He finally became articulate. "Evans, you must realize what a situation the Earth-Guard is in. You know and I know that the Hawk must have something new on his ship, whether a new fuel or a new firing-tube, that gives his ship a speed beyond anything else in space. You know as well as I do, too, that the Hawk is really the one outstanding space-pirate left and that in the last decades we've cleared up the others one by one. "But the public doesn't see it that way! The public," and the Commander smote his desk furiously, "the public sees only this one pirate, the Hawk. They see him and his crew defying the whole five hundred ships of the Earth-Guard. That's all the blankety blank public sees, and as a result the Earth-Guard's getting to be a joke!" "But sir!" Evans managed to say, "we have no hope of getting the Hawk so long as he has his bases for refueling and resting. We must get his lunar base before we can get him, and that's why I think this Seaworth may win for us yet." "Seaworth--." The Commander frowned thoughtfully. "It may be--it may be. I didn't know that the International Commission had put secret agents after the Hawk, but it may prove useful at that. You say Seaworth's going back with you next week?" "Yes, he thinks the Hawk is after him in dead earnest, and that if he takes a passenger-rocket the Hawk will hold it up to get him." "It wouldn't be beyond him," the Commander warned. "But we've another thing to think of, too, Evans. If the Hawk wants this man Seaworth badly enough, he may not even stick at holding up an Earth-Guard ship to get him! I see you smile--you think it is incredible that even the Hawk should ever try taking an Earth-Guard--but remember that he has a reputation for doing things no pirate ever dared do before, and that in this case he has the best reason in the world for trying it. And if he ever took an Earth-Guard rocket--good-bye! No matter what we did after that, the Guard would never be able to live it down!" Evans Endures It Evans was impressed. "I'll keep a close watch for him going back, sir," he promised. The Commander's warning rang in Evans' ears all the week that followed, and he was forced during that week to admit that his superior's view of the situation was correct. The Earth-Guard was suffering a distinct loss of prestige. It seemed to Evans that wherever he went his blue Earth-Guard uniform, once an envied garb, was greeted with titters and derisive comments that made his ears burn.