"Seems like catching the Hawk is work for the Earth-Guard rather than for any secret agents," growled the bulldog-visaged Hartley. "We're good enough to chase after all the common scum of space-pirates that are always bobbing up, but when it comes to nabbing the Hawk someone else wants the glory."
"The glory's been there for the Earth-Guard to take for some time," retorted Seaworth acidly. "I haven't seen it doing it, though."
Hartley's face went dull red, and Evans intervened in time. "No use scrapping over it," he told them. "Anything that Seaworth finds out will help us, and I for one don't give a continental who catches the Hawk so long as he's caught. Every time I go into a teletheater nowadays, all I hear is a lot of musty old cracks about the Hawk and the Earth-Guard, and I don't mind telling you I'm getting tired of it."
Seaworth laughed. "Well, it was nearly a case of the catcher caught with me this time. I suppose I don't need to tell you that I'd rather make the rest of the trip with you?"
Evans nodded. "Of course. Though as a matter of fact the Hawk's probably ten zones off by now. That's always his way—he swoops and strikes and flashes off before anyone can get hands on him."
"Yes," said Seaworth, his eyes troubled, "but he happens to want me devilish bad, you see. I'll admit I'm not going to have much taste for the trip back to the moon—I wouldn't put it past him to hold up the biggest passenger-ship in space if he knew I was travelling on it."
"I wouldn't myself," Evans said. "But we're heading back next week after our relief-period. Why not go back with us?"
Seaworth's face cleared. "Thanks a lot, really, old man. It's a fact I've been worried about this trip back, for if I get what I'm after on earth, it means that when I get back to the moon we can find the Hawk's base and make a trap of it to catch him when he comes in. And I want to see him put away before I check out—it's got to be something of a personal duel between us."
In the next half-score of hours in which they hurtled on toward earth, Evans saw that Seaworth was indeed getting more and more impatient and eager as the great disk grew large before them. He fretted at the delay as they moved in through earth's atmosphere at slackening speed, and down through the crowded converging space-lanes toward the huge New York inter-stellar station. And when the great Earth-Guard ship shot down into the funnel-shaped landing-framework and came to a halt with all its nose-tubes firing, Seaworth emerged from it with its first officers.