She flashed me a side-gaze. Were we acting convincingly? But if Miko started up his signals again, they might so quickly betray us! Anita"s thoughts were upon that, for she added:
"Grantline will not dare show his light! If he does, Set Potan, we can blast him with a ray from here! Can"t we?"
"Yes," Potan agreed. "If he comes within ten miles, I have one powerful enough. We are a.s.sembling it now."
"And we have thirty men?" Anita persisted. "When we sail down to attack him it should not be very difficult to kill all the Grantline party. Thirty of us--that"s enough to share in this treasure. I"m glad Miko is dead."
"By Heaven, Haljan, this girl of yours is small, but very blood-thirsty!"
"That accursed Miko murdered her brother," I explained.
Acting! And never once did we dare relax! If only Miko"s signals would hold off and give us time!
We may have talked for half an hour. We were in a small, steel-lined cubby, located in the forward deck-s.p.a.ce of the ship. The dome was over it. I could see from where I sat at the table that there was a forward observatory tower under the dome quite near here. The ship was laid out in rather similar fashion to the _Planetara_, though considerably smaller.
Potan had dismissed his men from his cubby so as to be alone with us.
Out on the deck I could see them dragging apparatus about--bringing the mechanisms of giant projectors up from below, beginning to a.s.semble them. Occasionally some of the men would come to our cubby windows to peer in at us curiously.
My mind was roaming as I talked. For all my manner of casualness, I knew that haste was necessary. Whatever Anita and I were to do must be quickly done. But to win this fellow"s utter confidence first was necessary, so that we might have the freedom of the ship, might move about unnoticed, unwatched.
I was horribly tense inside. Through the dome windows across the deck from the cubby the rocks of the Lunar landscape were visible. I could see the brink of this ledge upon which the ship lay, the descending crags down the precipitous wall of Archimedes to the Earthlit plains far below. Miko, Moa, and a few of the _Planetara"s_ crew were down there somewhere.
Anita and I had a fairly definite plan. We were now in Potan"s confidence. With this interview at an end, I felt that our status among the brigands would be established. We would be free to move about the ship, join in its activities. It ought to be possible to locate the signal-room, get friendly with the operator there.
Perhaps we would find a secret opportunity to flash a signal to Earth.
This ship, I was confident, would have the power for a long-range signal, if not of too sustained a length. It was a desperate thing to attempt but our whole procedure was desperate! And I felt--if Anita perhaps could cajole the guard or the duty-man from the signal-room--I might send a single flash or two that would reach the Earth. Just a distress call, signed "Grantline." If I could do that and not get caught.
Anita was engaging Potan in talking of his plans. The brigand leader was boasting of his well-equipped ship, the daring of his men, and questioning her about the size of the treasure. My thoughts were free to roam.
A signal to Earth. And while we were making friends with these brigands, the longest range electronic projector was being a.s.sembled.
Miko then could flash his signal and be d.a.m.ned to him! I would be on the deck with that projector. Its operator, and I would turn it upon Miko--one flash of it and he and his little band would be wiped out.
But there was our escape to be thought of. We could not remain very long with these brigands. We could tell them that the Grantline camp was on the Mare Imbrium. It would delay them for a time, but our lie would soon be discovered. We must escape from them, get away and back to Grantline. With Miko dead--a distress signal to Earth--and Potan in ignorance of Grantline"s location, the treasure would be safe until help arrived from Earth.
It all fitted together so nicely! It seemed possible of success.
Our futile plans! Star-crossed always, doomed, fated always to be upset by such unforeseen evil chances!
"By the infernal, little Anita, you look like a dove, but you"re a tigress! A comrade after my own heart--blood-thirsty as a fire-worshipper!"
Her laugh rang out to mingle with his. "Oh no, Set Potan! I am treasure-thirsty."
"We"ll get the treasure, never fear, little Anita."
"With you to lead us, Potan, I"m sure we will."
A man entered the cubby. Potan looked frowningly around. "What is it, Argle?"
The fellow answered in Martian, leered at Anita and withdrew.
Potan stood up. I noticed that he was unsteady with the drink.
"They want me with the work at the projectors."
"Go ahead," I said.
He nodded. We were comrades now.
"Amuse yourself, Haljan. Or come out on deck if you wish. I will tell my men you are one of us."
"And tell them to keep their hands off Miss Prince."
He stared at me. "I had not thought of that--a woman among so many men."
His own gaze at Anita was as leeringly offensive as any of his men could have given. He said, "Have no fear, little tigress."
Anita laughed. "I am afraid of nothing."
But when he had lurched from the cabin she touched me. Smiled with her mannish swagger, for fear we were still observed, and murmured:
"Oh, Gregg, I am afraid!"
We stayed in the cubby a few moments, whispering--trying to plan.
"You think the signal room is in the tower, Gregg? This tower outside our window here?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Shall we go out and see?"
"Yes. Keep near me always."
"Oh, Gregg. I will!"
We deposited our Erentz suits carefully in a corner of the cubby. We might need them so suddenly! Then we swaggered out to join the brigands working on the deck.
CHAPTER x.x.x
_Desperate Plans_
The deck glowed lurid in the queer blue-greenish glare of Martian electro-fuse lights. It was in a bustle of ordered activity. Some twenty of the crew were scattered about, working in little groups.
Apparatus was being brought up from below to be a.s.sembled. There was a pile of Erentz suits and helmets, of Martian pattern, but still very similar to those with which Grantline"s expedition was equipped. There were giant projectors of several kinds, some familiar to me, others of a fashion I had never seen before. It seemed there were six or eight of them, still dismantled, with a litter of their attendant batteries and coils and tube-amplifiers. They were to be mounted here on the deck, I surmised; I saw in the dome-side one or two of them already rolled into position at the necessary pressure portes.