the three cadets took turns in telling Jeff of their conversations with
Strong, their escape, and their near encounter with Vidac on the highway
the night before.

"What made you come out here, Jeff?" Tom finally asked.

"Well, when I discovered that you had escaped, I knew you'd head for one
of two places, the spaceport or here. I hung around the spaceport all
night waiting for you to show up, and when you didn't, I came here."

"That's dangerous," said Logan. "If you figured it that way, Vidac can
do the same thing. I wouldn't want him to find you boys here. Not that I
don't want to help you, but Vidac might try to connect me with you and
the missing professor. I couldn't take a risk like that with Billy and
Jane. We're in enough trouble."

The farmer then told them how Vidac had forced him to sign a release on
his land while threatening Jane with a ray gun.

"We have to get to the bottom of this mess," said Tom. "The only trouble
is we don't know what he's after or why he's trying to frame us."

"Well," said Roger, glancing at his watch, "whatever we decide, we'd
better do it quickly. It's almost noon."

"Noon!" exclaimed Logan. "Why it can't be more than nine at the most!"
He pulled out a large gold watch from his coverall pocket. "Sure--it's a
quarter to nine!"

Jeff looked at his watch. "Same here!" He smiled. "You must be wrong,