I remained silent.
"Why?" she demanded.
I said carefully, "This treasure--you are many who will divide it. You have all these men on the _Planetara_. And in Ferrok-Shahn, others, no doubt."
I paused. Would she tell me? Could I make her talk of that other brigand ship which Miko had said was waiting on Mars? I wondered if he had been able to signal it. The distance from here to Mars was great; yet upon other voyages Snap"s signals had gotten through. My heart sank at the thought. Our situation here was desperate enough. The pa.s.sengers soon would be cast upon the asteroid: there would be left only Snap, Anita and myself. We might recapture the ship, but I doubted it now. My thoughts were turning to our arrival upon the Moon. We three might, perhaps, be able to thwart the attack upon Grantline, hold the brigands off until help from the Earth might come.
But with another brigand ship, fully manned and armed, coming from Mars, the condition would be immeasurably worse. Grantline had some twenty men, and his camp, I knew, would be reasonably fortified. I knew, too, that Johnny Grantline would fight to his last man.
Moa was saying, "I would like to tell you our plans, Gregg."
Her gaze was on my face. Keen eyes, but they were luminous now--an emotion in them sweeping her. But outwardly she was calm, stern-lipped.
"Well, why don"t you tell me?" I said. "If I am to help you...."
"Gregg, I want you with us. Don"t you understand? We are not many. My brother and I are guiding this affair. With your help, I would feel differently."
"The ship at Ferrok-Shahn--"
My fears were realized. She said, "I think our signals reached it. Dean tried, and Coniston was checking him."
"You think the ship is coming?"
"Yes."
"Where will it join us?"
"At the Moon. We will be there in thirty hours. Your figures gave that, did they not, Gregg?"
"Yes. And the other ship--how fast is it?"
"Quite fast. In eight days--or nine, perhaps--it will reach the Moon."
She seemed willing enough to talk. There was indeed, no particular reason for reticence; I could not, she naturally felt, turn the knowledge to account.
"Manned--" I prompted.
"About forty men."
"And armed? Long range projectors?"
"You ask very avid questions, Gregg!"
"Why should I not? Don"t you suppose I"m interested?" I touched her.
"Moa, did it ever occur to you, if once you and Miko trusted me--which you don"t--I might show more interest in joining you?"
The look on her face emboldened me. "Did you ever think of that, Moa?
And some arrangement for my share of this treasure? I am not like Johnson, to be hired for a hundred pounds of gold-leaf."
"Gregg, I will see that you get your share. Riches, for you--and me."
"I was thinking, Moa, when we land at the Moon to-morrow--where is our equipment?"
The Moon, with its lack of atmosphere, needed special equipment. I had never heard Carter mention what apparatus the _Planetara_ was carrying.
Moa laughed. "We have located air-suits and helmets--a variety of suitable apparatus, Gregg. But we were not foolish enough to leave Great-New York on this voyage without our own arrangements. My brother, and Coniston and Prince--all of us shipped crates of freight consigned to Ferrok-Shahn--and Rankin had special baggage marked "theatrical apparatus.""
I understood it now. These brigands had boarded the _Planetara_ with their own Moon equipment, disguised as freight and personal baggage.
Shipped in bond, to be inspected by the tax officials of Mars.
"It is on board now. We will open it when we leave the asteroid, Gregg.
We are well equipped."
She bent toward me. And suddenly her long lean fingers were gripping my shoulders.
"Gregg, look at me!"
I gazed into her eyes. There was pa.s.sion there; and her voice was suddenly intense.
"Gregg, I told you once a Martian girl goes after what she wants. It is you I want--"
Not for me to play like a cad upon a woman"s emotions! "Moa, you flatter me."
"I love you." She held me off, gazing at me. "Gregg--"
I must have smiled. And abruptly she released me.
"So you think it amusing?"
"No. But on Earth--"
"We are not on the Earth. Nor am I of the Earth!" She was gauging me keenly. No note of pleading was in her voice; a stern authority; and the pa.s.sion was swinging to anger.
"I am like my brother: I do not understand you, Gregg Haljan. Perhaps you think you are clever? It seems stupidity, the fatuousness of man!"
"Perhaps," I said.
There was a moment of silence. "Gregg, I said I loved you. Have you no answer?"
"No." In truth, I did not know what sort of answer it would be best to make. Whatever she must have read in my eyes, it stirred her to fury.
Her fingers with the strength of a man in them, dug into my shoulders.