few minutes of +consideration, and his mind ran farther ahead, planning coldly, +mechanically, the payment of his blood debts....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ll in all, Judd was to blame for what happened that night on Iapetus. +He was an old hand and a capable one, and certainly he should have +known that extraordinary measures had to be adopted when Hawk Carse +became his prisoner. By rights, he should have killed Friday +immediately, and steered straight for his rendezvous with Ku Sui, +keeping his eye on Carse all the time. He would have had to loaf on +his way to the rendezvous, of course, for it needed but five days to +get there, and he had seven; and he would also have had to pick up his +three marooned men later. But that was what he should have done.</p> + +<p>Yet, when one regards the personal angles, it is necessary to divide +Judd's responsibility for succeeding events. He felt like having a +celebration, and certainly he and his men had earned one. He had +captured the man who had stood, more than anyone else, in his and in +Ku Sui's way for years; the man who had quashed any number of their +outlaw schemes, and who had given more trouble to them than all the +forces of law and order on Earth and the patrol ships in space. More, +he had captured him alive, and that meant a much fatter reward from Ku +Sui. He possessed the valuable cargo of phanti horn; he had taken a +brand new ship, alone worth millions, besides being the fastest in +space. Judd was naturally elated; he had two nights and a day to +spare; he felt expansive, and ordered a celebration.</p> + +<p>Such decisions—trivial when seen from the eminence of a hundred +years—have directed the tide of history more than once.</p> + +<p>There were thirteen men left of Judd's crew, including the three +posted on Iapetus; these three and the six who manned the pirate's own +craft came running to the <i>Star Devil</i> and piled into her open +port-lock. They milled around in the control cabin, shouting in high +spirits, swearing, throwing clumsy jests at the two silent figures on +the deck; and Judd joined with them. There was much loot to be split, +and the Hawk was snared at last! Their chief stilled them for a moment +and said:</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess we deserve a little jamboree. I'm breaking out some +alkite and meat; make a big fire outside and dig some barbecue pits. +Go ahead—out of here! But wait: you, Sharkey, and you, Keyger."</p> + +<p>These last two men, more husky and alert than most of their fellows, +he detailed for guard duty ever Carse and Friday. They were much cast +down at the job, but he premised them a larger slice of the loot for +recompense, and then stalked out after the other men.</p> + +<p>The two guards stuck a brace of ray-guns in their belts and looked +over the captives. Angry at missing the carousal, the man called +Keyger kicked Friday, whose eyelids did not budge and whose body did +not quiver, and then, more gingerly, kicked Carse and swore at +him—but he turned somewhat hastily when the mild gray eyes slowly +opened and stared up into his.</p> + +<p>Then the two guards pulled out chairs and placed them by the open +port-lock, where they could command a view of the celebration. They +drew one ray-gun each, laid them ready, close by, and sat down.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2><i>Jamboree</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>wo hours later their eyes were taking in a fantastic, mad scene, one +that in some ways might have occurred in the days when buccaneers +roamed the Spanish Main of Earth.</p> + +<p>A little over a hundred yards away, straight before them, was the +corral of the phantis: far behind it encroached the shadowy fringe of +the jungle: to their right, closer to the corral than to the space +ships, was the ranch house, lonely now and silent. But these objects +were only the background for what had grown in front of the corral +wire.</p> + +<p>It was the roaring mass of the monster fire that had been lit, a +splash of fierce, leaping flames in the velvety cool of the night. +Black shapes were clustered around it; bottles were raised and +drained; and a frieze of shadows, staggered and jumped and danced +around the ruddy pile of fire. The carousal was in full swing; a +chorus of wild song rose noisily into the night; more cases were +smashed open and more alkite drawn out. The carcases of three animals +taken from the ranch's storehouse sizzled on the barbecue pits, to be +ripped apart and the rich, dripping meat torn at, tooth and claw. Ever +higher pierced the shrieks and oaths, till the calm night was +distorted and crazy.</p> + +<p>Other heavier sounds accompanied the bedlam of human noise: deep +snortings and roarings and the scraping of scores of horn-shod feet. +Behind their wired electric fence was clustered the herd of phantis, +staring with their evil, red-shot little eyes at the flames and the +shapes of the hated men. The big bulls were bellowing, bucking their +heads angrily, churning up the soft soil with their strong, +dagger-spurred feet: the welter of noise and the sight of so many men +had wrought them up into a vicious and dangerous state.</p> + +<p>Judd the Kite, a bottle in one hand and in the other a huge joint of +meat which he was tearing at with his teeth, suddenly paused with +mouth crammed full and stared over through the flickering light at the +phanti corral. A cruel light gleamed in his eyes: he gulped down the +meat and then turned to the shapes staggering around him. He yelled:</p> + +<p>"Hey, there—let's get out the nigger! A little entertainment, +fellows! Bring him out; but don't touch Carse: he's Ku Sui's. Douse +him with water if he's unconscious."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>hey yelled in drunken delight at his words, and half of them reeled +off towards the <i>Star Devil</i>. Judd, lips up-curved in a smile, drew +his ray-gun and set the lever over for the low-power, continuous +ray-stream. These guns, unlike our present weapons, could shoot in two +ways: they could spit about twenty high-power discharges, a fraction +of a second each in duration and easily sufficient to burn a man's +head through; or they could deliver a long-lasting low-power stream, +just strong enough to sear and crisp a human skin. For the +entertainment Judd had in mind he needed low power.</p> + +<p>The men sent to the <i>Star Devil</i> shoved past the guards on watch near +the port-lock and over to the prisoners. They found them lying, very +close together near the after wall.</p> + +<p>"Gonna have some fun with the black, Judd's orders," they explained to +the guards. "Still unconscious?"</p> + +<p>Certainly Friday looked unconscious, his eyes closed, his full lips +slightly parted, showing the powerful white teeth.</p> + +<p>"I'll give him a shot of the ray," another brigand cut in. "That'll +bring him to. Be ready to grab him."</p> + +<p>They got an unpleasant shock when the low-power stream flicked the +negro's leg. With a gigantic bellow that rang throughout the ship, +Friday resisted.</p> + +<p>It was like seeing a dead man come to life, and it startled them. +Bound as he was, Friday made things unhealthy for his would-be +captors; he shunted his legs up and down and squirmed mightily, and +once his gleaming teeth snapped into an arm, bringing a howl of pain +and several minutes of cursing. The unexpected resistance, once the +surprise was over, infuriated the rum-sodden men. One of them yelled: +"Sock him; Shorty!" A ray-gun's butt was slapped down on Friday's +head; the negro rolled over, stunned. Then he was picked up without +resistance and borne out into the night, where fantastic figures +cavorted around the towering fire.</p> + +<p>"The black devil was faking all the time!" one of the guards said +amazedly. "He wasn't unconscious. What in hell did he do that for?"</p> + +<p>"Dunno," snarled the other, rubbing a bruised leg. "Must have +suspected what he's gonna get. Wish we was over there."</p> + +<p>"Well, we can watch from here," grumbled his companion, and returned +to the seats by the port-lock.</p> + +<p>They both sat down, their backs half turned to the figure still lying +on the deck.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse had said nothing, made no protest, had not even moved when +Friday struggled in fierce resistance. He could have done much more, +but it would have been useless. Long before, he had seen the negro's +opening eyes and signaled him to feign unconsciousness thus deflecting +attention and making him appear harmless. He had also broached his +plan for escape to Friday. He had not, however, reckoned on Judd's +desire to torture: he would, he now saw, have to act with his greatest +speed to save his mate from as much pain as possible.</p> + +<p>And he began to act.</p> + +<p>The control cabin was streaked with patches of shadow and light, made +vague by pools of darkness thrown by the banks of instruments. Only +one lighting tube was dimly burning. In this indefinite half-light the +Hawk set about stalking his prey.</p> + +<p>With eyes narrowed and steady on the two guards who were completely +absorbed in the happenings outside, he drew his hands from beneath +him. They were no longer bound. The rope knotted around them had been +gnawed through strand by strand—sliced by the strong white teeth of a +negro....</p> + +<p>Cautiously, without a whisper of sound, Carse reached towards the +bonds on his legs. The lean fingers worked rapidly. Quickly the knots, +yielded and the rope was unwound. The legs were free. For a moment +Hawk Carse, ever with careful calculation of time, stretched his +cramped muscles, limbering them for action.</p> + +<p>A mutter came from the port-lock. He froze. But it was only:</p> + +<p>"Look at 'im! This is goin' to be good! Judd gets some damn clever +ideas!"</p> + +<p>They were utterly wrapped up in the scene outside, and unconscious of +the low blot that moved with steely purpose behind them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Hawk got to hands and knees; moved forward, the ghost of a shadow. +The two men who were his quarry were sitting close together, hunched a +little forward in their eagerness not to miss a single detail. Their +heads were not a foot apart. Each wore a ray-gun and had another lying +on the deck at his side.</p> + +<p>Carse came near to their backs. He paused, imperceptibly tensed, +judged the distance carefully. Then in a sudden, snake-like movement, +he sprang.</p> + +<p>A forearm of steel clamped around the back of each guard's head and +jerked it sharply into the other's. There was a quick crack; then, +dazed, only half-conscious, the two men toppled off their seats and +fell to the deck.</p> + +<p>"Quiet!" warned an icy whisper. They stared, gaping, then staggered up +to their feet.</p> + +<p>A ray-gun that just before had been lying on the deck was leveled +steadily at them, held in the hand of a gray-eyed man whose fine +features were as if graven from stone and on whose wrists were deep +blue lines that showed where ropes had pressed. The guards' faces +whitened as realization came. One of them choked:</p> + +<p>"It's him!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," whispered the Hawk dryly. He took a few steps backward, eyes +not moving. "Go to that locker," he said to the shorter of the men, +indicating with a curt nod the place where space suits were stowed. +"First draw your gun and lay it on that table. Hurry!"</p> + +<p>The man hastily complied. Anything else was unthinkable; meant quick +and lonely and useless death. Shouts and laughter and drunken shrieks +were echoing from outside. No one would have ears for him.</p> + +<p>When he had stepped into the locker, Carse closed and sealed the door.</p> + +<p>"What you goin' to do with me?" croaked the remaining guard. He was +big and burly and he towered inches over the figure facing him, but +his lips were trembling and his eyes wild with fear.</p> + +<p>"You," whispered the Hawk frigidly, "kicked me when I was bound." He +sheathed his ray-gun in his holster, then spoke again. "Go for your +gun."</p> + +<p>The pirate trembled all over. His mouth fell open, and his eyes stuck +on Carse's shabby holster. He seemed half hypnotized.</p> + +<p>"Draw."</p> + +<p>The other's swarthy brow beaded with sudden-starting sweat. His hands +hung limp, twitching at the finger-tips. He watched death stare him in +the face.</p> + +<p>"Damn you, Carse!" he burst out and suddenly went for his ray.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse deliberately let him get the gun out. Not until then did his +left hand move. But even with such a head-start, so bewildering was +the adventurer's speed that only one streak of orange light made a +flash in the cabin, and that streak was the Hawk's. The brigand +quivered, his face still contorted with his last desperate emotion; +then he fell slowly forward and thudded into the deck. His body +twitched a little, and in a spasm rolled over. Square between the eyes +was a crisp, smooth-burned hole.</p> + +<p>Hawk Carse gave the body not a glance, but sheathed his ray-gun, +picked up the three others, stuck them in his belt, and glided to the +port-lock. There, he peered outside.</p> + +<p>His face hardened.</p> + +<p>Blobs of flame that flared from wood torches were clustered about the +nearest side of the phanti corral. A dark blur of figures were ringed +in a half-circle, and from it came yells of delight and almost +hysterical laughter. The Hawk's eyes were chilling to look at when he +saw, through gaps in the circle of black shapes, the figure of a huge +negro, standing with his back almost touching the wire fence of the +corral. The actions of Friday gave the clue to what was happening.</p> + +<p>He was caught in a broad ray of orange light, and in it he shuddered +and hopped grotesquely from one leg to the other in an agony of pain, +his lips drawn back taut over the gleaming teeth, his face flexed and +the whites of his eyes showing as the eyeballs rolled. The glow that +in part hung around him streamed from a ray-gun that was held in the +right hand of Judd the Kite. Heat! Friday was being slowly crisped +alive; seared on his feet in a furnace of heat: and the men who ringed +him were yelling advice at him between their laughter. Carse strained +his ears. In a jumble, he caught:</p> + +<p>"Jump over"—"Nah, he'd have to climb"—"Climb! The juice's +cut!"—"Into the corral!"—"Climb over, you black buzzard"—"Hoowee!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> + +<p>bout a foot behind Friday was the wire fence, behind which the +phantis, their snouts converged towards the pirates, their red-shot +eyes glaring, their powerful hind feet clawing at the ground, were +bellowing in wild and ferocious excitement. Sudden, awful death waited +on the other side of the fence; slow death by burning on this side. +Yet Friday still hoped, still had faith in his master, for he did not +put a quick end to his living death by rushing the devilish circle or +clambering over into the thick of the sharp stabbing spurs.</p> + +<p>Carse's brain moved with the swiftness of light. He could not rush the +group: the odds were too great, and besides, Judd's gun was already +out. Nor could he dive at them with the <i>Star Devil</i> itself, or ray +them from above: that would mean Friday's death too. It would have to +be something else—and in a moment he had it. Carefully he examined +all variations and checked the scheme back: it promised to be the +final move, engendering the final meeting, and there must be no slip.</p> + +<p>First, the Hawk slipped shadow-like to the entrance port of the other +space ship, lying a few hundred feet away, shrouded in darkness. He +had to know if anyone were aboard.</p> + +<p>Gruffly he called inside:</p> + +<p>"Judd! Hey, Judd! You there?"</p> + +<p>There was no answer. Again he called, but the gloomy interior's +silence was not broken. Satisfied that it was empty, he doubled back +with noiseless speed, skirted round the <i>Star Devil</i> and arrived like +a wind-carried wraith at the rear wall of the ranch house.</p> + +<p>A short leap and his hands closed on the copper drain. The muscles of +his wiry arms flexed, and the lean figure raised himself foot by foot +to the eaves, where a pull and press up brought him over the edge. +Stooping, he padded to the side which faced on the clearing and the +corral.</p> + +<p>And then the ray-gun was drawn from its holster.</p> + +<p>For seconds the cold gray eyes reckoned the shooting distance and the +angle. The weapon came up and rested at arm's length. The first finger +of the deadly left hand began to squeeze back.</p> + +<p>A pencil-thin streak of orange light speared the air!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2><i>Stampede</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>udd the Kite was enjoying himself hugely. His bestial sense of humor +was tickled. It was very funny, the contortions of the negro in the +orange ray-stream!</p> + +<p>"Climb over!" he suggested, amid roars of laughter from the circle of +men. "Climb over, why don't you? I've turned off the current. There's +no electricity in the fence. You won't be hurt. Why don't you climb +over?"</p> + +<p>Friday did not, could not answer. His lips were sucked tight together +now in wordless agony; the cheek muscles, strained taut, stood out +like welts of flesh; the huge body, bathed always in that steady glow +of orange, was slightly livid in patches. He hopped mechanically, +changing from one aching leg to the other; his eyes were closed half +the time, his whole being one dumb agony. He did not know when it +would end, but he still had faith.</p> + +<p>Overhead, the flames of four tarred wood torches bobbed and reeled as +the men who held them reeled; seemed to shake in the gusts of laughter +and yells and oaths that came ceaselessly from the onlookers. And in +this distorted light the half-shadowed snouts and bodies of the +phantis, clustered behind their nine-foot-high fence, looked indeed +diabolical. The fence was high, for the creatures possessed surprising +jumping powers; it was composed of eight strands of wire, running +parallel a foot apart from each other, with inter-crossing supports. +The electric current, now turned off, always kept the phantis from +crashing through.