"Yes, the Hawk, at your service," Seaworth calmly told him. "And as
a word of friendly advice, Captain Evans--when someone tells you
excitedly to look--look at _them_."
Evans, striving to understand, did not hear the mocking final words.
"You the Hawk! But we saw the Hawk's rocket attacking you there--we
came and saved you--"
* * * * *
The Hawk laughed again. "I'm sorry to take the glory of your rescue
away from you, Evans, but it was really no rescue at all. You don't
understand? It's simple enough. I decided some time ago that the
possession of an Earth-Guard rocket would give me very great advantages
in my trade of--ah--buccaneering. You see, every rocket in space will
stop at the command of an Earth-Guard ship, and since they all look
alike we could do just about as we pleased with the rocket-commerce if
we had one. Therefore I decided to get one.
"It was easy. I merely embarked in a little one-man ship and when
I knew your craft would be on the space-lane returning to earth, I
had my crew, in our regular black rocket, stage a faked attack upon
me. I called for help, you came; after a brief clash my crew fled as
instructed, and you took me aboard. You'd seen the Hawk attacking me,
and so believed me implicitly when I told you I was a secret agent whom
the Hawk was anxious to capture. Secret agents, you should be aware,
are really not so communicative as that. And of course, I couldn't
expect you to know that my card was forged.
"Then it was not hard for me to draw out from you the suggestion that
I might return to the moon with you on this trip. That was just what I
was playing for, of course--the chance to travel back in this rocket.
My mission on earth was the purest falsehood--the only thing I did
there was to enjoy the witty remarks about the Earth-Guard and the Hawk
which I heard all around me. That case I brought with me held enough
gas-bombs to paralyze your whole crew. They're all down there now
unconscious--I used a mask for myself, of course--but they're not hurt
and will be coming to in an hour.
"But I'm afraid that will be a little late. For I waited to make
this coup, to gas the crew and stun you, until we were just at this
particular position in space. It is the prearranged position, and less
than five thousand miles off this space-lane my own rocket and crew
are waiting for me. We're heading toward them now, and before your
crew wakes, Evans, we'll be with them and this rocket will be in their
hands. You and your crew won't be harmed, of course--we can set you
loose in a life ship near the moon--but this Earth-Guard craft we'll
keep and it should prove highly useful. An ingenious plan, everything
considered, don't you think? Nothing overlooked."
Evans' brain was spinning as the Hawk's amusement-filled voice ceased.
The great rocket was out of the space-lane by now, he knew--was heading
under the Hawk's guiding hands to the prearranged position in space
where the black rocket of the corsair waited with its crew to take
complete possession of the prize. And the Hawk had captured it, had
captured an Earth-Guard rocket, alone!
Evans raged at his bonds in senseless fury. His hands, tied before
him, were cut deeply by the cords holding them as he strained to break
these. The Hawk looked up from the bank of firing-levers with which he
was busy to shake his head in mocking reproof.
"Now, now, Captain Evans," he soothed, "don't take it so hard. Lots of
captains have found themselves in your position before this, remember.
Though I'll admit this is the first Earth-Guard rocket I've taken."
"No Earth-Guard rocket has ever been taken by an enemy," said Evans
thickly.
"Not until now," the Hawk conceded, depressing two more firing-levers.
"But there has to be a first time for everything--and from what I heard
on earth I don't think the capture of an Earth-Guard rocket will excite
any anger."
It would not, Evans reflected dully, sinking for the moment into an
apathy of despair. It would be merely with scornful laughter, that
the Earth-Guard would be met when this latest and greatest exploit
of the Hawk became known. What derision would meet the news of this
single-handed capture of a great rocket and all its crew, by the man
they were hunting! Evans could picture at the moment as clearly as
though a face were before his eyes, the shame and rage of fierce old
Commander Cain when the news reached him, and the shame of all his
companions in the Earth-Guard.
