Winding his way among other shattered ships, he came to the base of the towering cliff, and turned to the right along it, finding his way by constantly touching the hard rock with his gloved hand. Suddenly there was a space where he could touch nothing, then the texture of the material changed. Carefully shielding the glow, he flashed a light on the wall for a moment. It was metal, not rock! The pirates had walled in a cave with plates from the captured transports; probably they were living within, in all the luxury of their stolen wealth. A few yards farther on his searching hand touched a seam in the metal, still farther, another, evidently the air-lock through which the pirates took their ship into the cave. Holden sat down to think. At that moment the wall against which he leaned began to move slowly outward! A dim ray of light came from the opening, which, as he turned to look, he saw to be an air-lock. The inner door was closed, obviously someone was expected to enter. He drew a deep breath, clasped his gun firmly in his right hand, and plunged in. As soon as he entered, the outer door closed; he heard valves click open, air rushed into the chamber, and the inner door slowly opened, revealing a long hall, dark and ominous. Without removing the helmet of his space-suit, he started down the hall, but had gone no more than a few steps before he felt a hand on his sleeve, drawing him through a darkened doorway. The door closed, a light flashed on, and before him stood, smiling and happy, his sweetheart, Jean! With a single movement he flung off his helmet and seized her in his arms. For a short, delicious moment she clung to him, whispering those words that lovers know so well. At last she said, "We haven't a minute to lose, Jack. Let me tell you all I know about this place." "But Jean, how did you get here? How does it happen that you had access to the air-lock?" "I was captured by these fiends, and am a prisoner, together with about fifteen others, only five of them being men. All the rest were killed, either when the pirates rammed the ships, or here, when they decided the place was becoming crowded." Her face paled at the memory of the horrible massacres, but she went bravely on. "We have no space-suits, and the pirates, of whom there are perhaps seventy-five, let us wander around pretty much as we please. We know of practically everything that goes on. I happened to hear your name mentioned in the phone room the other day, when a spy on your ship sent a message. When the pirates brought their ship in, crippled by the fight, I was sure that you were around somewhere. I have been watching ever since, making use of a sound detector pieced together from some scraps of material I picked up unnoticed.