</p> + +<p>Judd smiled more widely. "I guess I'll increase the power," his coarse +lips pronounced. "We'll see how you can duck a strong thin beam. I'll +give you about five minutes to climb over. After that you'll be burned +down slowly to a cinder. Now—will you climb? See—I'm moving the +lever over. Watch, now, and feel—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> + +<p>uddenly his voice broke off short. There had been a hiss—a +<i>spang</i>—a slight whip of sound. He glanced around swiftly. No, his +men had not noticed it. They were still laughing, roaring, swaying in +drunken merriment. The Kite's lips curved upward again. He continued:</p> + +<p>"Feel the heat increase. It's stronger, now, and—"</p> + +<p>Again the <i>spang</i>, the whip, the streak of something swift. The men +noticed his expression and quieted somewhat. Judd was looking around +him, and even as he saw what it was there came a cry from a pirate +nearby.</p> + +<p>"Look! The fence!"</p> + +<p>Judd's eyes widened; his lips slackened and lost their smile. The +noise, the laughs, the shouts, screams and oaths died into the night; +frightened silence fell over the group, and all that was left were the +concerted bellowings and snortings from the enraged herd of beasts +just beyond.</p> + +<p>All—except for another <i>spang</i> that sounded as a streak of orange +light arrowed from somewhere through the flickering torchlight. And +with its coming the third parallel strand of the corral-fence whipped +apart with a little singing swish, shot neatly through, as were the +two below it. Ten feet of fence on each side slumped visibly.</p> + +<p>"Someone's shooting it through!" came a scared whisper. Yet still the +brigands, held fascinated by fear and puzzlement, stared at the fence +and at the surging crowd of stampede-crazy animals beyond.</p> + +<p>Another <i>spang</i>, another streak of light! With deadly accuracy the +shot clove the fourth strand. The lower half of a whole section of +fence was gone. Behind it the bucking, red-eyed phantis inched +forward, still afraid of the electric shock they thought was somewhere +there, but drawn to the opening by their hatred of the two-legged +creatures so near. Closer, closer! Then the befuddled pirates found +their senses. Even as the fifth arrow of light came from the invisible +marksman and snapped the fifth strand, a concerted cry of fear of the +advancing beasts went up from the crowd of men.</p> + +<p>"Run! Run! They're coming! They're coming out!"</p> + +<p>They turned, panic-stricken; the torches fell flaring to the ground, +to lie there in pools of flame; the brigands ran for the nearest +shelter, the dark bulk of the ranch house close by. They ran, fear +tingling their spines, in their ears the sound of the maddened +phantis.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> + +<p>rom his vantage point on the roof of the ranch house, the Hawk +confirmed his quick decision that this was the only way.</p> + +<p>Rapidly, as was his custom, he had reckoned the problem out minutely +and carefully; had considered and checked every possibility. He had +to shoot the fence, not the brigands. For he couldn't hope to get more +than a couple of them: a pirate toppling over dead would jar the +others into instant action; they would scatter in the darkness, +leaving the odds too great. And leaving, besides, small chance of +wiping out every one of the pirates.</p> + +<p>As for Friday, he had to take his chance. There was, this way, a good +chance, if he used his brain. For, to the left, as close as the ranch +house to the corral, were the grave-pits he himself had dug some hours +before, and one was still empty, waiting to be filled. It offered +shelter, a good chance—if he used his brain. He, Carse, would do all +he could to protect him from the stampeding beasts while he ran.</p> + +<p>Some of the pirates would be snared by the rush of phantis. Four or +five would probably reach the ranch house. That was what he wanted.</p> + +<p>And that was what he got. His fifth shot fired, straight and true from +the ray-gun of the most accurate marksman of space, the Hawk lowered +the weapon and gazed at the scene resulting, a ghost of a smile on his +lips.</p> + +<p>He saw the mob of creatures, in a bedlam of noise, sweep under the +fence that had for so long kept them back. Bellowing their hatred, +their cruel spurs eager for blood, they charged. Before them fled the +thin fringe of men, Friday on one flank. A man went down with a +scream; a half-grown horn knifed into him; he was trampled, gored, +spurred, and left a bloody welter of death in seconds. Another, +hearing the loud thud of feet just behind, turned with desperate eyes, +dodged, tripped, shrieked and was caught and ripped. Another and +another. In the dancing, flickering half-light of the flames of fire +and torches, a hellish scene of devastation and death spun out.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> + +<p>arse was shooting again, with the cold mechanical precision of a +machine. There was Friday to be guarded. He was now separated from the +other men—cut off and edging to one side—to the side where was the +grave-pit! Dodging, wildly twisting and turning, he several times +barely escaped three or four phantis that thundered after him. The +leader took perhaps ten steps: then its body quivered and it tumbled +over and flopped on the ground, a little wisp of smoke curling from +its body. The other two went down in swift succession. But there were +many, and even as Friday melted into the shadows, a group of several +beasts detached themselves and roared after him. The deadly ray-gun on +the roof wrought swift slaughter amongst them, but some got into the +darkness beyond vision of the icy gray eyes.</p> + +<p>Carse lowered his weapon. His face was very hard and very set. Would +they catch the negro? Tumble down on him if he made the pit? Well, +there was no helping it....</p> + +<p>But the reckoning would soon be finished; the time was at hand. Cold +as the deeps of space despite the awful havoc he had just created, +totally without visible emotion, he drew the last unused ray-gun from +his belt and put it in the shabby holster. One would be enough.</p> + +<p>Shadow-like, noiseless and swift, he moved towards the far end of the +roof.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h2><i>The Hawk Strikes</i></h2> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>is face red, his breath coming in hoarse gasps, Judd the Kite +stumbled through the house's door on the heels of four of his men. He +swung rapidly and flung his weight against the door: locked and +double-locked it. A second later fists pounded on the outer panel, and +a voice, racked with fear and terror, screamed:</p> + +<p>"Let me in! Let me in! Oh, God, let me in! Judd!"</p> + +<p>Then there was the thud of drumming feet, and one awful shriek from +the man who had found the door locked against him.</p> + +<p>But the Kite was not listening. A measure of courage returning to him +with the building's protection, he snapped:</p> + +<p>"Get those other doors locked quick! And lights. Then search the +house."</p> + +<p>The lighting tubes glowed, filling the room with soft radiance. Judd +survey his position.</p> + +<p>He saw that it could have been far worse. But his men needed courage.</p> + +<p>The rapid change from orgy to deadly peril had sobered them +completely. And they were frightened; nor was it fear of the beasts. +They came treading silently back from their inspection of the house, +reporting it empty; but their eyes kept shifting, their ray-guns ready +in hand. Each one knew, deep within him, who had fired the shots that +collapsed the fence. They had taken two captives; Friday had been +under their eyes; there was only one other, and he was—the Hawk.</p> + +<p>Hawk Carse! The four men were nervous. More than a few lonely spots in +the countless leagues of space had seen his vengeance: and they—they +had killed his guards and his overseer, his radio-man, and, with the +fungus, his ship's crew; they had tortured Friday. They were now marks +for the fatal left hand: fugitives from gray, icy eyes. The Hawk was +loose!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> + +<p>udd saw the fear gnawing at their vitals. He felt it too. But there +seemed no immediate danger, so, with a ray-gun in each hand, he +summoned a blustering courage and said to the others, harshly:</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was that damned Carse! He must have got loose in some way. +But pull yourselves together: we're safe here. He's somewhere +outside."</p> + +<p>He reasoned it out for them.</p> + +<p>"He couldn't have done that shooting from the <i>Star Devil</i>; it's too +far away. And he's not in it now or he'd be using it to try and find +that black of his—if the black's still alive. No, he's not in the +ship, and he's not in this house. He's somewhere outside, and he can't +reach us here while the phantis have the place surrounded. We can +shoot them down from the attic, and they'll soon beat it for the +jungle. When that happens we'll rush to the ships, and before Carse +knows what it's all about we'll be up and away and he'll be marooned. +Then we'll get him later."</p> + +<p>His words brought a return of confidence. It was true, the others +thought: the Hawk could not reach them as long as the phantis were +around the house; and when they were driven away, the ships were near +at hand and empty. All they had to do was get to the ships before +Carse. The adventurer certainly was not then in one of the craft, or +he would be wasting no time hunting for Friday—and raying their +stronghold. No doubt he was up a tree somewhere; perhaps gored and +dead.</p> + +<p>One of the men snickered, and Judd smiled at the sound. Their +confidence in him was encouraging.</p> + +<p>"Get to the windows of the attic," he ordered. "Some of those crazy +brutes are horning at the house. We've got to shoot them and get out +of here, quick!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>here were two rooms in the attic; the large one, used as a storeroom +for staple foods, had five windows, long, sloping affairs, three in +front and one in each side wall. The second room was small and at the +rear, and was used to store tools and spare technical apparatus. It +had one little window, set high up, and connected with the larger room +by a door set in the middle of the partition.</p> + +<p>Judd placed one of his pirates at each of the windows of the large +room, taking himself the center one.</p> + +<p>Around the house milled dozens of animal bodies, snorting, bellowing +and roaring, their little red eyes flashing, claws tearing the soil in +futile rage at the men they knew to be safely within. A babel of +brutish sounds rose from them. Two of the bulls fell foul of each +other and fought in fury, to suddenly turn and hurl their weight +against a ground floor door, quivering it. But their rashness was +answered by a streak of light from an attic window, and as one toppled +back, its body burnt through, the sights of the destroying ray-gun +were already on its fellow.</p> + +<p>The huge fire the brigands had laid was dying, and night was seeping +ever thickening darkness over the scene. Glinting very slightly in the +starlight were the black shapes of the two silent space ships.</p> + +<p>Then Judd the Kite, as he aimed and shot and aimed and shot again, was +suddenly struck by a disturbing idea. From where had Carse fired at +the corral fence? What was the logical vantage point for him?</p> + +<p>A shiver trembled down his spine. He saw suddenly with terrible +clearness where that vantage point was—and it had not been searched. +The roof!</p> + +<p>He turned swiftly, his lips opening to give orders.</p> + +<p>And there, standing on the threshold of the door to the smaller +adjoining room, stood the figure of a man whose eyes were cold with +the absolute cold of space, and whose left hand held a steady-leveled +ray-gun that pointed as straight as his eyes at Judd!</p> + +<p>"Hawk—Carse!"</p> + +<p>"Judd," said the quiet, icy voice.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> + +<p>he Kite went white as a sheet. His men turned slowly as one. One of +them gasped at what he saw; another cursed; the other two simply +stared with fear-flooded eyes; only one thing flamed in every +mind—the never-failing vengeance of the Hawk.</p> + +<p>"Carse!" repeated Judd stupidly. "You—again!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," whispered the trader. "And for the last time. We settle now. +There are a few debts—a few lives—a few blows and kicks—and a +matter of some torture to be paid for. The accounts must be squared, +Judd."</p> + +<p>And slowly he raised his right hand to the queer bangs of flaxen hair +which hung down over his forehead. He stroked them gently. Judd's +eyes, dry, hot, held fascinated on the hand. He shuddered.</p> + +<p>"It's not pleasant," came the whisper, "to always have to wear my hair +like this. That's another debt—the largest of all—I have to settle. +<i>Sheathe your guns!</i>"</p> + +<p>The voice cracked like a whip. They obeyed without sound, though they +read death in the frigid gray eyes. As their guns went into holsters, +Carse's followed suit; he stood then with both hands hanging at his +sides. And he said, in the whisper that carried more weight to them +than the trumpets of a host:</p> + +<p>"Once before we were interrupted. This time we won't be. This time we +will see certainly for whom the number five brings death. Count, +Judd."</p> + +<p>With a jerk, the Kite regained some control over himself. The odds +were five to one. Five guns to one gun. Carse was a great shot, but +such odds were surely too great. Perhaps—perhaps there might be a +chance. He said in a strained voice to his men:</p> + +<p>"Shoot when I reach five."</p> + +<p>Then he swallowed and counted:</p> + +<p>"One."</p> + +<p>Aside from the tiny flickering of the left eyelid, the Hawk was +graven, motionless, apparently without feeling. Judd, he knew, was +just fairly fast; as for the others—</p> + +<p>"Two."</p> + +<p>—they were unknown quantities, except for one, the man called Jake. +He had the reputation of possessing a lightning draw; his eyes were +narrowed, his hands steady, and the body crouched, a sure sign of—</p> + +<p>"Three."</p> + +<p>—a gunman who knew his business, who was fast. His hip holsters were +not really worn on the hips, but in front, very close together; that +meant—</p> + +<p>"Four."</p> + +<p>—that he would probably draw both guns. So Judd must wait; the other +three, being unknowns, disposed of in the order in which they were +standing; but Jake must be—</p> + +<p>"Five!"</p> + +<p>—first!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>ne second there was nothing; the next, wicked pencils of orange light +were snaking across the attic! And then two guns clanged on the floor, +unfired, and the man called Jake staggered forward, crumpled and fell, +a puzzled look on his face and accurately between his eyes a little +round neat hole that had come as if by magic. Two others, similarly +stricken, toppled down, their fingers still tensed on ray-gun +triggers; the fourth pirate, his heart drilled, went back from the +force of it and crashed into the wall, slithering down slowly into a +limp heap. But Judd the Kite was still on his feet.</p> + +<p>His lips were twisted in a snarl; his hands seemed locked. His eyes +met the two cold gray ones across the room—and then his coarse face +contorted, and he croaked:</p> + +<p>"Damn you, Carse! Damn you—"</p> + +<p>His body spun around and flattened out on the floor with arms and legs +flung wide. A tiny black hole was visible through his shirt. He had +been last, and the Hawk had struck him less accurately than his +fellows.</p> + +<p>The trader was unwounded. He stood there for several minutes, +surveying what lay before him. He looked at each body in turn, and his +eyes were calm and clear and mild, his face devoid of expression. +Silence hung over the attic, for the bellowings and snortings of the +beasts outside had died into faint murmurings as they straggled off +for their jungle home. The single living man of the six who had lived +and breathed there minutes before holstered his still warm ray-gun; +and then the sound of a step on the stairs leading from the rooms +below made him look up.</p> + +<p>A man stood in the doorway of the attic.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>e was big and brawny; but, though his arms and bare torso were +streaked with blood, and his trousers torn into shreds, and his legs +crisscrossed with cuts, there was broad grin on his face—a grin that +widened as his rolling white eyes took in what lay on the attic floor.</p> + +<p>Neither said anything for a moment. Then the Hawk smiled, and there +was all friendliness and affection in his face.</p> + +<p>"You made the pit, Eclipse?" he asked, softly.</p> + +<p>Friday nodded, and chuckled. "Yes, suh! But only just. If Ah'd bin a +leap an' a skip slower Ah'd bin a <i>tee-total</i> eclipse!"</p> + +<p>Dancing lights of laughter came to the Hawk's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Still feeling chipper," he said, "—in spite of your burns. Well, +good for you. But I guess you've had enough of Ku Sui for a little +while!"</p> + +<p>The negro grunted indignantly. "You surely don't imply Ah'm <i>sca'ed</i> +of that yellow Chink? Hell, no! Why—"</p> + +<p>Carse chuckled and cut him off.</p> + +<p>"I see. Well, then, drag these carrion out to your pit. And then—"</p> + +<p>There was something in the air, something big. Friday listened +eagerly. "Yes, suh?" he reminded his master after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Judd," said Hawk Carse softly, "was to have had a rendezvous with Dr. +Ku Sui in seven days. The place of the rendezvous is entered in the +log of his ship. I've got the last of Judd's crew a captive on the +<i>Star Devil</i>...."