Standish ordered the Phantom inspected and such damage as had been inflicted by Drum Faggard's guns repaired. Then with Thalia at his side, he moved slowly toward the palace.
"Some day," he said, "all this will be over. I don't know how, but I'm going to do everything in my power to bring this bloody war to an end. Then ..."
The girl smiled and lowered her eyes. "Then?" she prompted softly.
But Standish colored and became suddenly silent. Even during the heat of the battle, his heart had not beat as fast as it was beating now.
VIII
Six Lyrian months had passed since Standish and Ga-Marr had escaped from the unknown planet. During those months the fame of the Phantom had spread fast as light. From the constellation Cygnus to the twelfth and fifteenth magnitude stars, the name of Captain Ether, behind which Standish hid his identity swept through the interplanetary lanes. Transports from powerful and peaceful Alpha Centauri moved with extra convoys, ready for instant action. No one knew when the Phantom would strike. No one knew from what planet it came to attack like a black meteor without warning.
Yet Standish challenged no ship but those of Sirius. Haunting the lanes between Sirius and Earth, he seized enemy prison ships and troop transports alike with daring regularity.
The city of Calthedra was filled to overflowing with Sirian prisoners. But the man Standish wanted most, Drum Faggard, was never on a captured ship.
Desire to capture Faggard became almost an obsession as the Earthman went on. Through the powerful radio which he had built on Lyra, he learned of the situation on Earth, day by day.