* * * * *
He could hear the thin, derisive laughter of the crowds; the new and
side-splitting witticisms in the teletheaters, the laughter of all
on earth and moon alike became audible to him. A fierce resolve, a
last expedient of his despair, rose in Evans' brain. He rose to his
feet, tied as they were, and swaying, leaned forward to catch at the
control-board's corner with his bound hands supporting himself. The
Hawk watched him curiously, with nothing to fear from this one man,
who, bound hand and foot, alone remained conscious of the rocket's
crew. Evans leaned across the control-board and its banked levers
toward the Hawk, and as he did so his two bound hands were moving,
slowly, unobtrusively, toward the control-board.
"No Earth-Guard rocket has ever yet been captured," he said slowly and
hoarsely, his hands very near the black plug at the control-board's
corner, "and none is ever going to be."
The Hawk's dark eyes, contemplating him, held something that seemed to
be almost sympathy. "Sorry, Captain Evans," he said lightly. "I know
how you must feel about it--but we're almost there now. My rocket will
be showing up in a few minutes--we've almost reached it."
Evans laughed grimly. "Your rocket will never see us again nor will
anyone else. You said you'd overlooked nothing, Hawk, but you did
overlook one thing!"
"And that?" The Hawk's figure was suddenly tense.
"That is something that you didn't know--that is the fact that in every
Earth-Guard rocket is placed a device for destroying the rocket in
case it has to be abandoned in space. That device is a plug which when
pulled out ignites the rocket's fuel tanks in six minutes. And that
plug--"
The Hawk's hands flashed toward Evans but before they could reach
his bound hands, Evans had seized with them the black plug at the
control-board's corner and with a crazy laugh had jerked it out!
For an instant there was a supreme silence in the pilot-house of
the hurtling rocket, the Hawk and Evans facing each other like two
statues. Then with a single motion the Hawk had whirled, was out of the
pilot-house. There came the clang of contact-doors above being opened
and shut with lightning rapidity, and then a blast of firing-tubes
as, in his own little rocket, the Hawk drove clear from the great
Earth-Guard craft. Evans stood still for a moment, then dragged himself
to the control-board's other side.
His bound hands pressed the firing-levers in quick succession and as
the great rocket lurched beneath their impetus it was turning in space,
turning back toward the space-lane from which the Hawk had taken it!
Evans grasped the black plug on the board and thrust it back into its
socket. A small ventilating fan at the other side of the pilot-house
that had ceased running when he had withdrawn the plug began spinning
again. Evans laughed weakly.
He straightened. There was a flash of fire above and he saw that it was
the tiny rocket of the Hawk, driving back over the great Earth-Guard
craft. Evans knew that the Hawk, from afar, had seen that the ship had
not exploded, and he was coming back. Evans realized that although
the Hawk could not make contact with the great Earth-Guard rocket
thundering at full speed through the void, with rocket-gun available,
he could still blast the Earth-Guard ship to pieces. Evans saw the
little rocket swooping down until it was just before and above him, and
braced himself with tight-set teeth for the blast from its electric gun.
It did not come. Instead, as the Hawk's little rocket dipped
low, there flashed from it the vari-colored lights of a signal.
Red--yellow--red--purple--Evans read the signal automatically,
uncomprehendingly for the moment. It was "Salute!" And then he
understood. The Hawk, knowing himself tricked, had come back not to
take revenge but to give that sportsmanlike hail to the man who had
tricked him. Evans' bound hands touched the signal-studs, and from the
great Earth-Guard rocket's nose in its turn flashed the same signal
"Salute!" Salute of the Earth-Guard's captain to the Hawk, as they
roared past each other in space! And then the Hawk was gone, his little
ship hurtling away into the chartless void outside the space-lanes
where his great black rocket waited. Evans slumped weakly against the
control-board.
They found him there when they burst up into the pilot-house a
half-hour later, Calden and Hartley and the others, babbling excitedly
and uncomprehendingly. They had just returned to consciousness. They
found Evans against the control-board with hands and feet still bound,
keeping the great rocket steady on the space-lane to which he had
brought it. When he turned toward them they saw with amazement that he
was laughing.
"I was just thinking," he said, "of what old Cain will say when he
finds out that he shook hands with the Hawk!"