</p> + +<p>The adventurer paused a moment in thought, and when he resumed his +words came clipped and decisive.</p> + +<p>"I myself am going to keep that rendezvous with Ku Sui. I want to see +him very badly."</p> + +<p>Friday looked at the man's gray eyes, his icy graven face, the bangs +of flaxen hair which obscured his forehead. He understood.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawk Carse, by Anthony Gilmore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWK CARSE *** + +***** This file should be named 30307-h.htm or 30307-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/3/0/30307/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hawk Carse + +Author: Anthony Gilmore + +Release Date: October 21, 2009 [EBook #30307] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWK CARSE *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Astounding Stories November 1931. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + Hawk Carse + + _A Complete Novelette_ + + + + By Anthony Gilmore + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_The Swoop of the Hawk_ + +[Illustration: _The Hawk stood there, both arms hanging easily at his +sides._] + +[Sidenote: One of the spectacular exploits of Hawk Carse, greatest of +space adventurers.] + + +Hawk Carse came to the frontiers of space when Saturn was the frontier +planet, which was years before the swift Patrol ships brought Earth's +law and order to those vast regions. A casual glance at his slender +figure made it seem impossible that he was to rise to be the greatest +adventurer in space, that his name was to carry such deadly +connotation in later years. But on closer inspection, a number of +little things became evident: the steadiness of his light gray eyes; +the marvelously strong-fingered hands; the wiry build of his +splendidly proportioned body. Summing these things up and adding the +brilliant resourcefulness of the man, the complete ignorance of fear, +one could perhaps understand why even his blood enemy, the impassive +Ku Sui, a man otherwise devoid of every human trait, could not face +Carse unmoved in his moments of cold fury. + +His name, we know, enters most histories of the period 2117-2148 A. +D., for he has at last been recognized as the one who probably did +most--unofficially, and not with the authority of the Earth +Government--to shape the raw frontiers of space, to push them outward +and to lay the foundations of the present tremendous commerce between +Earth, Vulcan, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. But, little +of his fascinating character may be gleaned from the dry words of +history; and it is Hawk Carse the adventurer, he of the spitting +ray-gun and the phenomenal draw, of the reckless space ship +maneuverings, of the queer bangs of flaxen hair that from a certain +year hid his forehead, of the score of blood feuds and the one great +feud that jarred nations in its final terrible settling--it is with +that man we are concerned here. + +A number of his exploits never recorded are still among the favorite +yarns spun by lonely outlanders in the scattered trading posts of the +planets, and among them is that of his final encounter with Judd the +Kite. It shows typically the cold deadliness, the prompt repaying of a +blood debt, the nerveless daring that were the outstanding qualities +of this almost legendary figure. + +It began one crisp, early morning on Iapetus, and it ended on Iapetus, +with the streaks of ray-guns searing the air; and it explains why +there are two square mounds of soil on Iapetus, eighth satellite of +Saturn. + + * * * * * + +Carse pioneered Iapetus and considered its product his by right of +prior exploration. One or two men had landed there before he came to +the frontiers of space and reported the satellite habitable, possessed +of gravital force only slightly under Earth's, despite its +twelve-hundred-mile diameter, and of an atmosphere merely a trifle +rarer; but they had gone no further. They had noticed the forms of +certain strange animals flitting through the satellite's jungles, but +had not investigated. It was Carse who captured one of the creatures +and saw the commercial possibilities of the pointed seven-inch horn +that grew on its head, and who named it phanti, after the now extinct +Venusian bird-mammal. + +There were great herds of them, and they constituted Iapetus' highest +form of life. The space trader cut off a few of their opalescent and +green-veined horns and sent them as samples to Earth; and, upon their +being valued highly, he two months later established his ranch on +Iapetus, and thus laid the foundation for the grim business that men +sometimes call the Exploit of the Hawk and the Kite. + +No doubt Carse expected trouble over the ranch. To protect the +valuable twice-yearly harvest of horn from Ku Sui's several bands of +pirates, and other semi-piratical traders who roamed space, he built a +formidable ranch-house with generators for powerful offensive rays and +a strong defensive ray-web, and manned it with six competent men. +Moreover, he came personally twice a year to transport the cargo of +horn, and let it be known throughout the frontiers that the sign of +the Hawk was on that portion of Iapetus, and that all who trespassed +would have to answer to him. This should have been, ordinarily, +enough. But there was always the sinister, brilliant Dr. Ku Sui, +plotting against him and his belongings, and reckless others to whom +the ranch might look like easy pickings. From these Carse had long +anticipated a raid on Iapetus. + + * * * * * + +And now he was worried. Clad as usual in a faded blue tunic, open at +the neck, soft blue trousers and old-fashioned rubber soled shoes, he +showed it by pulling occasionally at the bangs of flaxen hair that had +been trained to hang down his forehead to the thick, straw-colored +eyebrows. In his new cruiser, the _Star Devil_, he was within an +hour's time of Iapetus, which lay before the bow observation ports of +the control cabin like a giant buff-tinted orange, dark-splotched by +seas and jungles, on the third of his semi-annual voyages for the +harvest of horn. Away to the left, scintillating and flaming in the +blackness of space, whirled Saturn, his rings clear-cut and brilliant, +his hard light filling the control cabin. Carse was staring unseeingly +at the magnificent spectacle when the giant negro standing nearby at +the space-stick rumbled: + +"Well, suh, Ah cain't think they's anything wrong--no, suh. They's +nobody'd _dare_ touch that ranch! No, suh--not Hawk Carse's ranch." + +This was "Friday," the herculean black Earthling whom Carse had +rescued years before from one of the Venusian slave-ships, and now a +member of that strange trio of totally dissimilar comrades, the third +of whom was Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow, now absent and at work in +his secret laboratory. Friday thought the Hawk just about the greatest +man in the Solar System, and many times already had he given proof of +his devotion. + +Carse looked full at him. "You're a good mechanic, Eclipse," he said, +"but in some ways very innocent. Crane hasn't replied to us for +seventy minutes. He knows we're coming and he should be on duty. That +cargo's valuable, and it's all ready and packed." + +"Hmff," Friday grunted. "But who you think'd dare try an' swipe it +when we're so close? One o' Ku Sui's gang, maybe?" + +"Perhaps. I haven't heard anything of Ku Sui for some time, and he's +never more dangerous than when he keeps silent," said the Hawk +thoughtfully. "But Crane might be sick. Or his radio might have broken +down temporarily. Still--" + +It was then that the third man in the cabin, Harkness, the navigator, +straightened abruptly and put a sharp end to the trader's last word by +calling out: + +"Radio, sir!" + + * * * * * + +A red dot of light was winking on a switchboard. Friday watched the +Hawk move in his quick, effortless way to it and pull a lever down, +all in the same motion, and then the negro's neck muscles corded as he +listened to the sounds that came, choking and barely intelligible, +from a loudspeaker: + +"Carse--Hawk Carse--Crane speaking from the ranch. We're +besieged--pirate ship--outnumbered--can't hold out much longer. We got +most of the cargo inside here, but our generators--they're +weakening--and I'm fading, I guess, and the others that're left are +wounded. Carse--hurry--hurry...." + +Five words went back into the microphone before the receiver went +dead. + +"I'm coming, Crane! Hold on!" + +Friday had seen the Hawk in such moments before, and he knew the +sight; but the navigator, Harkness, had not been with Carse very long, +and now he stood silent, motionless, while despite himself a shiver +ran down his spine as he stared at the tight-pressed bloodless lips +and the gray eyes, cold now as space. He started nervously when the +Hawk turned and looked him in the eye. + +"I want speed," came his quiet, soft, deceptive voice. "I want that +hour's running time sliced by a third. Streak through that +atmosphere." + +"Yes, suh!" answered Friday. + +"And you"--to Harkness--"be very sure you get out every ounce she's +got. Tell the engineer personally." + +"Full speed. Yes, sir," said the navigator, and felt relieved when +Carse turned his eyes away. For the Hawk, as always when he learned +that property had been ravaged and his friends shot down, seemed less +human than the Indrots at the far end of the frigid deeps of space he +roamed. His face was mask-like, graven, totally expressionless: blood +had been shed, and for each ounce another had to be spilled to balance +the scales. At a speaking tube that reached aft to the three other +members of the crew, he whispered: "Fighting posts. Arm and be ready +for action. Pirates are attacking ranch," and then went noiselessly to +the forward electelscope. Meanwhile Friday kept his eyes strictly on +the dials before him and held the space-stick rigid, while aft, in the +ship's other compartments, three men strapped on ray-gun belts and +wondered who was doomed to be caught in the swoop of the Hawk. + + * * * * * + +Carse himself wondered that. The raider so far showed as a newcomer to +the frontiers of space; he was one who as yet had never faced the +Hawk, one to whom the tales that were told of him seemed laughable, to +whom the rich consignment of horn looked like a gift. Certainly such +an open attack did not resemble Ku Sui's subtle methods, or those of +his several henchmen, pirates of space all; they, rather, struck +behind his back, and then only when the infamous Eurasian had prepared +what seemed an escape-proof trap. + +"Foolish to raid when I'm so close!" he murmured as he trained the +electelscope and peered into its eye-piece. "Stupid! Unless...." + +Friday, at the space-stick, mopped the trickles of sweat from his brow +and with a vast sigh shifted his bulk. The job of speeding into an +atmospheric pressure was always ticklish, and it was with some relief +that he reported "Into th' atmosphere, suh," according to routine. He +waited for the usual acknowledgment, and when it did not come repeated +his observation in a louder voice. Two full minutes of silence passed. +Then, finally, Hawk Carse turned from the electelscope, and even the +negro shivered at sight of the deadly mask that was his face. + +For the ranch-house in its clearing had dimly appeared in the +electelscope just as Friday had spoken. + +Carse spoke. + +"More speed, if it burns us up," came his almost whispered words. "I +want much more speed." + +Harkness gulped. "Yes, sir," he said, and, moistening his lips, he +returned to the engine-room. The frigid gray eyes swung back to the +sight that was revealed on Iapetus. + +The long, lean shape of a rakish space ship was resting on the soil +some three hundred yards from the ranch-house, and between were the +hazy figures of six men, busily dragging as many boxes towards their +craft. The boxes contained the whole half-year's harvest of phanti +horns, and had obviously been looted from the house. The resistance +had been overcome; the pirate raid had succeeded. The trim, +gray-painted ranch-house was lifeless.... + + * * * * * + +The Hawk switched off the electelscope. His colorless lips were +compressed very tightly. "I'll take the helm," he said curtly to +Friday. "Turn on the defensive web, and prepare all ray batteries." + +"Yes, suh!" The negro's big, yellow-palmed hands worked dexterously +among the instruments to his right; then, amidships, grew a shrill +whine which keened upward in pitch. A few sparks raced by the _Star +Devil's_ after ports, quickly to disappear after they left the almost +invisible envelope of delicate bluish light that entirely wrapped her +hull. + +She was making dangerous speed. The wind screamed as she streaked +through the satellite's atmosphere, and the great friction of her +passage raised her outer shell to a perilous glow. The altitude +dial's finger almost jumped from forty thousand to thirty-five. + +"Ready for bow-ray salvo." + +"Aye, sir!" replied Harkness, and a moment later repeated crisply: +"All ready for bow-ray salvo, sir!" His voice showed no sign of the +fear within him--fear that the _Star Devil's_ outer hull would reach +the melting point--but his lips fell apart and his face lost its +discipline when the Hawk next spoke and acted. + +"Steady," came the low whisper to his ears--and he saw the controlling +space-stick being shoved down as far as it would go. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_Pursuit_ + + +That was the Hawk's method, and it had given him the name which he had +made famous. It was characteristic of the man that he preferred to +strike at an enemy ship in a wild, breath-taking swoop, even as the +fierce hawk plummets from high heaven to sink its talons deep into the +flesh of its more sluggish prey. Nerves were uncomfortable things to +have on such occasions, and Harkness had them, and accordingly he felt +his heart hammer and something tight seemed to bind his throat. He +tried to assume the unshakable calmness of the motionless figure at +the stick, but could not, for his body was only flesh and blood--and +Hawk Carse was tempered, frosty, steel. Through staring eyes the +navigator watched the surface of Iapetus rushing into the bow ports, +watched it spread accelerating outward, until he could plainly see the +pirate ship lying there, and the nearby figures of men tugging at the +heavy boxes of horns. + +His eyes were on those figures when they broke. First they teetered +hesitantly a moment, glancing wildly around and up at the vision of +death that was coming like a silver comet from the skies, and then +they melted apart. Three scrambled towards the rim of jungle foliage +close at hand, while their fellows leaped in the other direction, +trying to make an open port in their craft. Harkness saw them tumble +headlong through it and slam it shut. Then a web of blue streaks +appeared around the ship, and softened until her hull was bathed is +ghostly bluish light. + +"Their defensive ray-web's on, sir!" he managed to gasp. Carse, though +close, might not have heard, so intently was he watching. The altitude +dial's pointer reached for one thousand and slid past. Harkness's face +was pale and drawn; his tight-gripped fingers and clenched teeth +showed that he expected to crash into the ground in a molten, +shapeless tomb of steel. But Friday was grinning, his teeth a slash of +white. + +"Stand by bow projectors," sounded the Hawk's clipped voice. The negro +extended his hands and rumbled: + +"Ready, suh." + +"Fire." + +"Fire!" Friday roared. + +His rich laugh rang out and he whirled the wheels over. With a hissing +as of a hundred snakes, the rays struck. + + * * * * * + +Well aimed, the bolt speared straight and true. The distance was +short, and it came from generators that were perhaps not equaled in +space; no ordinary ship's defensive web could resist its vicious +thrust. From the streak of silver that represented the Hawk's swoop, a +stream of orange cut a swathe through the air ahead, holding +accurately on the brigand ship. For just a tick of time there was a +turmoil of color as offensive ray met defensive web; then the air +cleared again--and the pirate was unmarked! + +By rights she should have been split in two; and, though his face did +not show it, it must have been surprising to Carse that she wasn't. +With one flick of the wrist he wrenched the _Star Devil_ out of her +plunge and sent her scudding, a hundred feet up, over the jungle rim. +Friday was gaping. Harkness, still numb from the dive, foolishly +staring; and then the brigand bared her fangs in return. + +Orange light winked from her stern, and the Hawk's ship was bathed in +a streak of color. But the bolt caromed harmlessly off the side of the +arcing _Star Devil_! and the next instant the pirate's lean bulk +swayed, lifted a little and zoomed up into the heavens, abandoning the +boxes of horn without further fight. + +"Runnin' foh it! Scared stiff!" muttered Friday, unholy joy in his +gleaming eyes. He looked at the figure at the stick. "Follow 'em now, +suh, an' wear out their projectors?" + +Carse thoughtfully smoothed his bangs with his free hand. "Plenty of +time for that," he said patiently. "Some of the men on the ranch may +still be alive: we must care for them. I'm going to land. Tell the +engineer to keep watch through the electelscope on that ship. I'll +start overtaking it shortly." + +"Funny our rays didn't ha'm 'em," Friday ruminated aloud. "Ain't no +ordinary craft, that. No, suh, they's more in this heah business than +hits yo' eyes!" + +"Now you're getting cynical, Eclipse," the Hawk said dryly. + + * * * * * + +A quarter-mile-square block of land had been fenced off as a corral +for the ninety-head herd of bull phantis Carse kept on Iapetus. These +creatures resembled mostly the old ostrich of Earth, but grew no +feathers. The neck, however was shorter than the ostrich's; the +leathery skin of a drab gray color; the powerful hind feet, on