On the Trail of the Space Pirates_ A Tom Corbett Space Cadet Adventure - Carey Rockwell [163]
Hawks looked at Newton dumbfounded. "By the craters of Luna, man, we're a thousand miles over the exposition!"
The professor was stubborn. "I can't tell you how it got here, Commissioner Hawks. But I do know it's Venusian dirt. And that's final!"
Hawks stared at the elderly man for a second, still bewildered. Then he suddenly smiled and turned to Claude. "As soon as that exhaust is cleared, blast off for Venusport, Lieutenant. I'm going to find out who dirtied up the sky!"
* * * * *
Two hours later, when Captain Strong returned to his hotel in Venusport with Mike Hawks, he was surprised to see the three cadets of the Polaris crew slumped, sleepy-eyed, on a couch in the lobby.
"What are you doing here, boys?" he asked.
The three cadets came to attention and were wide awake immediately. Tom quickly related their suspicions of Wallace and Simms.
"And we've watched them every night, sir," Tom concluded. "I don't know what it is, but something certainly is going on in that shack they use for an office."
"Yes, sir," agreed Astro, "and no one is going to fool me about a rocket ship. I know when they blast off loaded and return light."
Strong turned to Hawks who said quietly, "Wallace and Simms are the only ones in this whole area that blast off regularly without a customs search."
"You mean," stammered Strong, "Wallace and Simms are dumping"—he could hardly say the word—"dirt in space?"
"They have a ship. The cadets say the ship blasts off loaded and returns light. And we've got the sky full of dirt. Venusian dirt!"
"But why?"
"I suggest we go out to the exposition grounds right now and ask them!" said Hawks coldly. "And believe me, they'd better have some rocket-blasting good answers!"
CHAPTER 5
The great educational exhibits had long been closed and only a few sections of the amusement park of the big exposition remained open. The giant solar beacon, its brilliant colors changing every second, maintained a solemn solitary watch over the exhibition buildings, while here and there groups of fair visitors wandered wearily back to their hotels.
There was a sudden flurry of activity at the space-ride concession. Gus Wallace and Luther Simms tumbled out of the shack and raced into their ship. Once inside the ancient craft, they secured the hatch and turned toward each other smiling broadly. Wallace stuck out his hand.
"Put 'er there, Simms. We did it!"
The two men shook hands heartily.
"By the craters of Luna," said Simms, "I thought we'd never make it! And if we did, that it wouldn't be there!"
"But it was, Simms! It was! And now we've got it!"
"Yeah," agreed the other. "I never worked so hard in all my life. But it's worth it. Are we going to set the Solar Guard back on its ear!"
Wallace laughed. "Not only that, but think of what the boss will say when we show up with it!"
"You know, Wallace," said Simms, a sly look on his face, "we could take it and use it ourselves—"
"Don't even think a thing like that!" snapped Wallace.
"Oh, of course not," said Simms hurriedly. "It doesn't pay to cross the boss. There's enough here for all of us."
"You know," mused Wallace, "there's only one thing I regret."
"What's that?" asked his partner.
"That I didn't get a chance to kick the space dust out of that punk, Cadet Manning!"
"Forget him," said Simms, waving his hand. "You'll meet him again someday. Besides, why think about him, when you've got the whole universe at your finger tips?"
"You're right. But someday I'm going to catch him and tear him apart!" snarled Wallace. "Come on. We've got to change over to atomic drive on this baby. I don't want to hang around here any longer than I have to."
"Yeah," said Simms. "Be pretty stupid if we're caught now!"
The two men climbed down into the power deck and began the job of refitting the freighter