Six Lyrian months had passed since Standish and Ga-Marr had escaped
from the unknown planet. During those months the fame of the _Phantom_
had spread fast as light. From the constellation Cygnus to the twelfth
and fifteenth magnitude stars, the name of Captain Ether, behind which
Standish hid his identity swept through the interplanetary lanes.
Transports from powerful and peaceful Alpha Centauri moved with extra
convoys, ready for instant action. No one knew when the _Phantom_ would
strike. No one knew from what planet it came to attack like a black
meteor without warning.
Yet Standish challenged no ship but those of Sirius. Haunting the
lanes between Sirius and Earth, he seized enemy prison ships and troop
transports alike with daring regularity.
The city of Calthedra was filled to overflowing with Sirian prisoners.
But the man Standish wanted most, Drum Faggard, was never on a captured
ship.
Desire to capture Faggard became almost an obsession as the Earthman
went on. Through the powerful radio which he had built on Lyra, he
learned of the situation on Earth, day by day.
The news was black. Canada, Mexico and Central America were now a part
of the armed camp of the invaders. The Greater United States alone had
managed to remain independent. Breastworks a quarter of a mile high had
been erected on the Canadian and Mexican frontiers.
The only bright spot was the fact that Faggard's "big push" had failed.
Often Standish smiled as he listened in on radio messages between the
Sirian government and Drum Faggard at his Frisco base.
"The _Phantom_ has been sighted, lurking near Ganymede. Dispatch five
cruisers to that satellite immediately."
And again: "The _Phantom_, it is learned on definite authority, comes
from some point in future time. It is able to maintain a speed in
excess of light, violating the Fitzgerald contraction, riding the
fourth dimensional continuum."
To which Drum Faggard always snarled the same reply. "Whoever Captain
Ether is, I'll get him. Give me time."
* * * * *
It was the day of his return from his most successful raid; and
Standish and Thalia were walking arm in arm through the palace garden
on Lyra. Flowers were in the full bloom of the planet's early summer,
and the sun glowed upon them warmly.
"The _Phantom_ is not enough," the Earthman said. "Powerful as she
is, she can only plague the Sirians like a single hornet. With all my
efforts, I have not halted the war against Earth one iota."