which +they stood erect, prehensile and armed with short stabbing spurs; the +forearms short and used for plucking the delicate shoots and young +leaves on which they lived. There was a dim flicker of rudimentary +intelligence inside the bullet heads; they recognized men as their +enemies, and hated them. And therefore they necessitated careful +handling, for, even without the valuable head-horns, their +sharp-spurred feet could rip a human being into shreds in seconds. + +They were clustered now behind the wire corral-fence, electrified to +prevent them from breaking through. They bellowed angrily and shoved +each other about as their wicked little blood-shot eyes caught sight +of the _Star Devil_ as she came dropping gently down. + +At the electelscope of the descending craft was the ship's engineer. +He had just centered the instrument on the fleeing pirate craft that +by now was leaving the satellite's atmosphere, and the image was large +on the screen above the bow windows, where he kept a steady eye on it. +The inner door of the port-lock swung open, the outer door down, and +Carse walked through, followed by Friday and Harkness. + +An ugly scene lay spread out before them in the glaring daylight. The +trader had only gone a few paces when he paused and looked down at an +outsprawled thing that had once been a man. Stooping, he very gently +turned the mess of charred flesh over and peered at what was left of +the face. There were small, burnt holes in it, and the flesh +surrounding them looked as though it had been suspended for some time +over a slow fire.... + +Carse rose and stared into space. + +"Ruthers, a guard," he said softly, as if speaking to himself. He +walked on. + +Another heap of flesh was pitched before the front wall of the +ranch-house. The man it had been a little while before had evidently +been running for the door when the deadly rays had got him. His +ray-gun was lying a few feet away. Again Carse stooped and again very +gently pulled the ragged thing over. + +"By God!" stammered Harkness suddenly, staring, his face white, +"that--that's Jack O'Fallon--old Jack O'Fallon! Why, we went to +navigation school together! We--" + +"Yes," said the Hawk, "O'Fallon, overseer." He stepped into the house. +Friday, impassive and grim, pulled Harkness away from the distorted +body. + + * * * * * + +Three more were tumbled together behind a splintered table in the main +room. The rays had done their work well. Three were welded, it seemed, +into one.... It was some time before the Hawk's frigid whisper came. + +"Martin ... Olafson ... and this--Antil ... Antil was the only +Venusian I ever liked...." + +The chairs and tables in the room were overturned, most of them bore +the seared scars of ray-guns, which showed plainly enough that there +had been a desperate last minute hand-to-hand struggle there, after +the defensive ray-web had failed and the pirates rushed the building. +The radio alcove was choked with seared, cracked wreckage. Crane, the +operator, still sat in his seat, but he was slumped over forward, and +his head and chest were pitted with slanting ray holes. One hand had +been reaching for a dial. The other was twisted and charred. + +"And Crane, the last," said Hawk Carse, and for some moments he stood +there, his face cold and unmoving save for the tiny twitching of the +left eyelid. Utter silence rested over the bitter three--a silence +broken only by the occasional roar of an angry phanti bull outside in +the enclosure. + +Finally Carse took a deep breath and turned to Friday. + +"You'll see to their burying," he ordered quietly. "Get the power ray +from the ship and burn out two big pits on that knoll off the corner +of the corral." + +Friday looked at him in puzzlement. "Two, suh?" he repeated. "Why two? +Why not put 'em all in one?" + +"You will put all my men in one. I'll need the other later.... You," +he went on, to Harkness, "get the cargo of horns aboard. We can't +leave it out there, for three of those pirates fled into the jungle. I +haven't time to find them, and they'd come out and bury the horns if +we left them. I'll be with you soon. We take off in ten minutes." + +"Yes, sir," answered the navigator, and he and the negro went out. + + * * * * * + +For a little while Carse stayed in the cubby. As he softly stroked the +flaxen bangs of hair over his brow, he visualized what had happened +inside that house of death, piecing a number of things together and +forming a whole. On the surface it seemed plain enough, and yet there +were one or two points.... His face showed a trace of puzzlement. He +shook his head slightly; then he stooped and picked up the radio +operator's body with an ease that might have seemed surprising from +such a slender man, and walked out of the house. + +Beyond one corner of the corral, upon a slight rise in the ground, +Friday was melting out the second grave with the ship's great portable +ray-gun. Carse laid Crane's body gently down in the first grave, then +went to where Harkness, with the _Star Devil's_ radio-man and cook, +was loading the cargo of horns aboard. The trader opened several of +the boxes, glanced at the upper layers to inspect the quality, and, +satisfied, closed them again. All the boxes were trundled soon into +the craft's open port and aft to her cargo hold. + +The engineer on watch at the electelscope and visi-screen felt a hand +on his shoulder and looked around to find his captain standing by him. +He pointed up at the screen: on it, the brigand ship was a mere four +inches in size, and bearing straight out on an unwavering course. "I +reckoned their speed to be about ten thousand an hour, a minute ago, +sir," he reported. "Now about five thousand miles away." + +"How soon," Carse asked, "do you think we could overhaul them?" + +The other grinned. "If you're in a hurry, sir, about two hours and a +half." + +"I am in a hurry. I want all the speed you can muster." + +"Yes, sir. Might be able to get it down, to two." + +The Hawk nodded. "Try. Return to your post." + +Outside, through the port, he saw Friday smoothing over the grave, the +burying finished, and he beckoned him in. At that second Harkness +reported the cargo all fastened down. Carse snapped out his orders. + +"Harkness," he said shortly, "you and Friday with me in the control +cabin. Sparks, you can get an hour's sleep, but leave the radio +receiver open. Cook, an hour's rest if you want it--and I think you'd +better want it. There's war ahead. Close port!" + +The inner and outer doors nestled snugly, one after the other, into +place with a hiss; the rows of gravity plates in the ship's belly +angled ever so slightly. She quivered, then, in a surge of power, +lifted straight up and poised; then, answering the touch of +space-stick and accelerator, she went streaking through the atmosphere +on the trail of the distant craft that had left its mark of blood on +Iapetus and provoked the vengeance of the Hawk.... + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_Death Rides the Star Devil_ + + +Usually, when pursuing an enemy, Hawk Carse was impassive and grim, +apparently emotionless, icy. But now he seemed somehow disturbed. + +He fidgeted around, glancing occasionally at the visi-screen to make +sure his quarry was not changing course, now watching Friday juggle +through the skin of atmosphere into outer space, and now standing +apart, silent and solitary, brooding. + +There was something about the affair he didn't like. Something that +was deeply hidden, that could not be grasped clearly; that might, on +the other hand, be pure imagination. And yet, why-- + +Why, for instance, had the brigands taken to their heels with just the +barest semblance of fight? Why, with their defensive ray-web proof for +some time at least against his offensive rays, had they left without +more of a struggle for the horn? Why were they so willing to flee, +knowing as they must that he, the Hawk, would follow? Did they not +know he had--thanks to Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow--the fastest +ship in space, and would inevitably overtake them? + +Were they Ku Sui's men? It seemed so, certainly, from the great +strength of their defensive ray-web. No other ships that he knew of in +space save Ku Sui's possessed such power. But--it wasn't the brilliant +Eurasian's customary style. It was too simple for him. + +Carse stroked his bangs. The factors were all mixed up. He didn't like +it. + +Iapetus' atmosphere was left behind; in minutes the light blue wash of +her sky changed to the hard, frigid blackness of lifeless space. The +_Star Devil's_ lighting tubes glowed softly, though Saturn's rays, +coming through the wide bow windows, still lit every object in the +control cabin with hard and dazzling brilliancy. Inside, light and +color, life and action; outside, the eternal, sable void, sprinkled +with its millions of sparkling motes of worlds. And ahead--shown now +on the visa-screen only by the light dots of its ports--was the +brigand craft. + +The _Star Devil_ was smoothly building up the speed that would +eventually bring her up to the craft of the enemy. Carse's Earth-watch +told him that an hour and a half had passed. A vague anxiety oppressed +him, but he shook it off with the thought that soon the time for +accounting would arrive. Only forty minutes more; probably less. His +fears--foolish. He was getting too suspicious.... + + * * * * * + +Then came the voice. + +It pierced through the control cabin from the loudspeaker cone above +the radio switchboard. It was rough and mocking. It said: + +"Hawk Carse? Hawk Carse? You hear me?" Many times it repeated this. +"Yes? You hear me, Hawk Carse? I've a joke I want you to hear--a very +funny joke. You'll enjoy it!" There interrupted the staccato sounds of +an irrepressible amusement. + +Carse froze. His fingers by habit fluttered over his ray-gun butt as +he wheeled and looked into the loudspeaker. Friday, at the +space-stick, stared at him; Harkness's face was puzzled as he peered +at the loudspeaker and then turned and gazed at his captain. + +"But where," he asked, "--where does the voice come from? Who is it?" + +As if thinking aloud, Carse whispered: + +"From that ship ahead. I half expected ... I know it well, that voice. +Very well. It's the voice of ... of ... I can't quite place it.... In +a minute.... The voice of--" + +The chuckling ceased, and again the voice spoke. + +"Yes--a very funny joke! I can't share it all with you, Carse, because +you'd spoil it. But do you remember, some years ago, five men--and +another who lay before them? Do you remember how this last man said: +'Each one of you will die for what you've done to me?' That man didn't +wear bangs over his forehead then. Remember? Well, I'm one of the five +the mighty Hawk Carse swore he would kill!" + +Again the voice broke into a chuckle. + +But it ended suddenly. The tone it changed into was entirely +different, was cruel with a taunting sneer. + +"Bah! The avenging Hawk! The mighty Hawk! Well, in minutes, you'll be +dead. You'll be dead! The mighty Sparrow Carse will be dead!" + +A brief eternity went by. Carse remembered, and the glint in his gray +eyes grew colder. + +"Judd the Kite," he whispered. + +Friday's lips formed the words. + +And even Harkness, new to the frontiers of space, knew the name and +echoed it haltingly. + +"Judd the Kite...." + + * * * * * + +Of all the henchmen Dr. Ku Sui had gathered about him and banded +against Earth, and against Carse, and against all peaceful traders and +merchant-ships, Judd was perhaps the most cruel and relentless. + +The Kite he was called--though only behind his back--yet it might +better have been Vulture. Big and gross, with thick unstable lips and +stubby, hairy fingers, more than once he and his motley gang of +hi-jackers had painted a crimson splash across the far corners of the +frontiers, and daubed it to the tortured groans of the crews of honest +trading ships. Often they had plunged on isolated trading posts and +left their factors wallowing in their life blood. And more.... + +There are things that cannot be set down in print, that the carefully +edited history books only hint at, and into this class fell many of +the Kite's deeds. He was a master of the Venusian tortures. He and his +band during the unspeakable debauches which always followed a +successful raid would amuse themselves by practising certain of these +tortures on the day's captives; and his victims, both men and women, +would see and feel indescribable things, and Death would be kept most +carefully away until the last ounce of life and pain had been squeezed +quite dry. + +"Judd the Kite," Carse repeated in a hardly audible whisper. "Judd the +Kite ... one of the five...." Slowly his left hand rose and smoothed +his long bangs of flaxen hair. "I have been looking for him." + +"Will you reply to him, sir?" asked Harkness. + +"What use? His trap--Ku Sui's trap, of course--has already been set." +His brain raced. "What could it be?" he whispered slowly. + + * * * * * + +Friday was scratching his woolly hair, his smooth face puzzled, when +Carse, with the crisp decisiveness that always came to him when in +action, looked up at the visi-screen. The brigand was still clinging +to a straight course, and being overhauled rapidly. Another thirty +minutes and they would be within striking distance. He said tersely: + +"Set up the defensive web. Spiral and zig-zag the ship all you dare, +altering the period of the swing each time. Harkness, you and I are +going to make an inspection tour. General alarm if Judd's course +changes, Friday." + +"Yes, suh." The negro, frowning, gave his undivided attention to his +instruments as the Hawk and Harkness went aft into the next +compartment, the engine room. + +It looked quite normal. The great dynamos were humming smoothly; the +air-renewing machine was functioning steadily; the gauge hands all +slept or quivered in their usual places. Nothing uneven in the slight +vibration of the ship; nothing that might possibly forbode trouble. Up +on his perch, the engineer peered down curiously and asked: + +"Anything wrong, sir?" + +"Not yet," Carse answered shortly. "You're sure everything is regular +here?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Good. But check every vital spot at once--and quickly. Then keep +alert." + +They passed on into the following compartment, the mess-room and +sleeping quarters for the crew. Solid, rhythmical snores were issuing +from the cook's open mouth as he lay sprawled out on his bunk; the +smell of coffee hovered in the air; the cabin was quiet and +comfortable with an atmosphere of sleep and rest. The radio-man, +reading in his bunk, looked over and, seeing it was Carse, sat up. + +"Notice anything wrong?" he was asked. + +"Wrong? What--Why, no, sir. You want me for duty?" + +"Yes. Stay here and keep your eyes open for signs of trouble. I'm +expecting some. General alarm if the slightest thing happens." And +Carse went noiselessly into the last division of the ship. + +This was the cargo hold. The boxes of phanti horns were neatly stacked +in precise rows; the dim tube burning overhead showed nothing that +gave the smallest cause for alarm. The Hawk's narrowed eyes swept +walls, deck and ceiling in a search for signs of strain or buckling, +but found none. + + * * * * * + +Then he let himself down into the ship's belly, in the three-foot-high +space between the deck and the bottom outer hull. He found the three +rows of delicately adjusted gravity plates in good order. Harkness +joined him. + +Their hand-flashes scanned every inch of the narrow compartment as +they made the under-deck passage from stem to bow and up through the +forward trap-door into the control cabin. They found nothing abnormal. +The water and fuel tanks, built in the space between the inner and +outer shells above the living quarters, also yielded nothing; likewise +the storeroom. + +Nothing. Nothing at all. The whole ship was in excellent condition. +Everything was working as it should. Carse went forward again with +Harness; turned and faced him with puzzled eyes. + +"I can't understand it," he said. "Why that threat, when everything +seems all right? How can Judd reach me to kill me? And in minutes?" + +The navigator shook his head. "It's beyond me, sir." + +The Hawk shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we'll see. It might be +something altogether new. You report to the engine-room and keep on +watch there. Any sound or sign, give the general alarm." + +"Yes, sir," he said, and left. + +"He talkin' foolish, that Judd," grumbled Friday, seeing that the +search had been fruitless. "He think maybe he can bust through our +ray-web? Hmff!" + +His master said nothing. He was standing motionless in the center of +the cabin, waiting--waiting for he knew not what. + +Then it came. + +A preparatory sputter from the loudspeaker that spun Friday around. +Hawk looked up, tensed. Again sounded the hard, sneering voice of Judd +the Kite. + +"We're ready now, Carse: there was a little delay. I'll give you, say, +five seconds. Yes--one for each of the five men you did _not_ kill. +Shall I count them off? All right. You have till the fifth. + +"One." + +Friday's big eyes rolled nervously; he wiped a drop of sweat from his +brow and cursed. + +"Two." + + * * * * * + +He glanced at the Hawk, and tried himself to assume the unshakable +steely calm of the great adventurer. But his fists would clench and +unclench as he stared up at the visi-screen. No change! The brigand +was running straight ahead as ever, apparently fleeing. + +"Three." + +The negro's breath came more quickly; the tendons of his neck stood +sharply out, and his powerful arms twitched nervously. "What's he +goin' to do, suh? What's he goin' to do?" he asked hoarsely. "What's +he goin' to do?" + +"Four." + +"Change course--a-starboard!" Carse rapped. The space-stick moved a +little, all Friday dared, at their speed; the position dials swung; +the dot of a fixed star that had been visible a moment before through +the bow windows was now gone. Till the fifth, Judd had said. + +"Five!" + +The two men in the control cabin of the _Star Devil_ peered at each +other. One of them licked his lips and wiped the sweat from his brow. +But there was nothing. No sound, no change. No general alarm bell. No +offensive ray spearing across the reaches of space; no slightest +change in the brigand's course. He who had mopped the sweat away +laughed loud and long in overwhelming relief. + +"All foolishment!" he gurgled. "That Judd, he crazy. Try to scare us, +I guess--huh! Try to--" + +"_What's that?