said. You can't be sure that's where Prather is!"

"Oho, but that's exactly what I can be sure of! You see, I've not only kept abreast of Prather's activities currently, but I've studied every available past record on him. His methods, his escapes, his shiftings. Not even the Patrol has kept tabs on him as I have. Admittedly, he's as clever as he is ruthless. But I know his system now."

"All right," Marnay conceded. "Your calculations tell you he's out around Jupiter now. Won't that be about like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack?"

"I guess so. That's why we're not going to look for him at all. He's coming right out into space after the Vera—I hope."

So he was coming out after the Vera! Marnay suddenly remembered the time when Prather had smashed through a cordon of Patrol ships, demolishing four and outrunning the rest. Marnay grimaced, but he merely said: "All right, when do we leave?"

"About noon, if I can wait that long! That cruiser that left here last night is probably very fast, and the Vera is just a slow old freighter; so if we give them about twelve hours' start, and Prather acts at once, he ought to meet us somewhere just the other side of the asteroids."

"Oh," Marnay said, pretty feebly. So the Vera was just a slow old freighter. And with it they were going to capture the most ruthless pirate of the century! That was certainly a bright picture. Marnay began to wonder, wryly, how the hell he had ever gotten into this, and why!

And his first sight of the Vera was nothing to inspire confidence. Shortly before noon they proceeded to the spaceport, past the Commercial locks, the Patrol locks, and on to the opposite side of the vast plaza.

There, in the farthest and most obscure lock, Marnay saw the Vera—long, heavy, clumsy looking. He recognized it when they were yet a hundred yards away, because the name Vera was emblazoned across the prow with a bold flourish that seemed somehow out of keeping with the crude ship.

"It's just occurred to me," Marnay said. "Vera is an unusual name for a freighter! That's a girl's name. Sounds sentimental or something."

"Does it?" Kennett said. Marnay looked at him queerly, but Kennett said nothing more.

They came nearer, and Marnay began to see the ship clearer, and it suddenly 

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