Patrolman Willis blinked again. Then he saw. The _Cerberus_ carried one set of emergency-landing rockets, for use in a descent on a refuge planet if the need arose. The need had arisen and the _Cerberus_ had used them. Then, from somewhere, another set of rockets had been produced for it to use in leaving. Those other rockets must have come on another ship. But it was a trifle more complicated than that. The _Cerberus_ had carried one set of rockets and used them. One. It had been supplied with another set from somewhere. Two. They must have been brought by a ship which also used a set of rockets to land by. That made three. Then the other ship must have had a fourth set for its own take-off, or it would be grounded forever on Procyron III. Patrolman Willis frowned. "We looked pretty carefully from aloft," he said uncomfortably. "If there'd been another burned-off landing place, we'd have seen it." "I know," rumbled Sergeant Madden. "And we didn't. But there must've been another ship aground when the _Cerberus_ came in. Where was it? It prob'ly knew the _Cerberus_ was landing to wait for help. How? If somebody was coming to help the _Cerberus_ it would be bound to spot the other ship, and it didn't want to be spotted. Why? Anyhow, it must've taken the _Cerberus_ and sent it off, and then taken off itself, leaving nothing sensible for us to think. 'Sounds like delinks." Then he growled. "Only it's not. There'd have to be too many men. Delinks don't work together more'n two or three. Too jealous of showin' off. But where was that other ship, and what was it doin' here?" Patrolman Willis hesitated, and then said: "There used to be pirates, sergeant." "Uh-huh," said the sergeant. "You had it right the first time, most likely. Not delinks. Not pirates. You said Huks." He looked around, estimatingly. "The rockets had to be brought here from somewhere else where they'd been landed. I'm betting the tracks were covered pretty careful. But rockets are heavy. Manhandlin' them, whoever was doin' it would take the easiest way. Hm-m-m. There's water close by over yonder. Sort of a sound in there--too narrow to be a bay. Let's have a look. And the slopes are easiest that way, too." He led off to the eastward. He thought of Timmy's girl. He'd never seen her, but Timmy was going to marry her. She was on the _Cerberus_. It was the job of the cops to take care of whatever dilemma that ship might be in. As of here and now, it was Sergeant Madden's job. But besides that, he thought of the way Timmy would feel if anything happened to the girl he meant to marry. As Timmy's father, the sergeant had to do something. He wanted to do it fast. But it had to be done the right way. * * * * *