_" whispered Hawk Carse. + +A sudden faint rustle of noise, of movement, had breathed through the +ship. + +At first it was hardly discernible; but it grew. It grew with +paralyzing rapidity into a low but steady murmur, blended soon with +voices raised in quick cries. There was one piercing, ragged shriek, +and all the time an undertone of the indefinite, peculiar sound of +something rustling, creeping, growing. + + * * * * * + +Then came the harsh jangle of the general alarm bell. + +"Space-suits!" Carse snapped. The alarm was the signal to put them on; +it was a safeguard from a possible breach in the ship's walls. Against +such an emergency they had drilled often, and all over the ship the +crew would be springing rapidly into space-suits hanging ready. + +The space-stick automatically locked as Friday, eyes rolling, leaped +with his master to the nearby locker. The shriek from aft had quickly +died, the alarm bell had snapped off; but now there came a frantic +rush of feet, and a man tumbled through into the control cabin, his +face white, his eyes stark with horror, his breath coming in gasps and +the sweat of fear on his brow. + +It was Harkness. + +He slammed the door tight shut behind him and stumbled to the suit +locker; and as his fingers fumbled at his suit with the clumsiness of +panic, he stammered: + +"The cargo--the boxes of horn--it came from aft! Fungus! Planted in +the horn! It's filling the ship! Got all the others and grew--_grew_ +on them! Dead already. There--look, look!" + +Carse and Friday, grotesque giants in the bulky sheathings of stiff, +many-plied fabric, turned as one and peered through their quartzite +face shields to where the navigator's bulging eyes directed them. + +It was the door between control cabin and engine room--the door he had +just slammed shut. At first nothing was visible; then they saw the van +of the enemy that had swarmed through the ship. + +A thin line of bright yellow color had appeared along the under crack +of the door. A second later the door was rimmed on all sides with it. +It grew; reached out. Energy flowed through it: fingers of dusty +yellow pronged out from the cracks where the door fitted, hung +wavering for a moment, melted together, then slumped to the floor to +more quickly continue the advance. It increased marvelously, in minor +jerks of speed. It was delicate in texture, mold-like. The more there +became, the faster it grew: in seconds shreds of it had darted out +from the main mass and affixed themselves to the walls and ceiling of +the cabin, there to accelerate the horrible filling process. + + * * * * * + +All this happened more quickly than it can be related. Within ten +seconds most of the cabin was coated by the yellow stuff; grotesquely +formed clumps and feathers hung from the ceiling; fern-like fingers +kept spurting everywhere. Friday stepped back, before the advance, but +not the Hawk. Useless to try and evade the stuff, he knew, and he was +fairly positive that there was no immediate danger: the tough fabric +of the suits should resist it. A pseudopod-like surge flicked to his +leg; crept up; cloaked the suit in patches of yellow; thickened and +enveloped him. But it could not pierce through. + +"Cap'n Carse! Look heah!" + +He turned to the alarmed voice, brushing light, feathery particles of +yellow from his face shield, and found the bulky giant that was Friday +a few steps behind him, and pointing mutely at Harkness. + +The young officer was slumped limply down against a wall, his legs +sprawled and body twisted unnaturally. His suit was covered with the +yellow, and he had fallen, silently, while they were watching the +advance of the fungus and checking the fastenings of their suits. + +Carse reached him in three steps, stooped, brushed the fungus off the +face-shield and peered through. Friday looked over his shoulder. The +yellow enemy had laid its deadly fingers on Harkness's fine pale face. +Sprouts of yellow trailed from the nostrils; the mouth was a clump of +it; tendrils of spongy substance had climbed out the ears and were +still threading rapidly over the head, even as the Hawk and Friday +watched. + +"That's how the others died," the adventurer said slowly. "Harkness +must have carried a bit of the stuff from aft. It was on him when he +put on his suit. At least I hope so. If it can get into these +suits...." He left the thought unfinished. + +"You mean, suh," asked Friday haltingly, "you mean that maybe--maybe +it'll get in our suits too?" + +"Maybe," said Carse without emotion. + +They waited. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_The Hawk Prepares a Surprise_ + + +Hawk Carse's icy poise in times of emotional stress never failed to +amaze friends and enemies alike. Most of them swore he had no nerves, +and that in that way he was not human. This estimate, of course, is +foolish; Carse was perhaps too human, as was proved by the +all-consuming object of his life. It was rather, probably, an inward +vanity that made him stand composed as a statue while death was +gnawing near; that had, once, led him actually to file his nails when +apparently trapped and hotly besieged, with the wicked hiss of +ray-guns all around. + +And so he stood within his suit now--calm, quite collected, his face +graven, while the yellow tendrils carpeted the whole cabin, penetrated +between the twin banks of instruments on each side and clouded the bow +windows, visi-screen and positionals until the two living men aboard +that ship of death were completely shut off from outside vision. +Friday, his large white eyes never for a moment still, and waiting as +the Hawk was waiting to find whether or not their suits, too, harbored +the fungus, could quite easily have been scared into a state of panic; +but the sight of the steely figure near him eased his nerves and +brought a vague kind of reassurance. + +Minutes went by. Presently the Hawk said softly into his microphone: + +"We're safe, now, I think. You'd better go aft and see what state the +ship's in. Come right back." And as Friday left, wading through the +clinging growth, the trader went to the eye-piece of the electelscope. + +He brushed the puffy covering of yellow silt away and adjusted the +instrument's controls as best he could, centering it on where Judd's +craft had last been. Then he peered through--and saw that which made +him start. + +The _Star Devil_ was rolling round and round, like a ball! + + * * * * * + +Carse looked out on a star-studded panorama that was sweeping crazily +by. Now the cloudy globe of Iapetus, which had just before lain far +behind, came swinging into view, sliding rapidly from the bottom of +his field of view to the top, and so out of sight again, to quickly +give place to the flaming, ringed sphere of Saturn, which in turn +passed away and left the star-spangled blackness of space. Then +Iapetus once more. He snapped the electelscope off abruptly, and +turned from it to see Friday come clumping back. + +"Swept everything clean, suh," the negro reported gloomily. "That +fungus's thick; cain't even see the men's bodies, it's so deep. It's +that way, all over." + +"It's down in the gravity propulsion plates too," Carse said shortly. +"Their adjustment's been ruined by it, and we're out of control, +turning over and over. I couldn't possibly see Judd. Well, we've got +to go down to the plates and try and clean them." + +It was a weird scene that faced him in the engine room. The complex +instruments and machinery were draped with straggling ferns of yellow; +up above, a solid clump some ten feet thick hung on the platform where +the engineer usually stood--a living tomb. The usual purr of the +mechanisms was muffled and hushed. So fecund was the fungus that the +path Friday had cleared in his passage aft was already filled, and +Carse had to clear a new one. The growth was deep there, but still +deeper in the next compartment. + +It was practically a solid mass of yellow, for in it their invader had +found food. It had fed well on the lockers of supplies and devoured +all but the bones and clothing of the two men whom it had +caught--radio-operator and cook. Carse fought on through this tough, +clinging sea and came at last to the cargo hold, where, in the deck, +was the man-hole that gave passage down to the 'tween-decks +compartment where the rows of gravity propulsion plates were located. + + * * * * * + +Friday raised the cover with a wrench: then, preceded by the rays of +their hand-flashes, they climbed down and wormed forward as best they +could in their hampering suits, to the plates. They found they had +lost their customary glitter beneath powdery coatings of yellow, +sufficient to disturb their faint electric currents and +microscopically adjusted angles. On hands and knees--for the +compartment, though as wide as the ship's inner shell, was only three +feet in height--the Hawk stopped and said: + +"We might be able to get some use out of these plates if we can keep +the fungus brushed off. It's thin: let's try it." + +But the yellow growth's vitality baulked them. Sweating from their +awkward exertions inside the hot space-suits, they again and again +brushed clean the plates with pieces of waste--only to see the +feathery particles regather as quickly as they were cleared away. +There wasn't more than an inch of the fungus, but that inch stuck. +There was no removing it. + +"No use, boss," gasped the negro, pausing breathless. "Cain't do it. +Nothin' to do, I guess, but wait an' see what de Kite does. He'll sure +want this ship and the horn." + +"I know," his captain answered slowly. "He'll want this ship, for it's +the fastest in space--but I can't understand how he'll board us. I'm +going up and see what I can find out. You stay here. Try cleaning the +plates again." + +Up through the man-hole he went, and forward to the control cabin. +And, as before, the electelscope's eye-piece held a surprise for him. + +Somehow, the _Star Devil's_ speed of wild tumbling had lessened. A +moment later the reason appeared. As her bow dipped down and down, +there slid across the field of view, about a mile away, the lighted +ports of another ship; and, from this other ship's nose there winked a +spot of green, the beginning of a ray-stream which stabbed across the +gulf to impinge on the _Star Devil's_ bow. Carse could feel his craft +steady as it struck. It was a gravital ray, with strong magnetic +properties, which Judd was using to stop her turnings so he and his +men could board! + + * * * * * + +Again and again the beam flashed across the Hawk's field of view, and +he knew it was raying its mark neatly each time her bow swung abeam, +for soon she was hardly turning at all. Then Judd evidently was +satisfied. The port-lights of his ship veered aside; drew to a +position abreast of the other. The two cold gray eyes that watched saw +the outer port-lock door of the pirate open, revealing six figures, +clad in space-suits and connected by a rope, that stepped out, pushed, +and came floating towards the _Star Devil_. + +Swiftly Carse moved. For many reasons it was useless, he rapidly +decided, to try and surprise them as they boarded; there was a better +and surer way. And, as always, he attended to every little +detail--details that to others might have seemed trivial--of this +preferred way. + +With quick, strong fingers he removed the fungus-choked body of +Harkness from its space-suit, and threw the suit into a nearby locker. +From another locker he selected a loop of yellow-encrusted rope. +Holding this over one arm, he made his way back rapidly to the aft +man-hole, closed it carefully behind him and crept forward to the +anxious negro who was still futilely dusting the plates. He told what +he had seen, but nothing else. + +Friday noted the rope, and he twisted his whole body to get a sight of +Carse's gray eyes, through the face-shield. + +"What we do, then, suh?" he asked. "Try an surprise 'em?" + +"Can't do that; we'd still be helpless, without a way to remove this +fungus. They probably know how to do it, and we've got to give them a +chance." + +Puzzlement pricked the negro. "Then what you goin' to do with that +rope?" + +"You'll soon see," snapped Hawk Carse. + + * * * * * + +They waited. + +It was hot and stuffy down in the belly of the ship, and also utterly +black, for the trader had flicked off his hand-flash. Friday was +unhappily possessed of an active curiosity; he wanted terribly to go +on with his questions and ask Carse what his plan was; but he did not +dare, for he knew very well from past experience that the Hawk was +impatient of detailing his schemes in advance. So he sat in silence, +and sweated, and stared gloomily into the darkness, thinking uneasy +thoughts. + +True, he thought, Judd the Kite did not know that Carse and he were +still alive; on the contrary, he was probably convinced that they were +dead; but what good did that do? Surely it would have been better to +have surprised the brigands when boarding, but Captain Carse was +against that. And they were hopelessly outnumbered. + +Friday remembered a tale told him once by a survivor of a trading ship +Judd the Kite had destroyed. It wasn't a nice tale. The Kite, so the +report ran, was diabolically ingenious with a long peeling knife, and +could improvise with it for hours. Friday pursued the tack of thought, and +then suddenly began to sweat in earnest. He recalled--horrible!--that Judd +possessed a special dislike for colored gentlemen!... + +"Oh, Lawd!" he groaned, unconsciously--to have a cold voice ring in +his earphones. + +"Quiet!" it snapped. "They're entering." + +The negro threw a switch on his helmet so he could catch outside +noises. His body tensed. From above, unmistakably, had come the hiss +of the inner port-lock door opening. And again, moments later, the +hiss echoed. Twice! The lock could hold three men at a time. That +probably meant that all six had boarded. Friday turned in the darkness +and peered at Carse. + +The adventurer without warning flicked on his hand-flash. The beam +fell on the parallel planes of the yellow-covered gravity plates. The +negro, every nerve in him jumping from impatience and suspense, gazed +at them, and suddenly straightened. The mold-like fungus which had +prevented them from getting the ship into control was slowly melting +away. It was dwindling into fine dust! + +"Gas," came a soft whisper to him. "As I expected, Judd's cleaning it +out with some sort of gas. But the plates won't work yet--not until +they're polished bright." Unthinking, Friday raised his hand to his +helmet fastenings. "Keep your face-shield shut!" he was ordered +crisply. "The gas would be as fatal as the fungus." + + * * * * * + +Silence rested tensely over the two men, to be broken at last by the +clump of feet proceeding aft on the deck above. + +Carse switched off the light. His voice was but faintly audible. + +"Coming down to clean off the dust. He'll have a flash. Hide behind +the truss-work at your side, and when he gets here seize him by the +neck. I'll be with you right away. I want no noise." + +Friday saw a great light, and grinned in the confidence it brought +him. Of course! That explained the rope. The plan was so simple it had +escaped him. Already he felt cheerful. It was only mental worries, and +never physical hazards, that unsettled him. He angled around the +truss-work and shrank into as small a space as possible--which wasn't +very small, as he still wore his bulky, clumsy suit. + +The clump-clump of feet had died: now there came the sound of the +man-hole aft being raised. A white beam pronged down into the +darkness, felt around and flicked off. Boots clanged on the connecting +ladder; reached the bottom. The light appeared again, lower now, and +came slowly forward. Limned faintly against the reflected light was +the outline of a crouching man's body. + +He went to hands and knees and progressed carefully, his flash darting +to left and right. Suddenly, in a certain light, the two who awaited +his coming saw a swarthy, black-stubbled face in profile. He wore no +space-suit! That meant, Friday reflected, that the brigands had +cleared the ship of the gas in some way. It meant that they could get +out of their own suits. + +But they could not possibly do so at the moment. They heard the nearby +pirate's breathing, a harsh oath as he stubbed a toe. The negro +tightened his giant arms and held himself ready, his eyes steady on +the black outline which signified his quarry. Then the pirate was +close enough. + +It was over in seconds. Rounding the truss, Friday caught the man in +the armored crook of his arm. A startled croak preluded the thump of +two bodies on the hull; there was the tinkle of a falling hand-flash +and a slight squirming which was quickly stopped by a belting punch. + + * * * * * + +Then Carse was there in the darkness, looping his rope around the +pirate's arms and legs--a difficult job when wearing a bulky +space-suit in such cramped quarters. He used a bunch of waste for a +gag and then hauled the captive to a girder farther forward and bound +him sitting to it. By the time he had finished, Friday was out of his +space-suit and asking: + +"Shall I rub him out, suh? Best make sure of him." + +"Never in cold blood," said the Hawk acidly. "You should know that +well enough by now! + +"Now, there should be five left above, and I think they'll send +another down. We must get him, too. Get back where you were." + +He took off his space-suit also: then, after minutes of silence, they +heard voices upraised in argument coming from the control cabin. Once +more came the sound of feet overhead; another flash bit down through +the man-hole, and another man wriggled into the compartment. He was +obviously uneasy and suspicious. He called: + +"Jake! Hey, Jake! You there? Where the hell are you?" + +Mumbling oaths, he advanced, his light ray weaving over every inch +before him. + +"What you doing, Jake? Where are you?" + +Friday gathered his muscles, unhampered now by the restricting suit. +But light must have been reflected by the round whites of his eyes, +for the pirate suddenly stopped and called in sharp alarm: + +"What's that? What's that there? You, Jake? Hey! I'll ray you--" + +And that was all he said. Friday was too far away to reach him in +time, but the Hawk was closer; he approached behind the brigand, +crouched on silent cat's feet. Two powerful arms reached out and +tightened in a strangle hold--and two minutes later the second man was +bound and gagged. + +Carse loosened his ray-gun in its holster. + +"Now we attack," he whispered. "Four to two are fair odds, I think. +You go aft and wait by the man-hole; wait till you hear me call. Don't +be seen--wait. And when I call, come at once." + +"Yes, suh. You goin' forward 'tween the hulls?" + +A curt nod answered him. + +"Then up through that--" + +"Don't ask so many questions!" the Hawk rasped crisply. + +They separated. