ILLUSTRATIONS

[Frontispiece]
["Great galaxy! There must be a hundred ships!"]
[The giant Venusian held up the oil-smeared test tube]
["Yeow!" bawled Astro. "Thanks, sir. Thanks a million!"]
[Tom got down on his knees and felt around for an opening]
["Look!" Strong cried. "It's Brett's ship!"]
[It would be a rough ride, but at least he was hidden]
[Slowly and cautiously he began climbing]
["Proceed to quadrant four and seize the Space Knight!]

TREACHERY IN OUTER SPACE

CHAPTER 1

"All right, you blasted Earthworms! Stand to!"

Three frightened cadet candidates for Space Academy stiffened their backs and stood at rigid attention as Astro faced them, a furious scowl on his rugged features. Behind him, Tom Corbett and Roger Manning lounged on the dormitory bunks, watching their unit mate blast the freshman cadets and trying to keep from laughing. It wasn't long ago that they had gone through the terrifying experience of being hazed by stern upperclassmen and they knew how the three pink-cheeked boys in front of them felt.

"So," bawled Astro, "you want to blast off, do you?"