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_The Hawk and the Kite_ + + +In the deck of the control cabin, between a bank of instruments and +the starboard wall, was another man-hole that gave entrance from the +'tween hulls compartment to the cabin. + +Only two men besides Carse knew of its existence. The adventurer for +good reasons of his own had it built in; and so cunningly was its +cover fitted on that its outlines were not visible. + +Beneath it, now, on the three-rung ladder that led up from the lower +shell, Hawk Carse waited. + +He could hear quite clearly the angry, snarling voice of Judd the +Kite, haranguing his men. + +"Rinker, you go down and see what's wrong. Just because Jake and Sako +don't come back right away, you guys seem to think the ship's haunted! +Haunted! By Betelguese! A sweet bunch of white-livered cowards I've +got for a crew--" + +"Ah, lay off!" growled a deep, sullen voice. "I ain't scared, but this +looks fishy to me. Something's wrong down there 'tween the hulls--damn +wrong, I tell you. We only found four skeletons, an' four, ain't the +full crew for a ship like this. There oughta to be a couple more +somewhere. Carse, blast him! he's got nine lives. How do we know he +was one of the four?" + +Another spoke up, as Rinker evidently hesitated. "I say we all go down +and investigate together." + +"Stow it!" thundered Judd. "They didn't get their space-suits out, did +they? Why, they hadn't a chance to escape--none of 'em. They were +killed, every one, quick! And four's plenty to work this ship. Carse +is dead, see, dead! This was one trick he didn't know--one time he +couldn't worm out. He was clever, all right, but he couldn't quite +stack up against me. I swore I'd get him and I did. He's dead!" + +"Judd," said a low, clear voice. + + * * * * * + +The Kite whirled around. He stared. The hand-flash he was holding +dropped to the deck with a clang. His hands went limp, and his voice +was suddenly weak and dazed. + +"My God--Carse! Hawk Carse!" + +"Yes," a whisper answered. "Hawk Carse. And not dead." + +It was a scene that might have puzzled a newcomer to the frontiers of +space. Certainly there seemed to be nothing menacing about the slender +figure that stood by the now open man-hole, both arms hanging easily +at his sides; the advantage, on the contrary, appeared to be all with +the men whom he confronted. All but one was big, and each was fully +armed with a brace of ray-guns and knives. + +But, though there were four guns to one, they made no attempt to draw. +For it was the Hawk they faced, the fastest, most accurate shot in all +those millions of leagues of space, and in his two icy eyes was a +menace that filled the control cabin with fine-drawn silence. + +At last Judd the Kite opened his lips and wetted them. + +"Where did you come from?" he stammered. + +"No matter," came the answer from the thinly smiling mouth. "Friday!" + +"Yes, suh!" boomed the big black's distant voice. + +Judd's three men turned their heads and saw Carse's famous satellite +step into the control cabin, a ray-gun in each capacious hand. He was +all flashing white teeth, so wide was his grin. + +"Well, well!" he chuckled. "Ain't this the pleasure! Certainly am +pleased to meet old friends like this--yes, suh! Jus' drop in?" + +But the Kite's head had not turned; he seemed not to hear Friday's +words; his eyes were held fascinated by Carse's. The attention of +everyone came back to the two leaders. + +"Ku Sui is in back of this?" asked the Hawk. + +Judd licked his lips again. He had to spar for time: to divert for a +while the vengeance he knew possessed the other's mind, so that he +might find some chance, some loop-hole. + +"That's right," he began eagerly, "it was Ku Sui. I had to do this, +Carse: I hadn't any choice. He's got something on me: I had to go +through with it. Had to!" + + * * * * * + +The Hawk's eyes were glacial; the ghost of a smile hovered once more +around the corners of his lips. + +"Go on," he said. "What was that fungus?" + +"I don't know. Ku Sui developed it in his laboratory. He just gave me +a sealed cartridge of the spores with instructions to raid your ranch, +as you saw, and plant them in a drilled-out phanti horn. There was a +simple mechanism in the cartridge that allowed us to release the +spores by a radio wave from our ship. When I wanted them to grow I +simply--" + +"I see. A clever scheme," Carse said. "Quite up to Ku Sui's standard. +The idea of those three men running for the jungle when I came down on +Iapetus was to insure my taking the horn cargo aboard, of course. The +raid was only incidental to your scheme to get me. And Crane, the +radio operator, was dead when I received that S.O.S. It was faked, to +bring me quickly for your schedule." + +Judd stared at him. "How in hell did you know that? Damn you, Carse, +you're--" + +"Where," interrupted the adventurer coldly, "is Ku Sui?" + +The pirate's eyes shifted nervously. "I don't know," he muttered. + +"Where," came the steady question again, "is Ku Sui?" + +The other licked his lips. His fingers clenched, unclenched, gripped +tight. "I don't know!" he protested. His eyes widened as he saw the +Hawk's left hand stir slightly, and he started as he heard the +whip-like word: + +"Talk!" + +"Carse. I swear it! No one knows where he is. When he wants to see me +personally, he comes out of darkness--out of empty space. I don't know +whether it's done by invisibility or the fourth dimension, but one +moment his ship's not there; the next it is; I don't know where his +base is; and if he knew I'd told you what I have, he'd--" + +"How do you arrange your meetings, then?" + +"They're always in a different place. The next is in seven days. I +don't remember the figures: they're in the log of my ship." + +Carse nodded. "All right. I believe you. And now--there are a few +accounts to be settled." + + * * * * * + +During the few minutes the Hawk had questioned Judd, the brigand crew +in the cabin had stood silent, their breath bated, their eyes watching +fascinated. But now they started, and shifted uneasily. They suspected +what was coming. The inexorable, seemingly inhuman adventurer went on +emotionlessly: + +"Six of my men were killed on Iapetus, treacherously, without a +chance. Four more were slaughtered by the fungus. That's ten. Back up +to your men, Judd." + +Judd knew all too well what that order portended. He could not move. +His cunning eyes protruded with fear as they shifted down and riveted +on the shabby holster that hung on Carse's left side. His breath came +unevenly, in short, ragged gasps through parted lips. + +"Back, Judd!" + +The stinging, icy force of the voice jolted him back despite his will. +One short retreating step after another he took, until at length he +was standing with his three men against the side wall of the cabin, +the dividing line between it and the engine room. Friday's guns were +still covering the pirates. + +"You goin' to shoot us down in cold blood?" one of them asked +hoarsely. + +The Hawk surveyed the speaker until the man shivered. Beneath their +coldness, his gray eyes were faintly contemptuous. + +"No--I leave that for yellow-streaked hi-jacking rats such as you. I'm +going to give you a chance: more than a chance. Friday," he called. + +"Yes, suh?" + +"Do you want to come in on this?" + +Without the slightest hesitation the negro answered, grinning: + +"Yes, suh!" + +"I thought you would. Come here alongside me, then sheathe your guns." + +Friday did so. He stood in position beside his master, just in front +of the opening that led below. The four brigands were some fifteen +feet away. The two groups faced each other squarely. + +"Good," whispered Carse. + + * * * * * + +They stood there, four men to two, deadly enemies; yet not one hand +moved toward a ray-gun. Again, an outsider would have marveled why +Judd, the numbers on his side did not draw and fire; why he waited; +why his face was pale, his eyes nervous. But he knew too well what the +least sign of a draw on his part would entail; he preferred to wait, +to receive the advantage of the cold vanity in Carse which demanded, +in gun-play, that the odds of numbers be against him. Perhaps this +time that vanity would lead the Hawk a little too far. Perhaps even +yet a loop-hole for strategy might appear. + +So the Kite waited, but fear was strong within him. + +"A little earlier," the Hawk's frigid voice went on, "there was some +counting. To the number five. Remember, Judd? Well, since you managed +so poorly before, perhaps you'll count again." + +"You mean to count to five?" + +"Yes. And on the fifth count, we draw and fire." + +Judd's eyes narrowed, shifted, while thoughts clashed and meshed in +his brain. Hawk Carse smiled icily. + +"Is that clear?" he asked. + +Judd said after a while: + +"All right." + +Friday noted one of the pirates: a brawny, black-browed giant almost +as large as himself, and decided to go for him when the time came. He +whispered this to Carse; then, keeping his gaze on the man, he stood +ready. + +"Begin, I'm waiting," reminded Hawk Carse. + + * * * * * + +The Kite crouched, drew a deep breath--but before his lips could form +the first count there was a quick, sharp stir of movement from the +brigand to his right; Carse's left hand seemed to vanish; a hiss +followed, a streak of wicked blue light. Friday grunted, not yet quite +realizing what had happened; Judd, gaped at Carse's lowering weapon, +then turned his eyes to the right--and choked out an oath. + +The brawny giant by his side was standing, but his face was creased +and puzzled. One hand was at a holster; the other grasped a +gun--unfired. Accurate to an inch, between his eyebrows there had +appeared is if by magic a neatly seared, round hole. + +His knees crumpled. His gun clanged to the deck. His head bowed; he +bent; he pitched forward, sprawled face downward. Then he quivered and +lay still. A burnt odor was in the air.... + +"I'm still waiting, Judd," came an ironic whisper. + +"My God!" stammered one of the pirate chief's two remaining men. "He's +a devil. Fast as light!" + +Judd's eyes had returned to the Hawk, and they still showed some of +his reaction of surprise to what had happened, when a peculiar thing +occurred. For a split second his gaze shot past Carse, took in +something, then switched back again. And when he had done so his face +showed a faint but unmistakable feeling of relief. + +This was old stuff to the Hawk, but he could not afford to take +chances. Instantly he rapped: + +"Look behind. Friday! Quick!" + +The negro jerked his head around. He was too late. He had a glimpse of +a man standing in the man-hole behind--a glimpse of a short steel bar +that flashed to Carse's head in a vicious arc, and again to his own. +He was rocked by pain is blackness came across his vision; and +together, white man and black crumpled to the deck.... + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Back to Iapetus_ + + +An indefinite time later Carse awoke to a trip-hammer of pain thudding +through his head. He groaned a little, and tried to turn over in an +effort to ease it. He found he could not. Then his eyes opened and he +blinked up. + +He found himself lying on the deck of the control cabin, near the +after wall, and bound hand and foot with tightly strapped rope. Over +him, looking down, was Judd the Kite, hands on his hips, a gloating +smile on his coarse lips, and in his eyes a look of taunting, exultant +triumph. He drew back his foot and kicked the netted Hawk in the ribs. +The trader made no sound; his pale face did not change, except to set +a trifle more rigidly. + +"Pretty easy the way my men got you, Carse," said Judd. "Seems to me +you're just a damned fool with a big rep you don't deserve. You're +too careless. You ought to know by now not to leave bound men in reach +of high-powered cable. It cuts as good as an electric knife. Does your +head hurt where you were hit?" Deliberately, still smiling, he rapped +his foot brutally against Carse's head. + +The trader said nothing. He glanced around, to get the situation +clearly. Friday, he saw, was in the control cabin too, lying stretched +out and bound as he was, but evidently still unconscious from the +ugly, bloody welt on his head. One of Judd's men was at the ship's +space-stick, another stood by her dials, occasionally glancing back at +the prisoners and grinning; the two remaining pirates were apparently +aft. The body of the one whom Carse had killed had been removed. + +Through the port bow window, far out, he noticed a small spot, half +black and half brilliant with the reflected light of Saturn: that +would be the other space ship, the Kite's, on the same course as they. +And ahead was the large-looming sphere of Iapetus. The pirate was +returning, then, to the ranch, probably to pick up his three men, and +perhaps to leave a small crew to work it. + +"Yes. I'm afraid this is the end of the Sparrow Hawk!" Judd sneered +the name and laughed harshly. "A lot of people will be glad to hear +it. There'll be a big reward for me, too, from Ku Sui. Head still +bad?" And again he swung his leg and drove its heavy shoe into his +captive's head. + + * * * * * + +Carse's lips compressed till they were colorless. He looked steadily +at Judd's eyes and asked: + +"What are you going to do with Friday and me?" + +"Well," grinned the pirate, "I can't tell you definitely, but it's +sure to be interesting. It'd suit me best if I could teach you a few +little tricks with a peeling knife--the Venusians have some very neat +ones, you know--and then perhaps burn you full of holes. Little holes, +done with a mild needle-ray. But unfortunately I can't kill you +personally, for Ku Sui will want to do that himself. You're worth a +hell of a lot of money alive." + +"I go to Ku Sui, then?" + +"That's right. I'll hand you over when I have my rendezvous with him, +seven days from now. Clever man, Ku Sui! Half Chinese, you know. He'll +be tickled to get you alive." + +A muscle in the Hawk's cheek quivered. Then he asked: + +"And Friday?" + +Judd laughed. "Oh, I don't much care; he's not worth anything. I'll +throw him in with you for good measure, probably. How's the head?" +Once more the foot swung. + +Carse's gray eyes were as frigid as the snow caps of Mars. The left +eyelid was twitching a little; otherwise his pale face was as if +graven from stone. + +"Judd," he whispered, so softly that his voice was almost inaudible. +"I shall kill you very soon. I shall make it a point to. Very soon. +Judd...." + +The Kite stared at the pallid gray eyes. His lips parted slightly. And +then he remembered that his captive was bound, helpless. He spat. + +"Bah!" he snarled. "Just your old stuff, Carse. It's all over with you +now. You'll be screaming to me to kill you when Ku Sui begins to touch +you up!" He guffawed, again kicked the man at his feet, and turned +away. + +Hawk Carse watched him walk to the forward end of the cabin; and, +after a little while, he sighed. He could be patient. He was still +alive, and he would stay alive, he felt. A chance would come--he did +not know how or when; it perhaps would not be soon; it might not come +until he had been delivered to Ku Sui, but it would arrive. And +then.... + +Then there would be a reckoning! + +The deceptively mild gray eyes of the Hawk were veiled by their lids. + + * * * * * + +Night had settled over the ranch by the time the _Star Devil_ and +Judd's accompanying ship were in the satellite's atmosphere. It was +the rare, deep, moonless night of Iapetus, when the only light came +from the far, cold, distant stars that hung faintly twinkling in the +great void above. Occasionally, the tiny world was lit clearly at +night by the rays of Saturn, reflected from one of the eight other +satellites; and occasionally, too, there was no night, the central sun +of the solar universe sending its distance-weakened shafts of fire to +light one side of the globe while ringed Saturn gilded the other. + +But this season was the one of dark, full-bodied nights; and it was +into the hush of their blackness that the _Star Devil_ and her +attendant brigand ship glided. + +Below, on the surface of the Satellite, glowed the pin-prick of a +camp-fire. When the ships were some fifteen thousand feet up, Judd's +orders caused long light-rays to shaft out from the _Star Devil_ and +finger the ground. They rested on the ranch house and then passed on +to douse with white the figures of three men standing by the fire. +Through the electelscope the pirate chief saw them wave their arms in +greeting. + +Ten minutes later the two ships nestled down close together a hundred +yards or more from the ranch clearing, and Judd said to his mate, +standing next to him: + +"We'll have a little celebration to-night. Break out a few cases of +alkite and send three of the boys to the ranch's storeroom after meat +for the cook to barbecue." + +"What you goin' to do with them two?" the other asked. + +"Carse and the nig? Keep them here in the control cabin; I'll detail a +couple of men to guard them. I'm taking no chances: they must be in +sight every minute. Carse is too damned dangerous." He peered back at +the captives. The trader's eyes were shut; Friday still appeared +unconscious from the brutal blow on his head. "Asleep. Well, they'd +better sleep--while they have eyelid's to close!" Judd said mockingly, +and his mate laughed in appreciation of his wit. + +But neither the Hawk or Friday was asleep. Nor was the negro +unconscious. Carse had ascertained this some time before by cautious +signals. + +A little stir had come within him when he heard Judd say there would +be a celebration, for a celebration, to these men, meant a debauch and +relaxed discipline, and relaxed discipline meant--a chance. First, +however, there were the tight bonds of rope; they were expertly tied, +and strong. But the Hawk was not particularly concerned about them. + +He had dismissed them as a problem after a few minutes of +consideration, and his mind ran farther ahead, planning coldly, +mechanically, the payment of his blood debts.... + + * * * * * + +All in all, Judd was to blame for what happened that night on Iapetus. +He was an old hand and a capable one, and certainly he should have +known that extraordinary measures had to be adopted when Hawk Carse +became his prisoner. By rights, he should have killed Friday +immediately, and steered straight for his rendezvous with Ku Sui, +keeping his eye on Carse all the time. He would have had to loaf on +his way to the rendezvous, of course, for it needed but five days to +get there, and he had seven; and he would also have had to pick up his +three marooned men later. But that was what he should have done. + +Yet, when one regards the personal angles, it is necessary to divide +Judd's responsibility for succeeding events. He felt like having a +celebration, and certainly he and his men had earned one. He had +captured the man who had stood, more than anyone else, in his and in +Ku Sui's way for years; the man who had quashed any number of their +outlaw schemes, and who had given more trouble to them than all the +forces of law and order on Earth and the patrol ships in space. More, +he had captured him alive, and that meant a much fatter reward from Ku +Sui. He possessed the valuable cargo of phanti horn; he had taken a +brand new ship, alone worth millions, besides being the fastest in +space. Judd was naturally elated; he had two nights and a day to +spare; he felt expansive, and ordered a celebration. + +Such decisions--trivial when seen from the eminence of a hundred +years--have directed the tide of history more than once. + +There were thirteen men left of Judd's crew, including the three +posted on Iapetus; these three and the six who manned the pirate's own +craft came running to the _Star Devil_ and piled into her open +port-lock. They milled around in the control cabin, shouting in high +spirits, swearing, throwing clumsy jests at the two silent figures on +the deck; and Judd joined with them. There was much loot to be split, +and the Hawk was snared at last! Their chief stilled them for a moment +and said: + +"Well, I guess we deserve a little jamboree. I'm breaking out some +alkite and meat; make a big fire outside and dig some barbecue pits. +Go ahead--out of here! But wait: you, Sharkey, and you, Keyger." + +These last two men, more husky and alert than most of their fellows, +he detailed for guard duty ever Carse and Friday. They were much cast +down at the job, but he premised them a larger slice of the loot for +recompense, and then stalked out after the other men. + +The two guards stuck a brace of ray-guns in their belts and looked +over the captives. Angry at missing the carousal, the man called +Keyger kicked Friday, whose eyelids did not budge and whose body did +not quiver, and then, more gingerly, kicked Carse and swore at +him--but he turned somewhat hastily when the mild gray eyes slowly +opened and stared up into his. + +Then the two guards pulled out chairs and placed them by the open +port-lock, where they could command a view of the celebration. They +drew one ray-gun each, laid them ready, close by, and sat down. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_Jamboree_ + + +Two hours later their eyes were taking in a fantastic, mad scene, one +that in some ways might have occurred in the days when buccaneers +roamed the Spanish Main of Earth. + +A little over a hundred yards away, straight before them, was the +corral of the phantis: far behind it encroached the shadowy fringe of +the jungle: to their right, closer to the corral than to the space +ships, was the ranch house, lonely now and silent. But these objects +were only the background for what had grown in front of the corral +wire. + +It was the roaring mass of the monster fire that had been lit, a +splash of fierce, leaping flames in the velvety cool of the night. +Black shapes were clustered around it; bottles were raised and +drained; and a frieze of shadows, staggered and jumped and danced +around the ruddy pile of fire. The carousal was in full swing; a +chorus of wild song rose noisily into the night; more cases were +smashed open and more alkite drawn out. The carcases of three animals +taken from the ranch's storehouse sizzled on the barbecue pits, to be +ripped apart and the rich, dripping meat torn at, tooth and claw. Ever +higher pierced the shrieks and oaths, till the calm night was +distorted and crazy. + +Other heavier sounds accompanied the bedlam of human noise: deep +snortings and roarings and the scraping of scores of horn-shod feet. +Behind their wired electric fence was clustered the herd of phantis, +staring with their evil, red-shot little eyes at the flames and the +shapes of the hated men. The big bulls were bellowing, bucking their +heads angrily, churning up the soft soil with their strong, +dagger-spurred feet: the welter of noise and the sight of so many men +had wrought them up into a vicious and dangerous state. + +Judd the Kite, a bottle in one hand and in the other a huge joint of +meat which he was tearing at with his teeth, suddenly paused with +mouth crammed full and stared over through the flickering light at the +phanti corral. A cruel light gleamed in his eyes: he gulped down the +meat and then turned to the shapes staggering around him. He yelled: + +"Hey, there--let's get out the nigger! A little entertainment, +fellows! Bring him out; but don't touch Carse: he's Ku Sui's. Douse +him with water if he's unconscious." + + * * * * * + +They yelled in drunken delight at his words, and half of them reeled +off towards the _Star Devil_. Judd, lips up-curved in a smile, drew +his ray-gun and set the lever over for the low-power, continuous +ray-stream. These guns, unlike our present weapons, could shoot in two +ways: they could spit about twenty high-power discharges, a fraction +of a second each in duration and easily sufficient to burn a man's +head through; or they could deliver a long-lasting low-power stream, +just strong enough to sear and crisp a human skin. For the +entertainment Judd had in mind he needed low power. + +The men sent to the _Star Devil_ shoved past the guards on watch near +the port-lock and over to the prisoners. They found them lying, very +close together near the after wall. + +"Gonna have some fun with the black, Judd's orders," they explained to +the guards. "Still unconscious?" + +Certainly Friday looked unconscious, his eyes closed, his full lips +slightly parted, showing the powerful white teeth. + +"I'll give him a shot of the ray," another brigand cut in. "That'll +bring him to. Be ready to grab him." + +They got an unpleasant shock when the low-power stream flicked the +negro's leg. With a gigantic bellow that rang throughout the ship, +Friday resisted. + +It was like seeing a dead man come to life, and it startled them. +Bound as he was, Friday made things unhealthy for his would-be +captors; he shunted his legs up and down and squirmed mightily, and +once his gleaming teeth snapped into an arm, bringing a howl of pain +and several minutes of cursing. The unexpected resistance, once the +surprise was over, infuriated the rum-sodden men. One of them yelled: +"Sock him; Shorty!" A ray-gun's butt was slapped down on Friday's +head; the negro rolled over, stunned. Then he was picked up without +resistance and borne out into the night, where fantastic figures +cavorted around the towering fire. + +"The black devil was faking all the time!" one of the guards said +amazedly. "He wasn't unconscious. What in hell did he do that for?" + +"Dunno," snarled the other, rubbing a bruised leg. "Must have +suspected what he's gonna get. Wish we was over there." + +"Well, we can watch from here," grumbled his companion, and returned +to the seats by the port-lock. + +They both sat down, their backs half turned to the figure still lying +on the deck. + + * * * * * + +Carse had said nothing, made no protest, had not even moved when +Friday struggled in fierce resistance. He could have done much more, +but it would have been useless. Long before, he had seen the negro's +opening eyes and signaled him to feign unconsciousness thus deflecting +attention and making him appear harmless. He had also broached his +plan for escape to Friday. He had not, however, reckoned on Judd's +desire to torture: he would, he now saw, have to act with his greatest +speed to save his mate from as much pain as possible. + +And he began to act. + +The control cabin was streaked with patches of shadow and light, made +vague by pools of darkness thrown by the banks of instruments. Only +one lighting tube was dimly burning. In this indefinite half-light the +Hawk set about stalking his prey. + +With eyes narrowed and steady on the two guards who were completely +absorbed in the happenings outside, he drew his hands from beneath +him. They were no longer bound. The rope knotted around them had been +gnawed through strand by strand--sliced by the strong white teeth of a +negro.... + +Cautiously, without a whisper of sound, Carse reached towards the +bonds on his legs. The lean fingers worked rapidly. Quickly the knots, +yielded and the rope was unwound. The legs were free. For a moment +Hawk Carse, ever with careful calculation of time, stretched his +cramped muscles, limbering them for action. + +A mutter came from the port-lock. He froze. But it was only: + +"Look at 'im! This is goin' to be good! Judd gets some damn clever +ideas!" + +They were utterly wrapped up in the scene outside, and unconscious of +the low blot that moved with steely purpose behind them. + + * * * * * + +The Hawk got to hands and knees; moved forward, the ghost of a shadow. +The two men who were his quarry were sitting close together, hunched a +little forward in their eagerness not to miss a single detail. Their +heads were not a foot apart. Each wore a ray-gun and had another lying +on the deck at his side. + +Carse came near to their backs. He paused, imperceptibly tensed, +judged the distance carefully. Then in a sudden, snake-like movement, +he sprang. + +A forearm of steel clamped around the back of each guard's head and +jerked it sharply into the other's. There was a quick crack; then, +dazed, only half-conscious, the two men toppled off their seats and +fell to the deck. + +"Quiet!" warned an icy whisper. They stared, gaping, then staggered up +to their feet. + +A ray-gun that just before had been lying on the deck was leveled +steadily at them, held in the hand of a gray-eyed man whose fine +features were as if graven from stone and on whose wrists were deep +blue lines that showed where ropes had pressed. The guards' faces +whitened as realization came. One of them choked: + +"It's him!" + +"Yes," whispered the Hawk dryly. He took a few steps backward, eyes +not moving. "Go to that locker," he said to the shorter of the men, +indicating with a curt nod the place where space suits were stowed. +"First draw your gun and lay it on that table. Hurry!" + +The man hastily complied. Anything else was unthinkable; meant quick +and lonely and useless death. Shouts and laughter and drunken shrieks +were echoing from outside. No one would have ears for him. + +When he had stepped into the locker, Carse closed and sealed the door. + +"What you goin' to do with me?" croaked the remaining guard. He was +big and burly and he towered inches over the figure facing him, but +his lips were trembling and his eyes wild with fear. + +"You," whispered the Hawk frigidly, "kicked me when I was bound." He +sheathed his ray-gun in his holster, then spoke again. "Go for your +gun." + +The pirate trembled all over. His mouth fell open, and his eyes stuck +on Carse's shabby holster. He seemed half hypnotized. + +"Draw." + +The other's swarthy brow beaded with sudden-starting sweat. His hands +hung limp, twitching at the finger-tips. He watched death stare him in +the face. + +"Damn you, Carse!" he burst out and suddenly went for his ray. + + * * * * * + +Carse deliberately let him get the gun out. Not until then did his +left hand move. But even with such a head-start, so bewildering was +the adventurer's speed that only one streak of orange light made a +flash in the cabin, and that streak was the Hawk's. The brigand +quivered, his face still contorted with his last desperate emotion; +then he fell slowly forward and thudded into the deck. His body +twitched a little, and in a spasm rolled over. Square between the eyes +was a crisp, smooth-burned hole. + +Hawk Carse gave the body not a glance, but sheathed his ray-gun, +picked up the three others, stuck them in his belt, and glided to the +port-lock. There, he peered outside. + +His face hardened. + +Blobs of flame that flared from wood torches were clustered about the +nearest side of the phanti corral. A dark blur of figures were ringed +in a half-circle, and from it came yells of delight and almost +hysterical laughter. The Hawk's eyes were chilling to look at when he +saw, through gaps in the circle of black shapes, the figure of a huge +negro, standing with his back almost touching the wire fence of the +corral. The actions of Friday gave the clue to what was happening. + +He was caught in a broad ray of orange light, and in it he shuddered +and hopped grotesquely from one leg to the other in an agony of pain, +his lips drawn back taut over the gleaming teeth, his face flexed and +the whites of his eyes showing as the eyeballs rolled. The glow that +in part hung around him streamed from a ray-gun that was held in the +right hand of Judd the Kite. Heat! Friday was being slowly crisped +alive; seared on his feet in a furnace of heat: and the men who ringed +him were yelling advice at him between their laughter. Carse strained +his ears. In a jumble, he caught: + +"Jump over"--"Nah, he'd have to climb"--"Climb! The juice's +cut!"--"Into the corral!"--"Climb over, you black buzzard"--"Hoowee!" + + * * * * * + +About a foot behind Friday was the wire fence, behind which the +phantis, their snouts converged towards the pirates, their red-shot +eyes glaring, their powerful hind feet clawing at the ground, were +bellowing in wild and ferocious excitement. Sudden, awful death waited +on the other side of the fence; slow death by burning on this side. +Yet Friday still hoped, still had faith in his master, for he did not +put a quick end to his living death by rushing the devilish circle or +clambering over into the thick of the sharp stabbing spurs. + +Carse's brain moved with the swiftness of light. He could not rush the +group: the odds were too great, and besides, Judd's gun was already +out. Nor could he dive at them with the _Star Devil_ itself, or ray +them from above: that would mean Friday's death too. It would have to +be something else--and in a moment he had it. Carefully he examined +all variations and checked the scheme back: it promised to be the +final move, engendering the final meeting, and there must be no slip. + +First, the Hawk slipped shadow-like to the entrance port of the other +space ship, lying a few hundred feet away, shrouded in darkness. He +had to know if anyone were aboard. + +Gruffly he called inside: + +"Judd! Hey, Judd! You there?" + +There was no answer. Again he called, but the gloomy interior's +silence was not broken. Satisfied that it was empty, he doubled back +with noiseless speed, skirted round the _Star Devil_ and arrived like +a wind-carried wraith at the rear wall of the ranch house. + +A short leap and his hands closed on the copper drain. The muscles of +his wiry arms flexed, and the lean figure raised himself foot by foot +to the eaves, where a pull and press up brought him over the edge. +Stooping, he padded to the side which faced on the clearing and the +corral. + +And then the ray-gun was drawn from its holster. + +For seconds the cold gray eyes reckoned the shooting distance and the +angle. The weapon came up and rested at arm's length. The first finger +of the deadly left hand began to squeeze back. + +A pencil-thin streak of orange light speared the air! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_Stampede_ + + +Judd the Kite was enjoying himself hugely. His bestial sense of humor +was tickled. It was very funny, the contortions of the negro in the +orange ray-stream! + +"Climb over!" he suggested, amid roars of laughter from the circle of +men. "Climb over, why don't you? I've turned off the current. There's +no electricity in the fence. You won't be hurt. Why don't you climb +over?" + +Friday did not, could not answer. His lips were sucked tight together +now in wordless agony; the cheek muscles, strained taut, stood out +like welts of flesh; the huge body, bathed always in that steady glow +of orange, was slightly livid in patches. He hopped mechanically, +changing from one aching leg to the other; his eyes were closed half +the time, his whole being one dumb agony. He did not know when it +would end, but he still had faith. + +Overhead, the flames of four tarred wood torches bobbed and reeled as +the men who held them reeled; seemed to shake in the gusts of laughter +and yells and oaths that came ceaselessly from the onlookers. And in +this distorted light the half-shadowed snouts and bodies of the +phantis, clustered behind their nine-foot-high fence, looked indeed +diabolical. The fence was high, for the creatures possessed surprising +jumping powers; it was composed of eight strands of wire, running +parallel a foot apart from each other, with inter-crossing supports. +The electric current, now turned off, always kept the phantis from +crashing through. + +Judd smiled more widely. "I guess I'll increase the power," his coarse +lips pronounced. "We'll see how you can duck a strong thin beam. I'll +give you about five minutes to climb over. After that you'll be burned +down slowly to a cinder. Now--will you climb? See--I'm moving the +lever over. Watch, now, and feel--" + + * * * * * + +Suddenly his voice broke off short. There had been a hiss--a +_spang_--a slight whip of sound. He glanced around swiftly. No, his +men had not noticed it. They were still laughing, roaring, swaying in +drunken merriment. The Kite's lips curved upward again. He continued: + +"Feel the heat increase. It's stronger, now, and--" + +Again the _spang_, the whip, the streak of something swift. The men +noticed his expression and quieted somewhat. Judd was looking around +him, and even as he saw what it was there came a cry from a pirate +nearby. + +"Look! The fence!" + +Judd's eyes widened; his lips slackened and lost their smile. The +noise, the laughs, the shouts, screams and oaths died into the night; +frightened silence fell over the group, and all that was left were the +concerted bellowings and snortings from the enraged herd of beasts +just beyond. + +All--except for another _spang_ that sounded as a streak of orange +light arrowed from somewhere through the flickering torchlight. And +with its coming the third parallel strand of the corral-fence whipped +apart with a little singing swish, shot neatly through, as were the +two below it. Ten feet of fence on each side slumped visibly. + +"Someone's shooting it through!" came a scared whisper. Yet still the +brigands, held fascinated by fear and puzzlement, stared at the fence +and at the surging crowd of stampede-crazy animals beyond. + +Another _spang_, another streak of light! With deadly accuracy the +shot clove the fourth strand. The lower half of a whole section of +fence was gone. Behind it the bucking, red-eyed phantis inched +forward, still afraid of the electric shock they thought was somewhere +there, but drawn to the opening by their hatred of the two-legged +creatures so near. Closer, closer! Then the befuddled pirates found +their senses. Even as the fifth arrow of light came from the invisible +marksman and snapped the fifth strand, a concerted cry of fear of the +advancing beasts went up from the crowd of men. + +"Run! Run! They're coming! They're coming out!" + +They turned, panic-stricken; the torches fell flaring to the ground, +to lie there in pools of flame; the brigands ran for the nearest +shelter, the dark bulk of the ranch house close by. They ran, fear +tingling their spines, in their ears the sound of the maddened +phantis. + + * * * * * + +From his vantage point on the roof of the ranch house, the Hawk +confirmed his quick decision that this was the only way. + +Rapidly, as was his custom, he had reckoned the problem out minutely +and carefully; had considered and checked every possibility. He had +to shoot the fence, not the brigands. For he couldn't hope to get more +than a couple of them: a pirate toppling over dead would jar the +others into instant action; they would scatter in the darkness, +leaving the odds too great. And leaving, besides, small chance of +wiping out every one of the pirates. + +As for Friday, he had to take his chance. There was, this way, a good +chance, if he used his brain. For, to the left, as close as the ranch +house to the corral, were the grave-pits he himself had dug some hours +before, and one was still empty, waiting to be filled. It offered +shelter, a good chance--if he used his brain. He, Carse, would do all +he could to protect him from the stampeding beasts while he ran. + +Some of the pirates would be snared by the rush of phantis. Four or +five would probably reach the ranch house. That was what he wanted. + +And that was what he got. His fifth shot fired, straight and true from +the ray-gun of the most accurate marksman of space, the Hawk lowered +the weapon and gazed at the scene resulting, a ghost of a smile on his +lips. + +He saw the mob of creatures, in a bedlam of noise, sweep under the +fence that had for so long kept them back. Bellowing their hatred, +their cruel spurs eager for blood, they charged. Before them fled the +thin fringe of men, Friday on one flank. A man went down with a +scream; a half-grown horn knifed into him; he was trampled, gored, +spurred, and left a bloody welter of death in seconds. Another, +hearing the loud thud of feet just behind, turned with desperate eyes, +dodged, tripped, shrieked and was caught and ripped. Another and +another. In the dancing, flickering half-light of the flames of fire +and torches, a hellish scene of devastation and death spun out. + + * * * * * + +Carse was shooting again, with the cold mechanical precision of a +machine. There was Friday to be guarded. He was now separated from the +other men--cut off and edging to one side--to the side where was the +grave-pit! Dodging, wildly twisting and turning, he several times +barely escaped three or four phantis that thundered after him. The +leader took perhaps ten steps: then its body quivered and it tumbled +over and flopped on the ground, a little wisp of smoke curling from +its body. The other two went down in swift succession. But there were +many, and even as Friday melted into the shadows, a group of several +beasts detached themselves and roared after him. The deadly ray-gun on +the roof wrought swift slaughter amongst them, but some got into the +darkness beyond vision of the icy gray eyes. + +Carse lowered his weapon. His face was very hard and very set. Would +they catch the negro? Tumble down on him if he made the pit? Well, +there was no helping it.... + +But the reckoning would soon be finished; the time was at hand. Cold +as the deeps of space despite the awful havoc he had just created, +totally without visible emotion, he drew the last unused ray-gun from +his belt and put it in the shabby holster. One would be enough. + +Shadow-like, noiseless and swift, he moved towards the far end of the +roof. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_The Hawk Strikes_ + + +His face red, his breath coming in hoarse gasps, Judd the Kite +stumbled through the house's door on the heels of four of his men. He +swung rapidly and flung his weight against the door: locked and +double-locked it. A second later fists pounded on the outer panel, and +a voice, racked with fear and terror, screamed: + +"Let me in! Let me in! Oh, God, let me in! Judd!" + +Then there was the thud of drumming feet, and one awful shriek from +the man who had found the door locked against him. + +But the Kite was not listening. A measure of courage returning to him +with the building's protection, he snapped: + +"Get those other doors locked quick! And lights. Then search the +house." + +The lighting tubes glowed, filling the room with soft radiance. Judd +survey his position. + +He saw that it could have been far worse. But his men needed courage. + +The rapid change from orgy to deadly peril had sobered them +completely. And they were frightened; nor was it fear of the beasts. +They came treading silently back from their inspection of the house, +reporting it empty; but their eyes kept shifting, their ray-guns ready +in hand. Each one knew, deep within him, who had fired the shots that +collapsed the fence. They had taken two captives; Friday had been +under their eyes; there was only one other, and he was--the Hawk. + +Hawk Carse! The four men were nervous. More than a few lonely spots in +the countless leagues of space had seen his vengeance: and they--they +had killed his guards and his overseer, his radio-man, and, with the +fungus, his ship's crew; they had tortured Friday. They were now marks +for the fatal left hand: fugitives from gray, icy eyes. The Hawk was +loose! + + * * * * * + +Judd saw the fear gnawing at their vitals. He felt it too. But there +seemed no immediate danger, so, with a ray-gun in each hand, he +summoned a blustering courage and said to the others, harshly: + +"Yes, it was that damned Carse! He must have got loose in some way. +But pull yourselves together: we're safe here. He's somewhere +outside." + +He reasoned it out for them. + +"He couldn't have done that shooting from the _Star Devil_; it's too +far away. And he's not in it now or he'd be using it to try and find +that black of his--if the black's still alive. No, he's not in the +ship, and he's not in this house. He's somewhere outside, and he can't +reach us here while the phantis have the place surrounded. We can +shoot them down from the attic, and they'll soon beat it for the +jungle. When that happens we'll rush to the ships, and before Carse +knows what it's all about we'll be up and away and he'll be marooned. +Then we'll get him later." + +His words brought a return of confidence. It was true, the others +thought: the Hawk could not reach them as long as the phantis were +around the house; and when they were driven away, the ships were near +at hand and empty. All they had to do was get to the ships before +Carse. The adventurer certainly was not then in one of the craft, or +he would be wasting no time hunting for Friday--and raying their +stronghold. No doubt he was up a tree somewhere; perhaps gored and +dead. + +One of the men snickered, and Judd smiled at the sound. Their +confidence in him was encouraging. + +"Get to the windows of the attic," he ordered. "Some of those crazy +brutes are horning at the house. We've got to shoot them and get out +of here, quick!" + + * * * * * + +There were two rooms in the attic; the large one, used as a storeroom +for staple foods, had five windows, long, sloping affairs, three in +front and one in each side wall. The second room was small and at the +rear, and was used to store tools and spare technical apparatus. It +had one little window, set high up, and connected with the larger room +by a door set in the middle of the partition. + +Judd placed one of his pirates at each of the windows of the large +room, taking himself the center one. + +Around the house milled dozens of animal bodies, snorting, bellowing +and roaring, their little red eyes flashing, claws tearing the soil in +futile rage at the men they knew to be safely within. A babel of +brutish sounds rose from them. Two of the bulls fell foul of each +other and fought in fury, to suddenly turn and hurl their weight +against a ground floor door, quivering it. But their rashness was +answered by a streak of light from an attic window, and as one toppled +back, its body burnt through, the sights of the destroying ray-gun +were already on its fellow. + +The huge fire the brigands had laid was dying, and night was seeping +ever thickening darkness over the scene. Glinting very slightly in the +starlight were the black shapes of the two silent space ships. + +Then Judd the Kite, as he aimed and shot and aimed and shot again, was +suddenly struck by a disturbing idea. From where had Carse fired at +the corral fence? What was the logical vantage point for him? + +A shiver trembled down his spine. He saw suddenly with terrible +clearness where that vantage point was--and it had not been searched. +The roof! + +He turned swiftly, his lips opening to give orders. + +And there, standing on the threshold of the door to the smaller +adjoining room, stood the figure of a man whose eyes were cold with +the absolute cold of space, and whose left hand held a steady-leveled +ray-gun that pointed as straight as his eyes at Judd! + +"Hawk--Carse!" + +"Judd," said the quiet, icy voice. + + * * * * * + +The Kite went white as a sheet. His men turned slowly as one. One of +them gasped at what he saw; another cursed; the other two simply +stared with fear-flooded eyes; only one thing flamed in every +mind--the never-failing vengeance of the Hawk. + +"Carse!" repeated Judd stupidly. "You--again!" + +"Yes," whispered the trader. "And for the last time. We settle now. +There are a few debts--a few lives--a few blows and kicks--and a +matter of some torture to be paid for. The accounts must be squared, +Judd." + +And slowly he raised his right hand to the queer bangs of flaxen hair +which hung down over his forehead. He stroked them gently. Judd's +eyes, dry, hot, held fascinated on the hand. He shuddered. + +"It's not pleasant," came the whisper, "to always have to wear my hair +like this. That's another debt--the largest of all--I have to settle. +_Sheathe your guns!_" + +The voice cracked like a whip. They obeyed without sound, though they +read death in the frigid gray eyes. As their guns went into holsters, +Carse's followed suit; he stood then with both hands hanging at his +sides. And he said, in the whisper that carried more weight to them +than the trumpets of a host: + +"Once before we were interrupted. This time we won't be. This time we +will see certainly for whom the number five brings death. Count, +Judd." + +With a jerk, the Kite regained some control over himself. The odds +were five to one. Five guns to one gun. Carse was a great shot, but +such odds were surely too great. Perhaps--perhaps there might be a +chance. He said in a strained voice to his men: + +"Shoot when I reach five." + +Then he swallowed and counted: + +"One." + +Aside from the tiny flickering of the left eyelid, the Hawk was +graven, motionless, apparently without feeling. Judd, he knew, was +just fairly fast; as for the others-- + +"Two." + +--they were unknown quantities, except for one, the man called Jake. +He had the reputation of possessing a lightning draw; his eyes were +narrowed, his hands steady, and the body crouched, a sure sign of-- + +"Three." + +--a gunman who knew his business, who was fast. His hip holsters were +not really worn on the hips, but in front, very close together; that +meant-- + +"Four." + +--that he would probably draw both guns. So Judd must wait; the other +three, being unknowns, disposed of in the order in which they were +standing; but Jake must be-- + +"Five!" + +--first! + + * * * * * + +One second there was nothing; the next, wicked pencils of orange light +were snaking across the attic! And then two guns clanged on the floor, +unfired, and the man called Jake staggered forward, crumpled and fell, +a puzzled look on his face and accurately between his eyes a little +round neat hole that had come as if by magic. Two others, similarly +stricken, toppled down, their fingers still tensed on ray-gun +triggers; the fourth pirate, his heart drilled, went back from the +force of it and crashed into the wall, slithering down slowly into a +limp heap. But Judd the Kite was still on his feet. + +His lips were twisted in a snarl; his hands seemed locked. His eyes +met the two cold gray ones across the room--and then his coarse face +contorted, and he croaked: + +"Damn you, Carse! Damn you--" + +His body spun around and flattened out on the floor with arms and legs +flung wide. A tiny black hole was visible through his shirt. He had +been last, and the Hawk had struck him less accurately than his +fellows. + +The trader was unwounded. He stood there for several minutes, +surveying what lay before him. He looked at each body in turn, and his +eyes were calm and clear and mild, his face devoid of expression. +Silence hung over the attic, for the bellowings and snortings of the +beasts outside had died into faint murmurings as they straggled off +for their jungle home. The single living man of the six who had lived +and breathed there minutes before holstered his still warm ray-gun; +and then the sound of a step on the stairs leading from the rooms +below made him look up. + +A man stood in the doorway of the attic. + + * * * * * + +He was big and brawny; but, though his arms and bare torso were +streaked with blood, and his trousers torn into shreds, and his legs +crisscrossed with cuts, there was broad grin on his face--a grin that +widened as his rolling white eyes took in what lay on the attic floor. + +Neither said anything for a moment. Then the Hawk smiled, and there +was all friendliness and affection in his face. + +"You made the pit, Eclipse?" he asked, softly. + +Friday nodded, and chuckled. "Yes, suh! But only just. If Ah'd bin a +leap an' a skip slower Ah'd bin a _tee-total_ eclipse!" + +Dancing lights of laughter came to the Hawk's eyes. + +"Still feeling chipper," he said, "--in spite of your burns. Well, +good for you. But I guess you've had enough of Ku Sui for a little +while!" + +The negro grunted indignantly. "You surely don't imply Ah'm _sca'ed_ +of that yellow Chink? Hell, no! Why--" + +Carse chuckled and cut him off. + +"I see. Well, then, drag these carrion out to your pit. And then--" + +There was something in the air, something big. Friday listened +eagerly. "Yes, suh?" he reminded his master after a pause. + +"Judd," said Hawk Carse softly, "was to have had a rendezvous with Dr. +Ku Sui in seven days. The place of the rendezvous is entered in the +log of his ship. I've got the last of Judd's crew a captive on the +_Star Devil_...." + +The adventurer paused a moment in thought, and when he resumed his +words came clipped and decisive. + +"I myself am going to keep that rendezvous with Ku Sui. I want to see +him very badly." + +Friday looked at the man's gray eyes, his icy graven face, the bangs +of flaxen hair which obscured his forehead. He understood. + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawk Carse, by Anthony Gilmore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWK CARSE *** + +***** This file should be named 30307.txt or 30307.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/3/0/30307/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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